HARDWARE Bethany Tabaka EDMT 627 Optical Drive An

HARDWARE Bethany Tabaka EDMT 627

Optical Drive An optical drive is a device that is used for reading and writing data on an optical disk. It uses laser light or electromagnetic waves to do this.

Hard Drive It is used for storing or retrieving digital information. It has round disks that are coated with a magnetic material that helps to read and write the information.

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It is a type of computer memory storage.

Power Supply This converts electricity to a low voltage required for the internal parts of the computer.

Expansion Slots Spaces on the motherboard that can be used to plug in expansion cards so extra things can be easily added to a computer.

CPU Central Processing Unit is the brain of the computer. It carries out all of the instructions of a computer program.

Drive Bay A space in a computer that is designed for adding other mass storage devices such as hard or floppy disk drives.

Device Power connector This is the cord that is used to connect a computer device (i. e. disk drive) to the power supply of the computer so it will work.

IDE/SCSI Interface connector This is used to connect and transfer data to and from a computer and a peripheral device.

Clock Battery The clock battery gives power to a small source in the computer when the main power supply is turned off.

Motherboard The motherboard is the central circuit board. It holds most of the crucial components needed to make a computer work.

Power Switch Allows power from the mail power supply to flow into the computer. Turning it one direction stops the flow and turning it the other keeps the flow going.

Network Port Space in the computer specifically designated for a network cable to be plugged into.

Monitor Port Place to plug in the 15 prong cable so the computer information can be displayed on a screen.

USB Port Universal Serial Bus or USB for short is a place meant for quick and easy plug and play with peripheral devices such as keyboards or MP 3 devices.

Firewire Port A place to plug in and connect a firewire cable that is used for a high seed, real time data transfer.