Management Information System (MIS) Practice Exam

A(n) ________ occurs if a read/write head for some reason touches one of the disks in a hard drive, leading to a loss of data.

1. head crash

2. click of death

3. bad sector

4. disk compression

The correct answer is: head crash

A head crash occurs when the read/write head of a hard drive makes contact with the disk platters, which can lead to physical damage on the disk surface and result in a loss of data. In normal operation, the read/write head hovers just above the surface of the spinning disks; any contact can disrupt this delicate balance and cause scratches or other forms of damage. This scenario can result in data becoming corrupted or permanently lost, highlighting the critical importance of proper functioning and maintenance of hard drives. The other terms mentioned, while related to hard drive issues, do not describe this specific situation. The "click of death" refers to a series of clicking sounds produced by a malfunctioning hard drive, often indicative of internal mechanical failure, but it does not specifically refer to contact between the read/write head and the disk. Bad sectors are areas of the disk that are unreadable, which can result from various types of damage, but they do not necessarily imply that a head crash has occurred. Disk compression relates to reducing the size of data on a disk, which is unrelated to the physical mechanics of hard drives and data loss.