When someone says their computer is low on memory… what exactly do they mean? Are they running out of space to save files, or is the computer running slow?
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF MEMORY THAT PEOPLE GENERALLY REFER TO. Explained here so you can understand the differences:
System RAM (Random Access Memory) – this is generally in the range of 256 megabytes to 8 gigabytes on recent systems. This is where programs reside and run from WHILE THE COMPUTER IS RUNNING. When you shut it down, it gets cleared – temporary usage, so to speak. For example, when you open a photo editing program and work on an image, it is stored in RAM and finally saved to the Hard Drive when you are done working on it so it can be available later when you need it.
Hard Drive Space – this is generally 40 gigabytes and up – recently into the range of terabytes of storage. This is where your files are written to and read from. This storage is SAVED EVEN WHEN THE COMPUTER IS OFF. For example, you download 100 music files and save them. These get written to your Hard Drive, not system memory.
Next Post: We’ll talk about what makes Hibernate and Standby different from each other – it really does matter which one you use!
November 9, 2009 at 7:18 am |
yeah, that will be great post ^_^… i learned something new though reading up in here … ehehe thanks anyway for the information