Why rom is primary memory

They shouldn't be taken too seriously — they don't apply in a clean way to all possible situations. The basic idea is that the processor can read and write directly to primary memory.

On the other hand, to access the contents of secondary memory, it needs to copy the content into primary memory and arrange for a data transfer, or to use peripheral input-output instructions rather than memory load-store instructions.

This is not a hard-and-fast distinction and there are a lot of ambiguous cases. Classifying memory like this is pointless, and it's wrong unless you're talking about a specific architecture e.

They aren't necessarily external: many chips contain a small amount of ROM. E EPROM and flash are more often external because the erasure process generates heat which is harder to dissipate if the memory is part of a multi-function chip — an engineering concern, not a scientific distinction.

ROM is often primary memory because that's where the boot code is stored, and accessing secondary memory requires some code to run, so that can't be done until the boot code has run. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Learn more. Is ROM primary memory or secondary memory? Ask Question. Asked 9 months ago. Active 3 months ago. Viewed times. Improve this question. It is a serial access storage device which allows us to store a very high volume of data. Usually used for backups. Skip to content. What is Primary Memory? Primary memory data is directly accessed by the processing unit whereas Secondary memory data cannot be accessed directly by the processor.

Comparing primary and secondary storage devices, Primary storage devices are costlier than secondary storage device whereas Secondary storage devices are cheaper compared to primary storage device.

Report a Bug. Previous Prev. Next Continue. Home Testing Expand child menu Expand. SAP Expand child menu Expand. Web Expand child menu Expand. Must Learn Expand child menu Expand. Big Data Expand child menu Expand. Live Project Expand child menu Expand. AI Expand child menu Expand. Primary Memory are divided into two subcategories : 1. The word 'random' means that the computer can access any memory cell without accessing all cells sequentially.

That is, a memory is said to be random access memory if any part of it can be accessed directly randomly for reading or writing data in the same time irrespective of its location. In other words, access to this memory is independent of physical storage location of information on the medium. The contents of the memory remain there as long as electrical current is available to sustain the memory's pattern of positive and negative charges which represent the two bits 1 and O.