Hardware · 4 question types
Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)
This topic accounts for approximately 5% of your exam marks.
RAM vs ROM and primary vs secondary storage comparisons appear regularly.
Magnetic storage stores binary data as the magnetic polarity of tiny regions on a metal platter, which spins at high speed inside a sealed enclosure.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Very large capacity (multi-terabyte) | Moving parts are fragile; easily damaged by drops |
| Low cost per gigabyte | Heavy and bulky compared to SSDs |
| Moderate read/write speed | Slower than SSDs |
| Prone to mechanical failure over time | |
| Audible (spinning platter, head movement) |
Magnetic disks remain popular for bulk storage (backups, archives, large media collections) where price per terabyte matters more than speed.