Okay, I've got some technical questions for the group concerning hard drives...
How does the drive cache help? I mean, a
cache is only helpful with
repeated use of data. So, if you were to access the same file over and over again, then the cache can come in handy. Otherwise, you should see
no performance gain. That's how caches work, right? Secondly, the OS, itself, caches file IO and a lot more than a mere 8 MB! So, what's the point of the hard drive cache at all?
While I can see how the disc's RPMs can help seek times a little bit, it seems to me that it would help with data throughput a lot more. I mean, the RPMs don't help with the radial speed of the disc head at all, which is obviously integral to seek times. It depends on how the data is packed onto the disc, whether it be most dense radially or circumferencially. Either way, one would imagine that it's the throughput where it helps the most. Do RPMs really help seek times?
So, if anyone can answer these questions intelligently, I'd love to be enlightened! Thanks...