Thread: Distinguish among random access memory and Storage

Many computer users curiosity what the dissimilar is among Random Access Memory and memory. A computer functions on 2 major kinds of memory: RAM and memory in the hard drive. The 2 are necessary to common computer process. Random access memory is short-term temporary storage, while hard drive memory is long-term permanent.


A hard drive is the memory capacity of the computer, or the long-term memory. It is sometimes too named "disk space." The storage capacity is commonly measured in Gigabytes and is the place where documents are stored when a user presses the "save" button on most applications. Inner of the hard drive is a metal disk that spins while a head writes the data onto it, much similar to a complicated CD burner.


Random access memory is sometimes named "memory" for short which further complicates the consequence. Random access memory is a computer chip that helps in velocity of the computer that is measured in Megabytes or Gigabyte



depending on the size of the chip. When a user selected to open a document, the computer must put that data somewhere to be capable to access it. It writes the document temporarily to the RAM for simple access. RAM too temporarily saves documents that are recently being functioned on.


A chief difference among RAM and memory on the hard drive is in permanence. Documents saved in RAM are sent to the chip through little electrical charges that are necessary to maintain the documents in tact. If the computer is turned off or crashes, the electrical charges stop and the documents are missed. Hard drive storage is written onto the disk when "save" is pushed, so these documents are not lost in the case of a crash or power loss. It is suggested to save function as it is being written, since all time "save" is pushed, the document is rewritten in its fresh form onto the hard disk.


Another main dissimilarity among RAM and memory on the hard disk is that RAM can be upgraded. Computers have slots on the CPU board to plug RAM chips into. These chips can be simply removed and new ones plugged in. If a user has 32 MB of random access memory in their computer separated among 2 chips, than they have 2 16 MB chips. If they buy two 64 MB chips rather, they can substitute the former ones and have 128 MB of RAM. This small and easy upgrade is relatively inexpensive and can create a vast difference in the velocity and function of a computer.