Storage Devices

Storage devices - One would think this is pretty simple.

A refrigerator is a food storage device...the main part is short-term and the freezer is long(er)-term storage.

Or your closet is a clothing storage device. Everyday wear is handy.

Out of season wear goes to the back.....long term storage. Right?

     WRONG!!

In computers, short term means:

ONLY AS LONG AS THE COMPUTER IS ON.

It's as if you closed the refrigerator door and the next time you open it, all the food is gone! You must SAVE your work into long term storage before you turn your computer off!!! Short-term is usable right now and is extremely important to the functioning of your computer. But it's like short-term memory....in one ear and out the other; unless you make an effort to remember something, it is gone!

Short-term storage (also known as primary storage) is called RAM and is in the form of chips plugged in to the Mainboard. It is what the CPU uses to actually perform work. RAM is measured in bytes.

The size and type of programs you can run, the number and resolution of colors you can display, the speed at which your screen display text and pictures are all dependent on the amount of short-term memory or RAM you have.

Long term (or secondary) storage devices can include:

  • hard drives
  • floppy drives,
  • CD-ROMS,
  • tape back-up drives,
  • ZIP drives and more.

Your hard drive is built-in to your motherboard;
your floppy drive is usually built into theBIG BOX, as is the CD-ROM.
Tape Drives and Zip drives are available as add-ons.

The standard storage device was once the 5 1/4" floppy disk but those have been replaced by the 3 1/2" diskette. Diskettes are easy to handle and to store. They are available in a variety of configurations double-sided, double-density, double sided+double density, etc. so you can store a variety of file sizes on them. Any work that is important and which is saved to your hard drive should have a backup copy for safe keeping. Until you've had a computer crash, you never really know how much of the "stuff" on your computer is valuable or not! So if in doubt, back it up!

Most large programs now come on CD-ROM's which are "Read Only", that is, you cannot write anything on them which is good.....you don't need to be writing over your operating system, for example. CDRW's are available which are Readable and Writable and are extremely useful for making backup copies of your programs.

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