MEMORY OR PRIMARY STORAGE

Purpose of Storage

The fundamental components of a general-purpose computer are arithmetic and logic unit, control circuitry, storage space, and input/output devices. If storage was removed, the device we had would be a simple calculator instead of a computer. The ability to store instructions that form a computer program, and the information that the instructions manipulate is what makes stored program architecture computers versatile.

Primary Storage

Primary storage is directly connected to the central processing unit of the computer. It must be present for the CPU to function correctly, just as in a biological analogy the lungs must be present (for oxygen storage) for the heart to function (to pump and oxygenate the blood). As shown in the diagram, primary storage typically consists of three kinds of storage:

Processors Register

It is the internal to the central processing unit. Registers contain information that the arithmetic and logic unit needs to carry out the current instruction. They are technically the fastest of all forms of computer storage.

Main memory

It contains the programs that are currently being run and the data the programs are operating on. The arithmetic and logic unit can very quickly transfer information between a processor register and locations in main storage, also known as a "memory addresses". In modern computers, electronic solid-state random access memory is used for main storage, and is directly connected to the CPU via a "memory bus" and a "data bus".

Cache memory

It is a special type of internal memory used by many central processing units to increase their performance or "throughput". Some of the information in the main memory is duplicated in the cache memory, which is slightly slower but of much greater capacity than the processor registers, and faster but much smaller than main memory.

Memory

Memory is often used as a shorter synonym for Random Access Memory (RAM). This kind of memory is located on one or more microchips that are physically close to the microprocessor in your computer. Most desktop and notebook computers sold today include at least 512 megabytes of RAM (which is really the minimum to be able to install an operating system). They are upgradeable, so you can add more when your computer runs really slowly.

The more RAM you have, the less frequently the computer has to access instructions and data from the more slowly accessed hard disk form of storage. Memory should be distinguished from storage, or the physical medium that holds the much larger amounts of data that won't fit into RAM and may not be immediately needed there.

Storage devices include hard disks, floppy disks, CDROMs, and tape backup systems. The terms auxiliary storage, auxiliary memory, and secondary memory have also been used for this kind of data repository.

RAM is temporary memory and is erased when you turn off your computer, so remember to save your work to a permanent form of storage space like those mentioned above before exiting programs or turning off your computer.