Any storage device added to a computer beyond the immediately usable main storage is known as ____________.
Any storage device added to a computer beyond the immediately usable main storage is known as Backing store.
Backing storage refers to any non-volatile data storage that will retain a computer's data even after the computer is powered off. Common types of backing storage devices are hard drives, SSD, external hard disk drives, optical media such as CD or DVD, and flash media such as thumbdrives and memory sticks. Older computer systems also typically used floppy disks and magnetic tapes as backing storage. On modern systems, especially computers like netbooks, cloud storage services may also be used as backing storage.
Without some type of backing storage the computer would not have access to its data after the computer is turned off. For example, volatile memory like RAM loses all information if the computer is turned off or rebooted. To prevent information you have been working on from being lost it is saved to a backing storage device like a hard drive.