To refresh your minds, a storage device is any computing hardware that is used for storing, porting and extracting data files and objects. It can hold and store information both temporarily and permanently, and can be internal or external to a computer, server or any similar computing device. Moreover, a storage device may also be known as a storage medium.
Moving on, there are two types of storage devices the primary and the secondary. Primary storage is the memory used when the computer is using the data. For example, when you open Word all the necessary files are loaded from the hard drive to the Primary memory (or RAM) to run the program. Any files you open will also be copied to RAM to be edited, when you save these they will be written back to the hard drive. Primary memory is volatile in nature, the information that is stored in the primary memory cannot be retained when the power is turned off. On the other side, secondary memory is, while secondary memory is nonvolatile. In case of secondary memory, the information can be retrieved even if the power is turned off because the data will not be destructed until and unless the user erases it. Also, the secondary storage devices store any data not currently in use. Even the hard drive in your computer is secondary storage, as programs such as Word or PowerPoint, are stored there when not in use as well as all of your files. Basically when we talk about the data storage devices it is generally assumed to be the secondary memory. The secondary storage devices are usually as follows: hard disk drives – this is the most common type of storage device that is used in almost all the computer systems. The other ones include the floppy disk drives, the CD ROM, and the DVD ROM., and flash memories as well. .
The types of primary devices that we will talk about are the RAM and the ROM. Do any one of you know the differences between them? RAM chips are used to store information of the programs currently running on the computer.
