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Computer storage is a technology made up of computer components and recording media that are used to store digital data. It is the main function and fundamental component of computers.

The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing calculations. Almost all computers use a storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options next to the processor and slower, but cheaper and larger options. In general, fast volatile technologies (which lose data when the power is turned off) are called “memory“, and slower resilient technologies are called “storage”.

Even early computer designs, Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine and Percy Ludgate’s Analytical Engine, clearly distinguished between processing and memory (Babbage stored numbers as spinning gears, and Ludgate stored numbers as switching rods in shuttles). This distinction has been expanded in the von Neumann architecture, where the processor consists of two main parts: a control unit and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The former controls the flow of data between the processor and memory, while the latter performs arithmetic and logical operations on data.

Without a significant memory, a computer can simply perform fixed operations and output the result immediately. It needs to readjust in order to change its behavior. This is acceptable for devices such as desk calculators, digital signal processors, and other specialized devices. Von Neumann machines are different in that they have a memory in which they store their instructions and operating data. Such computers are more versatile, since they do not need to adjust the hardware for each new program, they can simply be reprogrammed with new instructions in memory; they tend to be easier to design because a relatively simple processor can maintain state between successive computations to build complex procedural results. Most modern computers are von Neumann machines.

A modern digital computer represents data in a binary number system. Text, numbers, images, audio, and just about any other form of information can be converted to a string of bits or binary digits, each with a value of 1 or 0. The most common storage unit is a byte, which is 8 bits. Information can be processed by any computer or device that has a memory size large enough to accommodate a binary representation of information or just data. For example, complete Shakespearean works with a printout of approximately 1,250 pages can be saved in approximately five megabytes (40 million bits) with one byte per character. Data is encoded by assigning a bit pattern to each character, number or multimedia object. There are many encodings standards (e.g., character encodings like ASCII, image encodings like JPEG, video encodings like MPEG-4).

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