Optical Media Definition Media, in the computer world, refers to various types of data storage. For example, hard drives, CDs, DVDs, and USB drives are all different types of media. Optical media refers to discs that are read by a laser. This includes CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and all the variations of the two formats — CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, Blu-ray, and many others. Optical ..
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Flash Memory Definition Flash memory is a type of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Whew, that’s a mouthful. The name comes from how the memory is designed — a section of memory cells can be erased in a single action or in a “flash.” A common use of flash memory is to store the ..
OS X Definition OS X is Apple’s operating system that runs on Macintosh computers. It was first released in 2001 and over the next few years replaced Mac OS 9 (also known as Mac OS Classic) as the standard OS for Macs. It was called “Mac OS X” until version OS X 10.8, when Apple dropped “Mac” from the ..
Byte Definition A byte is a data measurement unit that contains eight bits, or a series of eight zeros and ones. A single byte can be used to represent 28 or 256 different values. The byte was originally created to store a single character, since 256 values is sufficient to represent all lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and ..
Bit Definition A bit (short for “binary digit”) is the smallest unit of measurement used to quantify computer data. It contains a single binary value of 0 or 1. While a single bit can define a boolean value of True (1) or False (0), an individual bit has little other use. Therefore, in computer storage, bits are often grouped together ..
Register Definition A register is a temporary storage area built into a CPU. Some registers are used internally and cannot be accessed outside the processor, while others are user-accessible. Most modern CPU architectures include both types of registers. Internal registers include the instruction register (IR), memory buffer register (MBR), memory data register (MDR), and memory address register (MAR). The ..
What is the difference between a 32-bit and 64-bit system? A: The terms “32-bit” and “64-bit” are commonly seen in system requirements and other technical literature, but few people actually know what these terms mean. Do they refer to hardware or software specifications? What makes a system 64-bit and what is the difference between a 64-bit computer and a 32-bit model? In ..
CPU Definition Stands for “Central Processing Unit.” The CPU is the primary component of a computer that processes instructions. It runs the operating system and applications, constantly receiving input from the user or active software programs. It processes the data and produces output, which may stored by an application or displayed on the screen. The CPU contains at least one processor, which is the ..
Secondary Memory Definition Secondary memory refers to storage devices, such as hard drives and solid state drives. It may also refer to removable storage media, such as USB flash drives, CDs, and DVDs. Unlike primary memory, secondary memory is not accessed directly by the CPU. Instead, data accessed from secondary memory is first loaded into RAM and is then sent to the processor. The RAM plays an important intermediate ..
Primary Memory Definition Primary memory is computer memory that is accessed directly by the CPU. This includes several types of memory, such as the processor cache and system ROM. However, in most cases, primary memory refers to system RAM. RAM, or random access memory, consists of one or more memory modules that temporarily store data while a computer is running. RAM is volatile memory, ..
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