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Memory Concepts

Units
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Of Memory

Memory
CONCEPTS

Memory is basically a device that has the capacity to store information. A

memory unit is the amount of data that the memory can hold. Besides, we
measure this storage capacity in terms of bytes. Moreover, there are
different units of memory as per the requirement. Before studying the
units of memory let us know about the memory.

Parts of Memory

Primary Memory

This is the internal memory that stores the data and instructions of the
CPU. It is volatile in nature (data is lost when the power is disconnected).

The primary memory has two types:

1. RAM (Random Access Memory)

As per the name, data can be accessed randomly and quickly.

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 1. ROM (Read Only Memory)

As per the name, we can only read data and cannot write (store) to it.

Secondary Memory

As we know that the primary memory is volatile therefore, we need some

devices to store the data permanently so we use some external storage
devices for this purpose which we name as the secondary memory. Some
examples: CD, DVD, etc.

Units of Memory
The storage capacity of the memory is expressed in various units of
memory. These are as follows:

Bit

A microprocessor uses binary digits 0 and 1 to decide the OFF and ON

state respectively, of various circuits. Furthermore, a bit is the smallest
unit of representation in the binary language.

Nibble

A nibble is a collection of 4 bits.

Byte

A byte is the representation of a group of 8 bits. Moreover, a byte is a unit

that expresses any word, symbol, or character in the computer language.
Besides, computer memory is always in terms of multiples of bytes.
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 Word

A computer word is similar to a byte, as it is also a group of bits.

Moreover, a computer word is fixed for each computer. At the same time
it varies from computer to computer. Besides, the length of a computer
word is the word-size or word length. Therefore, a computer stores
information in the form of computer word.

Kilobyte

It is the most common unit of memory which is the smallest of all.

But, it is greater than the byte.

The abbreviation for kilobytes is ‘KB’.

It contains 1000 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to kibibytes which

contain 1024 (2^10) bytes.

Megabytes usually measures the size of text documents, graphics

of websites, individual files, etc.

Megabyte

The abbreviation for megabyte is ‘MB’.

It contains 1000,000 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to mebibytes

which contains 1048576 (2^20) bytes.

Kilobytes usually measure the size of large files. For example

high-resolution images, songs, storage of compact disks, etc.

Gigabyte
:
 The abbreviation for the gigabyte is ‘GB’ or ‘gigs’.

It contains 1000,000,000 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to

gibibytes which contain 1073741824 (2^30) bytes.

Kilobytes usually measure the capacity of storage devices.

Terabyte

The abbreviation for terabytes is ‘TB’.

It contains onetrillion bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to tebibytes

which contains 2^40 bytes.

Kilobytes usually measure the capacity of large storage devices,

for example, HDDs (Hard Disk Drives).

Petabyte

The abbreviation for petabyte is ‘PB’.

It contains 10^15 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to pebibytes

which contains 2^50 bytes.

Petabytes usually measure the total data storage in large networks

or server farms. For example, the data in Google or Facebook data
servers is around more than 10 PBs.

Exabyte
:
 The abbreviation for exabyte is ‘EB’.

It contains 10^18 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to exbibytes

which contains 2^60 bytes.

The exabyte unit is so large that it does not even measure the
storage of large cloud servers. Rather, it can be used to measure
the amount of data transfer over the internet for a certain time
limit.

Zettabyte

The abbreviation for zettabyte is ‘ZB’.

It contains 10^21 bytes. Besides, it is synonyms to zebibytes

which contains 2^70 bytes.

It can measure a huge amount of data. In fact, the whole data in

the world is just a few zettabytes.

Yottabyte

The abbreviation for yottabyte is ‘YB’.

It contains 10^24 zettabytes. Besides, it is synonyms to yobibytes

which contains 2^80 bytes.

It is a tremendously huge unit of measurement. Therefore, it has

no practical use.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1. What is memory and units of memory?
:
 A1. Memory is basically a device that has the capacity to store
information. A memory unit is the amount of data that the memory can
hold.

Q2. List various units of memory.

A2. various units of memory are as follows:

Bit

Bibble

Byte

Kilobyte

Megabyte

Gigabyte

Terabyte

Petabyte

Exabyte

Zettabyte

Yottabyte

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