Information and Types of Memory Used on a Computer.

 Memory 

A memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instructions. Computer memory is the storage space in computer where data is to be processed and instructions required for processing are stored. The memory is divided into large number of small parts. Each part is called cell. Each location or cell has a unique address which varies from zero to memory size minus one.

Memory is Primarily of three types

• Cache Memory.
• Primary Memory.
• Main Memory.
• Secondary Memory.

Cache Memory

Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up CPU. It acts as a buffer between the CPU and main memory. It is used to hold those parts of data and program which are most frequently used by CPU. The parts of data and programs are transferred from disk to cache memory by operating system from where CPU can access them.

Primary Memory/Main Memory

Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which Computer is currently working. It has limited capacity and data gets lost when power is switched off. It is generally made up of semiconductor device. Those memories are not as fast as registers. The data and instructions required to be processed earlier reside in main memory. It is divided into two subcategories RAM and ROM.

Secondary Memory

This type of memory is also known as external memory or non volatile. It is slower than main memory. These are used for storing data / information permanently. CPU directly does not access these memories, instead they are accessed via input/output routines. Contents of secondary memories are first transferred to main memory and then CPU can access it. Eg.. Disk, CD-ROM, DVD etc.

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