Secondary Storage: Example of Secondary Storage is HDD or SSD, they

are not directly accessible by CPU. The computer usually uses its input/output
channels to access secondary storage and transfer the desired data to primary
storage.

Access time of HDD

The access time or response time of a rotating drive is a measure of the time it
takes before the drive can actually transfer data. The factors that control this
time on a rotating drive are mostly related to the mechanical nature of the
rotating disks and moving heads. It is composed of a few independently
measurable elements that are added together to get a single value when
evaluating the performance of a storage device. The access time can vary
significantly, so it is typically provided by manufacturers or measured in
benchmarks as an average
The access time per byte for HDDs or SSDs is typically measured in milliseconds
while the access time per byte for primary storage is measured in
nanoseconds. In other words, primary storage have much slower access and
data transfer time.
SSD:
In consumer products the maximum transfer rate typically ranges from about
200 MB/s to 3500 MB/s depending on the drive. Enterprise SSDs can have
multi-gigabyte per second throughput. Random access time typically under 0.1
ms.
HDD
A modern HDD can transfer data at about 200 MB/s Random access time
ranges from 2.9 (high end server drive) to 12 ms. and also upon the track
(reading from the outer tracks is faster). Data transfer speed can be up to 480
MB/s(experimental).
Primary Storage
Primary storage (also known as main memory, internal memory, or prime
memory), often referred to simply as memory, is the only one directly
accessible to the CPU. The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there
and executes them as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored
there in uniform manner.
There are several types of primary storage devices; random access memory
(RAM), Read-only Memory (ROM) and cache memory are common examples
of primary storage devices. RAM is considered the fastest storage and can
achieve very high transfer rates of data.
Random Access Memory(RAM)
When programs or files are accessed, the data is temporarily loaded from your
hard drive into your RAM where it can be smoothly accessed.
Read-only Memory (ROM)
ROM is a flash memory chip that contains a small amount of non-volatile
memory. ROM contains the BIOS which is the firmware for the motherboard.
Data stored in ROM can only be modified slowly, with difficulty, or not at all, so
it is mainly used to store firmware (software that is closely tied to specific
hardware, and unlikely to need frequent updates) or application software in
plug-in cartridges.
Cache Memory
Cache memory is generally joined onto the motherboard and installed on the
core processor or main RAM. It provides quicker access by storing an instance
of the programs or data regularly accessed by the processor. With the
information in cache memory, the processor does not need to go to RAM or
the hard drive to get the data, it already has an instance of it in its memory.
Other types of primary storage
In addition to the above three types, there are some others, programmable
read-only memory(PROM), Erasable programmable read-only
memory(EPROM), registers and flash memory.
Computer Vs Embedded System
BIOS
BIOS (basic input/output system) is the program a computer's microprocessor uses to
start the computer system after it is powered on. It also manages data flow between the
computer's operating system (OS) and attached devices, such as the hard disk, video
adapter, keyboard, mouse and printer.

Many embedded systems don’t have and don’t need an operating system. The
only thing they run is the application that might read sensor information,
control devices, communicate over a network, etc. The last two embedded
projects I worked on had no OS at all (by an embedded Systems Engineer).

More complex embedded systems, with enough memory to handle both a

small OS and one or more applications, do use operating systems. But they’re
typically not the operating systems you’re used to dealing with as a computer
user or smartphone user. They are often rudimentary, providing low-level
services for synchronization, communication, etc. Some provide guarantees of
real-time response, while others don’t. Some are just libraries containing basic
services, without a traditional operating system structure.
Firmware vs Embedded Program