Latest Post

Memory

  Memory is one of the functions of the brain that enables to store and remember the past events. Similarly, in Computers the term memory refers to a chip that stores data. It also enables us to retrieve the stored Data. The processor retrieves information stored in the memory for processing Data. The storage capacity of a memory depends on the type of the memory package used.

Types of Memory

Memory can be divided into two types, Volatile memory and non volatile memory. Volatile memory temporarily stores the data. It loses data as soon as the system supply is turned off. Non-volatile memory stores data permanently.It does not lose the data even if the system supply id turned off.
Further, Memory is classified into physical memory, logical memory, virtual memory and flash memory.

Two types of Physical Memory :-

RAM - Stands for Random Access Memory. It is a semiconductor-based memory where the CPU or the other hardware devices can read and write data. It temporarily stores the data and it is a volatile memory.Once the system turns off, it loses the data. As a result, Ram is used as a temporary storage area.
                         Types Of RAM :-

ROM - Stands for Read only Memory. It stores the Data permanently and it is a non volatile memory. It does not lose data even after the system turns off. As a result ROM is a permanent data storage area.

Logical Memory:-
                                 Logical memory enables the user to use large amount of memory to store data.It defines a way to organize the physical memory such as RAM and cache. This enables the operating system to arrange memory into a logical manner such as assigning a logical address. Logical address is a memory location and it is accessed by an application program. The system maps the logical address to real physical storage address.

Virtual Memory :-
                                 Virtual memory is a part of the hard disk which is used as a memory . It has a set of memory addresses and stores the instruction or the data. When the processor executes the instructions it converts the virtual memory addressed into real memory addresses. The main use of the virtual memory is to increase the address space.

Flash Memory :-
                            Flash memory is the high-density device. It is a non volatile memory. It is fast in reading and writing data. This is because it writes data in chunks or blocks. Flash memory is an electrically re-programmable device. The contents from the flash memory are erased in blocks and not in bytes. The block size can range from 256 bytes to 16 kB . Flash Memory can replace hard disk in portable computers. In this context, flash memory is available as pc card that you can plug into the PC MCIA slot.

Cache Memory :-
                                Cache memory is a small and fast memory which is placed between the CPU and RAM.It is accessed at a very high speed than the system memory. As a result, the programs which access the same data or instructions over and over run faster. The cpu does not have to transverse to the main memory to get the data . It will first access the cache to find the data.

SHARE THIS POST

Author: Robin Saxena
I m computer science student and i Interested in cs, c/c++ programming, java, html ,Photography , Music , and generally connecting with others.