Day 14

 

Answers to the A+ Questions

The term TSR is an abbreviation for:

a) Terminate Stay Ready

b) Testing System Read

c) Terminal Still Ready

*d) Terminate Stay Resident

 

Which file(s) must be installed for WIN 3.1 to work?

*a) HIMEM.SYS

b) EMM386.EXE

c) SETVER.EXE

d) a & b

 

What three files are important to Win3.1

a) kernel, user, gdi

b) kernel, win, system

*c) kernel, autoexec, gdi

 

You can run WIN 3.1 or 3.11 without loading himem.sys.

a) true

*b) false

 

How do you switch between running programs?

a) CTRL-ESCAPE

*b) ALT TAB

c) ALT ESCAPE

d) SHIFT ALT

 

Without which file can Win3.1 not start?

a) System.ini

b) autoexec.bat

*c) Config.sys

d) Win.ini

 

WIN 3.1 is what type of environment?

a) multimedia

*b) multitasking

c) virtual

d) enhanced

e) outdated

 

The Windows file System.ini contains primarily:

a) desktop and application settings

b) DOS parameters under Windows

*c) Windows system settings and device drivers

d) Windows parameters used under DOS

e) used only by WIN 95, not WIN 3.1

 

WIN 3.1 supports what type(s) of Multitasking?

a) Preemptive

*b) Cooperative

c) Preemptive and Cooperative

d) WIN 3.1 does not support Multitasking

 

WIN 3.1 is not an operating system.

*a) True

b) False

 

What is a PIF?

a) programmed input file

b) programmed interrupt function

*c) program information file

d) processed information files

e) programmed information format

 

Within Windows, an Icon can...

*a) Can exist in any or all program groups any number of times

b) Cannot exist more than once in a program group

c) Can exist only once regardless of which program group it is in

d) Can exist more than once if it doesn't call up the same program

 

Icons can be used -

a) only once in each group

b) only once for each item, but in multiple groups

*c) in as many items and groups as you want, without limitation

d) sparingly

 

Windows uses PIFs to set the following parameters for what programs?

*a) DOS programs

b) Word for Windows

c) System files

d) Batch files

e) a copy of the BIOS is placed in ram

 

Which Windows file contains hardware information?

a) WIN.INI

b) SYS.INI

c) CONTROL.INI

*d) SYSTEM.INI

 

Where would you configure the Swap file in WIN 3.1?

*a) 386 Enhanced Control Panel \ Virtual Memory

b) 386 Enhanced Control Panel \ Swap File

c) vmem.exe

d) Windows Setup \ Virtual memory

 

After clicking on your word processing icon, Windows reports the following error message: "invalid working directory". What should you do first?

*a) Click on the icons properties

b) Run fdisk

c) Check the path statement in the autoexec.bat file

d) check the group properties

 

Which of the following files can be modified using the Windows SYSEDIT program? (Choose all that apply)

*a) WIN.INI

b) CONTROL.INI

*c) CONFIG.SYS

*d) AUTOEXEC.BAT

 

To change your swap file settings, which one of these is correct?

a) go to file manager, swap file, virtual memory settings

b) go to program manager, virtual memory settings, swap file

*c) go to control panel, 386 enhanced, virtual memory

d) got to control panel, swap file settings

e) got to control panel, virtual memory, settings

 

WINDOWS 95

 

As soon as you see DOS starting, what key do you press to step through the startup files?

a) F4

b)F5

*c) F8

d) ALT

e) TAB

 

In WIN 95 what can you use to repair fragmented data?

a) F-Disk

*b) Scandisk

c) SmartDrive

d) Chkdsk /F

 

The Acme program is not working because of a corrupt Acme.dll. How would you properly fix the corrupt Acme.dll?

a) from the current Windows session recopy the DLL from the setup disk

b) from a DOS Window in the current session, reinstall the DLL

*c) reboot and start new Windows session and rerun Acme setup

d) reboot to DOS and rerun Acme setup program

 

During boot up what key do you press to bring up the Startup Menu?

a) F-5

b) F-1

*c) F-8

 

What is the best way to change settings in the registry?

a) Through Redgedit

*b) Through control panel

c) Through sysedit

 

WIN 95 is an operating system

*a) True

b) False

c) That's what Mr. Gates says!*

 

What file can you view to determine what might be wrong with your system when it locks up during a hardware detection while installing WIN 95?

*a) detlog.txt

b) 95log.txt

c) log.txt

 

What utility would you use to view who is accessing shared resources on your WIN 95 machine?

a) System Monitor

*b) Net Watcher

c) System Agent

 

What utility that comes with WIN 95 can you use to view your systems kernel processor usage?

*a) System Monitor

b) Net Watcher

c) System Agent

 

WIN 95 can run 32 bit and 16 bit programs

*a) True

b) False

 

It is possible for WIN 95 to keep a modem log.

*a) True

b) false

 

Windows can best be described as:

*a) A graphical user interface (GUI)

b) A provider of multitasking capabilities

 

 

Closing the print manager will do what?

a) Stop all printing.

b) Purge all print jobs

c) Purge current job

*d) Not affect any print jobs

 

What key do you hold down to by-pass start-up programs?

a) Alt

*b) Space Bar

c) Shift

d) Ctrl

 

What utility would you use to view a document without opening the application associated with that document?

a) Instant View

b) Notepad

*c) Quick View

 

What utility that comes with the Microsoft Plus pack can you enable to notify you that your disk space is getting low, or to run things such as Scandisk or Disk Defragmenter while you are away from your computer at a predetermined time?

a) System Monitor

b) Net Watcher

*c) System Agent

 

How would you make sure that Acme.txt was always opened by Notepad?

a) associate Acme with with Notepad

b) click File/Open in Notepad

c) make an extension mapping in the Registry

*d) associate .TXT files with Notepad

 

What are the minimum requirements for Win 95

a) 486 DX, 8 MB RAM, hard disk space varies depending on what installation method you choose.

*b) 386 DX, 4 MB RAM, hard disk space varies depending on what installation method you choose.

c) 386 SX, 4 MB RAM, hard disk space varies depending on what installation method you choose.

 

You are installing Win 95 and it crashes, which file can you look at for clues to what happened?

a) Crash.log

b) Detlog.log

*c) Detlog.txt

d) da0.txt

 

What two files make up the registry?

a) Win.ini & System.ini

*b) system.dat & user.dat

c) Config.sys& Autoexec.bat

 

How could you check to see how much empty space is left on your hard drive?

a) Go to Control Panel, then right click on the system, then choose Properties

b) Go to My Computer, then double click on the drive, then choose Properties

*c) Go to My Computer, then right click on the drive, then choose Properties

 

What hotkey can you press while viewing files that will refresh the screen

*a) F-5

b) Alt-R

c) F-3

 

Where would you look to see a list of devices currently set up on your WIN 95?

a) System Resources, located in the properties sheet of the System icon in the Control Panel.

b) Device Manager, located in the properties sheet of the Properties icon in the Control Panel.

*c) Device Manager, located in the properties sheet of the System icon in the Control Panel.

 

What kind of operating system is WIN 95?

a) 8Bit

b) 16Bit

*c) 32Bit

d) 64Bit

 

If you are in your Internet explorer and click file, save and then you can not find the file what should you search for?

*a) .HTM

b) .DOC

c) .FTP

d) .URL

 

Which of the following gets the start menu if the taskbar is hidden?

*a) CTRL-ESCAPE

b) ALT TAB

c) ALT ESCAPE

d) CTRL ALT

 

How to get your registry file back?

*a) Copy system.da0 to system.dat & copy user.da0 to user.dat

b) Use the regedit command

c) Unformat the harddrive

d) Call Microsoft

 

What keys do you press to bring up the close program dialog box?

a) Alt-F4

*b) Alt-Ctrl-Del

c) Ctrl-F4

 

What type of multi tasking does WIN 95 support?

a) Cooperative

*b) Pre-emitive

c) Multithreading

d) Parallel Processing

 

Which of the following is a WIN 95 install file?

a) WIN95_13.CAT

*b) WIN95_13.CAB

c) WIN95_13.DLL

d) WIN95_13.SYS

 

A circled Exclamation point indicates what in Win 95?

a) Defective part

*b) There is a problem

b) Wrong driver

 

 

 

Reminder- http://www.mobynet.com/~dberry

There will probably be two PC Shows before this class ends.

Disk Storage

 

This lesson dives into the fundamentals of HDDs and will continue with other storage devices next time.. 

 

Structure of a HDD

 

Hard disk drives are made of an air tight box containing one or more platters.  These platters are coated with a material, which is able to magnetically record data.  The platters rotate at speeds from 5,000 to over 10,000 RPMs.  As the platters turns, read-write heads write and read data to and from the platters.  Each platter is divided into concentric circles called tracks called tracks.  The tracks are divided into pie shaped sliced known as sectors.  Each sector holds about 512 bytes of data.  The tracks above and below each other are known as cylinders. 

 

HDDs need to send and receive data via an interface.  There are many types of interfaces out there, they include ST506, ESDI, IDE EIDE, and SCSI.

 

ST506

This interface was used in the original IBM PC.  It used two cables, was very slow, and was used only for a short time.

 

ESDI

Enhanced Small Device Interface was used in the early 1980’s.  It was faster then ST506, but still used two cables.

 

IDE (ATA)

Integrated Device Electronics, also known as ATA, Advanced Technology Attachment.  Again they were faster, but this time four drives could be on a system, before only two were aloud.

 

EIDE (ATA-2)

Enhanced IDE is again faster and has better error detection and correction than IDE.   

 

EIDE (ATA-3)

Again faster and more reliable then ATA-2.

 

 

We now have ATA-33, 66, 100, and 133.

These transfer an amount of data equal to their number. So ATA-33 transfers 33 MB per second and ATA-66 transfers 66 MB per second.

 

Question: Is ATA 133 any faster than ATA100?

	ATA100	ATA133
HD Tach Burst	85 MB/s	102 MB/s
SiSoft Sandra 2001 HD	27 MB/s	33 MB/s

Answer: YES

 

SCSI

These transfer data slower than ATA-66, but faster than EIDE drives.  They tend to be very expensive and were used in the days before ATA-66 came out in servers and some work stations.

 

Table of Hard Disk Drives

 

Limits to IDE (for now)

When Hard Drives go beyond 137 GB, a new ATA will come with them. This is because the current IDE interface represents data addresses with a 28 bit number. Using 28 bits, there are 268,431,360 addressers that can be addressed to sectors. Each sector has 512 bytes. When we multiply these numbers out, we get the total of 137.4 GB of addressable storage. The next IDE- ATA interface will have be using 48 bit numbers to represent data addresses. This will extend the limit to 144 PB (Petabytes). Updated BIOSes will be needed to work with these new ATA specs.

 

Using Fdisk and Format

 

When you buy a new hard drive, you will need to set up the drive to take an Operating System.

To do this, follow these steps...

Boot up the PC, using a system disk with the format and fdisk (Win98) commands copied from c:\windows\commands\

You do not need CD-ROM support for the first steps, so boot up to the command prompt.

Key in the command - fdisk - at the DOS prompt.
(Make sure that this is a win98 or above system disk! If it is not, then fdisk will not work with large drives, like 40 GB drives.)

 

You do wish to use large disk support, so answer yes to this question.

You will need to create a DOS partition to store an Operating System, so select 1.

Now you will need to think of how you will partition your drive. Partitioning a 40 GB as one drive is very inefficient, so partition it as multiple logical drives as shown here.

Category	Logical Drive Size	Purpose
Primary DOS partition	5000 MB (5 GB)	Win98SE OS
First Logical Drive within the Extended Partition	33000 MB (33 GB)	Programs
Second Logical Drive within the Extended Partition	650 MB (.65 GB)	Win98 backup
Third Logical Drive within the Extended Partition	650 MB (.65 GB)	Drivers backup
Fourth Logical Drive within the Extended Partition	650 MB (.65 GB)	Program backup

After selecting one [1] from the Fdisk main menu, you will see the next menu...

You will need to create a Primary DOS partition, so select 1.
You do not wish to use all of the space for this partition, so answer no to the question that asks you this.

Create a Primary DOS Partition of 5000 MB.

Now go back to the main menu and create the extended DOS Partition.
Use the remaining space for this Partition.

Now create the Logical DOS Drives within the Extended DOS Partition

Set the Primary DOS partition as active (option 2 from main menu.)

Now check your work by select 4 from the main menu, as seen here.

This will bring up the partition information.

The Primary DOS Partition, which you created will be the C: 1 drive Note that it's status should be "A", meaning that it has been set as "Active Partition" and will be the one drive where an Operating System will be stored.

To see the logical drives within the Extended DOS Partition, hit the ENTER key. You will then see the information given as seen above.

Now exit FDISK, reboot with CD-ROM support, and format the drives.

 

NOTE: If you make a mistake, you can delete the Partitions, but do be sure the you reboot the system before creating new ones or some of the information from the first MBR will be passed on to the new partitions and this will corrupt your data.

 

 

To move all of your data from the old drive to the new drive use:

Xcopy32 ( XCOPY32 C:\. D:\ /E/C/H/R/K )

This clones your old drive and copies everything over for you. This is a DOS command that can be used within the windows' DOS prompt. It is found at c:\windows\command\

A few words about SCSI

 

Termination- To avoid data loss, errors, and slow downs, resisters are used at each end of a SCSI BUS.

 

Passive Termination- oldest, simplest, and least reliable termination method.

 

Active Termination- adds voltage regulation and resisters to provide termination. This is the most reliable form.

 

Forced Perfect Termination- adds clamping diodes to the voltage regulator and resister configuration to maintain efficient termination.

 

SCSI’s address method

Each SCSI drive must have a unique address from 0 to 7 on an 8-bit bus and 0 to 15 on a 16 bit bus.

 

SCSI signaling

SCSI devices send data signals in to ways: Single-ended and Differential.  Differential is more reliable, but rarely used.

 

 

 

 

 

Portable Systems

Portable computers of today use small HDD with 2.5” platters, that are only 12.5 mm or 19mm tall. These drives can have more than 20 Gigs of space.  PC Card HDD are also around, they normally hold less than one gig of space.  Newer HDD can now be found at the size of a quarter.  These very small HDD normally have between 340 and 512 MB of space.    

 

 

Performance Issues

 

Seek time

 

Transfer Rate

 

Caching

 

 

Seek time is the time required for the drive to find data on a platter.  Average seek time is the time needed for the drive to find data, which is located randomly on the platter.  Rotational latency is the time needed for data to rotate under a read-write head. 

 

Transfer Rate is the amount of data which is feed from the HDD to the CPU per second.

 

Caching is using RAM to temporary store data from the CPU for the HDD.  This speeds up the performance of drives and allows for quick access of data.  Normally ATA drives have RAM chips built in them to speed this process even faster.

 

Installation

 

When installing an IDE or EIDE drive, first check the jumper settings to insure that they are set as you wish, master or save.  Line up the red strip to pin one on both the HDD and motherboard.  Secure the drive.  Start the system and inter the BIOS settings.  Select “Auto detect HDD.”  BIOS will then search for the installed HDDs.  Most newer PnP M/B have “AUTO Select” for the new hard drive anyway.

 

For SCSI drives, a separate IO card is needed and the BIOS settings are 0 or SCSI drive.

 

Partitions

Your drive may be broken into smaller parts called partitions.  DOS 4 allowed for a partition to be up to 32 MB in size.  DOS 6 allowed partitions of 512 MB.  Win95 allowed for partitions of up to 2 terabytes.  WinNT allows them to be as large as 16 EXABYTES!

 

Formatting

Formatting must be done to a drive before an OS can use it.  High level formatting is done with the format command.  It sets up a new drive with a partition table, boot record, File Allocation Table, directory, and data space.  Low level formatting show never be done on today’s HDD. A Low Level format rewrites were the magnetic boundaries of a drive are.  This is done at the factory before the drive is shipped out. 

 

MBR

Master Boort Record

 

FAT

File Allocation Table

 

Optimizing a HDD using:

CHKDSK (DOS)

 

Scandisk for

Lost clusters

Invalid files

Cross-lined files

 

Defragment to
Sped up a drive

 

RAID
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives
Mirrored
To have 2 or 4 drives write the data and read the data onto multiple drives to ensure your data will be safe if one drive fails.

Striped
To have 2 or 4 drives that act as one drive to increase speed.

Question: Is RAID worth it?

using ATA100 drives	HD TACH READS	HD TACH WRITES
1 drive (no RAID)	41 MB/s	24 MB/s
2 drives - Striped	39 MB/s	28 MB/s
2 drives - Mirrored	40 MB/s	19 MB/s
4 drives - Mirrored & Striped	39 MB/s	19 MB/s

Answer: For the home user- NO...

 

HARD DISKS

Questions

TWO primary performance restraints for mass storage devices are:

a) Storage ability

b) Driver acceleration

c) Disk Access Time

d) Route mobility

e) Rate of transfer

What's the best way to protect your hard drive data?

a) regular backups

b) periodically defrag it

c) run chkdsk at least once a week

d) run scandisk at least once a week

e) run a regular diagnostic

Which of the following is a type of preventative maintenance used on a hard drive?

a) Disk check diagnostics

b) Head alignment diagnostics

c) Initializing

d) Uninstalling programs

It is most important to keep hard drives and diskettes away from? (choose two)

a) Telephones

b) Battery-operated devices

c) Magnetic devices

d) Temperature extremes

You are about to install a second IDE hard drive in a PC that has only one IDE adapter. Your first hard drive will still be the boot drive. How should the second drive be configured?

a) as a master

b) as a secondary

c) as a slave

d) as a primary

e) as auto-select

The acronym HDI stands for:

a) Half duplex interface

b) Hard disk interface

c) Head to disk interference

d) Help desk interference

A feature of EIDE is

a) Up to 6 drives

b) ATAPI

A hard disk is divided into tracks, which are further subdivided into:

a) clusters

b) sectors

c) vectors

d) heads

How may bytes in one Sector

a) 64K

b) 2048

c) 512

d) 1024K

Which would you have to upgrade to install an EIDE drive?

a) RAM BIOS

b) A 286 CPU

c) Serial board

d) ISA motherboard

e) Controller board

The tracks on a hard drive are further divided into

a) clusters

b) sectors

c) vectors

d) heads

To install a second IDE drive into a computer, you must:

a) Set the master-slave jumper to slave on the second drive

b) Use the IDE configuration software to set the new drive as slave

c) Verify that you define the new drive as D: in the CMOS setup

d) Verity that you attach the drive to the connector at the end of the ribbon cable

SCSI Questions

The acronym SCSI stands for ____.

a) Small computer systems interface

b) Super computer small interface

c) System configured size interface

d) Swift control software interrupt

In the Binary numbering system, a (1) represents a jumper being shorted and a (0) represents a jumper being open. On a three-bit jumper block on a SCSI drive, how would an ID of logical 3 be set?

a) 100

b) 010

c) 011

d) 101

With a 3 jumper shunt, what is the highest number that can be made using the binary numbering system?

a) 3

b) 5

c) 7

d) 8

Which provides the fastest access to large video files?

a) Optical drives

b) IDE hard drives

c) SCSI hard drives

d) EIDE hard drives

When connecting two external SCSI hard disks to a computer, where do you connect the second hard drive?

a) Any open SCSI port on the computer

b) A Serial port on the first host adapter

c) An open parallel port on the computer

d) An open SCSI port on the first hard drive

Which of the following statements is true?

a) Two SCSI devices connected to a computer can have the same ID if they are both hard drives.

b) Each SCSI device must have its own ID

c) All SCSI devices must have the same ID

d) SCSI ID's are irrelevant

When installing a SCSI CD-ROM drive, you must set the CD-ROM SCSI adapter to:

a) B0007

b) An unused SCSI address

c) The same address as the SCSI device before the CD-ROM

d) SCSI ID=1

Which controller would support an external CD-ROM drive?

a) ESDI

b) ARLL

c) MFM

d) SCSI

Which of the following FRUs would be considered both an input/output device?

a) Video board

b) SCSI host adapter

c) System board CPU

Which of the following statements is true?

a) Two SCSI devices connected to a computer can have the same ID is they are both hard drives.

b) Each SCSI device must have its own ID

c) All SCSI devices must have the same ID

d) SCSI ID's are irrelevant

Your PC has 2 SCSI devices, an internal SCSI harddrive and an external SCSI CD-ROM, which do you terminate?

a) the SCSI adapter card and the harddrive

b) the SCSI Harddrive

c) the SCSI adapter

d) the SCSI harddrive and the CD-ROM

e) No need to terminate anything

Which type of interface provides for the fastest data transfer?

a) IDE

b) SCSI

c) parallel

d) serial

e) ISA

The SCSI boot drive must be addressed as

a) ID 0

b) ID 3

c) ID 1

The binary address of the SCSI host adapter is

a) 0111

b) 1010

c) 1110

Which of the following will NOT be a SCSI device?

a) Hard Disk drive

b) CD-ROM drive

c) Tape Backup unit

d) Floppy disk drive

What is the highest binary number that can be referred to on a three position jumper block?

a) 4

b) 6

c) F

d) 7

We will continue with the other storage devices next time.