What is the difference between memory and hard drive?

Answer 1

Memory is like your thoughts... for RAM when you shut the computer down.. all is gone...

Your Hard drive is what you write to, keep applications, documents, games, pictures on... oh and of course the Operating system.. what is written on the hard drive is there until you delete it.. or until you have a hard drive crash... which ever comes first... ;>)

Answer 2

Like all have mentioned harddrives are for saving data, the OS, and applications. And Memory holding temporary data.
However if your looking for performance here are couple good things to know.

Laptops..ALWAYS buy a 7200 RPM harddrive instead of 5400 RPM.

Laptops.. ALWAYS buy aftermarket Memory from a site like newegg.com instead of spending 100's of dollars more from Apple or Dell. They rip you off.

If your buying a Desktop or you have one, check if you have a Raid Controller. Raid controllers help bind several harddrives together in different arrays. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100110)

In addition to all those, in the not so distant future Solid State Drives will will come out in Desktops. They are made up of the same chips as "Memory aka Ram", yet they hold 32GB of space like a normal Hard drive. The difference is, the bandwidth (I/O) is MUCH faster with solid state memory because there is no moving parts. They also use less electric as well.

Answer 3

Hard drives record information by magnetizing a magnetic material in a pattern that represents the data. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of the material. A typical hard disk drive design consists of a spindle which holds one or more flat circular disks called platters, onto which the data is recorded. The platters are made from a non-magnetic material, usually glass or aluminum, and are coated with a thin layer of magnetic material.

Memory is a common part of most operating systems on desktop computers. It has become so common because it provides a big benefit for users at a very low cost.

RAM is serial access memory (SAM). SAM stores data as a series of memory cells that can only be accessed sequentially (like a cassette tape). If the data is not in the current location, each memory cell is checked until the needed data is found.

Answer 4

A hard drive holds the permanent data on your computer (i.e.: games , files , programs), while the memory (ram) stores the instructions you give the computer during each session. hence your computer running slower the longer you leave it on without restarting

Answer 5

The Memory, or RAM, is used to store temporary information by programs that are currently running... It is cleared everytime you close the program and restart Windows.

The Hard Drive stores 'permanent' data... like, pictures you saved, or music you download, and Windows itself. It has a much higher capacity than RAM.

Answer 6

Hard drive is permanent. Memory is lost once you turn off the power.