NECC or ECC RAM

Hi El Technico;

To answer your question about non-ECC and ECC memory. ECC stands for Error Correction Code and is memory with a parity bit to allow for single bit errors to be corrected on the fly. This can protect applications and the OS from single bit errors. It is generally more expensive and is usually used for mission critical servers that must be keep up and running at all costs. For most workstations, ECC is a bit of overkill.

Unless you special order your Macintosh with ECC memory, it came with non-ECC. I would suggest you continue to use the cheaper non-ECC.

If you decide you must have ECC, you will have to remove the non-ECC and buy all new ECC memory in order to get it to operate correctly. If you mix non-ECC and ECC memory chips, the system will revert to working as non-ECC.

Allan