Alternatively referred to as external memory, secondary memory, and auxiliary storage, a secondary storage device is a non-volatile device that holds data until it is deleted or overwritten. Secondary storage is about two orders of magnitude cheaper than primary storage. Consequently, hard drives (a prime example of secondary storage) are the go-to solution for nearly all data kept on today’s computers.
Examples of Secondary Storage:
Why does a computer need a secondary storage?
It is possible for a computer not to have or use a secondary storage (e.g. dumb terminal). However, for most computers and users require secondary storage because of the need to permanently store some data to a computer. With the primary storage if you were working on a document and the power turned off everything would be lost because primary storage is a temporary. However, a computer with secondary storage that saved the file before the power turned off would be able to recover the last saved version of the file.
Comparison between Secondary Storage and Primary Storage
Secondary storage commonly refers to non-volatile storage devices, such as hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs),that protect data for disaster recovery or long-term retention. Optical media, backup tapes and remote archives are common secondary storage technologies.
Secondary storage sits below a company’s primary storage tier, and is not under the direct control of a computer’s central processing unit (CPU). Secondary storage devices do not interact directly with an application.
The purpose of secondary storage is to provide a high-capacity tier, although the data stored is not immediately accessible. For example, a backup server is capable of storing a vast amount of data, but getting access to it requires dedicated backup software. Similarly, optical disks and backup tapes must first be mounted before they can be read.
A backup storage device is a type of secondary storage. Organizations often install multiple physical backup appliances in at least two locations to ensure data is redundant. The emergence of the public cloud as a storage tier has allowed some companies to reduce, if not eliminate, the need for such backup hardware.
Primary storage refers to local disks installed inside a server’s chassis, or to disks in an external storage array. Primary storage typically refers to random access memory (RAM) located near a computer’s CPU. This placement reduces the time needed to move data between storage and the CPU.
Because RAM is volatile, it holds active data sets as long as the computer is connected to a power source. Secondary storage, by contrast, uses nonvolatile storage devices, such as HDDs and SSDs, which retain their contents even without power. Nonvolatile storage media is also less expensive than RAM on a cost-per-gigabyte basis.
Secondary storage sits below a company’s primary storage tier, and is not under the direct control of a computer’s central processing unit (CPU). Secondary storage devices do not interact directly with an application.
The purpose of secondary storage is to provide a high-capacity tier, although the data stored is not immediately accessible. For example, a backup server is capable of storing a vast amount of data, but getting access to it requires dedicated backup software. Similarly, optical disks and backup tapes must first be mounted before they can be read.
A backup storage device is a type of secondary storage. Organizations often install multiple physical backup appliances in at least two locations to ensure data is redundant. The emergence of the public cloud as a storage tier has allowed some companies to reduce, if not eliminate, the need for such backup hardware.
Primary storage refers to local disks installed inside a server’s chassis, or to disks in an external storage array. Primary storage typically refers to random access memory (RAM) located near a computer’s CPU. This placement reduces the time needed to move data between storage and the CPU.
Because RAM is volatile, it holds active data sets as long as the computer is connected to a power source. Secondary storage, by contrast, uses nonvolatile storage devices, such as HDDs and SSDs, which retain their contents even without power. Nonvolatile storage media is also less expensive than RAM on a cost-per-gigabyte basis.
The following is a tablet for this comparison:
The memory device used in primary storage are semiconductor memories
The primary memory is categorized as volatile and non-volatile memories, RAM is the volatile memory and ROM is the non-volatile memory
The primary storage is composed of programs and data that are presently being used by the micro processor
The primary storage are more efficient and fast to interact with the micro processor
The primary storage are known as the main memory
These memories are also called as internal memory
The primary storage Is mostly in a form of memory card (RAM) which is available in a range of 512 MB to 32 MB with various class
The primary storage are connected to the computer through the slot of the PC’s motherboard
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The memory device used in secondary storage are magnetic and optical memories
The secondary memory is always non volatile
The secondary storage is enough capacity to store huge amount of data
The secondary storage are somewhat slow to interacting with the micro processor
The secondary storage are known as additional memory or backup memory
The secondary memory is external memory
The secondary storage is generally in a range of 4 GB to 4 TB in a form of hard disc drives
The secondary storage are connected to the computer through cables
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