roper@june.cs.washington.edu (Michael Roper) (02/10/89)
The recent question about Windows and expanded memory prompts this question about Windows and its disk cacher, SmartDrive. Since SmartDrive took a beating in the recent review of such programs in PC Magazine, I am considering dumping it for some- thing that does a better job. But I recently added 1M of ex- panded memory and SmartDrive's claim to fame is its unique ability to relinquish expanded memory to Windows when asked. It recovers the memory when Windows releases it. This alone would make SmartDrive worth keeping, but I've seen no evidence (MS-Exec About Box) that this actually works. I suppose it is possible that the original size of SmartDrive is always displayed, but that doesn't seem too useful and makes even less sense since these programs are supposed to be working together. Does this really work? Mike Roper
rich@se-sd.sandiego.ncr.com (Rich Hume) (02/11/89)
In article <7229@june.cs.washington.edu> roper@june.cs.washington.edu (Michael Roper) writes: > ...stuff deleted... >no evidence (MS-Exec About Box) that this actually works. I >suppose it is possible that the original size of SmartDrive is >always displayed, but that doesn't seem too useful and makes >even less sense since these programs are supposed to be working >together. > >Does this really work? > It works for me. If you assign nearly all of expanded memory to smartdrive and then load a few windows apps, you will see the number reported by MS-Exec for smartdrive will go down. After closing the apps, the number will again increase. Rich Hume
mlawless@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM (Mike Lawless) (02/11/89)
In article <7229@june.cs.washington.edu> roper@june.cs.washington.edu (Michael > >The recent question about Windows and expanded memory prompts >this question about Windows and its disk cacher, SmartDrive. >Since SmartDrive took a beating in the recent review of such >programs in PC Magazine, I am considering dumping it for some- >thing that does a better job. But I recently added 1M of ex- >panded memory and SmartDrive's claim to fame is its unique >ability to relinquish expanded memory to Windows when asked. >It recovers the memory when Windows releases it. > >Does this really work? First of all, don't believe everything you read in Microsoft's manuals. They tell you that other cache managers won't work so don't even try. But I had $100 invested in a well-regarded cache program that I wanted to keep using because of its nice features (more about that below), so I tried it and it worked fine, even on a clone. It took some doing to get it to coexist with HIMEM.SYS, but that is a different story. My cache, Super PC-Kwik, received a glowing review from PC World, for its ability to speed up disk writes as well as reads, by doing a delayed write- through from the cache to the disk as a background process. But the reason I really like it is because a companion print buffer is set up to share the same block of memory allocated to the cache; memory is reallocated from the cache for print buffering on demand, and released back to the cache when the buffered data has been printed. This reallocation uses the same least- recently used algorithm as the regular cache management. Thus, for the same block of (expensive) memory, I get two performance enhancements. And, it can use extended or expanded memory. So if you have a 286-based machine with 1 meg of memory and no way to use the "extra" 384K, use it for cache/printing. Disclaimer: I have no connection with Multisoft (the vendor for Super PC-Kwik and the spooler), other than being a satisfied customer. -- Mike Lawless, NCR E&M Wichita, Box 20 (316) 636-8666 (NCR: 654-8666) 3718 N. Rock Road, Wichita, KS 67226 Mike.Lawless@Wichita.NCR.COM {ece-csc,hubcap,gould,rtech}!ncrcae!ncrwic!Mike.Lawless {sdcsvax,cbatt,dcdwest,nosc.ARPA}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!Mike.Lawless
kevinc@auvax.UUCP (Kevin "auric" Crocker) (02/19/89)
In article <7229@june.cs.washington.edu>, roper@june.cs.washington.edu (Michael Roper) writes: > > The recent question about Windows and expanded memory prompts > this question about Windows and its disk cacher, SmartDrive. > Since SmartDrive took a beating in the recent review of such > programs in PC Magazine, I am considering dumping it for some- > thing that does a better job. But I recently added 1M of ex- > panded memory and SmartDrive's claim to fame is its unique > ability to relinquish expanded memory to Windows when asked. > It recovers the memory when Windows releases it. > I have both AT extended memory (1M) and LIM 4.0 expanded memory (1M) and up till now I have not been able to use this stuff very well. Putting in SmartDrive and HIMEM.SYS has made a h*ll of a difference in the speed that quite a number of my programs, such as Lotus Manuscript, 1-2-3, Freelance Plus, Guide 2.0, Agenda, and a lot of utilities. I had been using DCACHE from Pc Mag but it didn't really seem to do the job. One of the biggest problems that I face is printing large documents with formatting galore (with equations) and SmartDrive has made a whole lot of difference to applications that don't even run under Windows. CAVEAT: I am still reasonably unimpressed with WINDOWS/286. Conversion costs for the software that I have is unbelievable. I can't stand PIF files at all - what a waste of my hard disk. Kevin -- Kevin "Auric" Crocker @Athabasca University {alberta ncc}auvax!kevinc