Page 40 - gyamfi series vol. 2

INFORMATION AND COMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY GYAMFI SERIES
• Primary storage device
• Secondary storage device

PRIMARY STORAGE DEVICE:

The primary storage device is a volatile memory of the system. This is the fastest memory storage of
the system but when the power is switched off all the data inside that will be lost. The primary storage
device can also be called as the Random Access Memory (RAM). The RAM is a volatile memory. In
the volatile memory if a data is present it will be erased when the power is switched off. We cannot
store anything permanently in the volatile memory or the primary memory. The primary memory is
basically used for accessing the data with the great speed. There are two types of Random Access
Memory. They are

• Static RAM (SRAM)

• Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

The static and the Dynamic RAM can also be told as the generations of the RAM. Based on the speed
of the primary storage device the data accessing speed is calculated.

The Primary memory and the secondary memory are associated with each other. The primary memory
access the data and take it to the secondary memory for the permanent storage. If in case there is any
need for the data retrieval in the future then the primary memory takes the data and gives it to the user.
Primary memory also helps in performing modification to the data that is being accessed.

SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE:
THE SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICES CAN ALSO BE TOLD AS THE PERMANENT STORAGE DEVICE
BECAUSE THE DATA THAT ARE STORED INSIDE IT ARE NOT DELETED OR ERASED WHEN THE
POWER IS SWITCHED OFF. THIS CAN ALSO BE SAID THAT THE SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE IS
THE NON-VOLATILE MEMORY ELEMENT. WHENEVER IT IS NECESSARY FOR US WE CAN RETRIEVE
THE INFORMATION OR THE DATA FROM THE SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICE AND USE IT. EVEN THE
MODIFICATIONS THAT ARE DONE TO THE DATA WILL ALSO BE SAVED IN THE SECONDARY
STORAGE DEVICE.
THERE ARE TWO MAIN CATEGORIES OF STORAGE TECHNOLOGY USED TODAY.
THEY ARE:
A. MAGNETIC STORAGE E.G. DISKETTE, HARD DISK, HIGH CAPACITY,
FLOPPY DISK, CARTRIDGES DISK AND
MAGNETIC TAPES. THE SURFACE OF THESE IS COATED WITH MILLIONS OF
TINY ION PARTICLES WHICH
ALLOW DATA TO BE STORED ON THEM.

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