[geeks] Flash drive questions

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Phil Stracchino <phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net>
>Date: 2006/08/05 Sat PM 06:34:10 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Flash drive questions

>Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> Anyone noticed the "feature" that lets you use a USB 2.0 thumbdrive as an extension of system RAM, to speed-up your system? I'm going to tinker with that on a test box with less RAM (my current box has 2 Gigs)...
>
>You know ... the more I think about it, the worse that idea sounds.

Well, the speed issue is interesting (I'm sure it's slower than RAM, yet faster than a physical drive), but at $20 for a Gig of storage, what the heck? I suspect some logic with regard to what is written to the USB drive...

>> Also, anyone tinkered with the new "hybrid" notebook HDs that have a significant FLASH memory component on board to reduce HD access/improve speed/save power on laptops? Windows Vista supports them, anyone know if they are implemented as buffers and invisible to the O/S or are they actually considered a seperate drive and the O/S manages it? (see: http://samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20060726_0000275948)
>
>Wheee!  What a concept:  Disk cache that WEARS OUT, right there on the
>motherboard!  Roll on the disposable laptop!

No, right there on the HD - again, I think the O/S manages what is written to the FLASH Cache - say, once a file has been read each of the last 10 times the drive was powered up, that file is a candidate for being cached. Or maybe only read-only files, to reduce writing activity on the buffer (R/W files, beciase they are more volitile would be written directly to the HD). Besides, if the FLASH cache dies, if designed properly the drive should still function fine (at least that's how I would implement such an idea).

Lionel