I recently picked up a g3 laptop with 512 of ramfor some audio processing on the run. By adding , lets say, a 20 g external hard drive, does that increase my ram to 20.5? Will effect speed (my guess is not)? Or does it simply work like a giant flash drive? Am I just better off using the money towards a more powerful puter.
2007-03-01 02:31:18 · 10 answers · asked by trixterusa 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
You can increase more RAM for more performance gain but not harddrive.
External harddrive is used for data storage only. The labtop is designed to work without having the need for an external hd. By having a external hb you will get additional storage space but not additional performance gain.
2007-03-01 02:39:50 · answer #1 · answered by steve 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
RAM is RAM and only RAM can be RAM ... the size and 'placement' of your 'hard drive' is up to you ... that is your basic 'memory' for things that don't have to be in RAM, and everything can be on a 'hard drive disk' ... including your OS. If you have a 'laptop' it should have a hard drive disk 'inside' and that is where you should store your OS and any programs that you use regularly. If you have an 'external hard drive' ALONG WITH the one 'internally' then you can use that to store the stuff that you 'don't need as often' or that you might want to use on another computer, since it can be 'disconnected' from your computer and 'hooked up' to another computer more easily. But if that 'external hard drive' is the ONLY hard drive for that laptop, then you shouldn't ever 'take it off' to hook up to another computer ... because that other computer could go 'nuts' trying to integrate your OS with it's own ... so I'd say that your best bet is to save your money and get a better computer ... and while 512 RAM is 'good' there are some 'programs' that eat so much RAM that I'd say you'd be better off with at least 1gig RAM (almost twice as large) or more. My computer has 1 gig RAM and I'm wishing I had 2 gigs ... but my 'hard drives' add up to almost 300 gigs.
2007-03-01 02:58:18 · answer #2 · answered by Kris L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No hard drive, internal or external, will increase the size of your RAM. RAM is a small chip located inside your computer. Adding a hard drive does not add to RAM memory. Adding an external hard drive would give you more space to store files. It would work like a giant flash drive.
2007-03-01 02:35:56 · answer #3 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hard drive storage (either internal or external) and RAM memory are different. General, the hard drives will not effect the speed of the CPU. But faster hard drive (5400 rpm, 7200 rpm, or 10000 rpm) will let you read or write a bit faster.
2007-03-01 02:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by Henry 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ther external harddrive will not be an integral part of processor.
Justifications:
Hard drive is first of all a secondary memory.It is only for storage.
An integral part of a processor will be L1 cache or L2 cache
Depending upon cache memory your speed will increase along with your RAM
2007-03-01 02:52:39 · answer #5 · answered by Jacky 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A hard drive has no bearing on the system RAM, unless you set up virtual memory.
But yes, an external drive is just like a giant thumb drive. The system can't boot from it or anything...
2007-03-01 02:36:14 · answer #6 · answered by a kinder, gentler me 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
works as anyother hard drive, you disk space goes up by 20 gb, but your ram remains 512
2007-03-01 02:34:20 · answer #7 · answered by Mr.Bolton 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its basically a giant flash drive. 20g external wont affect ram.
2007-03-01 02:34:04 · answer #8 · answered by tonberry79 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We can use it only as a memory storage.
2007-03-01 23:22:01 · answer #9 · answered by YAN 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is only storage.
2007-03-01 02:40:22 · answer #10 · answered by n0tsan3 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋