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Know when to upgrade your memory or hard drive

Hard drives

The hard drive provides storage for your computer's programs and frequently used data. Nearly all hard drives today are rated in Gigabytes (GB). Not to be confused with RAM, your hard drive is permanent storage for your data. RAM is non permanent memory. However, hard drives can and often do serve as temporary memory. When Microsoft Windows runs out of RAM to use for programs, it uses the hard drive to store some of current memory and then frees up the RAM it has just saved. This is called paging. If you are using multiple programs at once and your hard drive is frequently being used this is paging at work. The hard drive then becomes "virtual memory," and while your system will slow considerably when this backup occurs, it prevents your PC from grinding to a halt and crashing. If this is happening frequently consider upgrading your RAM.

Do I need to upgrade ?

You need space for each program that you add to your PC, as well as any data you create. As you add new programs and create new data, your hard drive will quickly fill up. Few people want to spend hours cleaning old files and unused files from their hard drive, and sometimes if you are unsure what a file is or does, the best thing to do is leave it.

Hard drive capacity is like closet space, you can never have too much. If your machine is a few years old the chances are your macine came with a smaller hard drive. New programs and the usage of computers have changed in the last few years and now demand far more capacity than from just a few years ago, luckily technology has kept up with the need for storage and has led to advances in storage capacity and new large hard drives are both cheap and plentiful. For example, downloading mp3 files for your ipod, downloading multimedia applications or editing camcorder movies on your PC are types of uses which will demand large storage volumes, and you will probably soon start to see your hard drive fill up.

RAM

RAM is an abbreviation for Random Access Memory, the working memory in your PC. As your computer runs programs and works with data, it uses RAM to store all information. RAM can be measured in megabytes (MB) or more commonly in newer systems Gigabytes (GB). More RAM allows your computer to run more programs and to do so faster. The more memory you have the less likelihood your machine will need to page memory in and out as described above. For example, working on a Word document as you surf the Internet and listen to MP3 music files can be very draining on your computer's RAM. After the processor, RAM is the second biggest factor in overall system speed. If you work with large spreadsheets or digital images, having more RAM is a big help. Likewise, graphics files are comparatively much larger than text files, and can slow your system down if you have insufficient RAM. The Internet is another drain to RAM, especially when you open multiple browser windows, some of which may be featuring sites packed with animation and graphics.

Do I need to upgrade ?

Choosing RAM is similar to choosing a processor; keep in mind your future needs. Also similar to processors, graphics and digital imaging, as well as gaming and multimedia software, tend to require the most RAM to run smoothly and effectively. You may be able to run the hottest new games with less RAM, but game play might play slow, or some game features may be disabled in order to free up memory. How much RAM do you need ? Well ComputerGeeks recommends you check this link to find out what memory you require and the maximum your machine can take and then upgrade the maximum possible size. All machines should have at leat 512MB with 1GB being the standard. If you use your PC for uses described above we recommend you go even higher.

If you have any questions then please contact ComputerGeeks2Go for help.