Computer Hardware
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Hard Drive and SSD
- Hard drives
Hard Drives are fundamental parts of modern computers.They are high capacity storage spaces for photos, videos, software programmes like Microsoft Word, files and documents. The hard drive is actually a couple of circular disks stacked up. There is an arm which moves over the circular disks and writes and reads data on the disks.
- SSD
SSD stands for Solid State Disk. Solid State Disks are storage, pretty much exactly the same as hard drives, except instead of disks they use integrated circuits to store the data persistently. They do not use any moving components unlike the hard drive which uses a moving arm. Also they are a lot smaller than the hard drive and weigh less. They are not so vulnerable to damage from physical shock, such as being dropped, as hard drives. They are quick and usually silent. SSDs are much more expensive than hard drives when you consider the units of data stored.
Motherboard
The motherboard is a printed circuit board (PCB) that holds the central processing unit (CPU) and other crucial components. It joins everything together and manages all the peripherals. The motherboard is basically the brain of the computer and no computer can survive without its motherboard. It is a PCB that has capacity for expansion, many different things can be attached to it like sound cards, video cards and extra hard drives.
RAM
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. Random Access Memory temporarily stores information to speed up access to it. If you copy and paste something, the thing you have copied is stored on the Random Access Memory. Also the websites you have up are stored temporarily on Random Access Memory.