Is secondary storage volatile or non-volatile?

• A. Volatile
• B. Non-volatile
• C. Both
• D. None

Answer: (B)

Secondary storage is non-volatile because its purpose is to keep data even when the computer is turned off. This lets you save files, programs, and the operating system so you can access them later. In contrast, primary storage like RAM is volatile, meaning its contents are lost when power is removed. So for long-term storage and persistence, non-volatile devices such as hard drives, solid-state drives, USB sticks, and optical discs are used. If it were volatile, you would lose everything after shutting down; if it were both, it would blur the difference between storage types; if it were none, there wouldn’t be a real category for persistent storage. Therefore, non-volatile is the correct description.