Section 1.3 Memory

Question 1

What are the 3 distinct groups of memory and storage?

Answer 1

• primary memory
• secondary storage
• off-line storage

Question 2

What is RAM?

Answer 2

Random access memory, is used as the computers main memory.

Question 3

What is the main purpose of RAM?

Answer 3

To act as a temporary storage for programs and data while the program is being executed, the main memory.

Question 4

What is virtual memory?

Answer 4

When there isn’t enough space in the main memory the HHD or SSD can be changed to virtual memory, this behaves like main memory but is slightly slower so isn’t ideal.

Question 5

What is volatility?

Answer 5

RAM is volatile. This means it’s erased when the computer turns off. HDD and SSD are non-volatile memory.

Question 6

Where are programs stored?

Answer 6

They are stored on the HDD or SSD but need to be copied into the RAM to run.

Question 7

What is the bootstrap loader?

Answer 7

A small program that loads the operating system.

Question 8

What is ROM?

Answer 8

Read only memory. You can’t write over its contents and is non-volatile.

Question 9

Differences between RAM and ROM.

Answer 9

RAM:
•volatile
•stores the parts of the OS that are currently in use
•memory can be written to and read from

ROM
•non-volatile
•used to store bootstrap loader
•memory can only be read from