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The
memory, otherwise known as RAM, and the hard drive are two separate but equally
important components of the computer. People easily get confused and mix up
these two, so we listed down the basic differences in order for you to understand
how each function in the system.
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RAM |
Hard Drive |
Main Function |
System memory |
Main storage |
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Temporarily
stores programs and data for quick retrieval during processing
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Permanently
stores programs and data
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Physical
Attribute
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In
the form of a thin strip module, consisting of chips mounted onto a small
PCB, and inserted into slots on the motherboard.
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Consists
of stacked metal platters with a mechanical head moving along the
platters, and housed within a rectangular casing
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Storage size
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Typically
in Megabytes, ranges from 128MB to 1024MB (can be up to 64GB for servers)
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Large
volume ranging from 2GB to 100GB (even higher for server platforms)
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Storing Method
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Data
is stored electronically (that is why you need electricity to retain it)
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Data
is stored magnetically, so data is retained in the disk even after the
power is turned off
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Read
and write process is very fast because data is accessed via electrical
impulses
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Read
and write process is about 100 times slower because data is accessed
mechanically via the mechanical head probing the metal plates
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The
changes in the data you are currently working on are dynamically saved
into the memory banks
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The
original file is kept untouched in the disk until you invoke a “save”
request, then it will be overwritten by the new file taken from the RAM
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Data
disappear when computer is restarted or is turned off
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Data do not disappear even when the computer is turned off unless they are
deliberately deleted
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You still can’t tell the difference? Think of it this
way: your RAM is like your work table where you can put things and access them
quite readily to perform a particular task, and your hard drive is like a filing
cabinet where you can store things away after you are done with your task.
So the bigger and wider your work table (RAM) is,
the more space you’ll have to put items on without going into your filing
cabinet (hard drive) more often than necessary, thus saving you a lot of time.
And the number and the size of files you need to keep in storage determines how
big a filing cabinet (hard drive) you should have.
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