memory Flashcards
RAM
when a program is loaded from a computers hard disk, it’s data and instructions are loaded into RAM, which is generally much smaller but much faster than a hard disk. when a computer is turned off or subject to a loss of powerF the content of RAM is lost. this means that RAM is volatile. if a computer has more RAM, it will be able to run more applications at the same time
ROM
this means the content cannot be edited or deleted. as such, ROM stores data or instructions that will not need to be updated. ROM will typically store bootstrapping instructions, which tell the computer the initial steps in finding and initialising the operating system when the computer is turned on
virtual memory
if RAM is not large enough to store all of the data and instructions that is required to store, virtual memory may be used. this is when part of the hard disk is used as an extension of RAM, and temporarily given memory addresses as if it were RAM
cache memory
cache memory stores copies of data or instructions from RAM that are accesses very regularly. this means that these data or instructions can be accessed very quickly, although a computers cache memory will usually be very small, measured in kilobytes or megabytes rather than gigabytes
flash memory
flash memory uses electronic chips as storage but, unlike other electronic means of storage, flash memory is non-volatile. flash memory is a portable solid-state memory technology and comes in two main forms- USB drives and memory cards
USB drives
they are frequently used to transfer data between computer systems.
memory cards
they can frequently be used by computer systems; however they are more commonly used to provide storage in devices such as digital cameras, and to expand the storage capacity of tablet computers
memory
computers, during the course of their operation, need to store data. a range of options is available, and the type of storage used will often depend upon the purpose of the data
