Hard Drive

Your Hard Drive is where your computer stores the programs you run and all your documents, photes, emails, etc. The bigger your hard drive, the more information you can store. Your hard-drive is kind of like your computer's internal filing cabinet. It takes things out when it needs them and puts them away when its done.
 
When you install a program it goes on your hard drive. When you create and save a document, it goes on your hard drive. Many people confuse the term RAM or Memory with Hard Drive. But they aren't the same thing at all. Hard-drives provide long term storage.
 
Its important to backup your hardrive because over time hard drives can be corrupted. The hardware can fail, you can get a virus that wipes out your information or you might even accidentally erase something you wanted to keep. If you have a backup of your important files, you can restore them to your new hardrive (or current one if its OK). There are many ways to back up and we'll be looking at those in our Tips and Tricks Column.