What is computer data storage?
Q: What is computer data storage?
A: Computer data storage is the name for a number of components of a computer which are used to store data.
Q: What is the purpose of these components?
A: The main purpose of these components is to store data so that it can be accessed and changed by the central processing unit.
Q: How does memory hierarchy work?
A: In most computers, there is a computer memory hierarchy where memory that is closer to the CPU tends to be faster to access but smaller in size, while memory farther away from the CPU tends to be slower to access but bigger in size.
Q: What are some examples of classical storage media?
A: Examples of classical storage media include hard drives and USB flash drives.
Q: What type of media offers more capacity but accessing them is very slow?
A: Media such as tape drives offer more capacity than other types, however they are very slow when it comes to accessing them.
Q: What are primary data storage components?
A: Primary data storage components include registers found on modern CPUs which can store data, several levels of cache and main memory which can be accessed by the CPU.
Q: What type of storage is usually not directly accessible by the CPU?
A: Secondary storage usually cannot be directly accessed by the CPU and requires transferring its contents into primary storage before use. Examples include hard drives and non-volatile random-access memory.
