Lesson 4: Storage Selection Lab

Core path: 42 minutes

Today you are the technician choosing storage for a real requirement set.

Your job is not to pick the newest drive. Your job is to match interface, capacity, performance, durability, and cost to the user.

Scenario options

Choose one:

Student laptop

Needs fast boot, quiet operation, low power use, and enough capacity for school applications and projects.

Media workstation

Needs a fast project drive plus large-capacity storage for source footage and completed exports.

Esports station

Needs fast game loading and enough local capacity for several large titles.

Small file server

Needs capacity, fault tolerance, replaceable drives, and a separate backup strategy.

Lab procedure

For your scenario, evaluate at least three candidate devices or device classes.

Record:

Then check motherboard/system compatibility:

• physical space;
• supported connector/slot;
• SATA versus NVMe support;
• available power connection;
• M.2 length/keying where relevant;
• lane/port sharing if the board documents it.

Add redundancy reasoning

If the scenario uses multiple drives, decide whether RAID is justified.

If yes, state:

• RAID level;
• minimum drive count;
• usable-capacity tradeoff;
• what drive failure it can tolerate;
• what separate backup remains necessary.

If no, explain why RAID adds complexity without solving the primary requirement.

Controlled failure

Your scenario now changes:

One drive disappears from firmware or the operating system.

Write the first three checks you would perform. Do not jump straight to replacement.

Possible evidence sources include:

• firmware storage detection;
• physical seating/data connection;
• power connection;
• known-good port or cable;
• OS disk-management view;
• RAID controller/array status.

Deliverable

Submit a storage decision record containing:

1. user requirements;
2. candidate comparison;
3. compatibility checks;
4. final selection;
5. rejected alternative;
6. RAID decision;
7. backup decision;
8. missing-drive troubleshooting path.

A good recommendation can be explained without mentioning a favorite brand.