Today's Topic...

Storage and Memory

How is storage different than memory?

Memory, is composed of chips on the motherboard that holds data and instructions while the computer is running. These chips are more commonly referred to as RAM (Random-Access-Memory). Anything stored in RAM is erased when the power is turned off.

Storage, is composed of physical media such as a hard drive or a floppy disk. This kind of media holds data and instructions, applications and the operating system for future use. When information is accessed by the CPU, it transports the information from the hard drive to the RAM and vise-versa. The hard drive is mechanical, where as RAM is entirely electronic, making RAM a faster resourse. The hard drive will hold information when there is no power to it or when it does have power to it.

Both are need for the computer to work properly and the size of each will vary the computers performance.

Wed April 5, 2000
Michael Runnels

---

WebSpawner Page Machine