Which statement about volatile memory is true?

• A. It retains data when power is off
• B. It loses data when power is removed
• C. It stores data permanently
• D. It is never used by the CPU

Answer: (B)

Volatile memory is memory that needs power to retain its data. That’s why the true statement is that it loses data when power is removed. The charged states inside its cells dissipate when the power goes off, so whatever you were storing there is lost unless you’ve saved it to non-volatile storage. This is why we use volatile memory, like RAM, for fast working space during a session, but we must save important work to non-volatile storage such as a hard drive or flash memory to keep it after shutting down. The other ideas don’t fit because volatile memory does not keep data without power, it isn’t permanent storage, and it is indeed used by the CPU as working memory.