New
#1
shutdown means deleting memory in RAM?
shutdown means deleting memory in RAM? I am learning mechanism behind shutdown in windows only.
shutdown means deleting memory in RAM?
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New #2
Please explain what you are asking. RAM is only temporary by design. No data is stored permanently in ram.
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New #3
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New #4
Yes. That is why you should Save changes to your documents before shutting down.
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New #5
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New #6
RAM is the working space for your programs and data you are working on. The code of all the software you are running, including Windows itself, is read into RAM in order to run it. Copies of your documents, photos, etc. are held in RAM while you edit them.
When you save a document it is written from the RAM onto the hard drive for permanent storage. The contents of RAM are lost when the power is turned off.
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New #7
Thank you
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New #8
Ram is far faster than hard drives (even solid state drives). Having certain programs (including portions of the OS) preloaded in Ram decreases access time and therefore efficiency compared to loading them directly from the hard drive when needed. In an active environment programs are rarely written to directly although the programs may write data to the hard drive. Some programs though are called constantly, especially operating system programs so loading them in memory rather than from the hard drive when needed keeps the end user happily computing without much delay. I don't know how far back your experience with computers goes but before ram a user spent most of their time waiting for programs to load, then they make a change, wait for the program to compile, and then wait for the changes to save. Having programs (especially the OS) loaded ahead of time save time and money. This isn't just windows but all OS's currently and not just computers but smart phones, gaming consoles, and smart tv's. Ram is incredibly important otherwise you'd be spending most of your time at a computer waiting on files and programs to load from the hard drive and then be written to over and over again. It's the same thing with websites that you pull up remotely located on a server. You might want to google it and read some articles. You might want to start with this one: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-ram/Last edited by townsbg; 21 May 2020 at 23:25.
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New #9
Yes, RAM is for the use of the cpu which only works when the computer is ON. Just like the cpu, RAM requires power from the PSU.
There is a tweak that loads the Registry into RAM on boot-up, which greatly speeds up the operation of the computer and running programs. I've been using that for years!
But when I shut down my PC, all that is GONE.
Sorry, but that's just another "Fact of Life".
Cheers mate!
TM
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New #10
Be advised that when you shut down a computer RAM is typically wiped, but not in all cases. I know this from my reading about security with Truecrypt or Veracrypt full disk encryption. The encryption key is held in RAM while you are on the computer and ideally it will be wiped on computer shut down, but studies have shown that some computer setups still hold some memory after a power down.
So the blanket statement of RAM being wiped on computer shutdown may not be true in all cases. I'm not sure if it's the type of RAM or a RAM/motherboard combination that does it. It could very well happen more often with laptops.
There may be a way to see if RAM is wiped on computer shutdown, but I don't know how yet. I haven't researched it at all. Something I've been meaning to do since I do use FDE on every computer I have running here. There may also be a program that can wipe RAM prior to computer shut down, but I'm sure there still may be some data in RAM after shut down for certain computers based on the OS's shut down procedure.
They do sell RAM drive PCI cards that hold RAM sticks that you can use as an external hard drive that's extremely fast as all hell. Probably would be faster than a gigabit fiber backbone from an ISP. But the only use for such a thing is for a high hard drive demanding applications. With today's SSDs and NVMe drives, it's not really needed much, but it could be a killer small website drive using XAMPP for a local web page of WordPress, phpBB or a Wiki software install. I mention this RAM hard drive because the memory is in fact volatile (meaning not capable of holding data on power off) and these RAM drives have a battery. Once that battery is dying, dead or removed, all data is wiped.
Fun fact # 457
SSDs, while they can hold data for long periods of time, will eventually need power due to a slow bit degradation in the memory chips. This may be a months or years long process, but it happens. So if you chose to use a SSD for a very long term clone or backup, you should apply power to it every once in a great while. Like every 6 months or so. I've read some SSDs have internal batteries, but I've never ran across one I've ever bought. All the SSDs I bought which were Adata, Kingston and Crucial were just a metal box with a board inside holding several memory chips. Drill holes in each memory chip and that data is gone to infinity and beyond. Way more secure than a PATA when it comes to data wiping using this method. You can burn, beat, or drill holes in a platter HDD and you can STILL recover data off of it. The FBI has methods of doing just that. Believe me.
Anyway...
Volatile | Definition of Volatile at Dictionary.com
Nonvolatile | Definition of Nonvolatile at Dictionary.com
Might be hard to remember as to non-fiction and fiction.
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