SuperFetch & USB DisksOnKeys

time to read 2 min | 244 words

One of the things that bugged me about the SuperFetch demo in the PDC was the declaration that SuperFetch will try to utilize any USB memory on the system to augment the file cache.

On the face of it, it didn’t make sense; the access times for USB 2.0 and modern HD are about the same, with the balance tipping toward HD as the faster.

This post clears things up (look at the comments), apparently this is true for sequential reading, but not for random access, while flash memory excel in random access.

Even with the cost of encrypting it, there should be a good saving in performance that way. I’ll assume that the file cache will look like this:

 

  1. Load to memory the most frequently used programs.
  2. When you run out of the space reserved for the cache on RAM, target the USB drives on the system.
  3. When you run out of USB drives, target the page file.

 

One consideration is what happens when you’ve external HD via USB? I’m pretty sure that they covered this option, though.

 

Cool technology, all around.