JERSHEL.com BLOG

Over the years, I have serviced thousands of computers and servers, and in some cases by extension, provided associated training for end users. One of the most common things that people seem to misunderstand is memory (RAM) vs storage (hard drive). Then there is the CPU, and how everything interoperates. Over the years, I have come up with an image scenario which hopefully will illustrate how everything works. I got this idea after watching my then grade 3 son pack his homework away after a night of last minute cramming for a quiz or something.

So think of a computer like a person carrying a backpack. When it starts up, the person is going through his/her backpack, reading certain books, committing the facts to memory. I realize this illustration falls short in many ways, but bear with me here. So one’s brain obviously is the means by which to process the information. So let’s say the person has amnesia everytime he/she sleeps or hits their head on something.   When they come to, they open their backpack and there are a ton of books in there. The backpack represents the hard drive. The bigger the hard drive, the more it stores. But accessing the hard drive is done by opening the backpack, finding the book, and reading the information. Let’s say one book is about the 2005 NHL draft. Sidney Crosby, I believe, went #1 in that draft. Then you read who went #2 - #10. You then put the book away. Then you read a book about how a town like Cambridge, Ontario is used as a backdrop for movies. You then put it away. And you then get a book about how to lose weight like Jonathan Bailor’s excellent “The Calorie Myth” (I lost 40 lbs in 3.5 months by reading and following the suggestions in there), and you put it away. And so forth. If you have a really good memory, you would retain more information. If you have a very quick brain, you can process the information more efficiently.

 You then go to work and someone asks you about the 2005 NHL draft. Well, in this case, since you have that information already committed to memory, the recall of these facts are lightning quick. Such is the case of RAM, or random access memory. It is measured in nanoseconds. Accessing that backpack (hard drive) is measured in milliseconds. The makeup and power of your brain depends on its ability to receive information concurrently, organize it in a certain way, etc. That is your CPU. Hence, if you have more RAM in your computer, the less time it takes to access the hard drive. Which means quicker load times.

 Now, RAM is volatile which means it is not permanent. So every time you shut down your PC, anything not saved to the hard drive is gone. Think of it in my illustration of being bonked in the head with a frying pan. That is essentially what a reboot is. Once you come to, you go back in your backpack to get information and the process begins again.

 Yes, I do realize this illustration has many shortcomings, but it gives you the general idea of how your computer works. Of course, this does not discuss things like power supplies, network cards, video cards, etc. That is another discussion for another day.