Secondary Storage Limitations: Operations Performed

Secondary storage devices, such as hard drives (HDD) or solid-state drives (SSD), are designed primarily for long-term data storage. They hold vast amounts of information but lack the processing capabilities found in the Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the immediate accessibility of primary memory (RAM).

Understanding Device Roles

The CPU is responsible for executing instructions and performing calculations. This involves:

• Arithmetic operations: Performing mathematical calculations (addition, subtraction, etc.).
• Logic operations: Making comparisons and decisions based on data (e.g., greater than, less than, equal to).
• Fetch operations: Retrieving instructions and data from memory to be processed by the CPU.

Secondary storage devices are not equipped to handle these types of processing tasks. They act as repositories, storing data until it is needed by the CPU, which then fetches it (often via RAM) for processing.

Conclusion on Operations

Since secondary storage devices can only store data and lack the necessary components to execute instructions or perform calculations, they cannot perform arithmetic operations, logic operations, or fetch operations directly.

Therefore, all the listed options accurately describe operations that secondary storage devices cannot perform.