Computer Knowledge

Computer Memory and Storage

2,477 Questions

Computer memory and storage questions test foundational knowledge of hardware, cache mapping, and data transfer mechanisms. Key areas include Direct Memory Access, analog recording, and RAID levels. This section is essential for candidates preparing for banking and government computer proficiency tests.

Cache memory mappingDirect memory accessRAID storage levelsHard disk technologyOptical media storageMemory addresses

Computer Memory and Storage Questions

Multiple choice

A virtual memory system uses First In First Out (FIFO) page replacement policy and allocates a fixed number of frames to a process. Consider the following statements: P: Increasing the number of page frames allocated to a process sometimes increases the page fault rate. Q: Some programs do not exhibit locality of reference. Which one of the following is TRUE?

  1. Both P and Q are true, and Q is the reason for P

  2. Both P and Q are true, but Q is not the reason for P.

  3. P is false, but Q is true

  4. Both P and Q are false.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Multiple choice

What is the average latency time of magnetic tape memory?

  1. 2 seconds

  2. 60 seconds

  3. 32 seconds

  4. 16 seconds
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Magnetic tape memory has significantly higher latency compared to semiconductor memory due to mechanical movement required to position the read/write head and spool the tape to the correct location. 60 seconds represents the average access time including seek and positioning delays.

Multiple choice

Let the clock cycles required for various operations be as follows: Register to/from memory transfer: 3 clock cycles Add with both operand in register: 1 clock cycle Instruction fetch and decode: 2 clock cycles per word

The total number of clock cycles required to execute the program, is

  1. 29

  2. 24

  3. 23

  4. 20
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The clock cycles are per block; if an instruction size is 2 then it requires twice no. of clock cycles.

So answer is (2). 

Multiple choice

Consider the sequence of 8085 instructions given below: LXI H, 9258 MOV A, M CMA MOV M, A

Which one of the following is performed by this sequence?

  1. This program compliment the data of memory location 9258H.

  2. Contents of location 9258 are compared with the contents of the accumulator.

  3. Contents of location 8529 are complemented and stored in location 8529.

  4. Contents of location 5892 are complemented and stored in location 5892.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Multiple choice

__________ concentrates on the meaning of information you want to remember.

  1. Dual memory

  2. Elaborative rehearsal

  3. Long-term memory

  4. Maintenance rehearsal
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Elaborative rehearsal involves connecting new information to existing knowledge and creating meaningful associations, which enhances long-term retention. Maintenance rehearsal is simple repetition. Dual memory and long-term memory describe memory systems or storage, not the active process of meaning-based encoding.

Multiple choice

What is the final step in remembering?

  1. Retrieval

  2. Storage

  3. Encoding

  4. Attention
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Retrieval is the final step in the memory process, which follows the sequence: Encoding (taking in information) → Storage (maintaining information) → Retrieval (accessing stored information). Storage comes before retrieval, encoding is the initial step, and attention is a prerequisite but not a step in the memory process itself.

Multiple choice

__________ memory is that part of long-term memory which contains factual information.

  1. Episodic

  2. Semantic

  3. Declarative

  4. Procedural
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Declarative memory (also called explicit memory) is the part of long-term memory that stores factual information that can be consciously recalled, including both episodic (personal experiences) and semantic (general facts) memory. Procedural memory stores skills and how-to knowledge. Episodic and semantic are subtypes of declarative.

Multiple choice

How many broad categories of memory are there in computers?

  1. 2

  2. 12

  3. 5

  4. 4

  5. 3
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Computer memory is traditionally classified into two broad categories: primary memory (RAM, ROM, cache) which is directly accessible by CPU, and secondary memory (HDD, SSD, optical) which provides permanent storage. Primary is volatile and faster; secondary is non-volatile and slower.

Multiple choice

How many classes of secondary memory are there?

  1. 2

  2. 1

  3. 4

  4. 3

  5. 5
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Secondary memory is classified into two main types based on technology: magnetic storage (hard disks, tape drives) and solid-state storage (SSD, flash drives). Some classifications include optical as a third category, but the most fundamental binary classification is magnetic vs. solid-state.