Capture Files
BM>> The problem is in the DOS file system, and potentially in how the capture
program does I/O. If it's doing I/O with 512 byte blocks, it'll be slow. It
should be using LARGE block sizes and double buffering. Blocks of 64 KB to 1
MB come to mind. Double buffering allows you to write a block while filling
the next. I don't know if DOS/Windows will permit this type of behavior.
DOS/Windows uses clusters of logical sectors and the block size get bigger as
your partition size gets bigger. The disk drive buffer and its physical sector
size is not a problem here. Yes, DOS will always use 512 bytes buffer to
read/write data/directory, therefore, reduce the DOS buffer size (default 20)
will speed up things. You can do it by adding a line like BUFFERS=3 at your
CONFIG.SYS (it can't be set to 0 because DOS will hang). Also put a line,
DEVICE=SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER, at your CONFIG.SYS will allow SCSI
adapter/drive to perform double buffering without lossing data due to the
delayed disk cache flushing.
–Vince
Ulead Systems, Inc.