ReadyDrive

I've got a Dell XPS M1530 laptop which has a slot for a Flash Cache Module which enables Vista to use ReadyDrive - apparently.

Windows ReadyDrive and Hybrid Hard Disk Drives are standard hard drives that include both rotating media and an integrated cache of non-volatile flash memory (also known as NVRAM). This cache buffers disk writes and allows the disk drive to stay spun down for longer periods of time to increase battery life and the overall reliability of the drives in mobile systems. Serving data from the non-volatile cache increases the performance of the boot and resume processes as well as disk- and memory-intensive applications by avoiding the latency of random disk I/Os.

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From: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/accelerator.mspx

I've recently purchased an Intel Trubo Memory Module and installed it, and the drivers, on this laptop. The system sees it and, according to the Intel Turbo Memory Console that was installed with the drivers, ReadyDrive is active.

Thing is, I've not noticed any increase in performance or faster boot times, what's this thing doing for me? The hard drive doesn't seem to be spinning any less, maybe I'll see a difference over time and ReadyDrive figures out what it should be loading into Flash?

Any one now how this works?

Hi Fearful,

Readydrive uses hybrid hard drives with built-in flash memory- using the flash component to cache read and write reduces the number of times needed to spin the hard disk

Readyboost uses USB or SD to cache data that would otherwise be read from the hard drive - it can improve performance in some circumstances.

From the Windows Vista Resource Kit

"Gains on computers with a WEI disk subcomponent rating of more than 5 were minimal"

Your hd is probably too good for you to benefit from it.

Hope that helps

SIW2

Ah, that makes sense thanks. My drive rates at 5.5 so maybe that's why nothing appears to have improved.

Would I expect to see an improvement in battery performance though, if data is being loaded from Flash and not spinning up the HDD?