[2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

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Axel Mertes
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Axel Mertes »

Jaga wrote:I'd simply like the ability to preload a folder/file by right-clicking it, and choosing the option from a Primocache context link. You could preload games, videos, whatever you wanted just before you used them, speeding it all up tremendously.
I understand that for certain things this might be interesting - but there are some problems:

a) PrimoCache is NOT aware of any file systems nor files. As a files blocks can be scattered among the entire disk - how should PrimoCache know that?
b) This is manual!

Solution to a) is to simply once load/play the file. That would move it to cache automatically, now, or with older PrimoCache/FancyCache versions. If there should be a context menu for PrimoCache, it would technically do exactly the same: Looking up a files blocks in e.g. MFT, then load them all into cache (if these fit in).

About b): My work scenario is the complete opposite of "manual". It MUST be automatic. All I wand to adjust is the number of blocks I want to preload "around" the blocks already requested by file I/O (around = before and after). As in my scenario nearly all files are guaranteed to be sequential (constant defragmentation and other tricks) the preloading will work simply by increasing / decreasing block number. Very simple.

Manual = labor work, not simple, expensive, ineffective. Cool for a hobbyist, not for a job.
Davey126
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Davey126 »

Jaga wrote:
Davey126 wrote:
Jaga wrote:I'd simply like the ability to preload a folder/file by right-clicking it, and choosing the option from a Primocache context link. You could preload games, videos, whatever you wanted just before you used them, speeding it all up tremendously.
That capability is better aligned with a ramdisk IMO.
Disagree.. but that's the spice of life. I enjoy having faster boots, overall snappier and responsive system speed. But sometimes I'd like to ensure that a file/game/program/etc runs as fast as possible, without having to create a separate ~30-40 gig RAMdrive for it. I use a lot of different software, and would need somewhere on the order of 256 gig of RAM if I was going to do that, and that just isn't practical. On the other hand, a simple feature that requests a cache load of a file/folder wouldn't be difficult at all.
Aside from the philosophical disagreement 'on demand' file/folder caching really goes against the grain of how PromoCache operates behind the scenes. But I digress as you were simply making a wishlist comment.
minhgi
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by minhgi »

Axel Mertes wrote:No, I have no software for preloading. Thats exactly the point:

Either my software is having preloading by its own or there is no preloading (as most of the time).
So my playback speed is limited to the actual drive speed "just in time". So my (old and often mentioned) wish is that a new version of PrimoCache allows us to preload "n" blocks beyond the last blocks read. Thats an option that would accelerate mostly sequential files on defragmented disks (such as in my video production environment). It would be pretty simple to implement and it will not allow faster "long term" playbacks, but in an editing scenario it would help. I could even imagine to read "n" blocks before the lowest block number and "n" blocks after the highest block number. This is the way editing usually works, jumping back and forth form a specific position, repeatably.

If you want this too, we are two ;-)
Add me to the wish list for the read ahead feature, since I think Primocache is very mature and fully features for caching software. Primocache use a underling filter driver to interact, before the defrag API stack, with Windows so it have to be implement there.

my wishlist:
Preloading data into its own cache or shared cache
Real ahead using define value or dynamic
Axel Mertes
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Axel Mertes »

preloading data into cache as read ahead AND read before cache, with user customizeable "n" blocks ;-)

And an answer, if blocks that have just been written are available in cache for immediate reading afterwards. That was often suggested and I am not sure 3.0.0 implements this already.
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Jaga
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Jaga »

How is 3.0 coming? Nearing release yet? Is it production-safe yet or still unstable and not recommended?
Davey126
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Davey126 »

Single data point: I have been running 3.0.x in Win10 x64 box for several months w/o issue. I did try to upgrade a creaky 32-bit XP machine from 2.7 to 3.0 but ended up with a delayed blue screen. I would not hesitate to deploy v3 wherever it is beneficial.
supercilious
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by supercilious »

I'm not putting beta versions of anything on my machines. Still waiting for the release to try it out, and in particular looking forward to the server version.
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Jaga
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Jaga »

Thank you for the advice Davey.
Axel Mertes
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by Axel Mertes »

Axel Mertes wrote:preloading data into cache as read ahead AND read before cache, with user customizeable "n" blocks ;-)

And an answer, if blocks that have just been written are available in cache for immediate reading afterwards. That was often suggested and I am not sure 3.0.0 implements this already.
Support, can we have an answer on this?
RobF99
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Re: [2017-05-27] PrimoCache 3.0.0 Beta is available now!

Post by RobF99 »

Here is a problem that has always existed and is further accentuated now with L2 Write cache....

I have a 30 Gb write cache for L2. My L1 is 1 Gb. Delay write 120 seconds - but the problem happens with smaller numbers and even larger e.g. 600 seconds.

I process a lot of images via batching in photoshop. e.g. 1000 X 1 Gb TIF files. When I save files at the beginning they save fast because they are writing to L2 - when it comes time for Primocache to write the data to the hard drive - whether 60 seconds, 120 seconds or 600 seconds - all other operations on the hard drives stop as it waits to write the data to hard drive (sometimes as much as 20 Gb). So my batching pauses for up to 20 minutes as it writes the data the hard drive. I can't even browse a folder or do anything while it write the L2 cache. In the end my overall time taken is the same as if I did not use Primocache - because no othe operations seem to be able to happen as it flushes the write cache. Using Windows 7 64 bit. The disk queue length is around 5 as it is writing. It looks like this write operation takes "exclusive" priority over the drive as it flushes and certainly takes priority over read operations on that same drive until ALL data is flushed.

Initially it will write 4 to 5 files per minute to L2 cache - when when it flushes I can wait for up to 20 minutes as it flushes.

Something needs to be done to lower the priority it takes over the hard drive. Can this be done as background? This might solve the problem.
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