Essential Questions
- How can you expand the capacity of a computer and make it operate more efficiently and effectively?
- What can I connect to my connector? How do I know?
- How much memory is enough? How much storage do I need?
Big Ideas
A computer system is more than just the internal components. We expand the capacity of computers by connecting additional memory, storage, and devices to them. Some things, like memory and storage devices, do become internal components. But, of course, there are removable storage devices and other peripherals that can be connected to a computer through a variety of cables and connector types. You should be able to install or upgrade memory and storage devices and identify the right cables and connectors for any peripherals you plan to use in your custom PC.
You can take steps to ensure that important data is not lost by setting up redundant drives that can keep data safe if another drive fails. This is called RAID, and you should understand the different levels of RAID, their benefits and limitations, and how to implement them.
Connection to Student Lives
Depending on how you use a computing device, you’ll want to have different configurations. If you use your computer for surfing the Internet and email, you won’t want the same configurations as if you are a hardcore gamer that needs lots of power and memory. Other uses, like computer-aided design, music and sound recording, video editing, and computer-aided modeling all have different implications for how you might configure a computer, especially in terms of necessary memory and storage.
Framing Problem
What is the right setup for me? For other uses? Students should be given the opportunity for hands-on practice installing or upgrading memory, storage drives, and power supplies and then consider how to use these skills to address the needs of different user profiles.
Cornerstone Assessment
Students install or upgrade memory, storage drives, and power supplies in a workstation.
DPI Standards
- NCCTE.2020.II21.03.01 - Explain basic cable types, features, and their purposes.
- NCCTE.2020.II21.03.02 - Identify common connectory types.
- NCCTE.2020.II21.03.03 - Install RAM types.
- NCCTE.2020.II21.03.04 - Select, install and configure storage devices.
- NCCTE.2020.II21.03.07 - Summarize power supply types and features.
A+ Standards
TOPIC 2C: Common Connection Interfaces
TOPIC 4A: Install system memory
TOPIC 4B: Install and configure mass storage devices
TOPIC 4C: Install and configure removable storage
TOPIC 4D: Configure RAID
TOPIC 5C: Install Power Supplies
Knowledge
- Different types of interfaces, ports, connections, and cables
- USB connectors
- Thunderbolt, Lightning and Serial ports
- Storage connector types
- SATA, eSATA
- SCSI
- Network connector types
- System memory
- RAM types and memory modules
- Mass storage devices
- HDD and connectors
- SATA and connectors
- SSD and interfaces and form factors
- Hybrid drives
- PATA, IDE, SCSI
- Guidelines for installing mass storage devices
- Removable storage
- Optical media (CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray) and their standards and region coding
- Optical drives
- Flash memory
- Memory card readers
- RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 10)
- Disk striping
- Mirroring
- Parity
- Hardware RAID solution
- Electrical circuits
- Voltage
- Current
- Resistance
- Power
- Energy
- Direct Current (DC) vs. Alternating Current (AC)
- Electrical components in a PC’s electronic circuits
- Conductor
- Insulator
- Semiconductor
- Resistor
- Diode
- Fuse
- Transistor
- Capacitor
- PSU Adapter types
- How to calculate power needs
Skills
- Identify common interfaces, ports, and connection
- Install/upgrade memory
- Install and configure storage devices
- Install and configure removable storage devices
- Describe RAID configurations
- Calculate power needs for a given configuration
- Install power supply unit
Vocabulary
Interfaces, Ports, and Connections
- Interface
- Port (male and female); keyed ports
- I/O ports
- Connection
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors (know the main types of connectors by sight)
- Host controller
- USB 2.0 (HighSpeed) standard
- SuperSpeed mode
- SuperSpeed+ mode
- USB On the Go (OTG)
- Thunderbolt
- Lightning
- Serial Port (RS-232)
- Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors (know the main types of connectors by sight)
- Storage Connector Types
-
-
- SATA and eSATA
- eSATAp
- SCSI
- Molex
- SATA and eSATA
-
- Network Connector Types
-
- RJ-45 Registered Jack connector
- RJ-11
System Memory
- System Memory
- Volatile
- RAM
- Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
- Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)
- Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM)
- DDR2/DDR3/DDR4 SDRAM
- Memory Modules
- Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMMs)
- Small Outline DIMM (SODIMM)
- Single-channel memory vs. Dual-channel memory (Triple- and Quadruple-channel memory controllers)
- Parity checking
- Non-parity
- Error Checking and Correcting (ECC) memory
Install and Configure Mass Storage Devices
- Mass storage device
- Hard disk drive (HDD)
- Tracks
- Sectors
- Drive bay and caddy
- HDD performance factors
- Access time
- Seek time
- Rotational latency
- Internal transfer rate
- External transfer rate
- Early-life Failure Rate, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)
- Life expectancy
- Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
- Hot Bus Adapters (HBAs) or drive controllers
- Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
- Hot swappable
- Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)
- Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
- Solid State Drives (SSDs)
- Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCI) or NVM Express (NVMe) for short
- Wear leveling
- Hybrid drives
- Host-hinted mode
- Dual-drive configurations
- Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) or IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
- Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI)
Install and Configure Removable Storage
- Removable storage
- Optical Media
- Compact discs (CDs) and Digital versatile discs (DVDs)
- Pits and lands
- Burning
- CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
- DVD-R/DVD-RW versus DVD+R/DVD+RW
- Blu-ray Discs (BDs)
- Compact discs (CDs) and Digital versatile discs (DVDs)
- Optical Drives: CD, DVD Blu-ray (BD-R and BD-RE)
- Flash Memory Drives
- Solid state storage
- Flash memory (NAND flash): USB
- Memory card: Secure Digital (SD), Mini-SD, Micro-SD, Compact Flash (CF), xD
- Drive enclosure
- Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Configure RAID
- Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
- RAID Levels:
- RAID 0 (Striping without Parity_
- RAID 1 (Mirroring)
- RAID 5 (Striping with Distributed Parity)
- RAID 1+0 (RAID 10)
- RAID Configurations: hardware, software, hot swappable
Power Supplies
- Electrical Circuits
- Voltage
- Current
- Resistance
- Power
- Energy
- Direct Current (DC) vs. Alternating Current (AC)
- Electrical components in a PC’s electronic circuits
- Conductor
- Insulator
- Semiconductor
- Resistor
- Diode
- Fuse
- Transistor
- Capacitor
- Power Supply Unit (PSU) and PSU Form Factors
- Power rating
- Dual rail
- Overcurrent Protection (OCP)
- PSU Adapter Types
- Voltage regulators
- P1 adapter; main connector
- Molex and SATA connectors
- PCLe connectors
- P4 and EPS 12V connectors
- Entry-level Power Supply (EPS) specification
Weekly Map
Monday
Introduction to problem: Install or upgrade memory; Install storage device; Install power supply
Activity 2-3: Identifying Connection Interfaces
Team meetings to develop project plan and goals
Tuesday
Review content resources with whole group
Small group and independent exploration of resources
Activity 4-1: Discussing System Memory Installation
Activity 4-2: Upgrading Memory
Contribute to team project
Wednesday
Hands-on exploration
Activity 4-3: Discussing Mass Storage Device Installation and Configuration
Activity 4-4: Installing Storage Drives
Activity 4-5: Discussing Removable Storage Device Installation and Configuration
Team progress check with supervisor (using project plan)
Thursday
Hands-on exploration
Small group and independent exploration of resources
Activity 4-6: Discussing RAID Configuration
Activity 5-4: Discussing Power Supply Installation (or Friday)
Contribute to team project
Friday
Team progress check with supervisor or sharing of progress with whole group
Online post-assessment
Monitor progress and adjust project plan as necessary
Lesson Ideas
Students have five major outcomes for the week that they can use as team projects, independent projects, or covered through whole-class discussion. If necessary, some of these activities can be moved to week 3. Week 3’s primary focus is installing printers. Many of the other peripherals will be fairly straightforward to install.They are:
- Identifying connection interfaces (ports and cables) (This topic could be moved to week 3 with the installation of monitors, keyboards, printers, and other peripherals, but students will need to identify appropriate connectors for removable storage this week.)
- Installing or upgrading memory
- Installing and configuring storage drives, including removable storage
- Understanding RAID levels and their uses
- Installing a power supply
Potential Resources
The Official CompTIA A+ Core 1 & Core 2 Instructor Guide for Exams 220-1001 and 220-1002
- Topic 2C: Common Connection Interfaces (pp. 136-149)
- Activity 2-3: Identifying Connection Interfaces (148-149)
- Topic 4A: Install System Memory (pp. 206-218)
- Activity 4-1: Discussing System Memory Installation (pp. 214-215)
- Activity 4-2: Upgrading Memory (pp. 216-218)
- Topic 4B: Install and Configure Mass Storage Devices (pp. 219-231)
- Activity 4-3: Discussing Mass Storage Device Installation and Configuration (p. 229)
- Activity 4-4: Installing Storage Drives (pp. 230-231)
- Topic 4C: Install and Configure Removable Storage (pp. 232-240)
- Activity 4-5: Discussing Removable Storage Device Installation and Configuration (pp. 238-240)
- Topic 4D: Configure RAID (pp. 241-247)
- Activity 4-6: Discussing RAID Configuration (p. 247)
- Topic 5C: Install Power Supplies (pp. 289-297)
- Activity 5-4: Discussing Power Supply Installation (pp. 296-297)
CompTIA also offers videos for purchase through their website or on ITPro.TV.
Professor Messer at ProfessorMesser.com and YouTube offers numerous free videos of various lengths for many of the topics for the CompTIA 220-1001 A+ Exam. They are easy to understand, narrated videos with visuals. If you are teaching a CompTIA course, the site notes “You’re welcome to use them as much as you’d like, provided you embed the videos with the associated YouTube link or link directly to my site. Please click the “Contact Us” link at the top of our web page and let me know how you’re using them.”
- Professor Messer’s 220-1001 Core 1 CompTIA A+ Training Course videos on ProfessorMesser.com. Search or scroll to find the topics you’re interested in.
- Professor Messer’s CompTIA 220-1001 A+ Training Course playlist on YouTube
Entry Level I.T. Training from Technology Gee
- Basic Cable Types (Article | Video – 27:11)
- Common Connector Types (Article | Video – 9:43)
- RAM Types (Article | Video – 11:48)
- Storage Devices (Article | Video – 23:05)
- Power Supply Types (Article | Video – 8:01)
Videos from Basics Explained
- Static RAM and Dynamic RAM (4:58)
- How do hard drives work? (5:55) Builds off of components on BE’s video about binary code. If you need a refresher on binary code, check out the video Why do Computers Use 1s and 0s? Binary and Transistors Explained (6:59)
Articles and other resources
Hardware Components from Lumen Learning. Long overview that covers concepts across multiple topics in the A+ Exam Objectives
Everything You Need to Know About Computer Hardware (April 24, 2021) long article by Tim Fisher for LifeWire that contains links to further description of many components that you might return to throughout the course for different topics.
Network Cable Types and Specifications from ComputerNetworkingNotes. Article with clear diagrams and images.
Introduction to Network Cables by Bradley Mitchell (updated on September 11, 2020) for Lifewire