What is Computer “Memory”?
July 13th, 2005
I’ve been working in the computer industry for almost 20 years
now. During that time, I’ve heard a number of my less-technical
friends and co-workers tell me that they’re “running out of
memory” on their computer. After I ask a few questions about
what they mean, it’s clear to me that they don’t understand the
difference between “memory” and “disk space”.
If they were to ask a salesperson at a computer store to sell them some
“memory” for their computer, they might get some very
expensive hardware that wouldn’t solve the real problem. Just so
that this doesn’t happen to you, I thought I might give you a few
different explanations of what “memory” and “disk
space” really are, so that you know what to ask for and why.