RAM stands for Random Access Memory and ROM stands for Read Only Memory. Both of these devices are memory devices and are required by a system to function. Following are the differences between RAM and ROM.
Differences Between RAM and ROM:
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#
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RAM
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ROM
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1
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RAM is a volatile memory, that is, it requires external power to keep its data on it
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ROM is non-volatile memory, that is, requires no external power to keep its data intact
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2
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RAM is expensive
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ROM is cheaper
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3
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RAM stores program data when the system is up and running
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ROM stores data required by the system to boot
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4
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Storage capacity of RAM is higher
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Storage capacity of ROM is lesser
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5
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CPU can access the data stored in RAM
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CPU can’t access the data in ROM, however, to do so, CPU first copies the data from ROM to RAM
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6
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Writing data to RAM is faster
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Writing data to ROM is slower
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7
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RAM is used as the primary memory
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ROM is required by hardware to store small amount of data permanently
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