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CompTIA® A+™ Core 1 Exam Notes :Install And Configure Expansion Cards & Storage Devices

1.4 Install and configure expansion cards.

In general, you will follow these steps to install an expansion card in your PC:

a. If you're not using a PnP-compatible expansion card or operating system, determine the available system resources (IRQs, I/O addresses, and so forth). Configure the DIP switches or jumpers on the card, as necessary, to assign it available system resources.

b. If you're using a PnP-compatible card and operating system, the vendor might direct you to run an installation utility before installing the device. This installation program puts the necessary drivers in a location where Windows can find them when you're done installing the device. If appropriate, run that setup program now.

c. Shut down your PC, unplug it, remove peripheral cables, and open the case.

d. Locate an empty and available expansion slot of the correct type.

e. Remove the slot cover for that slot. These covers are generally either screwed in place or held by spring-clips.

f. If necessary, temporarily move or remove wires or other expansion cards that are in the way so that you can access the slot.

g. If you need to connect wire assemblies to the expansion board - not to its back slot cover plate, but to the board itself - connect that end of the wire assembly before installing the card. In this way, you can easily reach the connector and be sure you're installing the wire assembly in its correct orientation. Connect the other end after you have installed the card.

h. Begin inserting the end of the edge connector that's farthest from the slot cover. Then, gently push the card into place in the slot. This will help you line up the connector correctly. Inserting the card at an angle like this is usually easier than pushing it straight into the slot.

i. Fix the card in place with screws or clips, as appropriate to your case design.

j. Connect any wiring assemblies, including those you temporarily removed to install this card. Close the case, connect peripherals, and start the system.

k. Depending on your operating system, version, and adapter card technology, configure the card. If you're using PnP-compatible components, PnP will handle this for you.

l. If necessary, install required drivers. If you have to install drivers yourself, you will most likely need to configure them to use same hardware resources you configured the card to use.

m. When you're done, some devices and operating system versions will also require you to restart your computer. This fully loads the drivers and configures the operating system to support the new device.

1.5 Install and configure storage devices and use appropriate media.

1. The speeds achievable by using different technologies is given below:

  • USB 1.1 - 15 Mbps
  • FireWire (1394a) - 400 Mbps
  • USB 2.0 - 480 Mbps
  • FireWire 800 (1394b) - 800 Mbps
  • SATA 1.5 - 1.5 Gbps
  • SATA 3.0 - 3.0 Gbps

2. IDE hard disks

  1. a. An IDE hard disk can have one Primary partition and one Extended partition. An Extended partition can be divided into one or more logical partitions. After partitioning the hard disk, each partition needs to be formatted.

  2. b. The File System Boot Sector is the first physical sector on any logical volume.

  3. c. The first physical sector on any bootable hard disk contains Master Boot Record, MBR.

  4. d. The command FDISK will destroy all the data on a partition or drive on to which it is run.

  5. e. The primary partition can be made bootable, by marking partition as active.

3. Floppy drive

  1. a. A floppy cable will have 34 wires, and the wire with red stripe signifies wire going to pin number 1 of the connector.

  2. b. If the floppy cable is reversed, the drive light will be continuously ON. Try reversing the cable.

  3. c. The floppy ribbon cable is distinguished easily from that of an IDE cable by a small twist in the cable. The purpose of the twist is to differentiate between floppy drive A and floppy drive B

  4. d. Note that the floppy disk drive is not accessible only after some changes to the BIOS set-up. It is possible that the Floppy disk is disabled during the changes. Therefore, check the BIOS settings, before proceeding further.

Characteristics of a floppy drive:

  1. 1. The ribbon cable connecting the floppy drive to the motherboard is 34 wires wide.

  2. 2. There can be a maximum of two floppy drives in a PC

When you have two hard disk drives, the following two combinations are possible:

  1. 1. Install the drives one each on primary and secondary controllers and designate both as Masters.

  2. 2. Install both the drives on the primary controller and designate one as Master and the other as Slave.

The storage capacity of various types of floppy:

Size Type Storage
5 1/4" DSHD 1.2MB
3 1/2" DSDD 720KB
3 1/2" DSDD 1.44MB
3 1/2" DSED 2.88MB

4. CD-R

  1. a. Stands for CD- Recordable. You can record data onto a CD-R only once. CD-RW stands for CD-ReWritable, and as the name suggests, you can record data any number of times onto a CD-RW (subject to wear and tear). CD-R is represented by two speeds (AxB), the former is the write speed and the latter is the read speed. The read speed is always higher than the write speed. Some typical CD-R speeds are 4X24, 8X32, 16X32 etc.

  2. b. When recording a CD-R as a back-ground process while working with another application in the fore-ground.if the CD was improperly burned, and became un-usable most common causes of the problems is buffer under-run. If the source device is unable to keep the burner loaded with data, it may lead to improperly burned CDs, and hence rendering the CD useless. Some CD drives such as Sanyo CD-RW come with burn proof technology. If you intend to work on the computer while the CD is written, use CD drives that take care of buffer under-run.

5. DVD

  1. a. Also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc, is an optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are video and data storage. DVDs are of the same dimensions as compact discs (CDs), but store more than six times as much data.

  2. b. DVD comes in single layer (SL) or dual layer (DL). They are also distinguished as single sided (SS) or double sided (DS). There are four possible combinations:

    1. DVD-S (12 cm, SS/SL): 4.37 GB capacity

    2. DVD-9 (12 cm, SS/DL): 7.95 GB capacity

    3. DVD-10 (12 cm, DS/SL): 8.74GB capacity

    4. DVD-18 (12 cm, DS/DL): 15.90GB capacity.

  3. c. Further, DVD-S stores about two hours of video, where as DVD-18 can store up to eight hours of video.

  4. d. Storage capacity of DVD: 4.7GB (single-layer) and 8.5GB (dual-layer)

  5. e. MS –DEFRAG utility is used to defragment the hard disk, you can run Microsoft defragment utility by issuing a command "DEFRAG".

6. Firewire

  1. a. A standard FireWire connection will support 100,200 and 400 Mbps. The important features of IEEE1394 (also known as FireWire 400) are:

    1. 1. 100 Mbit/s, 200Mbit/s, and 400Mbit/s supported.

    2. 2. Works without control, devices communicate peer-to-peer.

    3. 3. Cable up to 4.5 m.

    4. 4. Up to 63 devices supported.

    5. 5. Power supply to external devices is 1.25A/12V (max.).

    6. 6. The only computer bus used in digital video cameras

7. The IEEE 1394b specification supports data rates up to 400 Mbit/s in half-duplex mode, and even higher in full duplex. It can support optical connections up to 100 metres in length.

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