Disk Space and Memory

[Dave]

Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if
there is a difference between disk space and memory? I
know how much disk space I have available but I dont know
how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM but
I dont know how much of that is available. I have 51 GB
of disk capacity with 90% of that available. Can somebody
interpret that for me? I'm concerned because of system
error messages I have been getting. Run time errors and
some hangs and crashes. I'm thinking maybe I need more
memory.
Thanks for the help.

[Chris Jackson \(MVP\)]

Your RAM (256MB) is what is commonly referred to as memory.

If you want to find out how much RAM you have available, you can right click
on the task bar, select task manager, and then go to the Performance tab. It
will show you your physical memory here. However, it depends on what you are
doing as to whether you have insufficient RAM available.

What type of applications are you running? What are you running when you get
the error message? What exactly is the error message? If you are having a
problem with a particular application, then adding more RAM may or may not
help. A run time error is almost never due to insufficient memory, nor are
hangs and crashes. Rather, the biggest indicator of insufficient RAM is the
system slowing down and your hard drive churning a lot. The reason why this
happens is that, once all of your memory is used, your system will start to
use your hard drive to store what won't fit in RAM. The hard drive is
several orders of magnitude slower than RAM. Without these as your symptoms,
it's probably more worthwhile to take a look at what specifically you are
doing when you get these error messages, and what programs you are running.
The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money fixing a problem you
don't actually have.

That being said, if you can find a good deal on RAM, nobody has yet
complained about having too much of it - I just don't want you to be sad if
it doesn't actually solve the problem you are having.

--
Chris Jackson
Software Engineer
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
--
"Dave" > wrote in message
...
> Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if
> there is a difference between disk space and memory? I
> know how much disk space I have available but I dont know
> how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM but
> I dont know how much of that is available. I have 51 GB
> of disk capacity with 90% of that available. Can somebody
> interpret that for me? I'm concerned because of system
> error messages I have been getting. Run time errors and
> some hangs and crashes. I'm thinking maybe I need more
> memory.
> Thanks for the help.
>

[Dave]

All I was running at the time of the run time error was
internet explorer. As for the hangs, my system does that
when I try to restart. I have to actually hold the button
down on the tower to make it restart. The crashs, I dont
remember what I was running for sure, but I usually use
only IE, outlook express email, and thats it except for
the programs that run in the background on my task bar.
Those are zone alarm and norton antivirus.

>-----Original Message-----
>Your RAM (256MB) is what is commonly referred to as
memory.
>
>If you want to find out how much RAM you have available,
you can right click
>on the task bar, select task manager, and then go to the
Performance tab. It
>will show you your physical memory here. However, it
depends on what you are
>doing as to whether you have insufficient RAM available.
>
>What type of applications are you running? What are you
running when you get
>the error message? What exactly is the error message? If
you are having a
>problem with a particular application, then adding more
RAM may or may not
>help. A run time error is almost never due to
insufficient memory, nor are
>hangs and crashes. Rather, the biggest indicator of
insufficient RAM is the
>system slowing down and your hard drive churning a lot.
The reason why this
>happens is that, once all of your memory is used, your
system will start to
>use your hard drive to store what won't fit in RAM. The
hard drive is
>several orders of magnitude slower than RAM. Without
these as your symptoms,
>it's probably more worthwhile to take a look at what
specifically you are
>doing when you get these error messages, and what
programs you are running.
>The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of money
fixing a problem you
>don't actually have.
>
>That being said, if you can find a good deal on RAM,
nobody has yet
>complained about having too much of it - I just don't
want you to be sad if
>it doesn't actually solve the problem you are having.
>
>--
>Chris Jackson
>Software Engineer
>Microsoft MVP
>Windows XP Associate Expert
>--
>"Dave" > wrote in message
...
>> Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if
>> there is a difference between disk space and memory? I
>> know how much disk space I have available but I dont
know
>> how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM
but
>> I dont know how much of that is available. I have 51 GB
>> of disk capacity with 90% of that available. Can
somebody
>> interpret that for me? I'm concerned because of system
>> error messages I have been getting. Run time errors and
>> some hangs and crashes. I'm thinking maybe I need more
>> memory.
>> Thanks for the help.
>>
>
>
>.
>

[Ken Blake]

In , Dave wrote:

> Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if
> there is a difference between disk space and memory?


It's not a dumb question at all. You're not the first person to
be confused by the two terms.


> I
> know how much disk space I have available


Good.


> but I dont know
> how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM


Then you have 256MB of memory, as distinct from disk space.


> but
> I dont know how much of that is available.


You don't need to know. Normally all, or almost all your memory
is in use. Windows works hard to find a use for it all the time
(using it, for example, for cache if your apps don't need it),
and that's good not bad. Free memory is wasted memory.


> I have 51 GB
> of disk capacity with 90% of that available. Can somebody
> interpret that for me?


So you're using 10% of the disk space, or 5.1GB, and the rest,
45.9GB, is available.


> I'm concerned because of system
> error messages I have been getting. Run time errors and
> some hangs and crashes. I'm thinking maybe I need more
> memory.


You *might* need more memory for better performance, but the
problems you cite are not caused by not having enough memory.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Alex Nichol]

Dave wrote:

>Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if=20
>there is a difference between disk space and memory? I=20
>know how much disk space I have available but I dont know=20
>how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM but=20
>I dont know how much of that is available. I have 51 GB=20
>of disk capacity with 90% of that available.

Disk space is used for long term storage of files. A small part is used
as the page file to provide 'overflow' from the RAM memory. The memory
space is addressed as 'virtual memory', and any address in that (which
roughly speaking is the size of the RAM plus the maximum allowed for
that file) is then pointed to the place where the data is actually
stored. Read up about it at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm


--=20
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K.

[Gerry Cornell]

Dave

Post copies of the actual error reports -Errors not warnings etc.

1. To open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click =
Administrative Tools, double-click Event Viewer and select System for =
system errors or Application for application errors. Look for Error in =
the Type column and double click on Error to reveal a Description of the =
error. This can be copied by using Clipboard Viewer (see later).
=20
2. Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you =
should double click for further information and you can copy using copy =
and paste.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

3. For some errors you will find "+ Related Knowledge Base Article", =
which if double clicked takes you to the Knowledge Base Article =
containing a suggested solution.

There always seems to be a step 2 but not always a step 3.=20

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports (Step 1). Run Event Viewer and =
double click on the error you want to copy. In the window which appears =
is a button resembling two pages. Double click the button and close =
Event Viewer. Now start your message ( email )and do a paste into the =
body of the message. This will paste the info from the Event Viewer =
Error Report complete with links into the message. Make sure this is the =
first paste after exiting from Event Viewer. It can be helpful to place =
a shortcut to Event Viewer on your Desktop.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=3Dkb;en-us;308427
=20
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any=20
suggested solution worked for you.
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dave" > wrote in message =
...
> Maybe its a dumb question, but can anyone tell me if=20
> there is a difference between disk space and memory? I=20
> know how much disk space I have available but I dont know=20
> how much memory I have available. I have 256MB of RAM but=20
> I dont know how much of that is available. I have 51 GB=20
> of disk capacity with 90% of that available. Can somebody=20
> interpret that for me? I'm concerned because of system=20
> error messages I have been getting. Run time errors and=20
> some hangs and crashes. I'm thinking maybe I need more=20
> memory.
> Thanks for the help.
>

[Rick Merrill]

> Disk space is used for long term storage of files. A small part is used
> as the page file to provide 'overflow' from the RAM memory. The memory
> space is addressed as 'virtual memory', and any address in that (which
> roughly speaking is the size of the RAM plus the maximum allowed for
> that file) is then pointed to the place where the data is actually
> stored. Read up about it at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Can you tell me the meaning of the attached (partial) screen from the
windows task manager 'performance' screen? Thanks - RM

[Sharon F]

On Wed, 11 Jun 2003 15:35:33 GMT, Rick Merrill >
wrote:

>> Disk space is used for long term storage of files. A small part is used
>> as the page file to provide 'overflow' from the RAM memory. The memory
>> space is addressed as 'virtual memory', and any address in that (which
>> roughly speaking is the size of the RAM plus the maximum allowed for
>> that file) is then pointed to the place where the data is actually
>> stored. Read up about it at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
>
>Can you tell me the meaning of the attached (partial) screen from the
>windows task manager 'performance' screen? Thanks - RM

These numbers can be confusing because they represent memory in use,
memory that has been requested because it might be used and memory that
hasn't been released by a closed program. Here's an article from the MS
Knowledge Base that explains the numbers you referenced:

Description of What the Available Bytes in Task Manager Represents
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;312628

Here's a link to an article that explains XP's the workings of virtual
memory in plain English. While technical in nature, it is easier to
understand than some of the whitepapers on the topic:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Sharon F
MS MVP [Shell/User]

[paints2003]

Your Disk Drive (Hard Drive) is where you install your programs, save your
files, and store your mp3s etc. Programs in your 51 gigabyte drive require
memory to run. The more programs you have running the more memory (RAM) you
will use, thus causing your computer to run slower, eventually to the point
where you will have to use virutal memory, which is making memory from the
51 gigabyte hardrive, this is the kind of memory that is very slow. Try
closing programs you don't use. Also check for sypware, because they take a
whole lot of memory and cause your computer to crash (Ex: SaveNow.exe)
Adaware is a must for all Internet and Music Downloaders. Getting more
memory is not necessary if you have 256 megabytes. 512 is excellent but you
probably won't use it all unless you are working with video.