Will SD Memory cards act as Ram on a laptop? Thanks?

Question

Will SD Memory cards or Memory Sticks act as RAM on a laptop or just regular space? I have 1GB of ram on my laptop and I wanted to know if I could easily upgrade it to 2GB. Thanks.

Answer 1

They will just act as regular space, and only so if you have a reader for them (internal or external) for your computer. They are much too slow to act as RAM. This is why your computer's ram will be more expensive as it can be around 100 times as fast as SD memory. Also, SD Memory cards are a type of flash memory which is non-volatile. This means that when power is removed, the data stays intact. RAM in your computer is volatile memory. Whatever is in it disappers when the power does.

Also, another answerer mentioned virtual memory. You want to avoid virtual memory as much as you can for speed reasons primarily. Most computers dip into your free hard drive space to make up for RAM you don't have. You've probably already noticed this if you're running so many RAM intensive applications that you need to upgrade beyond 1Gb of RAM and the slowdown of your system is very noticeable. Modern hard drives are faster than they used to be and can transfer data about 10 times as fast as flash memory. Using flash memory for virtual memory would be a bad idea if you value the performance of your system.

Answer 2

I don't think so. You might be able to use it as virtual memory which, as I understand it, works the same as RAM. I know you can change the size of the paging file Windows uses on your hard drive, but I'm not sure about an SD card. If you want to give it a shot, here's how.

Go to "Control Panel" then open up the "System" icon. Click on the "Advanced" heading, then click on "Settings" under the Performance heading. Click the "Advanced" tab in the window that comes up, then click "Change" under the Virtual Memory heading. If your SD card shows up as a removable disk, then you ought to be able to devote the entire thing as a paging file. Hope it works out for you!

Answer 3

First, they will only work as storage for data but you would have to get a card reader that has the ability to read the SD card and the Memory stick. BTW you can also use a USB thumb drive to hold those extra files and music.

Second, look in the book that came with your laptop and see if it tells you how to upgrade memory on your own and see if it tells you what kind of memory you need to buy.

Third, go to this site and see if they can help you with your memory needs...

http://www.kingston.com/

Fourth, you may just need to go back to the place you bought the laptop and have them upgrade it for you.

Hope this helps you!

Answer 4

They do not act as RAM. They are just space for you to store files folder pictures etc. RAM is short for random access memory which your computer uses for quick memory storage and reaccessing when it needs it.