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this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five
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Writing to an SSD damages the SSD, however things saved to an SSD are persistent, meaning the data isn't lost when the SSD doesn't get any power. Writing to RAM doesn't damage it and it is also quicker. However, data saved on RAM is not persistent, meaning that all data is lost as soon as the RAM is not connected to a power source. Also, RAM is a lot more expensive than SSD storage.
RAMs are already used to avoid writing to (or reading from) the SSD or HDD when possible, the concept is called "Caching"
Even if it's powered, RAM will lose its data on the order of a tenth of a second. RAM doesn't just require power, it requires that your computer constantly read and rewrite it - so every 64ms your computer has to read every gigabyte of RAM and write it back.
Doesn't the ram do that itself? Otherwise reading/writing all that data would waste tons of time for the CPU.
Yes - it's been the job of the DRAM controller for almost the entire history of computing. But that's still a part of the computer and if it stops working then your RAM will go blank in a fraction of a second