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220-1102 Practice Question: A technician is configuring a new virtual machine…
A technician is configuring a new virtual machine for a developer. The developer needs to run multiple isolated environments for testing, but the host machine has limited storage space. Which type of virtual disk configuration should the technician use to minimize storage usage while still allowing the VM to grow as needed?
⚠ Common exam trap
The A+ exam often tests the distinction between thin provisioning and dynamic disks, where candidates mistakenly choose 'dynamic disk' because it sounds like it grows, but it is a Windows RAID-like volume manager, not a virtual disk provisioning type.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Thin provisioning
Thin provisioning (Option B) allocates storage on demand, writing only the data blocks that are actually used, which minimizes initial storage consumption while allowing the virtual disk to grow dynamically up to its maximum configured size. This is ideal for the developer's scenario of multiple isolated test environments on a host with limited storage space.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Thick provisioning
Why it's wrong here
Thick provisioning is a virtual disk allocation method where the entire specified disk capacity is immediately reserved and allocated from the host's physical storage at the time of virtual disk creation. This means that if a virtual machine is configured with a 100GB thick-provisioned disk, 100GB of space is consumed on the underlying storage array instantly, regardless of the actual data stored within the VM. While it can offer consistent performance by pre-allocating all necessary blocks, it is highly inefficient for minimizing storage usage as it consumes more space than initially required.
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Thin provisioning
Why this is correct
Thin provisioning is a virtual disk allocation method that allocates storage space on an as-needed basis, allowing the virtual machine's disk to grow incrementally as data is written to it. Initially, only a small amount of physical storage is consumed on the host, with additional blocks being allocated from the storage pool only when the VM actually writes new data. This approach significantly minimizes storage usage by avoiding the pre-allocation of unused space, making it ideal for environments where storage efficiency and oversubscription are critical.
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Fixed-size disk
Why it's wrong here
A fixed-size disk refers to a virtual disk file type that pre-allocates its entire declared capacity on the host's physical storage at the moment of its creation. This behavior is functionally identical to thick provisioning, where the full amount of storage specified for the virtual disk is immediately consumed on the host system, irrespective of the actual data stored inside the virtual machine. Consequently, utilizing a fixed-size disk does not contribute to minimizing storage consumption, as it reserves all potential space upfront.
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Dynamic disk
Why it's wrong here
Dynamic disk is a feature within Microsoft Windows operating systems for managing physical storage volumes, not a virtual disk type or provisioning method for virtual machines on a hypervisor. It allows for advanced disk configurations like spanned, striped, mirrored, or RAID-5 volumes on physical hard drives connected to a Windows server or workstation. This concept is entirely unrelated to how a hypervisor allocates storage for a virtual machine's virtual disk file, making it an incorrect choice for VM storage provisioning.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1202 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1202 exam.