Memory in a high tech world

As the range of technology and gadgets in our day to day lives increases, along with the increasing capabilities of those devices, the requirement for means to store the output of those devices also increases.

Whether its for a laptop, an mp3 player, a digital camera or even a mobile phone, memory plays a role. And in many cases the memory capacity is upgradeable or even transferable from device to device allowing for the almost seemless transfer of data.



Memory and Storage

Memory and storage have meanings that overlap and are often used as interchangeable words; but word memory suggests data is immediately available whereas storage suggests that data has to be retrieved.

Sometimes memory is described as primary, for the immediate access memory; secondary, for the principal backing store; and auxiliary, for other forms of backing store.

A variety of other names are used for immediate access such as IAS, main memory, the memory, the store and for backing store, such as backup memory, peripheral memory, off-line storage.

For immediate access memory, most present-day computers use some form of random access memory integrated circuits, in which very large amounts of data can be stored in a single plastic encapsulated chip.

For backing store most use some form of magnetic storage like hard disks or portable hard drives, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM through to USB sticks.

The most common use for memory today, at the consumer level, is for backing store. This can include the storage card for a digital camera or the card that slips into your mobile phone. These cards can come in many shapes, types and differing capacities.

Capacity can be a point of confusion for many a consumer....

Capacity

To explain memory capacity easily simply think of a bucket of water. We measure the capacity of that bucket in litres and we know that 1 litre is equal to 1000 millilitres and that at the other end of the scale 1000 litres is equal to a megalitre.

With memory it is also a 'bucket' if you like, storing data instead of water and instead of using litres we use bytes. With bytes it roughly works like this:

  • 1000 bytes equals a Kilobyte(KB)
  • 1000 Kilobytes equals a Megabyte(MB)
  • 1000 Megabytes equals a Gigabyte(GB)
  • 1000 Gigabyte equals a Terabyte(TB)
  • 1000 Terabyte equals a Perabyte(PB)
  • 1000 Perabyte equals a Exabyte(EB)
  • 1000 Exabyte equals a Zettabyte(ZB)
  • 1000 Zettabyte equals a Yottabyte(YB)
Note: I used the word roughly! A kilobyte(KB) is actually 1,024 bytes due computers using binary (base two) math, instead of a decimal (base ten) system. Although, when you purchase memory note that the capacity is calculated using the decimal system as per above.



So, what does a Gigabyte or 1GB mean in the real world in terms of how many photos or how long of a video? The first thing we need to consider here is the quality of the video or photo, the higher the quality, the higher the size in bytes.


Camera megapixel rating x Memory Card capacity x No. of Photos

Camera Megapixels File size 128mb card 256mb card 512mb card 1gb card 2gb card 4gb card 8gb card
5 2.5mb 51 102 205 410 819 1638 3277
6 3mb 43 85 171 341 683 1365 2731
7 3.5mb 37 73 146 293 585 1170 2341
8 4mb 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048
9 4.5mb 28 57 114 228 455 910 1820
10 5mb 26 51 102 205 410 819 1638
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