HD-2mb vs. 8mb Cache

J

jeremy

I have a Maxtor 120gb (2mb cache) installed as my master. It is
partitioned 78.3gb:36.1gb.
I also gave a 30gb slave (Full).
I just bought another Maxtor 120gb (8mb cache). Both Drives are Maxtor
DiamondMax 9.
Should I use the new drive as the Primary/Master? Will I see any increase
in performance that would warrant me from putting in all this time.
Backups and reinstalling everything could take me over a week or should I
just use the new drive as a slave. Is there much difference between 2mb vs
8mb cache? Some System Specs to consider:
MB: ECS K7S5A
CPU: XP1800
RAM: 1gb PC2100, 266MHz
OS: WinXP Pro
Steve
Click to expand...


"How much faster is a drive with 8 MB of buffer than an otherwise identical
2 MB buffer model?"
http://www.storagereview.com/php/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=BufferSizes

IMHO their 30% figure seems to be on the optimistic side but its a good
short explanation worth reading.


Changing your primary/master drive with OS & programs should not be as
difficult as you make it sound. Find a drive imaging/cloning
program, it should allow you to duplicate the OS partition from the old
drive to the new. If you have never done anything like this before just
make sure to read and research.

~Jeremy
____________________________________________________________________
Please remove your windows partition when replying by email
 
S

Steve

I have a Maxtor 120gb (2mb cache) installed as my master. It is partitioned
78.3gb:36.1gb.
I also gave a 30gb slave (Full).
I just bought another Maxtor 120gb (8mb cache). Both Drives are Maxtor
DiamondMax 9.
Should I use the new drive as the Primary/Master?
Will I see any increase in performance that would warrant me from putting in
all this time. Backups and reinstalling everything could take me over a week
or should I just use the new drive as a slave.
Is there much difference between 2mb vs 8mb cache?
Some System Specs to consider:
MB: ECS K7S5A
CPU: XP1800
RAM: 1gb PC2100, 266MHz
OS: WinXP Pro
Steve
 
C

Chris Stolworthy

Well What are you doing that demands performance? If gaming then YES there
is a huge performance increase going from 2mb cache to an 8MB cache
 
D

Den

jeremy said:
"How much faster is a drive with 8 MB of buffer than an otherwise identical
2 MB buffer model?"
http://www.storagereview.com/php/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=BufferSizes

IMHO their 30% figure seems to be on the optimistic side but its a good
short explanation worth reading.


Changing your primary/master drive with OS & programs should not be as
difficult as you make it sound. Find a drive imaging/cloning
program, it should allow you to duplicate the OS partition from the old
drive to the new. If you have never done anything like this before just
make sure to read and research.
Click to expand...
Maxtor have Maxblast software which not only formats and prepares
the drive but also clones the boot drive to the new drive very quick.
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm

Den
 

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