Readyboost and FancyCache

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swmspam
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Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:42 pm

Readyboost and FancyCache

Post by swmspam »

I've been using FancyCache for a couple weeks. Due to generalized laziness of yet another forum account, I've only got around to registering today.

Can FancyCache coexist with Readyboost? From what I understand, the functionality is different, although I can image some potential conflicts.

Readyboost fetches commonly-used files into cache so program launches (reads) can benefit from low latency and faster access. Readyboost caches of 8GB and larger are useful. SuperFetch maintains a historical usage log, anticipates what files are most likely to be used, and attempts to background prefetch the data before user request. The data in the Readyboost cache is identical to the HDD data, and a speed contest is used between the cache and HDD when a data request is made.

FancyCache is a non-persistent read/write cache that buffers active usage from the storage device. It does not have the ability to identify commonly-used content, anticipate reads (based on historical records), and preload the data into the read cache prior to user request. FanceCache fetches the data after the user request. However, once fetched, the data remains in FancyCache for subsequent accesses (until flushed by LFU-R). Note: obviously, persistent cache would have tremendous advantages. This would allow the cached data from historical accesses to be immediately available upon a fresh boot.

My system uses the Hitachi Z5K500 7mm hard drive that has notoriously bad write latencies. That's how I found FancyCache. The write-deferral feature is the largest benefit to me, usually achieving ~90% deferred. Naturally, the read hits increase the longer I leave the system powered (as the read cache fills).

I'd like to capitalize on the best of both worlds: the anticipatory (SuperFetch) features of Readyboost, and the write-deferral feature of FancyCache.

System Configuration

Dell e6220 / Core i5 / 8 GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Bitlocker encrypted drives
Hitachi Z5K500 7mm HDD
Wintech Filemate 24GB ExpressCard SSD

FancyCache settings

Block Size: 32 kB LFU-R R/W
Level 1: 1024 MB
10s deferred write
Level 2: 4096 MB on Wintech SSD
NickJ
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:02 am

Re: Readyboost and FancyCache

Post by NickJ »

Tested this - Enabling Readyboost and FancyCache on the same system does not cause any corruption or instability that I've seen. FancyCache can be compared to Superfetch, with Readyboost being Superfetch's L2 Cache.
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