Every industry has its jargon, and IT professionals are as guilty as most. It has terms and expressions that leave the average Joe or Jane scratching their heads and customers with a vacant look on their faces.
Let's explore some of these and see what they don't mean and what they do. We'll kick off this series with memory.
RAM
It doesn't mean!
An uncastrated male sheep or - to force, thrust or plunge nor the opposite of sheepish!
What does it mean?
RAM (Random Access Memory)is temporary memory, where your PC stores programmes while they are active. Its contents delete every time you turn off your computer and fills and empties as you open and close applications. Most PC's or Macs running current operating systems need at least 8Gb of RAM
Hard Drive
It doesn't mean!
An arduous journey by car or a tricky shot on the 18th hole and it doesn't mean a cowboy herding cattle in tough territory.
What does it mean?
The device that permanently stores all of your PC data and retains it even when powered off. Typically a magnetized disk (platter) that spins between 5,400 rpm and 10,000 rpm. The gap between the read/write head and the spinning disk in modern hard drives is smaller than the height of a fingerprint - a few nanometers. Mind the gap.
Most modern computers will have one in the range of 500GB (Gigabytes) to 1Tb (Terrabyte) 1,000Gb. They are prone to crashing and data loss. The original iPod had a hard drive inside.
Solid State Drive - SSD
It doesn't mean!
The opposite of a liquid state drive - that would be just too messy. A computer drive that's in a bit of a state, no. A journey to a very well regarded territory in the USA - eh, no.
What does it mean?
SSD's are the next generation of data storage on computers. They use the same technology as the storage in your smartphone. No moving parts - no disk to crash and they dramatically speed up your PC with faster read-write times. A simple upgrade to get more out of your PC. Most modern computers have these installed as standard with 256Gb being the norm.
Fun fact
In 1956 Hard Drives first sold and they were about the size of a fridge. They cost €10 million per Gb, today it costs about €0.04 per Gb.
Thanks for the memory(s)!