eli5 How does storing data using electricity work?

181 views

I mean I can run a current through a metal pipe but it doesn’t mean I can store a copy of Skyrim on it.

In: 0

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Pretty simple. You can use electricity to prevent other electricity from flowing using a few transistors. each one has an power in, power out, and input in. Take 2 of them, hook the power out of one to the input of the other, and the other way around to. then hook power in to a constant voltage.

Now you have a little loop, but electricity can only be flowing in one side of the loop or the other. So that side is “on”, and the other side is “off.” Pick one side to always read the data from, and add 2 more inputs that both bypass the transistors. if you power one line, you set the system into that state, if you power the other, you put it into the other. This circuit is called an Set Reset nor latch (frequently abbreviated RS-Nor latch)

You now have 1 bit of storage. Make 8 of those and you have 1 byte. 1000 of those for a kb, etc.

This isnt how modern data storage works, but this is A way you CAN do. Modern drives do cool tricks to not need constant power, and to be smaller.

You can find some diagrams of this here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_cell_%28computing%29

You are viewing 1 out of 4 answers, click here to view all answers.