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Author Topic: memory addressing system  (Read 9228 times)

Offline mostafaxx

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memory addressing system
« on: January 28, 2013, 06:58:02 PM »
hello every one,

i have a question a bout how a computer system address memory,

i know that a 32bit processor can't address memory more than 4294967296 bytes that is 4 GB
because it's address bus is only 32bit long and its registers are 32bit long,

now how could a computer address plus to the 4gigs of memory a 300GB hard disk and 16GB flash memory???
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Offline Frank Kotler

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Re: memory addressing system
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2013, 08:44:03 PM »
Two registers...

Best,
Frank

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Offline Keith Kanios

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Re: memory addressing system
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2013, 12:03:27 AM »
Quote from: mostafaxx on January 28, 2013, 06:58:02 PM
now how could a computer address plus to the 4gigs of memory a 300GB hard disk and 16GB flash memory???

If I understand correctly, you are asking how a computer can address 4GB of RAM, a 300GB hard disk and 16GB of flash memory all on the same 32-bit address bus.

The short answer is that devices such as hard disks and flash memory are not mapped entirely into the address bus, but accessed in blocks/sectors.

Read up on terms like CHS/LBA/PATA/SATA/ACHI for more information.
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