External computer memory

The appearance of a computer and, accordingly, virtual information stored on various electronic media, has led to the fact that we need more and more information stores. That's why to store and exchange information, external media were invented, with the help of which data can be accessed on a personal computer.

Thus, the entire memory of the computer can be divided into two parts:

- own electronic (internal) memory;

- external memory of the PC, placed on other media.

Internal drives are called hard or fixed, they are built into the system unit of the computer and are usually called hard disks.

Typically, the amount of data on third-party media is many times greater than the amount that is stored directly in the computer. Usually, all programs and files that do not need to be accessed constantly are overwritten there, while the hard disk is intended for permanent storage of the necessary information: operating system programs, documents, application programs, and so on.

At the moment, the external memory of the computer is represented by a huge number of various gadgets, but the first representative of it was already a bygone floppy disk or, more simply, an ordinary floppy disk. Such floppy disks are inserted into the disk drive of the computer, and their memory is 1.44 megabytes.

The development of multimedia led to the emergence and development of other external media, through which data (usually music, movies, games) get into a personal computer. This external memory of the computer is called laser compact discs (Compact Disks). Recording of data to them is done digitally. And if they are designed to write data at a time, they are called CD-ROM, whereas disks intended for multiple writing and rewriting data are called CD-RWs. The capacity of a standard laser CD varies from 690 to 2,000 megabytes.

The external memory of the computer is read from the laser discs using CD-ROM drives, which are internal and external.

A larger volume has DVD discs, designed for the most part to record and transfer movies. Separation on ROM and RW, as well as reading data from them occurs on the principle of CD-ROM drive.

There is one more, the most popular type of data transfer at the moment - it is the external memory of the computer, which is called flash-memory. Data recording in this case is done on chips, which ensures the highest data safety, as well as high speed of reading and writing information. Flash drives to date have gained immense popularity not only as a computer gadget, but also as a data warehouse on mobile phones, cameras and other equipment where you need a device to record the data. They come in different types of sizes, and can also have a different size, up to several tens of gigabytes.

The external memory of the computer, which allows you to store the largest volumes at the moment, is called external hard disks. The volume of them can be calculated in several terabytes, and the reliability of the data storage is appropriate. Such hard drives are connected to the computer using USB-ports. In addition, the device allows them not only to act as a store of additional data, but also to act (with constant connection to the computer) as a continuation of the computer's memory itself. Thus, there you can store the files necessary for the entire operation of the system. Such, for example, is external RAM.

Progress does not stand still, and external media are constantly improving. The volume of data increases, their convenience and reliability increase. However, it is always worth remembering that any technique can break at any time. That's why all the important information stored on the computer is worth duplicating.