Types Of Memory Ram Rom

RAM and ROM are two memory types in computer and are terms that are quite generally used, but there are quite a lot people who are very much confused about the types of memory ram rom. Even though there are many articles that speaks either about ram or about rom, there are very less articles that clearly speaks about the difference between the types of memory ram rom. Here in this article we will see a clear explanation and classification of types of memory ram rom.

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

Ram is the abbreviation for random access memory and is one among the primary memories of a computer system. Random access memory is the primary memory that is actually available for programmers and as the name suggests, they can be accessed randomly. Random access memory allows the storage of data as per the capacity of the ram and accessing them in any random manner as required by a program and the major difference between the types of memory ram rom lies here. Other memory devices allow the access of data only in a predetermined manner and this is a lengthy procedure as compared to random access memory. Random access memory is volatile and the data gets updated depending on the programs that run on the system.

There are two types of rams available namely static ram and dynamic ram. Static ram is faster as compared to dynamic ram because the dynamic rams should be refreshed quite frequently and this is highly reflected on the performance.

READ ONLY MEMORY

Read only memory or rom is the type of computer memory that is prewritten and very much different from ram in terms of access privilege. In a read only memory, the data is prewritten on to the chip using various methods such a electric programming and once the data is written, it can only be read and cannot be removed or re written. This memory is not in fact available for programs and is used mainly for setting up the system and for various such requirements. The major difference among the types of memory ram rom is that read only memory contents will be present in the memory even when the system is turned off. In computer systems, read only memories are used mainly for booting the system. However, calculators and electronic equipment such as printers contain more read only memories in order to store their fonts and related data.

Even though read only memories come embedded on the system by the manufacturer, there is a variant of read only memory available, which is known as programmable read only memory. Programmable read only memory is independent chips that are blank and can be programmed using some particular methods or devices known as PROM programmer. However, once the programmable read only memory is programmed, it cannot be rewritten and then it will act as a read only memory further.

Even though explanations are available independently on ram and rom, a comparative explanation cannot be found quite often.