Crash course time!

Components of a System

• Processor (CPU)
• Storage
• Memory
• Peripherals
• Networking

Processor

The processor (CPU) is the heart of the computer - the part of the computer which does the ‘computing’. In reality it is a bunch of transistors and other components on a chip. This chip is able to automagically do stuff.

Storage

Read more about storage and memory here

What was that?
…
Exactly.

Storage is an important component in a computer system - we need a way to keep data.

There are two storage types, primary storage and secondary storage.

Primary Storage

Primary storage devices are directly accessible by the CPU, and is most commonly associated with the computer “memory”, or RAM (Random Access Memory). Being directly connected to the system bus, primary storage devices provide faster read and write times.
Primary storage devices are often considered volatile, meaning that once the computer is turned off, all the data is lost.

Other types of primary storage devices are the registers of the CPU, and cache devices

Secondary Storage

Secondary storage devices are where the majority of so called ‘storage mediums’ lie.
These include HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), SSDs (Solid State Disk), magnetic tapes, CDs, DVDs, etc… Secondary storage devices are considered to be non-volatile, as they do not require electricity to maintain the data.

Aside: SSDs vs HDDs

SSDs have a faster read and write speed (as well as access time) compared to HDDs due to the nature of how data is read and written.
On a hard disk, there is a mechanical arm inside which has to physically move to a certain area of the disk and spin the disk to read.
As SSDs do not have any moving parts, it does not suffer the delay of physical movement, and hence can read and write (and access) data faster.

Peripherals

Networking