Computer Memory Units Explained
Computer memory has grown exponentially in the past three decades, and each generation of memory brings with it a new level of memory units and new terms to learn. Let's take a look at these units.
Building blocks
Bits and bytes are the basic building blocks of memory. "Bit" stands for binary digit. A bit is a one or a zero, on or off, which is how all computer information is stored. A byte is made up of eight bits. Eight bits, or a byte, was the original amount of information needed to encode a character of text. The number was later standardized as computer hardware changed.
For technical reasons, computer memory capacity is expressed in multiples of a power of two. The metric prefixes were then applied to those multiples to provide an easy way to express the very large numbers of bits and bytes.
SI prefixes
Computer memory uses a portion of the International System of Units (SI) prefixes for multiples of the base unit, a byte. The prefixes are not truly metric, however, because a byte is eight bits, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes.
|
Memory Prefix |
Amount |
|---|---|
|
Kilo (Kilobyte, KB) |
1,024 Bytes |
|
Mega (Megabyte, MB) |
1,024 Kilobytes |
|
Giga (Gigabyte, GB) |
1,024 Megabytes |
|
Tera (Terabyte, TB) |
1,024 Gigabytes |
|
Peta (Petabyte, PB) |
1,024 Terabytes |
Memory units
Computer verwenden Arbeitsspeicher (RAM), in dem Daten vorübergehend gespeichert werden, und Speicherlaufwerke, um die Daten dauerhaft speichern. Der RAM ermöglicht es Ihrem Computer, zwischen Programmen zu wechseln und große Dateien zur Ansicht bereitzuhalten.
Es kommt zwar darauf an, wofür Sie Ihren Computer verwenden, allerdings möchten Sie in der Regel so viel Arbeitsspeicher wie Ihr Computer aufnehmen kann. Je nach Hersteller und Modell Ihres Computers ist festgelegt, welche Art und wie viel Arbeitsspeicher Ihr Computer hat und mit wie viel Sie ihn maximal aufrüsten können. Mithilfe des Crucial® Advisor™-Tools oder des System Scanners können Sie herausfinden, welcher Arbeitsspeicher kompatibel ist. Mehr darüber, wie viel Arbeitsspeicher Sie haben sollten, lesen Sie hier.
Storage drives; hard disk drives and solid state drives, use the same memory terms when describing the capacity of the drive. As files with videos and very large photographs get larger, larger drive capacities are needed, as well. Currently, solid state drives are sold in a number of different gigabyte and terabyte capacities. As with RAM, you can use the Crucial® Advisor™ tool or System Scanner tool to find an SSD that's compatible with your system.