Memory

To understand storage systems and data sizes in computers, it is important to learn more about memory first.

Computers have two kinds of memories; volatile and non-volatile. Volatile memory is a temporary memory that loses content after a computer restarts.

1. RAM (Random Access Memory) is an example of this type of memory. All your unsaved data gets stored on RAM, which is temporary, and thus, in case of any issues, you lose all this data.

2. Non-volatile memory is permanent. ROM is an example of non-volatile memory, which stores programs related to computer boot etc.

Data stored in these memories is limited. A RAM (as of this writing) commonly has a size of around 4GB to 8GB, and a ROM ranges from 4MB to 8MB. Let's learn about what these sizes mean in the next section.