Which statement about external hard drives is accurate?

Which statement about external hard drives is accurate?

• A. Store large amounts of data and are portable, but have moving parts that can break
• B. Have no moving parts and are immune to physical damage
• C. Are less portable than USB flash drives
• D. Are always slower and more expensive than SSDs

Answer: (A)

External hard drives are built to store large amounts of data while still being portable enough to carry with you. Their big advantage is capacity—they can hold terabytes of files at a relatively low cost per gigabyte. But they use magnetic disks with spinning platters and moving read/write heads, so there are mechanical parts inside that can wear out or be damaged if the drive is dropped or subjected to a knock. That combination—high storage, portable design, coupled with moving parts that can fail—fits the statement you’re assessing. The claim that they have no moving parts isn’t accurate, since it’s the mechanical components that differentiate them from solid-state drives. Saying they’re less portable than USB flash drives is true in a sense because USB sticks are smaller and lighter, but it’s not the defining trait of external hard drives. And the idea that they are always slower and more expensive than SSDs isn’t correct either, since speed and price depend on the exact models; there are external SSDs that are faster, though HDDs tend to offer more capacity for the cost.

External hard drives are built to store large amounts of data while still being portable enough to carry with you. Their big advantage is capacity—they can hold terabytes of files at a relatively low cost per gigabyte. But they use magnetic disks with spinning platters and moving read/write heads, so there are mechanical parts inside that can wear out or be damaged if the drive is dropped or subjected to a knock. That combination—high storage, portable design, coupled with moving parts that can fail—fits the statement you’re assessing.

The claim that they have no moving parts isn’t accurate, since it’s the mechanical components that differentiate them from solid-state drives. Saying they’re less portable than USB flash drives is true in a sense because USB sticks are smaller and lighter, but it’s not the defining trait of external hard drives. And the idea that they are always slower and more expensive than SSDs isn’t correct either, since speed and price depend on the exact models; there are external SSDs that are faster, though HDDs tend to offer more capacity for the cost.