Storage and network hardware — GCSE Computer Science practice questions

Question 1

When a smart TV is switched on, it first runs a small set of start-up instructions that load its operating system. These instructions must still be there after the TV has been unplugged for a month, and they should never be changed by accident.

Which type of memory holds these start-up instructions?

Accepted Answer

C: ROM. ROM (read-only memory) is non-volatile, so the start-up instructions stay when the power is off, and it is read only, so they cannot be changed by accident. RAM and cache are volatile and lose their contents when the TV is unplugged. Virtual memory is a temporary area of secondary storage used only when RAM is full.

Question 2

A family keeps its holiday photos in cloud storage so that relatives in three different countries can look at them.

Which statement about cloud storage is true?

Accepted Answer

C: The photos are stored on physical servers owned by a third-party company and are reached over the internet. Cloud storage keeps data on physical servers, usually in data centres owned and run by a third-party provider, and users reach it over the internet. So an internet connection is needed, and the servers can still fail or be attacked: security depends on the provider and on the family's own passwords.

Question 3

A youth club's Wi-Fi only lets approved tablets join. The club keeps a list of each approved tablet's MAC address, not its IP address.

Why is the MAC address better for this list?

Accepted Answer

B: The MAC address is set by the manufacturer and does not change, but the tablet may get a different IP address each time it connects. A MAC address is assigned by the manufacturer of the network interface card and does not change, so it identifies the same tablet every time. The router usually gives out dynamic IP addresses, which can be different on each connection, so a list of IP addresses would soon be wrong. A MAC address is written in hexadecimal and is 48 bits, much shorter than a 128-bit IPv6 address.