A+ Hardware Quick Reference
The hardware facts A+ Core 1 (220-1201) loves to test: memory and storage generations, RAID levels, connectors, and the imaging process order.
Storage interfaces (fastest → slowest)
| Interface | Max throughput | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NVMe (PCIe 4.0 x4) | ~7,000 MB/s | M.2 or U.2; bypasses SATA |
| NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x4) | ~3,500 MB/s | M.2 SSD |
| SATA III | ~600 MB/s | 2.5" SSD / HDD ceiling |
| SATA II | ~300 MB/s | Legacy |
| 7200 RPM HDD | ~150-250 MB/s | Mechanical, high latency |
RAID levels
| Level | Min disks | Redundancy | Usable capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 | None (striping) | 100% |
| 1 | 2 | 1 disk (mirror) | 50% |
| 5 | 3 | 1 disk (parity) | n−1 disks |
| 6 | 4 | 2 disks (dual parity) | n−2 disks |
| 10 | 4 | 1 per mirrored pair | 50% |
Laser imaging process (in order)
| # | Step | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Processing | Rasterize the page image |
| 2 | Charging | Uniform negative charge on drum |
| 3 | Exposing | Laser writes the latent image |
| 4 | Developing | Toner adheres to the image |
| 5 | Transferring | Toner moves drum → paper |
| 6 | Fusing | Heat + pressure bond toner |
| 7 | Cleaning | Residual toner removed |
Ready to test yourself?
Memorizing a table is a start, practice questions make it stick.