Module V

Memory

Memory is an essential part of a digital computer. It is used to store data and instructions. Computer
memory is the storage space in the computer, where data is to be processed and instructions
required for processing are stored. The memory is divided into large number of small parts called
cells. Each location or cell has a unique address.

Three kinds of memory are commonly used in modern computers

1. Semiconductor memory
2. Magnetic memory
3. Optical memory

The semiconductor memory is the fastest memory. It consumes less power. The semiconductor
memory is a static device. There is no rotating part. The magnetic and optical memory are slow
compared to semiconductor memory. They are very cheap. They are not static devices. They are
either in the form of rotating disc or tape.

Semiconductor memory

It is used as primary memory or main memory of the computer. It is a volatile memory.

Semi conductor memory is primarily of two types −

 Cache Memory

 Primary Memory/Main Memory

Cache Memory

Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up the CPU. It acts as a
buffer between the CPU and the main memory. It is used to hold those parts of data and program
which are most frequently used by the CPU. Cache memory is used to reduce the average time to
access data from the Main memory. The cache is a smaller and faster memory which stores copies of
the data from frequently used main memory locations. There are various different independent
caches in a CPU, which store instructions and data.

Advantages

The advantages of cache memory are as follows −

 Cache memory is faster than main memory.

 It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.

 It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.

 It stores data for temporary use.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of cache memory are as follows −

 Cache memory has limited capacity.

 It is very expensive.

Primary Memory (Main Memory)

Primary memory is computer memory that is accessed directly by the CPU. The The main features of
primary memory are,

 It is accessed directly by the processor

 It is the fastest memory available

 It is volatile, i.e. its contents are lost once power is switched off

Primary memory is divided into RAM and ROM.

The categories of primary memory are represented below

Primary Memory

Cache Memory Main Memory

RAM ROM

SRAM DRAM PROM EPROM EEPROM

Random Access Memory(RAM)

The read and write memory of a computer is called RAM. The users can write information into RAM
and read information from it. It is accessible to users. The user enters his data and program into
RAM. It possesses random random access property. RAM is a volatile memory. The information
written in it is retained in it as long as the power supply is on. When the power supply goes off, the
stored information is lost.

Two main types of RAM are:

 Static RAM
 Dynamic RAM
1. Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) :
Data is stored in transistors and requires a constant power flow. Because of the continuous power,
SRAM doesn’t need to be refreshed to remember the data being stored. SRAM is called static as
refreshing is not needed periodically. It is used in cache memories.
Advantage: Low power consumption and faster access speeds.
Disadvantage: Less memory capacities and high costs of manufacturing.
2. Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) :
Data is stored in capacitors. Capacitors that store data in DRAM gradually discharge energy. So, a
periodic refresh of power is required in order to function. DRAM is called dynamic as constant
change or action i.e. refreshing is needed to keep the data intact. It is used to implement main
memory.
Advantage: Low costs of manufacturing and greater memory capacities.
Disadvantage: Slow access speed and high power consumption.
Read only memory(ROM)
Rom stands for Read only Memory. It is non volatile memory ie., the information stored is not lost
even if the power supply goes off. It is used for permanent storage of information. It also possess
random Access Property. ROMs are much cheaper compared to RAMs when produced in large
volumes.
The stored information can only be read from ROMs at the time of operation.Information can not
written into ROM by users i.e., ROMs are not accessible to users.The contents of ROMs are decided
by the manufacturers. The contents are permanently stored in a Rom at the time of manufacture.
The different types of ROM are
 MROM (Masked ROM)

 PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory)

 EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

 EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

MROM (Masked ROM)

The very first ROMs were hard-wired devices that contained a pre-programmed set of data or
instructions. These kind of ROMs are known as masked ROMs, which are inexpensive.

PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory)

PROM is read-only memory that can be modified only once by a user. Its contents are stored
permanently. The user buys a blank PROM and enters the desired contents using a PROM program.
It can be programmed only once and is not erasable.

EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

EPROM can be erased by exposing it to ultra-violet light for a duration of up to 40 minutes. Usually,
an EPROM eraser achieves this function. This technique of erasing contents is not easy ane
convenient because Th eEPROM IC has to be removed from the computer for the exposure to
Ultraviolet light. When an EPROM is exposed to UV light, the entire data are erased. The user cannot
erase the contents of certain selected memory locations.

EPROMs are used to store programs which are permanent but need updations.EPROMS are more
economical then PROMs because they can be reused.

EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory)

EEPROM is programmed and erased electrically. It can be erased and reprogrammed about ten
thousand times. Both erasing and programming take about 4 to 10 ms (millisecond). In EEPROM, any
location can be selectively erased and programmed. EEPROMs can be erased one byte at a time,
rather than erasing the entire chip. Hence, the process of reprogramming is flexible but slow.It need
not be removed from the computer’s board for erasing.
Flash Memory

Flash memory (flash) is a modern type of EEPROM. Flash memory can be erased and rewritten faster
than ordinary EEPROM. Its entire contents can be erased in one operation. It is not Byte by byte
alterable like EEPROM. Some new flash memory chips provide block erasure of its contents. It can be
erased and reprogrammed on the system board itself. The name flash memory has been given due
to fast programming capability.

Due to low power consumption, flash memory is used in battery driven digital devices usch as hand
heldcomputers, cell phones etc.

Advantages of ROM

 Non-volatile in nature
 Cannot be accidentally changed
 Cheaper than RAMs
 More reliable than RAMs
 Static and do not require refreshing
 Contents are always known and can be verified

Secondary Memory

RAM is expensive and has a limited storage capacity. Since it is a volatile memory, it cannot retain
information after the computer is powered off. Thus, in addition to primary memory, an auxiliary or
secondary memory is required by a computer. If we need to store large amount of data or programs
permanently, we need a cheaper and permanent memory. Such memory is called secondary
memory.

Characteristics of Secondary Memory

These are some characteristics of secondary memory, which distinguish it from primary memory −

 It is non-volatile, i.e. it retains data when power is switched off

 It is large capacities to the tune of terabytes

 It is cheaper as compared to primary memory

Depending on whether secondary memory device is part of CPU or not, there are two types of
secondary memory – fixed and removable.
Magnetic tape drives, magnetic disk drives, optical disk drives and magneto-optical disk drives are
the different types of storage devices.

Magnetic Tape

Magnetic tape is a plastic tape with magnetic coating. It is a storage medium on a large open reel or
in a smaller cartridge or cassette (like a music cassette). Magnetic tapes are cheaper storage media.
They are durable, can be written, erased, and re-written. Magnetic tapes are sequential access
devices, which mean that the tape needs to rewind or move forward to the location where the
requested data is positioned in the magnetic tape. Due to their sequential nature, magnetic tapes
are not suitable for data files that need to be revised or updated often. They are generally used to
store back-up data that is not frequently used or to transfer data from one system to other.

Magnetic Disk

Magnetic disk is a direct access secondary storage device. It is a thin plastic or metallic circular plate
coated with magnetic oxide and encased in a protective cover. Data is stored on magnetic disks as
magnetized spots. The presence of a magnetic spot represents the bit 1 and its absence represents
the bit 0.

The working of magnetic disk is explained as follows—

 The surface of disk is divided into concentric circles known as tracks. The outermost track is
numbered 0 and the innermost track is the last track. Tracks are further divided into sectors.
A sector is a pie slice that cuts across all tracks. The data on disk is stored in sector. Sector is
the smallest unit that can be read or written on a disk. A disk has eight or more sectors per
track
Tracks and sectors of a disk

 Magnetic disk is inserted into a magnetic disk drive for access. The drive consists of a
read/write head that is attached to a disk arm, which moves the head. The disk arm can
move inward and outward on the disk.
 During reading or writing to disk, the motor of disk drive moves the disk at high speed (60–
150 times/sec.)
 Accessing data on the disk requires the following—
The read/write head is positioned to the desired track where the data is to be read from or
written to. The time taken to move the read/write head to the desired track is called the
seek time.
 Once the read/write head is at the right track, then the head waits for right sector to come
under it (disk is moving at high speed). The time taken for desired sector of the track to
come under read/write head is called the latency time.
 Once the read/write head is positioned at the right track and sector, the data has to be
written to disk or read from disk. The rate at which data is written to disk or read from disk is
called data transfer rate. The sum of seek time, latency time and time for data transfer is the
access time ofthe disk.
 The storage capacity of disk drive is measured in gigabytes (GB).
 Large disk storage is created by stacking together multiple disks. A set of same tracks on all
disks forms a cylinder. Each disk has its own read/write head which work in coordination.
 A disk can also have tracks and sectors on both sides. Such a disk is called double-sided disk.

The features of magnetic disk are—

1. Cheap storage device

2. Can store a large amount of data
3. Easy to carry or transport
4. Suitable for frequently read/write data
5. Fast access device
Hard Disk

Hard disks are the most famous secondary storage devices. They are online storage devices. The
term online means that the device is permanently connected to the computer system. When
computer is on, the device is available to store information or to give information. Hard disk are
used as secondary memory for mass storage of information permanently. They store programs, data,
operating system, compilers, assemblers, database etc.

A hard disk is made of aluminium with a thin coating of magnetic material over it. Standard size of
hard disk is 3.5 inch. 2.5 inch hard disk are used in portable computers. Hard disks and read/write
heads are kept in a sealed, air filtered enclosure. This technique is known as Winchester technique.
Hard disks together with read/write heads, access mechanism and driving motor constitute a unit
known as hard disk drive unit.The whole unit is fixed . hard disk is also known as platters.

The tracks and sectors in a magnetic disk can be represented as shown below:

To increase the storage capacity, several hard disks are mounted on common drive to constitue a
disk pack as shown below.
The set of all tracks at the same distance from the spindle on the recordable surface of the disk pack
will lie on the surface of a n imaginary cylinder. All the tracks which lie on the cylinder have the same
number.

Disk Cache

Semiconductor RAM memory is much faster than magnetic disk memory. Hence disk access is much
slower than that of main memory. To solve the problem of mismatch in data transfer rate, a
semiconductor memory called disk cache is placed in between main memory and hard disk. The
capacity of disk cache is a few megabytes. The disk cache stores information which are needed for
the execution of the current program.

RAID System

In RAID system(Redundant Array of Independent Disk ), multiple disks operate in parallel and store
same information. It improves storage reliability. It eliminates the risk of data loss when one of the
multiple disks fail.

Air Cushion between head and Hard Disk

The high speed of hard disks creates a thin air cushion of about 10 microinch between the rotating
disk and the head. When disk is rotating , the head floats on air cushion and remains 10 microinch
off the disk surface. The head doesnot make any physical contact with the didk surface. Hard disk
must be kept dust free environment because the diameter of the dust particle may be as many as 10
times the thickness of the air cushion. Any dust particle or any other contamination present in the
sealed container will cause the heads to crash in to the disk. It is known as head crash. In head crash
the coating of the magnetic material on the disk surface is damaged where the head strikes.

OPTICAL DISK

Optical disk is a flat and circular disk which is coated with reflective plastic material that can be
altered by laser light. Optical disk does not use magnetism. The bits 1 and 0 are stored as spots that
are relatively bright and light, respectively.

 An optical disk consists of a single spiral track that starts from the edge to the centre of disk.
Due to its spiral shape, it can access large amount of data sequentially, for example music
and video. The random access on optical disk is slower than that of magnetic disk, due to its
spiral shape.
 The tracks on optical disk are further divided into sectors which are of same length. Thus,
the sectors near the centre of disk wrap around the disk longer than the sectors on the
edges of disk. Reading the disk thus requires spinning the disk faster when reading near the
centre and slower when reading near the edge of disk. Optical disks are generally slower
than hard disks. Optical disks can store large amount of data, up to 6 GB, in a small space.

There are two most common categories of optical disks—read-only optical disks and recordable
optical disks.

CD-ROM

Originally, Compact Disk (CD) was a popular medium for storing music. Now, it is used in computers
to store data and is called Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM). CD-ROM is an optical disk
that can only be read and not written on.

CD-ROM is written on by the manufacturer of the CD-ROM using the laser light. A CD-ROM drive
reads data from the compact disk. Data is stored as pits (depressions) and lands (flat area) on CD-
ROM disk. When the laser light is focused on the disk, the pits scatter the light (interpreted as 0) and
the lands reflect the light to a sensor (interpreted as 1).

As CD-ROM is read only, no changes can be made into the data contained in it. Since there is no
head touching the disk, but a laser light, CD-ROM does not get exhausted easily. The storage density
of CD-ROM is very high and cost is low as compared to floppy disk and hard disk. Access time of CD-
ROM is less. CD-ROM drives can read data at 150Kbps. They come in multiples of this speed like—2x,
4x, 52x, 75x, etc. It is a commonly used medium for distributing software and large data.

DVD-ROM

Digital Versatile Disk-Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM) is an optical storage device used to store digital
video or computer data . DVDs look like CDs, in shape and physical size. It improves on CD
technology. It is a high-density medium with increased track and bit density. DVD-ROM uses both
sides of the disk and special data compression technologies. The tracks for storing data are
extremely small. A full-length movie can be stored on a single disk. Each side of DVD-ROM can store
4.7 GB of data, so a single DVD can store 9.4 GB of data. New DVD-ROMs use layers of data track, to
double its capacity. Such dual layer disks can store 17 GB of data.

Recordable Optical Disks

In addition to the read only CDs and DVDs, recordable optical disks are also available. Users can
record music, video, audio and data on it. The recordable optical disks are—
  Compact Disk-Recordable (CD-R) is a Write Once-Read Many (WORM) disk. A CD-R

disk allows the user to write data permanently on to the disk. Once the data is written, it cannot be
erased. CD-R disk uses a laser that burns pits into the disk surface. It looks like a CD disk externally.
To write to a CD-R disk, a device named CD-Writer or CD–burner is required. A CD-R disk can store
700 MB of data that can run for 80 minutes. CD-R is used to create music CDs in home computers,
back up data from other storage devices, archives of large data, etc.

 Compact Disk-ReWritable (CD-RW) allows data to be written, erased and re-written on. The

capacity of CD-RW is same as a CD. They generally do not play on all CD-ROM drives. Digital
Video Disk-Recordable (DVD-R) allows recording of data on a DVD. A DVD writer device is
required to write the data to DVD. The data once written on a DVD cannot be erased or changed.

 Digital versatile DisK-Recordable(DVD-R) is the most common type of writable DVDs. Most
DVD players and DVD- ROM drives can read DVd-R disks. We can use DVD-R disc to back up
several gigabytes of data on ypur computer.

 Digital versatile DisK-Recordable(DVD-RW)

Stands for "Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable." A DVD-RW is like a DVD-R but can be erased and
written to again. It can be erased in order for new data to be added. DVD-RWs can hold 4.7GB of
data and do not come in double-layered or double-sided versions. Because of their large capacity
and ability to be used mulitple times, DVD-RW discs are a great solution for frequent backups.

Blue-ray disc

Blu-ray is an optical disc format such as CD and DVD. It was developed for recording and playing back
high-definition (HD) video and for storing large amounts of data. While a CD can hold 700 MB of data
and a basic DVD can hold 4.7 GB of data, a single Blu-ray disc can hold up to 25 GB of data. Dual-
layer Blu-ray discs will be able to store 50 GB of data.

Blu-ray discs can hold more information than other optical media because of the blue lasers the
drives use. The laser is actually blue-violet. The blue-violet laser has a shorter wavelength than the
red lasers used for CDs and DVDs (405nm compared to 650nm). This allows the laser to focus on a
smaller area, which makes it possible to cram significantly more data on a disc the same size as a CD
or DVD.

Blu-ray also features data streams at 36 megabits per second (Mbps), fast enough for high quality
video recording. Blu-ray discs will not play on current CD and DVD players, because those players
lack the blue-violet laser required to read the discs.

Holographic Versatile Disc

A Holographic Versatile Disc is a next generation optical disc technology developed by HSD
FORUM .It has the capacity to hold up to 3.9 terabytes (TB) of data. Here two lasers are used namely
red laser (reference beam) and green laser (information beam). It employs a technique known as
collinear holography, whereby these two lasers are collimated in a single beam. The red lasers are
used to read the information off the HVD as reference beam and green lasers are used to encode
data onto the disk as information beam. The structure of the disc includes dichroic mirror layer
between holographic data and servo data to prevent interference. In other optical disc we can store
only 1 bit per pulse but here we can store 60,000 bits per pulse. The data transfer rate of HVD is 1GB
per sec. HVD uses duplication technology which is suitable for data distribution and copy protection.
The life expectancy of recorded data is about more than 50 years. By these features HVD would be a
successor to today’s Blue ray and HD-DVD. Keywords- DVD, HD-DVD, Disc, Versatile

PC Memory Modules

A memory module is another name for RAM chip. The purpose of memory module is to store
temporary data while the computer is running. A memory module is a circuit board that contains
DRAM integrated circuit that are installed into the memory slot on a computer motherboard.
Memory modules comes in different size and have different pin configuration. Memory module is
the technical term used to describe computer memory like RAM.

RAM chips can be installed individually on a motherboard or as set of chips on a circuit board that
plugs into the motherboard. The three most important circuit boards are,

 Single inline memory module(SIMM)

 Dual inline memory module(DIMM)
 Rambus inline memory module(RIMM)

SIMM

A SIMM is a module containing one or several RAM chips on a small circuit board with pins that
connect to the computer motherboard. SIMM is developed by Wang laboratories in 1983. Since the
more Ram in the computer, the frequency needed to access the secondary memory is very less. We
can expand RAM by installing additional SIMMS. SIMM comes in 32 bit path that requires 72 pins
connector. SIMMs come in memory chips with multiples of 4 megabytes.The memory chips on
SIMM are typically D-RAM chips.An improved form of RAM called Synchronous DRAM can also be
used. Since SD RAM provides a 64 bit data pathe, it requires atleast 2 SIMMS or DIMMs.

DIMM

DIMM is a type of computer memory that is 64 bits which enable fast data transfer. DIMM is a
module that contains several RAM chips on a circuit board with pins connected to the motherboard.

DIMM uses a 64 bit data path. The 64 bit data path refers to the number of bits of data that are
transfered in one clock cycle. DIMMs are used in desktops, laptops etc. A DIMM has a 168 pin
connector, to support 64 bit data transfer.

Modern DIMMs are based on dual data rate 4th generation (DDR4) which use 288 pin connectors
attached together to the motherboard.

Types of DIMMs

The most common DIMMs wth a length of 5.5 inches and a height of 1.8 inches are,

1. Unbuffered DIMMs- used mainly in desktops and laptops

2. Fully Buffers DIMMs- usually used as main memory in systems that require larde
capacities such as servers and work statioss.
3. Registered DIMMs- used in servers and other applications that require stability and
robustness.
RIMM

Rambus DRAM is a memory subsystem designed to transfer data at faster rates .RD RAM was
introduced in 1999 by rambus. RIMM is not an acronymn and is a trademark of Rambus given to
DRAM module. RIMM contains 184 pins. Typical SRAM has a data transfer rate upto 1 megahertz. RD
Ram can transfer data at a speed of 800 Mhz. It is onlya 2 byte wide bus. RD RAM is also known as
direct RD RAM or Rambus.