Bits'n'Bytes

As heard on CJCD

Episode 2

Good morning, and welcome to this week's installment of Bits 'n' Bytes - brought to you by Bowco Computer Services.

When people call to get work done on their computer, one of the questions I ask is “How much memory is in your system?” Often, I am told 80 Gigabytes or another pretty high number.. Well, you’re close.
In non-computer geek terms, there are two types of memory. Disk memory - usually measured in gigabytes, and chip memory, or RAM - usually measured in megabytes. Disk memory is really storage capacity - it’s a measure of how much total data (used or unused) your computer can store on it’s hard drive. Chip memory is where the CPU (or the brain of the computer) keeps the stuff it’s used in the last minute or two - so it can get it back faster if it needs to use it again.

Think of disk memory as a huge filing cabinet, and chip memory as the top of your desk. Everything you’re using right now is on your desk. Stuff you’re not dealing with right now stays in the filing cabinet. If you have a really big desk, (the same as having lots of RAM) you can work on a lot of stuff at once.

It’s only every now and then you’ll have to get up, go over to the huge filing cabinet (your disk storage) to look for stuff you need now. Since at that time, you desk must be full, you also have to decide what you don’t need right now, and put it away - taking even more time. So, having more RAM, or chip space, is a good thing. Some computers can now have even one or two gigabytes of RAM, but most only have about 512 megabytes. Hard drive space (disk memory) is getting closer to 500 gigabytes. If you remember last week’s installment, that means there are three more zeroes on disk space than on chip space.

I'm Computer Dave, thanks for your time.