SmartDrive ...
SmartDrive is a left-over from DOS days. As DOS systems' typical memory availability grew, some wasn't being put to very good use, so it became a common practice to allocate some of this 'extra' memory to disk-caching. SmartDrive was loaded as one of the 'foundation' drivers, and whenever the disk was accessed, SmartDrive would see if the needed data was already available in its own, separate, cache, and if so, the data request would be met at the speed of memory access, which is much faster than that of disk access. The user would see a noticeable speed improvement, especially with disk intensive programs such as DataBase management software.
Windows performs disk caching internally. SmartDrive is not needed on a Windows machine. In fact, trying to run SmartDrive on a Windows machine could lead to some contention issues, and we all know how much better Windows runs when we keep things as simple as possible.
Cheers, PW.
P.S.
C:\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1
Windows seems to view this folder name as part of its private collection. It will defend its turf against all invaders: Friendly or otherwise. If you want to work in Windows Only areas, you must boot to DOS first, since a slumbering Windows cannot fight.
P.P.S.
An experiment...
Within Windows (Explorer) copy a giant file, making a note of the time it takes. Do the same copy from a DOS window and notice how long this takes. Boot to DOS and compare the time the same copy takes in this environmemt. You'll be amazed at the difference Windows' disk caching makes. |
