Administrator Guide

January 2021
Description
Reference
Designator
Volatility Description
User Accessible
for external data
Remedial Action
(Action necessary to
prevent loss of data)
Video memory
– type – see
next column
UMA
architecture-
uses system
memory.
Volatile memory in off state.
UMA uses main system memory size allocated
out of main memory.
No
Enter S3-S5 state below.
SD Memory
Card
User replaceable
Non-volatile magnetic media, various sizes in
GB.
Yes
Low level format.
M.2 Solid
State Disk
User replaceable
Non-volatile magnetic media, various sizes in
GB.
Yes
Low level format.
Hard drive
User replaceable
Non-volatile magnetic media, various sizes in
GB.
Yes
Low level format.
CD-
ROM/RW/
DVD/
DVD+RW/
Diskette
Drives
User replaceable
Non-volatile optical/magnetic media.
Yes
Low level format/erase.
All other components on the motherboard will lose data once power is removed from the system. Primary power loss (Unplug the
power cord and remove the battery) will destroy all user data on the memory (DDR4, 2400/2666MHz). Secondary power loss
(removing the on board coin cell battery) will destroy system data on the system configuration and time-of-day information.
In addition, to clarify memory volatility and data retention in situations where the system is put in different ACPI power states the following is
provided (those ACPI power states are S0, S1, S3, S4 and S5):
S0 state is the working state where the dynamic RAM is maintained and is read/write by the processor.
S1 state is a low wake-up latency sleeping state. In this state, no system context is lost (CPU or chip set) and hardware maintains all
system contexts.
S3 is called “suspend to RAM” state or stand-by mode. In this state the dynamic RAM is maintained. Dell systems will be able to go to S3
if the OS and the peripherals used in the system supports S3 state. Linux and Windows7 support S3 state.
S4 is called “suspend to disk” state or “hibernate” mode. There is no power. In this state, the dynamic RAM is not maintained. If the
system has been commanded to enter S4, the OS will write the system context to a non-volatile storage file and leave appropriate
context markers. When the system is coming back to the working state, a restore file from the non-volatile storage can occur. The
restore file has to be valid. Dell systems will be able to go to S4 if the OS and the peripherals support S4 state. Windows 7 support S4
state.
S5 is the “soft” off state. There is no power. The OS does not save any context to wake up the system. No data will remain in any
component on the system board, i.e. cache or memory. The system will require a complete boot when awakened. Since S5 is the shut off
state, coming out of S5 requires power on which clears all registers.
The following table shows all the states supported by Dell PRECISION 3440 Small Form Factor
Model Number S0 S1 S3 S4 S5
Dell PRECISION 3440 Small Form
Factor
X
X
X
X