Whats the difference between memory and storage?
People often confuse the terms memory and storage, especially when describing the amount they have of each. The term memory refers to the amount of RAM installed in the computer, whereas the term storage refers to the capacity of the computer’s hard disk. RAM is only active when the computer is operating properly. Information stored on the hard drive, on the other hand, remains intact whether the computer is running or not. This is why it is important to save your work often, so that if the computer crashes, or if power is interrupted and your computer suddenly shuts off, you only lose what you’ve done since you last saved.
AImagine going to work and pulling from a filing cabinet all the files that you will need to work with that day. You spread all your files out onto the top of your desk. From your desktop, you read them, make changes to them, rename them, etc. You may create some new files on your desk. You retrieve other files as you need them from your filing cabinet and lay them onto your desk. When you’re done working on your files, you place all of them back into your filing cabinet, leaving the surface of your desk clean. Your filing cabinet is storage. Your desk top is memory. A computer uses hard disk drives for storage and RAM for memory. When you start your computer, it copies the files it needs in order to run your programs from the hard disk to memory, where it can work with them much much faster. When you shut the computer down, everything is moved from memory back to the hard drive for keeping.
