Secondary Memory

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What Does Secondary Memory Mean?

Secondary memory is computer memory that is non-volatile and persistent in nature and is not directly accessed by a computer/processor. It allows a user to store data that may be instantly and easily retrieved, transported and used by applications and services.

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Secondary memory is also known as secondary storage.

Techopedia Explains Secondary Memory

Secondary memory consists of all permanent or persistent storage devices, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash drives, hard disk drives (HDD), magnetic tapes and other types of internal/external storage media. In computing operations, secondary memory is accessed only by the primary or main memory and later transported to the processor.

Secondary memory is slower than primary memory but can store and retain data, even if the computer is not connected to electrical power. It also has substantial storage capacities, ranging from megabytes to several terabytes of storage space within single memory.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ??a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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