Where is all the data in your computer stored?

Answer 1

Data is actually stored in various places in a computer, mostly determined by how quickly it must be accessed:

1. internal CPU registers for the data actually being processed now
2. cache memory for data that has been recently accessed that is likely to need to be accessed again soon
3. main memory (RAM) for data that will need to be available whenever needed
4. virtual memory (in a file on the hard disk) for data that is rarely needed but can be copied into main memory when needed
5. input/output files (on hard disk) for data that the program will need for the current job and for result data from the current job