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Overview

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Instructional Strategies

Introduction to Computers
Circuits and Switches
Digital Information
Microprocessors
The Internet
Technology and Society
Introduction to Computers
Lesson 4: How Computers Store Information
 
Lesson 1: History of Computers
Lesson 2: Four Components of a Computer
Lesson 3: How Computers Get Input
Lesson 4: How Computers Store Information
  Activity 1: Computers Need to Remember, Too
  Activity 2: Different Kinds of Storage Media
Lesson 5: How Computers Process Information
Lesson 6: How Computers Deliver Information
Lesson 7: Which is Smarter?

Memory and Storage
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How Computers Store Information
When you use a telephone, it does not store information. You speak into the phone, the person on the other end hears what you say and then your words are gone. An answering machine is different. It answers the phone and stores the information given by the caller.



To process information, computers need to be able to store it. Otherwise, like the phone, information would come and go before anything could be done with it.

Computers store all kinds of information. They store the information you give them, instructions from the software you're using, plus the instructions they need to operate. To store all this, they use two basic kinds of storage. Temporary storage is for information actively being used for processing. Random Access Memory (RAM) accepts new infomation for temporary storage. Long-term storage is for information computers use again and again, such as the instructions the computer prepares itself with every time you turn it on. These instructions are stored in read only memory (ROM), a type of memory that does not accept new information.

Computers also use a variety of devices to store information that isn't actively being used for processing. Hard drives, CD-ROM, storage, and floppy disk drives



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