Good morning, today Sean and myself will be discussing the topic of storage with you. There are many different types of storage but we will focus on some of the more common and important kinds.
Firstly, why do we need storage? Imagine a world like the one on the left where we had to keep every piece of paper ever used, that would take up a lot of space as well as being highly unlikely to be well organized. This is where computer storage comes in to play, keeping hundreds of files in a compact and organized environment.
RAM, or random access memory, is the memory that computers use to perform tasks we ask them to. It is the primary source of storage but requires power to be used and so can only be used once start up has been completed. Now I know that this picture is not what you would expect, but I bet it will help you remember the term for the exam!
RAM plays a big role in a computers performance. The more complex the computer and the operations being requested, the more RAM is required to be run. If a computer has too little RAM, ie less than 1gigabyte in many of today’s computers, then it will likely cause the computer to respond slowly. Most computers have between 1 and 4 gigabytes.
In today’s developed age of high resolution computer graphics and computer games, computers are working to keep up with the ever advancing demand for better displays. Video RAM or VRAM, is used to store pictures in an effort to try and help speed up process of accessing them on demand, thus allowing for better and faster viewing pleasure.
As you can see, there is a very big difference between the screen pictures on the left compared to that of the right. VRAM takes the data that is to be displayed after being access from the RAM, and converts it into signals that are sent to the display to be shown. Without this buffer, the display may lag behind or not be as efficient as it currently is.
ROM, or read only memory, is the memory in a computer for data that never changes. Imagine a book, that will be our data, and a pair of glasses that without them it is impossible to read the book, the glasses will be our ROM. We can access the data through the use of the glasses but we can in no way ever change what is said in the book by doing so. This metaphor relates to the data stored in ROM format.
ROM is used when starting a computer as it does not need full power, as mentioned earlier, just the opposite of RAM. It is used for the types of data that never changes and can’t be changed because this type of storage is fixed and will not be lost if there is a loss of power.
One can equate the permanence of ROM to long term memories. In the period of sleep we go through at night when the day’s memories are written into our long term memory, that is the same as when turning off a computer, the activities and other data of that bit of computer use is written into fixed memory
These two very different types of storage must work together perfectly to create ultimate efficiency. If one aspect fails, both sides fail and so they must be intertwined perfectly. I now turn the presentation over to my colleague Sean, who will continue to explain further types of storage and their uses.
