“Memory” Means RAM, Not Storage While Storage is Disk Splace

Memory is also called RAM its short term. Computers (and smartphones) load data into memory when they’re working on it. Memory Is RAM, Storage Is Your Hard Drive

Disk space (also called storage, or hard drive space) is long term. Computers store data on their disk until they need to retrieve it later. This is where your apps and personal files are stored.

Unfortunately, one reason people are confused about this is that storage is a type of memory. After all, they’re both even measured in the same units–GB, or gigabytes.

To make things even more confusing, we’ve started calling certain kinds of hard drives “flash memory”. An iPhone with 64 GB of disk space has 64 GB of flash memory. But that 64 GB of flash memory is long-term storage rather than short-term RAM. It’s hard to blame anyone for getting confused when the tech industry keeps throwing around confusingly similar terms.

But now you know the difference: Random access memory is distinct from hard disk space and flash storage. It’s important to know the difference, especially when you’re trying to solve problems with your computer.