Getting Started
By now, we have covered a great deal in the course of this guide. Processor history, motherboard form factors, cases, and connectors are the most important topics thus covered, though an intimate knowledge of all material is desirable. In this guide, we will cover a subject already discussed frequently on PC Mechanic – memory.
First, let’s discuss memory as a whole. What exactly is memory? A simple glance at the Webster dictionary yields “The mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience.” Now, this definition is certainly familiar to us, but in computing, this definition is garbage. First, memory in computing is obviously not a mental faculty, but a physical one. Memory also does not typically retain or recall past experience as well – though, it is possible for memory to retain and recall past information. A typical confusion associated with memory concerns the discerning between RAM and the hard disk drive. Although both RAM and the hard disk drive store data, RAM does not retain data when the electrical charge to it is lost. By comparison, the hard disk drive does. Thus, it would be prudent to observe that the hard disk drive generally matches our conventional definition of memory better than RAM. However, in computing, RAM is typically referred to as “memory” while the hard disk drive is referred to by its name. Be careful not to confuse the two.
Next, it is important to differentiate between the roles of memory and the roles of the hard disk drive in a computer. Given the following information above, try to see if you can determine which of the following might be stored in A) RAM, B) Hard Disk Drive, C) Both
1. The operating system at its current state
2. Your music collection
3. A music file
4. A document
5. Your email correspondence
6. What you are typing in an “Word” Document
7. What you are typing in a web browser
You should recognize that the operating system at its current state would not need to be committed to the hard drive, as the state of the operating system changes every fraction of a second. Therefore, the state of the operating system would only be concerned with RAM. Your music collection is far too large for RAM most likely; and furthermore, there would be no reason to open more than one music file into memory at a time. After all, you are only playing one music file at a time, right? Thus, your music collection would fit nicely only on your hard drive. Now, a music file, on the other hand, might be on your hard drive but it also might be in your RAM because your computer is using it at the moment. A document, in addition, also might be on your RAM or on the hard drive, because any open document is dynamically stored into RAM as you type each individual character, and when you save the document, it is committed to long-term hard drive storage. Your email correspondence is far too large and it is very much unnecessary to have more than a few emails open at a time; so, unless you have opened every single email you have at one time (which you probably do not have enough RAM for in the first place), that correspondence is saved to the hard drive exclusively. The last two, what you are typing at a given moment (whether it be in a Word document or a web browser), are obviously not saved to the hard drive as you type them, as you should know from experience when the power goes out and you lose your work. Thus, what you are typing at a moment is saved only in RAM.
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