2mb cache hard drive or 8mb drive

[Ken]

Hi
Is there going to be great differences in performance between a drive with
2mb cache compared to a drive with 8mb and is it worth the upgrade.

 

[Jim]

No, don't upgrade *just* to get the larger cache, that's pointless. It will
result in a *very* minor improvement to go from 2mb to 8mb, virtually
imperceptible unless using benchmarking tools like SiSoftware Sandra. In
real world usage, it's virtually meaningless.

Windows provides its own file cache management! So in reality, the HD cache
is hit so little, it doesn't even matter. The Windows cache is much bigger,
more flexible, and ultimately faster. That's why benchmarking tools
typically turn OFF the Windows file cache before running, it would otherwise
distort the results! For all intents and purposes, the HD cache is useless,
and is more marketing hype than anything else, just one more means to
distinguish their product from all the others, and get you to open your
wallet one more time. Even if the HD has NO cache, you'd never notice it in
real usage.

The only thing that would benefit is something like MS-DOS, where there is
no file cache management.

HTH

Jim

 

[Don Taylor]

Is there going to be great differences in performance between a drive with
2mb cache compared to a drive with 8mb and is it worth the upgrade.

For a period of time some of the manufacturers cut the warranty period
from 3 years they had provided to 1 year on the 2mb cache drives but
kept the old longer warranty on the 8mb cache drives.

But I think they have cut the warranty on all models now.

 

[William W. Plummer]

Hi
Is there going to be great differences in performance between a drive with
2mb cache compared to a drive with 8mb and is it worth the upgrade.

The "sweet spot" for a single user system since WinNT days has been about
256MB. Any more doesn't make it feel any faster. The limit is the hard
disk and how fast it (physically) turns. Keep an eye on your disk light --
if it's on, you are being held back by the disk and even an infinitely fast
CPU won't change things.

 

[Kill Bill]

The "sweet spot" for a single user system since WinNT days has been about
256MB. Any more doesn't make it feel any faster. The limit is the hard
disk and how fast it (physically) turns. Keep an eye on your disk light --
if it's on, you are being held back by the disk and even an infinitely fast
CPU won't change things.

You're one of those guys that upgrades every 4 years aren't you?

 

[Martin]

You're one of those guys that upgrades every 4 years aren't you?

Lol - sweetspot is about 256MB.....

 

[DaveW]

Much faster access rate for data.

 

[Stacey]

Hi
Is there going to be great differences in performance between a drive with
2mb cache compared to a drive with 8mb and is it worth the upgrade.

Pointless upgrade. It is a good idea to spend the extra few $$ to buy one
when replacing a drive, if for no other reason than the longer warranty
some of them carry.