Notes on Primary Storage

Storage devices are necessary for storing all of your important data. You won’t be able to keep your data safe without storage devices, and you won’t be able to process data without them. Data storage and processing, which boost efficiency and performance, are the most important functions of such devices. A computer system’s storage devices are an essential component. Secondary storage devices are frequently detachable, allowing you to update or replace your computer’s storage or relocate your storage drive to another computer. Direct memory is an important topic for notes on primary storage. 

Notes on primary storage:

Primary memory is computer memory accessed first or directly by a processor or computer. It enables a processor to access apps and services now operating and temporarily stored in a memory location. The term “primary memory” can also refer to “principal storage” or “major memory.”The volatile storage mechanism of a computer system is primary memory. Although RAM is the most common, random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, and data buses are all examples.

As soon as the machine starts up, primary memory stores all running programs, including the operating system (OS), user interface, and any user-installed and running software application. The system processor interacts with a program/application opened in the main memory to perform all application-specific operations.

Primary memory includes both RAM and ROM. RAM refers to “Random Access Memory,” whereas ROM stands for “Read-Only Memory.” ROM can only be read from and cannot be written to; thus, it is typically used to hold the computer’s bootstrap instructions. 

Examples of primary storage

CPU cache and RAM are the two most common instances in modern computers. The cache is embedded into the silicon of the CPU. Its goal is to keep instructions that the CPU uses frequently loaded to decrease access time. So, this is referred to as the L3 in Intel’s most recent CPU version.

RAM is used to load instructions for execution by the CPU from secondary storage devices such as an HDD, SDD, or ODD. RAM is also referred to as SRAM or SDRAM.

Temporary memory

DMA is the abbreviation for Direct Memory Access.

In other words,  Direct Memory Access is only helpful for “moving” large chunks of memory around.

To see why this could be advantageous, consider that antique computers are notoriously sluggish so that you can do stuff like cope with any buffer and blit (copying a memory area to use as sprites). Instead of utilising the CPU, we can utilise DMA. So, this happens not on the same cycle as the CPU but at different points in the cycle, and it’s even employed when the “disc” accesses memory.

To put it another way, the CPU isn’t necessarily “consuming” memory; it might be executing internal work or waiting (middle) for anything like multiplication, addition, if, or a jump.

So the DMA (Direct memory access) reads one memory location, stores it on the motherboard (on the bus), and then adjusts the memory to write that thing straight to another area of memory on the bus. As a result, they never get to the CPU (they are on the CPU input but not when it can read them).

RAM (Random Access Memory).

When you buy a computer with 4GB of RAM, you’re getting a machine that can temporarily store data in this amount of memory. Anything saved in this memory vanishes when the computer is turned off. The computer uses RAM regularly for almost everything. While I type, the computer sends and receives data from this memory to transform bits and bytes into characters on the screen. Each second, the computer does thousands of computations to handle the operating system, applications, and interactions. The processor handles much of this (sometimes known as the computer’s ” brain “), but it requires RAM to do these calculations. 

But this is not the same as a hard disc. The operating system, applications, and information are stored on the hard drive in “permanent memory,” which is a misnomer because they may be deleted and replaced. It simply implies that everything you have stored there will remain when you switch off the computer.

Conclusion

Data is not just crucial in our increasingly digital society; it may be the most important thing. Everything in today’s digital world, from libraries and banking to governments, needs data storage. The days of finding things in physical copy are swiftly passing us by. In many circumstances, digital copies of data are the only ones available. Countless books, newspapers, periodicals, printed media and art have been safely stored online, and we can discover whole libraries of books online. As the world’s demand for storage increases, new ways to store, manage, and retrieve this data will be required.