Many people are confused about what "RAM memory" and "hard disk storage" really mean. This is a question I often am asked.
Here's an easy example: RAM is used as the active memory of what is running on your computer or phone.
And regardless of your operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Unix, iOS, Android, etc.), your disk or storage memory is the storage place for all your apps, programs, documents, photos, videos and music.
Think of it this way: RAM is like your office desk. If you have a tiny desk, like a school desk or an airline fold-down tray table, you can't spread much out on it. Papers would keep piling up or spilling to the floor, and it takes time to pull something from the bottom of the stack to the top to read it.
If you have a nice big desk or a conference table, you can rapidly spread everything out, put things in neat stacks and look at everything at an instant's glance, and grab just what you need.
Your disk drive/storage is like the filing cabinet next to your desk. It's full of documents, music, videos, photos and everything else you've saved, as well as the programs or apps that make your computer or phone function and do things for you. (Phones are designed similarly to computers)
If you have a big file cabinet with tons of space, you'll be able to file things exactly where you want and have room for lots of folders with big labels. If you have a filled-up disk, the computer won't have room to store more, and that would be like trying to stuff more papers into a filled-up filing cabinet--it will be a mess and take forever to find anything! Put too many songs or videos on your phone and you'll see what I mean; it will start warning you you are low on space and start acting slowly and crash. Without different folders and sub-folders, finding the one photo or document out of 1,000 can be tough. You can create folders on your phone.
If your computer is running slowly, one of the most common reasons is it has RAM that's too small for today's programs and apps. So, like the desk example, it has to work overtime trying to show you the file you want, and the extra "papers" fall off the desk. The solution may be to add more RAM, or for an older computer, it may be time to just buy a new one.
If you have a lot of things open at once on your computer, like dozens of tabs on your internet browser, some documents, and have it streaming music, conferencing and videos, etc, then your computer will have trouble keeping up with all of them at once. So the fewer things and tabs going will make it run faster.
If you are just running out of room to store stuff, your computer might not run slowly, but you'll be unable to save more big stuff. You can get external disk drives for $50-$200 that will have tons of room to store your files. Move big files like photos, music and videos to the new drive to free up space on your computer's main disk.
I hope that helps you understand these two often-confusing techie terms in a real-world way. Contact for assistance for all your computer needs.
