Which of the following are examples of primary memory?

• A. Hard drive and SSD
• B. Cache memory
• C. RAM and ROM
• D. Optical drive and flash memory

Answer: (C)

Primary memory is the memory the CPU uses directly to store data and instructions while a program runs. RAM is the writable, temporary storage that holds active data and programs, and ROM stores essential firmware that doesn’t disappear when power is off. Together, they form the main store the processor relies on during execution.

Hard drives and SSDs are secondary storage, kept for long-term data persistence. Cache memory is a very fast, small buffer between the CPU and main memory used to speed up access, but it’s considered part of the memory hierarchy rather than the main memory itself. Optical drives and flash memory are also storage devices, not the primary working memory.

So RAM and ROM are the examples of primary memory.