Memory Chip Threat to Hard Discs

by Spencer Kelly BBC News, 21 Jul 2006 Random access memory (RAM) is short term memory, it handles the data a computer needs right now to do its calculations. Reading and writing data to RAM can be done extremely quickly, but it is volatile. And then there is flash memory, which is great for storing moderate amounts of data. It is non-volatile, so it is useful in portable devices like MP3 players and cameras. It is also robust, so you can sling it around in portable devices. Its main drawbacks are that it is very slow to write data to, and it also wears out. So depending on our needs, we have two ways of storing data, which both have disadvantages. What would be lovely is a type of memory which is both fast to write, and non-volatile. So, along comes something called magnetoresistive random access memory or MRAM. Read more