Replacing 2mb with 8mb Hard drive cache

[contrapasta]

Just wondering if it would be possible or feasable to replace the cache of a hard drive, I'm assuming the cache is a chip that you can solder off somehow. Just wondering, consider the preformance increase of Western Digital's 8MB cache (SE) version of there 100 GB drive. I'm also assuming that you can flash the normal version with the SE's firmware. What do you guys thinks of this???

 

[Elledan]

If you manage to do this, you'd have to replace the firmware, perhaps even with your own (self-written) version, and most likely update other components as well, to ensure that the extra cache is actually used, and in the proper manner.

 

[contrapasta]

Reading Storage Reviews review, its seems as if the normal 100GB is the exact same drive as the SE, only difference is the cache, and probable different firmware, again I'm assuming the firmware is flahable...

 

[RSMemphis]

That's a pretty big assumption. And even if it were, we would not get the tools to do so ourselves.

 

[ElFenix]

storagereview long ago investigated a drive where the oem and retail had different caches and found there was absolutely no difference.

 

[blahblah99]

i'm with elledan on this one... even if you could replace the cache you would need to rewrite the firmware to address that extra 6mb unless the designers were fortunate to make it distinguish between 1,2,4,8mb caches.

 

[contrapasta]

... well my intrest lies in that in this particular hard drive, there is a very good possibility that there is no difference b/w the 2 mb version and the 8 mb version, and there is no re-writing necessary, just use the existing firmware for the 8 mg version....

 

[CQuinn]

ElFenix, you might want to check their more recent reviews.

contrapasta, you also seem to assume that their is a single 8MB chip to replace the 2MB one with?

 

[blahblah99]

contra,

how do you know there's no difference between the 2mb and 8mb drive?

if you think about that from a marketing point of view, then your right, there is probably no difference between the 2 and 8 (slap on the 8mb and sell it for retail, leave the 2mb on and give them to oem buyers, everything else identical) and it would work if you just replaced the cache,

but then - if that DID work, then people like me would be modding their hard drives already 🙂

 

[RagManX]

Latest MaximumPC has an article comparing this drive in the 2 MB and 8 MB configuration. They claim the manufacturer claims the drive is identical other than the cache size. Not sure the exact wording, so they might have meant mechanically identical, or fully identical other than the actual cache chips. Interesting though, replacing the cache and looking for a speed boost.

RagManX

 

[zephyrprime]

I would think that if the drive came in 2 versions, then the same firmware would be coded so that it could detect and support both versions.

If the drive only can in one version and the entire product line only comes with one size cache, then extra ram soldered only probably won't work.

 

[Mday]

<< storagereview long ago investigated a drive where the oem and retail had different caches and found there was absolutely no difference. >>



yeah, they found virtually no difference between a drive with 2 MB and 512KB cache. I concluded this had to do with how the drive was designed to interact with the cache.

the jump from 2 MB to 8MB... i have no idea. if the manufacturers made any design changes, this can lead to a slight performance increase if you tend to access the same files over and over again.