Lesson 6: Hardware — RAM and Storage
Week of Tue, Oct 20 · lesson closes Mon, Oct 26
Take Meerk's quiz for Lesson 6
This lesson's items
Exact due times are in Canvas.
Watch — Professor Messer
Watch — Professor Messer: RAM and Storage (220-1201)
Free, independent educational resource. Not affiliated with or endorsed by CompTIA. Watch, then read the notes below.
Know these cold
- RAM: DDR5 current standard, DDR4 still common, DDR3 legacy. SO-DIMM (laptops). ECC RAM corrects single-bit errors — used in servers.
- Storage hierarchy: NVMe PCIe > SATA SSD > SATA HDD. M.2 slot can host either; check key type (M=NVMe, B+M=SATA).
- RAID: 0=stripe (performance, no redundancy), 1=mirror (redundancy, 50% usable), 5=parity (performance + redundancy, need 3+ drives), 10=stripe+mirror.
Meerk's quiz — open the Lesson 6 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: If RAID 1 mirrors your data, do you still need a backup?
En español: Si RAID 1 espeja tus datos, ¿todavía necesitas una copia de seguridad?