Internal components, Backing Storage, Operating Systems Software

Hard Disk Drive (HDD)The HDD were commonly connected by an IDE (Integrated Drive electronics). This is a standard electronic interface between the motherboard and disk storage devices.

IDE - cable

• IDE cable supports 2 drives.• To know which data relates to which drive,

each drive is identified as either the master or the slave drive.

• Master drive: handles and controls the traffic on the IDE cable

• Slave drive: sees only the data that is paased to it by the master drive.

SATA

SATA cable is commonly used within latest PCs.

It stands for Serial ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)

PORTS

• Refer to page 46 of Unit 2 E – Book to see some examples that are available

Transmissions

• Serial: 1 bit at a time (page 47)• Parallel: 1 Byte (8 bits) ata a time• USB: Universal Serial Bus, to make

connections easy as possible and allows ‘hot swapping’ – connecting or disconnecting devices whilst the PC is ON

• Find the data transfer rate for USB 2.0 & USB 3.0

Backing Storage

• Primary• Secondary• Tertiary

Backing storage performance factors

• Capacity:• Data transfer rate:

Research on the internet to find out the maximum data capacity of a USB stick, Flash memory cards and its data transfer rate if possible.

Operating systems software

DOS: Disk operating system - Command line (CL)

Windows: GUI interface: Graphical User interface with a WIMP environment (Windows Icons mouse & pointers)

OS

• machine and peripheral management, security, file management; device drivers; features eg ability to customize, support for

• connectivity of portable media, security, stability and reliability, ease of management, associated utilities,

• cost and support for the user.

Device Driver

• Interface between the processor and the particular peripheral.

• Necessary when new hardware is installed.

Software Utilities

• Virus protection: A program that is designed to erase data and corrupt files.Name few anti virus programs and why is it necessary to update

them regularly ?• Firewalls: A program that only allows authorised programs to work

on a particular PC and allows only certain data to pass in and out of the system.

Name a few firewall programs? Are they integrated with an Anti virus program??

Clean up tools

Most of you have probably used many of the Cleanup tools. Therefore research and find out the following:

Internet Cookies: what are they? And how do you clean them up?

Defragmentation:Disc cleanup:Formatting Drives:

P1

Identify the HW components you have learnt so far with diagrams and with supporting notes, explain the function of each component.

Construct it as a presentation using PowerPoint and explanation under the notes section.

P2

• Explain the purpose of operating systems:

• Outline the basic functions of Operating systems explaining how they are used to facilitate users:

M1

• Compare the features and functions of different operating systems

• Compare MS-DOS With Microsoft Windows