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3.2.2Utility software

Edexcel GCSE Computer Science (1CP2) · Computers › Software

Practise Utility software. 11 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.

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Quick recall

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State the purpose of backup software.
To copy data so it can be restored if the original is lost.
Give two types of utility software, other than backup software.
Any two from: anti-malware, disk defragmenter, compression software, file repair.

Sample questions

Written for this site in the style of Edexcel exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.

Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) Identify the example of utility software.[1]
  • Word processor
  • Web browser
  • Disk defragmenter
  • Spreadsheet
(b) State the purpose of backup software.[1]
(c) State the purpose of file repair software.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a) Answer: Disk defragmenter
(b) Answer: To copy data so it can be restored if the original is lost.
  • to make copies of files / data so that they can be restored if the originals are lost, damaged or deleted
(c) Answer: To recover corrupted files.
  • to fix / recover files that have become corrupted or damaged
Question 2Medium4 marks
Explain how disk defragmentation software can improve the performance of a magnetic hard disk drive.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: It reunites the scattered fragments of each file into contiguous blocks, so the head moves less and files load faster.
  • over time, as files are saved, deleted and changed, files become split into fragments stored in different places on the disk
  • reading a fragmented file means the read/write head has to move to many different places
  • defragmentation moves the fragments so that the parts of each file are stored together in consecutive (contiguous) blocks
  • free space is also grouped together, so new files are less likely to be fragmented
  • the head moves less, so files can be read and loaded more quickly
Question 3Hard4 marks
A student runs disk defragmentation software on a laptop that has a solid-state drive (SSD).
Explain why this is not a good idea.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: An SSD accesses all locations equally fast, so there is no benefit, and the extra writes wear it out.
  • an SSD has no moving parts / no read/write head that has to move
  • data can be accessed equally quickly wherever it is stored, so fragmentation does not slow access
  • so defragmenting gives little or no improvement in performance
  • defragmentation involves rewriting large amounts of data
  • each cell of an SSD can only be written a limited number of times, so the unnecessary writing shortens the life of the SSD

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