Part 2. System Memory & Hard Drives
Memory. What is it? What does it do? Well, if you think about it it's pretty much self explanatory but more often is the case I hear people confuse memory with the hard drive. I can see why though because both the memory and hard drive store data but they are completely different components with different roles.
The hard drive is plugged into the
motherboard via a cable and is used to store all your
personal files like photos, videos and music. Every
program you use including the operating system is
stored on the hard drive. They come in various sizes
(as in storage space) and you can have more than one
hard drive installed. The more files you have, the
bigger the hard drive you will need but hard drives are
cheap today so there's no excuses for running out of
space :)
Hard drive space is measured in bytes and is not difficult to understand as it's the same as any other method of measurement. Length for example has millimetre (mm), centimetre (cm), metre (m) and so on. In computers its bytes (b), kilobyte (kb), megabyte (mb), gigabyte (gb), terabyte (tb).
To save complicating the subject we will assume there's 1000 parts to each size because in reality there are 1024 parts but we round it off to the 1000 mark to make calculation easier.
1000b = 1kb | 1000kb = 1mb | 1000mb = 1gb | 1000gb = 1tb
System memory is plugged into the motherboard just like any other component and is used by all other components to store sequences of instructions so that when those components need the information, they have quick access to it.
It can be thought of as a giant warehouse where there are thousands of boxes all stored in columns and rows waiting until further notice. When we buy something online an instruction would be sent to that warehouse. A forklift would find our item, take it off the shelf and load it into a van. The van would then deliver the goods to our home. This is basically how memory works.
The memory is a very important part of your computer and its performance can be seen especially if its struggling to cope with the demand. Because each component passes its instruction to the memory, the speed and size of the memory determines the overall speed of you pc. Let me explain further.
Size matters
Your computer's memory is constantly being bombarded with instructions from other components. These instructions need to be stored until called upon and just like the warehouse, the memory needs space. If the memory does not have enough space it will simply slow down to a point where the computer freezes or becomes sluggish. Speed will also have an effect as to how quick the memory can effectively do its job thus achieving a better overall performance.
This is why memory is the best upgrade for any computer. It gives the best overall performance boost that will keep the system running optimally. Contact us or call 01495 360156 for more information about upgrading.
So to re-cap what is the difference between the system memory and the hard drive? The hard drive stores your personal data and the system memory stores your components data.