Do External Hard Drives increase RAM?

Question

Hey guys, i am a bit of an idiot when it comes to compyters. I dont want to buy a new one, however, my PC is low on RAM (and i want to play Sims2 which requires 10MB more of RAM then i have) and i also need some more memory.

So if i bought an external hard-drive would it increase my RAM?

Answer 1

NOPE. The only way to increase RAM is to BUY MORE and plug it in. There is no such thing as External RAM.

Look up your system at Crucial.com
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2594269-5032657

Good luck and Happy Computing!

Answer 2

No, you need to buy more RAM. RAM is memory, usually in the form of something called a SIMM or DIMM (single inline memory module, dual inline memory module) card that plugs into your PC motherboard.

Go to Best Buy, tell the geek guys what computer (exact model) you have and tell them you want to max out the memory configuration. They will sell you the right memory stick. (cheaper than an external HDD)

Buy some compressed air while your at it.

Unplug the computer.
Take off the cover.
Find the slots where the memory goes and install the card you bought. Be sure you push it in until the two little clips pop up, then slide them over the top to lock in place. This will take some force, use both thumbs to push down on the edges.
While the PC is open, blow out all the dust bunnies with the compressed air, carefully use a vacuum to suck the dust from around the outside of the chassis.

Answer 3

No.

If you have an add-in graphics card, make sure any BIOS shared memory is all applied to the system and none to the on-board graphics.

You can also stop any services that you don't need when playing the game. Bring up the task manager and stop any programs you don't want running, like Outlook. This should free up some RAM.

You can also increase the size of your swap file. A bad performance move, but at least you can play the game.

Answer 4

your RAM and your hard drive speed do have something to do with performance. Your computer will only go over and use your hard drive for RAM after your RAM cache is full. So yes it will increase speed, but it's bad speed if that makes any sense. You can get 512mb sticks of ram for 50-60 bucks. I know it's kinda a stupid thing to spend money on, but if you want to play the game without waiting for a skip every 30 sec. you need it.
try newegg.com

Answer 5

In your case No. In fact in 99% of cases, no. However, other answers haven't said so, but technically if your old hard drive was almost full, Windows may not have enough disk space to use as virtual memory. Not that I would recommend using your HD as virtual memory because it's slow. But it can be done. Hopefully that makes sense. (Oh, now go buy some more RAM at newegg or crucial)

Answer 6

A hard drive is what your computer uses to store programs and data. RAM is memory that your computer uses to run the instructions in a program. Adding more hard drive space will not increase the memory available for running programs.

You have to add memory chips to increase the amount of RAM on your computer.

Answer 7

You could use vitural memory...(the sytem will use hard drive space as additional memory to run programs that need more Ram than your system has...its not the fastest but it will work. So dont buy an external drive just use virtual memory.

Answer 8

Your probably thinking of the new "feature" in Vista which allows you to plug in external USB flash drives and use them as "Virtual RAM" Do this only if you simply cannot afford more RAM.

Answer 9

No, you can buy a ram to increase your system memory.
The hard disk will increase the area where you can save files, but the computer cant use it as RAM.

Answer 10

RAM is a different type of memory.

If you add an external hard drive you are only increasing your storage capability.