Lesson 5

Lesson 5 - Managing Devices

Learning Objectives

·  Connecting plug-and-play devices. 5.1.1

·  Connecting and disconnecting printers. 5.1.2

·  Installing third-party software for devices. 5.1.3

·  Understanding disk types. 5.2.1

·  Understanding storage device types. 5.2.3

·  Understanding storage drive types (basic, primary, extended,
logical, dynamic disk, VHDs). 5.2.4

·  Understanding cloud storage. 5.2.5

·  Understanding local printers. 5.3.1

·  Understanding network printers. 5.3.2

·  Understanding print queues. 5.3.3

·  Understanding print-to-file. 5.3.4

·  Understanding Internet printing. 5.3.5

·  Understanding video. 5.4.1

·  Understanding audio. 5.4.2

·  Understanding infrared input devices. 5.4.3

·  Understanding Device Manager. 5.4.4

Lesson Summary

Know the different types of data storage, and then disk and drive types. Windows 7 supports two primary types of disks: basic and dynamic. Basic disks contain only simple volumes. Dynamic disks can contain simple, spanned, striped, and mirrored volumes.

Basic disks use partitions and logical drives, along with choices of partition styles such as master boot record (MBR) and GUID partition table (GPT). Partition styles determine the number of partitions you are allowed to create along with the size limitations of those partitions.

With dynamic disks, free space on a hard drive is divided into volumes instead of partitions. Dynamic disks are not limited by partition styles as are basic disks. You can configure dynamic disk volumes as simple, spanned, mirrored, striped, or RAID-5.

Disk Management – used to add a new disk or modify the configuration of an installed disk, or convert a disk. This tool is an MMC snap-in. You can typically convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk without losing any data. If you must convert from dynamic to basic, you must delete all volumes first, which deletes the data, so you must back up the data before you begin the conversion. Disk Management is part of Computer Management. It displays information for each disk, such as type, file system, status, and capacity. When you add a brand new drive you must first initialize it.

Spanned Volumes – sometimes known as fill and spill. When one drive becomes full, the system begins writing data to the next drive.

Striped Volumes – is when data is evenly written across multiple disks, up to 32 drives. This is sometimes called RAID 0. There is no redundancy; if one drive fails all data is lost. This can also be stated as there is no fault tolerance.

Mirrored Volumes – is when multiple drives are used for keep exact copies of the data on each drive. This makes the drive fault tolerant. If one drive fails, the system will continue to function using the other drive. This is sometimes called RAID 1.

RAID 5 – Data is written across three or more drives using parity. In the event of a drive failure, the data can be reconstructed once the drive is replaced. This system is said to be fault tolerant.

Be familiar with the following drive types and their relative speed and power needs:

USB and USB 2.0

IEEE 1394 (FireWire)

eSATA

iSCSI

Cloud storage is remote data storage with backups but can also include application hosting. You can use applications like Microsoft Word and Outlook, along with many other applications, over the Internet. Client machines can run applications from the cloud and access data; in fact, they can maintain complete control of their data and security.

Windows Live SkyDrive – now called OneDrive, allows you to sync files between computers. The files are available on line and can be opened in an online version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint or One Note.

Windows Live Mesh – is a technology that has now been rolled into the Skydrive application. One main function of this program was provide remote access to files/folders on computers that Live Mesh was installed on.

Printing devices can be local or networked; they are also available over the Internet. A local printer is connected directly to your computer via a cable, such as serial, parallel, USB, infrared, or other port type. In class we learned that a better definition was that the print spooler was used on your computer if it was a locally installed printer. A network printer generally has a network adapter and is connected to a network. The printer receives an IP address and is a node on the network much like a networked computer. It is a network install if the print spooler is managed on a different computer other than your own.

You can perform most printer support from the Devices and Printers applet where you can add both a local and a networked printer. Collation is a term that refers to the printing of all pages of a document before starting to print the next copy of the document.

Printer properties is where you can set permissions for a printer. These permissions include Printing, Manage Documents & Manage Printer. Typically all users will have the Printing permissions, while managers would have the Manage Documents permission to allow deletion or arranging priorities in printing of documents.

Print-to-file is used when you want to share an electronic copy with someone that does not have the program in order to open and print it. A user can take the file and print to their printer.

Internet Printing gives uses the ability to print over the Internet. It requires Windows Server 2008 R2 with a web site hosted by Internet Information Services (IIS) using the Internet Printing role service. Clients can then use a Web browser to connect and print to shared printers on the server using the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). Users must have the Internet Printing Client enabled on their computers to use IPP.

Device Manager displays a list of all devices currently installed on the computer and their status. Not just anyone can open Device Manager—you must be an administrator or have administrative credentials to offer when the UAC prompts for them. Most devices use plug-and-play (PnP) where they install automatically as long as the PnP device is plugged into your computer and powered on (if the device requires power, like a printer). A USB flash drive is the most common example of PnP. In device manager you can disable devices and uninstall devices (know the difference). Double clicking a device will bring up the Properties dialog box. On the Driver Tab you can update drivers as well as roll back drivers.

Case Scenarios

Scenario 5-1: Ensuring Availability

Sheila, a programmer in your company, is developing an application for an important client. Her computer runs Windows 7, and she has a second disk installed that is currently not being used. What are some things you can do to ensure that her system is highly available?

Scenario 5-2: Troubleshooting a Printer Driver

Axel runs the warehouse for Mighty Bubbles Beer Distributor. He called you to report that the new wireless laser jet printer he recently purchased does not work. He connected it to the USB port on his computer running Windows 7 Professional and turned on the printer, but the printer does not appear in the Devices and Printers window. How should you advise Axel to help troubleshoot the problem?

Scenario 5-3: Providing Redundancy on a Client Computer

You provide support for a commercial bioengineering lab. Mizuki is a chemist at the lab, and she recently inherited a computer from the IT department that has two large hard disks and runs Windows 7 Ultimate. One hard disk provides ample disk space for her programs and data files, but she would like to use the other disk for redundancy to better protect her system and files. What should you do to provide the redundancy on her client computer?

What should you do to help the sales and marketing employees work more efficiently?

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