MPPSC 2020 Prelims Paper-I · Question 91 of 100

Correct — C, Random Access Memory (RAM). RAM is primary (main) memory — fast and volatile, losing its contents when power is off. Solid State Drives, Hard Disks and USB pen drives are secondary (auxiliary) storage, which is non-volatile and retains data without power.

• (a)Solid State Drive — An SSD is non-volatile secondary storage, so it IS a type of secondary memory.
• (b)Hard Disk — A hard disk is the classic secondary storage device — non-volatile, retains data without power.
• (d)USB Pen Drive — A pen drive is portable, non-volatile secondary storage.

Computer memory is divided into primary memory (RAM and cache — fast, volatile, directly accessed by the CPU) and secondary memory (HDD, SSD, pen drive, optical disc — slower, non-volatile, for long-term storage).

Odd-one-out: three storage devices vs one main memory. RAM is primary and volatile, so it is NOT secondary memory.

• RAM is primary, volatile memory — cleared when power is off.
• Secondary memory (HDD, SSD, pen drive) is non-volatile.
• Secondary storage retains data long-term without power.
• Cache and RAM are primary; discs and drives are secondary.

• Treating RAM as storage because it 'holds data'
• Confusing volatile primary memory with non-volatile secondary memory

Odd-one-out on memory types — RAM is not secondary memory.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is volatile memory?

  • (a)RAM
  • (b)Hard Disk
  • (c)SSD
  • (d)CD-ROM

  Answer(a) RAM.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which memory is directly and most rapidly accessed by the CPU?

  • (a)Cache/RAM (primary memory)
  • (b)Hard Disk
  • (c)Pen Drive
  • (d)DVD

  Answer(a) Cache/RAM (primary memory).