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hard disks 2MB - 8MB

  • 25-01-2003 5:05pm
    #1
    nocter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 48 ✭


    Would you notic a difference between an 2MB and a 8MB Cache /
    Buffer Size?
    would u sit back and say "god that program/game runs a lot
    faster with the 8MB cache"


Comments

  • #2
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    Basically Cache is an interim stage between the Hard Disk Platters and transferring.

    THe data is read into a physical memory chip (the cache) on the HDD and is then transferred from there.

    Having 8Mb instead of 2Mb improves performance by increasing efficiency of file transfers especially on internal (same disk) transfers of larger files.

    The trend was started when Western Digital made the special edition by sticking 8Mb into an ordinarty drive.

    8 Mb is faster, it's just a case of whether you want to pay a bit extra for it.


  • #3
    STaN
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,127 ✭✭✭STaN


    ive heard that 2mb caches are better for a raid setup, how true taht is i duno.

    Good to hear about the 8mb cache thing, got a 200gb recently with a 8mb cache it even had a ata pci controller included in the box


  • #4
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    Having a bigger cache cannot degrade performance.

    Basically, if you're running a RAID array your speed gain will be from the array removing the necessity for higher individual performance. Consequently the extra few quid for more cache on the drives is not worthwhile for large arrays.


  • #5
    Yavvy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,598 ✭✭✭Yavvy


    infact I belive fujitsu have developed very clever things with their 8MB cache on SCSI drives ...something to do with information being flushed out of the cache at point of failure.

    Also if the drive is running at some silly slow speed like 5400 then bigger cache is extreamly helpful. however if your drive is a resonable size and speed 4MB of cache will never be a I/O bottle neck unless your doing soem very high tech streaming or something.


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