Introduction to Computer Storage.
By Matt Western

In this article I will give you a quick explanation of the different forms of storage used within a computer and try to clear up some of the terminology used to describe the different types of memory.

Firstly, what do I mean by storage?

When using the term storage in relation to computers it refers to the computers ability to save or store data.

So what do I mean by data?

Data is just about anything. It can be a web page you have looked at, a letter you have written, a picture you have drawn, an image you have viewed, programs you have downloaded even a song you have heard.

In this article the term data means anything you can save onto your computer.

There are two types of ways a computer stores data.

Static and dynamic.

Static data storage refers to what the data has been stored on. Static data storage refers to things such as:

- Floppy disks
- Hard disks
- CD ROM's
- DVD's
- Flash memory
- ROM's (Read Only Memory)

The term static means a form of storage that wont lose its' contents when the power is turned off.

Dynamic data storage is the opposite of static storage. Dynamic data storage devices lose their contents when the power is turned off.

Dynamic storage devices mostly consist of integrated circuits (IC's) and the most common of these is RAM (Random Access Memory).

In a PC, RAM is the component used by the programs running on your PC to briefly store and manipulate the information the programs are using.

In the PC world, RAM is also commonly called memory.

As RAM does not hold what is stored inside it when power is removed from it, or turned off, you can sometimes corrupt or destroy your programs, your data and even your PC.

As I mentioned, RAM is used by the programs running on your PC, to temporarily store and manipulate the information being used by the program.

Let's say a portion of a program running on your PC has three steps it must undertake to complete a function. As each step is completed, it writes the answer back to the hard disk drive for it to be stored and for the program to continue on.

Let's say the first step is completed and written to the hard disk. And then all of a sudden during the second step, the power is turned off to your PC.

You now have a program that has a partially incomplete function. This problem may stop the program from working properly. You may have to re install the program.

If the program was working out an answer to a problem for you, you may need to re-run the problem through the program again.

This is why it is important to shut down your PC and programs properly.

Storage Capacities. KB's MB's and GB's?

Both static and dynamic storage is measured in a unit of measurement known as a byte.

A byte is a measurement of electronic bits.

A bit is the basic measurement of storage within an electronic storage device. A bit is either a 1 or a 0. It's on or off, it's written or not written. A bit is a single unit measurement.

A byte consists of 8 bits and in the good old days, microprocessors (CPU's) used to run as 8 bit devices (in the very old days they started out with even less bits than that!) and so therefore a de-facto standard of data storage measurement came about. The byte.

Nowadays microprocessors run as 32 and 64 bit devices, however the standard of an 8-bit byte is still used to measure electronic storage.

1 byte of RAM is useless so manufacturers starting building RAM that had much larger capacities.

Here's a quick and easy table that may help clear a few things up?

1 Kilobyte (1KB) = 1000 bytes
1 Megabyte (1MB) = 1000,000 bytes
1 Gigabyte (1GB) = 1000,000,000 bytes
1 Terabyte (1TB) = 1000,000,000,000 bytes

The terms bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes and others are used to define the storage capacity of an electronic storage device be it static or dynamic.

What's the Difference between Memory and Space?

You may hear the terms memory and space used when people describe various aspects of their computers.

Generally the term 'space' is used when describing the storage capacity of a hard drive.

For example, "My hard drive has 20 gigabytes of free space available"

People tend to use the word space because a hard drives storage limits can easily be checked by using programs such as Windows Explorer.

These programs allow people to easily identify how much available 'space' their hard drive has remaining.

The term 'memory' is used when referencing a computers memory (bet you didn't guess that).

Generally you won't hear people talking about how much free or available space their PC has in its' memory. People tend not to worry too much about how much free memory their PC has.

This could be due to the fact that it is pretty much out of your hands as to what your PC's memory is being used for and what it's not being used for.

The operating system takes care of all that for you so you don't have to worry about it. Normally people will only mention how much total memory their PC contains.

So what has Greater Capacity, a Static or Dynamic Device?

Static devices, in particular hard drives, have greater storage space. This is mostly due to hard drives being physically larger devices.

What is Quicker a Static or Dynamic Device?

Dynamic devices are much faster. RAM can be accessed in nano seconds or in 1 billionths of a second. This is the reason programs that run on your PC use RAM. They use to momentarily store and manipulate data. RAM can be ready to be accessed again before the running program will be ready to return to it.

Storage

A computer has several different ways it can store information.

It can save it to a floppy disc, to a hard drive, to a CD ROM, to a DVD as well as several other means and places.

I guess computer storage can be broken down into two types, short term and long term.

Short term memory would include dynamic devices like RAM. These devices lose their contents once power is turned off.

Long term memory contains static devices like hard disk drives, CD ROM's and floppy disks.

So

I hope you have found this article useful. I hope you now have a better understanding of computer storage, bits and bytes, static and dynamic and kilobytes and gigabytes.

Article © Matt Western - deTechnify.com

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Matt Western has been working in the electronics and IT areas since 1983. These days he heads up deTechnify.com a web site aimed at clearing away the technical haze surrounding computers computing and the internet.
You can contact Matt via http://www.detechnify.com