


Memory is the most essential part of a computer.

  Without memory there would be no computer, as we

know it today.
  It is used for storing both instructions to be
executed and data.
 The CPU accesses each location in memory by using a

unique number, called a memory address

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 Central Processing Unit

Control Output
Output
Input Unit
ALU
Devices Devices
Devices

Special
Purpose Cache Primary
Processors Memory Storage

Secondary
Storage
Devices

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 TYPES OF MEMORY

PRIMARY MEMORY OR MAIN MEMORY

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Read Only Memory (ROM)

II. CACHE MEMORY

Level 1 (L1) cache

Level 2 (L2) cache

III. SECONDARY MEMORY

Optical Media Devices
Magnetic Media Devices
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 Principle: The Closer The Memory Is To The CPU,
The Faster It Is.
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 PRIMARY MEMORY OF
MAIN MEMORY

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 PRIMARY MEMORY OF MAIN MEMORY
Directly or indirectly connected to the CPU via a memory bus.

Comprises of two buses: an address bus and a data bus.

The CPU firstly sends a number through an address bus, a number called
memory address, that indicates the desired location of data. Then it reads or
writes the data itself using the data bus.

Additionally, A Memory Management Unit (MMU) is a small device between

CPU and RAM recalculating the actual memory address, for example to
provide an abstraction of virtual memory or other task.
Broadly, the main memory is of two types-

i. Random Access Memory (RAM)

ii. Read Only Memory (ROM).
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4/7/2018 7
 

A RAM memory chip is an integrated circuit (IC) made of

millions of transistors and capacitors.

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 
This is a type of memory serves as Main Memory Of A
Computer.
 It
 temporarily stores copy of information and files loaded

from a computer hard drive that are required by a

processor.

 It is volatile in nature, which means that data will be
erased once supply to the storage device is turned off.
 RAM stores data randomly and the processor accesses

these data randomly from the RAM storage.

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 

The RAM chips are of two types-

Dynamic RAM(DRAM)
A form of volatile memory which also requires the stored information
to be periodically re-read and re-written, or refreshed, otherwise it
would vanish.

Static RAM (SRAM)

A form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the exception that
it never needs to be refreshed.
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 

A type of RAM that stores each bit of data in a

separate capacitor within an integrated circuit.

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 

Its advantage is its structural simplicity: only one

transistor and a capacitor are required per bit,
compared to four transistors in SRAM. This allows
DRAM to reach very high density.

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 

DRAM chips are available in various designs:

 EDODRAM (Extended Data Out DRAM)

 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)
 RDRAM (Rambus DRAM)
 DDRDRAM (Double Data Rate DRAM)

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 
Its cells keep the data
valid until it receives an

additional signal.

It has a dual-pipeline
architecture that allows
the memory controller to
simultaneously read new
data while discharging
A pair of 32 MB EDO DRAM modules
the old.
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  SDRAM has a synchronous
interface, meaning that it
waits for a signal before
responding to control
inputs and is therefore
synchronized with the
computer's system bus.

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  This allows the chip to have a more complex
pattern of operation than asynchronous DRAM
which does not have a synchronized interface.

 Pipelining means that the chip can accept a

new instruction before it has finished
processing the previous

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 
It is a type of
synchronous DRAM,
designed by
the Rambus Corporation

It is fairly fast and has
tried to address some of
the complex electrical and
physical problems involved
with memory.

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 
Unlike SDRAM, it can do
two operations per
cycle thereby doubling
the memory bandwidth
over the corresponding
single-data-rate SDRAM

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 

It is a type of memory in which,

memory refresh is not required.

It uses flip-flops to store binary

information.


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 
• As it takes up more space than DRAM,
it is used for specialized applications.

• It is much easier to use and has


shorter read-write cycles
compared to DRAM.

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  It performs only read function
not write function. So the
data stored in ROM cannot be
modified.
 It comes with special internal
electronic fuses that can be
programmed for a specific
configuration.

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 1. PROGRAMMABLE READ-ONLY MEMORY (PROM)
This device uses high voltages to
permanently destroy or create
internal links
(fuses or antifuses) within the
chip. Consequently, a PROM
can only be programmed once.

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 2. ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ-
ONLY MEMORY (EEPROM)

It allows its entire contents (or

selected banks)
to be
electrically
erased, then
rewritten
electrically, so
that they need
not be removed
from the
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computer (or
3.ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ-ONLY MEMORY (EPROM)

It can be erased by exposure to strong ultraviole light

(typically for 10 minutes or longer), thenrewritten with
a process that again requires application ofhigher than
usual voltage.

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4/7/2018 25
 

 It Can be either a reserved section of main memory or an

independent storage device .It speeds up access to data
 and instructions stored in RAM.
 .
MEMORY CACHE-
 It is a portion of memory of SRAM instead of the slower
DRAM. By keeping as much of the information as possible in
high speed SRAM, it avoids accessing the slower DRAM
 DISK CACHE-
It works under the same principle, but uses convention main
memory (DRAM) instead of high speed SRAM. It improves
the computers performance a lot as accessing data from
RAM is much faster than from hard-disk.
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 Level 1 (L1) cache

 Built inside the CPU.
 It works at half CPU clock speed.
Level
 2 (L2) cache
 Built external to CPU, in the motherboard.
 It works at the motherboard bus speed.
 Nowadays both L1 and L2 are integrated in the
CPU to reduce access time and further improve
system performance.

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 The whole idea of
memory cache is
to keep staging
more instructions
and data in a
high-speed memory
closer to the CPU.

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 Disk caches are usually
just a part of main
memory made up of
common dynamic RAM
(DRAM) chips.

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4/7/2018 30
 This lesson includes the following sections:
• Categorizing Storage Devices
• Magnetic and Optical Storage Devices
• Average Access Time
• File Compression
• Data-Transfer Rate

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 Categorizing Storage Devices
• The computer file system we have discussed must be
stored somewhere.

• Storage devices hold data, even when the computer is

turned off - unlike RAM.

• The physical material that actually holds data is called

a storage medium.

• The hardware that writes data to or reads data from a

storage medium is called a storage device.

• The two primary storage technologies are magnetic

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 The primary types of magnetic storage are:

• Hard disks

• Normal and high-capacity floppy disks

The primary types of optical storage are:

• Compact disk

• Digital Video Disk

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 Magnetic Storage Devices
- How Magnetic Storage Works

• A magnetic disk's medium contains iron particles,

which can be polarized—given a magnetic field—in
one of two directions (north or south)

• Each particle's direction represents a 1 (on) or 0 (off),

representing each bit of data that the CPU can
recognize.

• A disk drive uses read/write heads containing

electromagnets to create magnetic fields over the
medium.
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 As the medium
rotates, the head
writes the data.
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 Magnetic Storage Devices - Formatting
• Before a magnetic disk can be used, it must be
formatted—a process that maps the disk's surface and
determines how data will be stored.

• During formatting, the drive creates circular tracks

around the disk's surface, then divides each track into
sectors.

• The OS organizes sectors into groups, called clusters,

then tracks each file's location according to the clusters
it occupies.

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 Formatted Disk

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 Magnetic Storage Devices - Disk Areas

When a disk is formatted, the OS creates four

areas on its surface:
• Boot sector – stores the master boot record, a small
program that runs when you first start (boot) the
computer

• File allocation table (FAT) – a log that records each

file's location and each sector's status

• Root folder – enables the user to store data on the disk

in a logical way

• Data area – the portion of the disk that actually holds

data
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4/7/2018 39
 Magnetic Storage Devices - Hard Disks

• Hard disks use multiple platters, stacked on a

spindle. Each platter has two read/write heads, one
for each side.

• Hard disks use higher-quality media and a faster

rotational speed than diskettes.

• Hard disks spin at 3,600 to 10,000 rpm. Afloppy

spins at 300 rpm.

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 Magnetic Storage Devices - Disk Capacities
• Hard disks store large amounts of data. New PCs
feature hard disks with capacities of 10 GB and
higher.

• High-capacity floppy disks offer capacities up to 250

MB and the portability of standard floppy disks.

• HiFD and SuperDisk store 200 and 120 MB and are

compatible with a normal floppy disk.

• Zip can store 100-250 MB, but is a different shaped

disk.

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 Optical Storage Devices –
How Optical Storage Works

• An optical disk is a high-capacity storage medium.

An optical drive uses reflected light to read data.

• To store data, the disk's metal surface is covered with

tiny dents (pits) and flat spots (lands), which cause
light to be reflected differently.

• When an optical drive shines light into a pit, the light

cannot be reflected back. This represents a bit value
of 0 (off). A land reflects light back to its source,
representing a bit value of 1 (on).

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 1 0

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 Optical Storage Devices –
CD-ROM

• In PCs, the most commonly use optical storage

technology is called Compact Disk Read-Only
Memory (CD-ROM).

• A standard CD-ROM disk can store up to 650

MB of data, or about 70 minutes of audio.

• Once data is written to a standard CD-ROM

disk, the data cannot be altered or overwritten.

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 Optical Storage Devices –
CD-ROM Speeds and Uses

• Early CD-ROM drives were called single speed, and

read data at a rate of 150 KBps. (Hard disks transfer
data at rates of 5 – 15 MBps).

• CD-ROM drives now can transfer data at speeds of

up to 7800 KBps. Data transfer speeds are getting
faster.

• CD-ROM is typically used to store software

programs. CDs can store audio and video data, as
well as text and program instructions.

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 Optical Storage Devices - DVD-ROM

• A variation of CD-ROM is called Digital Video Disk

Read-Only Memory (DVD-ROM), and is being used
in place of CD-ROM in many newer PCs.

• Standard DVD disks store up to 9.4 GB of data—

enough to store an entire movie. Dual-layer DVD
disks can store up to 17 GB.

• DVD disks can store so much data because both sides

of the disk are used, along with sophisticated data
compression technologies.

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 Optical Storage Devices - Other
Optical Storage Devices

• A CD-Recordable (CD-R) drive lets you record your

own CDs, but data cannot be overwritten once it is
recorded to the disk.

• A CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) drive lets you record a

CD, then write new data over the already recorded
data.

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 Average Access Time
• In storage devices, average access time (or seek
time) is the time required for a read/write head to
move to a spot on the storage medium.

• For storage devices, access time is measured in

milliseconds (ms), or thousandths of a second. In
memory, access time is measured in nanoseconds
(ns), or one-billionths of a second.

• Diskette drives offer an average access time of 100

ms. Hard drives are faster, usually between 6 – 12
ms.
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 Typical Access Times for Memory and Storage Devices

Device Typical Access Time

Static RAM (SRAM) 5-15 ns
Dynamic RAM (DRAM) 50-70 ns
Read only memory (ROM) 55-250 ns
Hard disk drives 6-12 ms
CD ROM drives 80-800 ms
Tape drives 20-500 s

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 File Compression

• File compression technology shrinks files so they take

up less disk space.

• Using a compression utility, you can shrink multiple

files into a single archive file.

• Utilities such as Windows' DriveSpace enable you to

compress the entire contents of your hard disk.

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 Data-Transfer Rate

• Data-transfer rate (or throughput) measures the time

required for data to travel from one device to another.

• If a device transfers 45,000 bytes per second, its data-

transfer rate is 45 KBps.

• Hard disks offer the fastest data-transfer rates of any

storage device.

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4/7/2018 52
 Hard Disk Fragmentation

One file can end up fragmented

(scattered) over the disk surface.

Results in multiple head accesses which degrades performance.

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