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The hard drive is where you store all permanent information. All of your programs and files are stored on the hard drive. The hard drive stores information in bytes. A byte is a single keyboard character. This website is many millions of bytes in size, otherwise known as megabytes. A megabyte is a little more than one million bytes. Most newer hard drives are at least 30 gigabytes. A gigabyte is a little more than one billion bytes. A hard drive uses something called a FAT table to store information. A FAT table divides information up into clusters and sectors. A cluster is the smallest unit on the hard drive in which it can store data. A Sector is a group of clusters, maybe a file or a piece of a file.
RAM is the temporary memory of the computer. It holds all the information the computer needs to access quickly when it is running. The Kernel of the operating system is stored here every time the computer starts. You know when windows is booting up and it gives you the windows is starting graphic, it is loading the kernel at that time. RAM also holds information that you copy or paste.
Even when your computer is turned off, a small part of it is still on. The battery is what makes this possible. The BIOS and CMOS Chips need constant power or they would be wiped out. So the battery gives them this constant power that they need.
The BIOS contains all the information the computer needs to know to start up. It contains the boot sequence and a lot of other really complicated stuff that the computer needs to work. If the BIOS gets messed up then you are in some very serious trouble and you need to take it to a computer technician to be fixed.
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