Read-write memory

Read–write memory is a type of computer memory that may be relatively easily written to as well as read from, that is, using electrical signalling normally associated with running a software, and without any other physical processes (unlike ROM or "read-only memory" and distinct from EEPROM).^[1] The related term RAM (for "random access memory") means something different; it refers to memory that can access any memory location in a constant amount of time.^[2]

The term might also refer to memory locations having both read and write permissions. In modern computer systems using memory segmentation, each segment has a length and set of permissions (for example, read, write, execute) associated with it.

Types

Read-write memory is composed of either volatile or non-volatile types of storage. A computer holds many types of storage that can Read-write memory and be in many different physical sizes and forms. Typically read-write speeds are limited to its bandwidth or have mechanical limitations of either rotation speeds and arm movement delays for storage types such as Cloud Storage, Hard Disk Drive or CD-RWs, DVD-RWs, SD cards, Solid State Drive, SRAM, and DRAM, or other integrated circuitry.^[3]

History

San Francisco in 1956, IBM was the first company to develop and sell the first commercial Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The drive was the Model 350 disk storage unit, which was 3.75 Megabytes of data storage capacity and had fifty 24-inch diameter disks stacked on a spindle and sold to Zellerbach paper.^[4]

Years of development have taken place since, and the development of read-write memory is larger in capacity and smaller in size. Today, you can store capacities of multiple terabytes of storage.

See also

• Read-mostly memory (RMM)

References