altman@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Jeff Altman) (02/16/91)
Hyperdsk is a Windows aware disk cache package which replaces Smartdrv.sys. It can be ordered from Hyperware RR#1 Box 91 Pall Mall, TN 38577 Sales: (615) 864-6868 Tech Support (615) 864-6869 FAX (615) 864-6870 BBS HST/Dual Std (615) 864-6871 The current version is 4.20. There is a shareware version available on their BBS. There are older shareware versions which are not Windows aware floating around the nets. It comes with versions specific for 286, 386, and QEMM machines. The biggest difference between Hyperdsk and Smartdrv is that Smartdrv does not cache its writes. In other words when a write takes place it goes directly to the drive and the cache does not know about it. Hyperdsk provides staged writes. Instead of writing to the drive, the write goes to the cache. Reads have a higher priority than writes therefore the modified data does not get written to the drive until the machine is idle. At which time the physical writes that place. This is beneficial to Windows apps because so many of them utilize temporary files on the drive. PCWeek will be doing a report on Cache software and Windows next week. -- - Jeff (jaltman@ccmail.sunysb.edu)