A computer has secondary storage.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2023). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [5] (a) One mark for each correct type: optical | data is stored using pits and lands, solid-state | data is stored using control gates and floating gates, magnetic | data is stored using electromagnets, optical | data is stored using a laser, magnetic | data is stored on a platter that is divided into tracks and sectors
2. [4] (b) Four from: Primary storage is directly accessible by the CPU, whereas secondary storage is not directly accessible by the CPU, Primary storage stores the data that is currently in use/for booting the system, whereas secondary storage stores user's files/data/operating system/application software, Primary storage normally has a small capacity, whereas secondary storage normally has a larger capacity, Some parts of primary storage are volatile, whereas secondary storage is non volatile, Some parts of primary storage the data cannot be changed, whereas data in secondary storage can be changed, Primary storage has faster access speeds to data, whereas secondary storage has slower access speeds to data