System Memory; Storage Memory; Hard Disks - Atari Faicon030 Owner's Manual

Fa/con030 Owner's Manual
Your computer uses two types of memory, system memory and storage memory.
Syste m Me mory
System memory consists of m icroch ips i nside you r computer. The computer uses
system memory as a temporary work area in which to load and run program s , and
a way of storing i mportant i nformation, so that i t can be accessed quickly.
There are two types of system memory, Read Only Memory( ROM) and Random
Access Memory ( R A M ) .
You cannot write i nformation i n to a ROM storage area. The i nformation i n R O M
i s permanent, and cannot b e erased. R O M chips inside your computer contain
operating system i nformation.
Random Access Memory (RAM), consists of memory chips i nside your computer
that store data while the computer is running. When you-turn off the computer, a l l
t h e i nformation i n R A M is erased. R A M i s the compute r ' s chalkboard. The
computer can quickly and efficiently access programs and data files written i n to
RAM. To permanently save i nformation stored i n R A M , you must transfer the
i nformation from RAM i nto storage memory.
Storage Me mory
S torage memory i s located on storage dev ices. These dev ices i n c lude floppy
disks, standard hard disks, hard disks in removable cartridges, and C D- RO M
discs.

Hard Disks

Because of the hard d i s k ' s h igh storage capacity and fast access time, many
programs prefer to run off a hard disk.
2-2 Using Your Computer