The external storage system is directly connected to the host bus and the disk/CD-ROM drive is connected to the motherboard.

• A. True
• B. Sometimes
• C. Only in certain architectures
• D. False

Answer: (D)

The way storage devices attach to a system is through a controller or interface, not as a direct, bare connection to the host bus. External storage systems sit outside the host and are accessed through a storage controller or a storage network interface (for example, a host bus adapter, Fibre Channel, or iSCSI over Ethernet). The host communicates with the external array via that controller or network path, not by a direct, simple bus link to the host itself. Internal disks and CDRW/DVD drives, on the other hand, are typically connected to the motherboard through appropriate interfaces (IDE, SATA, or a motherboard-connected SAS/SATA controller). So the statement is not correct overall: external storage isn’t directly attached to the host bus, while internal drives are connected to the motherboard through controllers.