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HDD cache idea

S

soccerballtux

Lifer
Install a DDR/2 slot on the HDD. Plug that into what normally interfaces with the cache. Used old DDR/2 ram sticks as cache. Who wouldn't want 256MB?

Perhaps size would be an issue. Ok, only accept SODIMM ram.

I'd pay another $15 to cover the 25c cost of plastic in the DDR/2 reader.
 
Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Install a DDR/2 slot on the HDD. Plug that into what normally interfaces with the cache. Used old DDR/2 ram sticks as cache. Who wouldn't want 256MB?

Perhaps size would be an issue. Ok, only accept SODIMM ram.

I'd pay another $15 to cover the 25c cost of plastic in the DDR/2 reader.
Click to expand...

L2 cache for a hard drive... Sounds good to me.
 
Hmm, interesting idea, could be interesting to see what kind of performance increase you could get out of that. I don't know that it'd offer huge leaps in performance for the everyday home user, but it a high end home situation it might show up, and it'd probably be pretty high once you got into the server realm.
One other idea would be to have the drive load a predefined section into the add in ram when you hit that power button. In theory you could have it throw a fair amount of the OS into ram (with enough ram) during POST and then load from the ram while the hard drive reads ahead, probably cut windows boot time down a little bit, more or less a hybrid of the ram drive boards we've seen.
 
Since this much RAM can't be used for write cache, the performance improvement would be negligible. Every modern OS already has disk read cache and having such cache on the disk itself would not help much. If somehow the HD would know which data is pagefile, then it could use the RAM for write cache as well since pagefile doesn't need to be actually stored in the event of a power failure. This scenario would yield some significant performance benefits on computers with insufficient RAM, but only this one.
Banzai's idea is a bit more plausible, but to realize it you would need additional flash in which to store the sectors needed for bootup. A very small amount, but still. You also have to realize that HDs take the most time to initialize during POST. Usually the computer starts booting the OS as soon as the HDs are initialized. That's also why the POST auto-detects the drives at the very end of the procedure. This leaver very little time for the HD to actually start pre-loading. Also since Vista already has this functionality supported (using flash) I doubt it would make much of a difference. I guess it's safe to say the Linux guys will support this as well as soon as HW becomes available.
 
:laugh: I can just imagine the multitude of threads then... :laugh:

"What memory works best with my Seagate HD?"

"Rate my HD/RAM combo"

"Is it worth upgrading my HD memory?"

"I'm ready to order my hard disk memory... Which one?"

"A friend gave me his old RAM, will it work in my WD HD?"

"I've been out of the harware loop, what latency memory should I get for my HD?"

"I'm a noob, can I RAID my HD DIMMs?"

"I've got some Corsair memory on the way for my Hitachi HD, should I RMA it and get Kingston?"

Etc, Etc, Etc, Etc, on and on and on...
 
Originally posted by: Blain
:laugh: I can just imagine the multitude of threads then... :laugh:

"What memory works best with my Seagate HD?"

"Rate my HD/RAM combo"

"Is it worth upgrading my HD memory?"

"I'm ready to order my hard disk memory... Which one?"

"A friend gave me his old RAM, will it work in my WD HD?"

"I've been out of the harware loop, what latency memory should I get for my HD?"

"I'm a noob, can I RAID my HD DIMMs?"

"I've got some Corsair memory on the way for my Hitachi HD, should I RMA it and get Kingston?"

Etc, Etc, Etc, Etc, on and on and on...
Click to expand...

ROFL. Only to be followed by "Can I overclock my RAM on my hard drive?" and then "Can I overclock my hard drive" & "I B teh l337 hax0r. Raptor @ 11k rpm"....
 
I suppose you know about this......?

______________________________________________________________-

ReadyDrive is a feature of Windows Vista that enables Windows Vista PCs equipped with a hybrid drive to boot up faster, resume from hibernation in less time, and preserve battery power. Hybrid hard drives are a new type of hard disk that integrates non-volatile flash memory with a traditional hard drive.

As of June 2006, there has been some concern expressed in the computer press[1] that ReadyDrive will sacrifice data-integrity for speed and battery savings.

The drive-side functionality will be standardized in ATA-8.

 
look at the enterprise scsi/sas controllers with onboard cache = not much use for anything but servers....so it would run more than $15 because it would be considered server grade. seriously, just get a controller card with onboard ram
 
Originally posted by: Dave Richardson
I suppose you know about this......?

______________________________________________________________-

ReadyDrive is a feature of Windows Vista that enables Windows Vista PCs equipped with a hybrid drive to boot up faster, resume from hibernation in less time, and preserve battery power. Hybrid hard drives are a new type of hard disk that integrates non-volatile flash memory with a traditional hard drive.

As of June 2006, there has been some concern expressed in the computer press[1] that ReadyDrive will sacrifice data-integrity for speed and battery savings.

The drive-side functionality will be standardized in ATA-8.
Click to expand...
Not a whole lot of flash drives with with ReadyDrive. My OCZ Rally 2 doesn't even work. Also, the performance benefit is negligible if you already have sufficient RAM. ReadyDrive is for low-end computers with 512 MB.
 
Originally posted by: StopSign
Originally posted by: Dave Richardson
I suppose you know about this......?

______________________________________________________________-

ReadyDrive is a feature of Windows Vista that enables Windows Vista PCs equipped with a hybrid drive to boot up faster, resume from hibernation in less time, and preserve battery power. Hybrid hard drives are a new type of hard disk that integrates non-volatile flash memory with a traditional hard drive.

As of June 2006, there has been some concern expressed in the computer press[1] that ReadyDrive will sacrifice data-integrity for speed and battery savings.

The drive-side functionality will be standardized in ATA-8.
Click to expand...
Not a whole lot of flash drives with with ReadyDrive. My OCZ Rally 2 doesn't even work. Also, the performance benefit is negligible if you already have sufficient RAM. ReadyDrive is for low-end computers with 512 MB.
Click to expand...

You are thinking about readyboost. Also, that's not true in Vista, my 2GB machine is subjectively a bit(not by a huge margin) snappier while palying games with a 2GB readyboost flash drive running.
 
This post opens up again my burning desire for an SSD! When are we gonna be able to afford SSD! Even a 32GB SSD will be more than enough for important programs!
 
In one of my computers, there is a 256MB cache for the hard drives, but it's on the controller card. I think that's more efficient than putting more cache on each hardrive. Also I think it is even more efficient to use the operating system's disk cache that sits in main memory.
 
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