220-1201 Practice Question: A technician is troubleshooting a desktop that…

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Enable write caching on the SSD in Device Manager.

  Why it's wrong here

  Write caching is typically enabled by default for SSDs to improve performance by buffering write operations. Attempting to "enable" it when it's already active will have no effect on disk space or performance. Furthermore, write caching does not free up any disk space; it merely optimizes how data is written, making it irrelevant for resolving issues stemming from a nearly full drive and its associated performance degradation.

• ✓

  Move the user's Documents, Pictures, and other personal folders to the D: drive.

  Why this is correct

  Moving large personal data folders like Documents and Pictures to a secondary D: drive significantly frees up valuable space on the primary C: drive SSD. This action is crucial because SSDs require a substantial amount of free space to efficiently perform essential background operations such as wear leveling and garbage collection. By providing more available blocks, the SSD's controller can better manage data distribution, prevent premature cell degradation, and restore optimal write performance, which degrades severely when the drive is nearly full.

• ✗

  Defragment the C: drive to consolidate free space.

  Why it's wrong here

  Defragmenting an SSD is counterproductive and can actually reduce its lifespan due to unnecessary write cycles. Unlike HDDs, SSDs do not suffer from performance degradation due to file fragmentation because they have near-instantaneous access times regardless of data location. Modern operating systems use the TRIM command to optimize SSD performance by informing the drive which data blocks are no longer in use, allowing for efficient garbage collection, rather than physically rearranging data. Defragmentation does not free up space; it only rearranges existing data.

• ✗

  Disable the page file on the C: drive.

  Why it's wrong here

  Disabling the page file (also known as the swap file) on the C: drive would indeed free up a noticeable amount of space, as it can be several gigabytes in size. However, the page file is critical for system stability, acting as virtual memory by offloading less-used data from RAM to disk. Disabling it, especially on systems with limited RAM or under heavy load, significantly increases the risk of "out of memory" errors, application crashes, and overall system instability, making it an ill-advised solution for a nearly full drive.

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