Caching in storage refers to?

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Caching in storage is about keeping copies of frequently accessed data in fast memory so it can be retrieved quickly. Because RAM is much faster than disk or even fast SSDs, serving reads from the cache reduces latency and increases overall throughput. When data is requested, the system first checks the cache; a hit returns the data immediately, while a miss fetches it from slower storage and then stores a copy in the cache for future requests. Caching can involve read caching or write caching, and it uses policies to decide how and when updates are written back to the underlying storage. Since RAM is volatile, some systems use battery-backed or non-volatile caches to protect data. In short, caching leverages fast memory to speed up access to frequently accessed data. The other options describe provisioning, cloning, or replication—different techniques that don’t capture the essence of caching.