#Speedcache Plus
21 messages in this thread
I have been looking at getting a 3rd party disk cache to speed up disk
access.
Regular disk access if the more important issue since I only use a CD-ROM
from time to time.
Having said this does anyone have any experience with Speedcache Plus in
terms of faster CD access — or any other cache that they love, or hate?
Any info would be welcome.
– Dan
Dan,
I am using Speedcache+ on my 386-20 and it's the best CD cacher that I've
seen yet, if you have the RAM to allocate to it. Unlike CD Speedway, which
caches to files, whether on the hard disk or on a RAM disk, Speedcache+
caches directly to RAM and CD data played from the cache is very fast and
smooth. Speedcache+ is also a very efficient and easy-to-use regular disk
cache, better, in my opinion, than the Smart Drive cache that comes with
Windows 3.1. Smart Drive, by the way doesn't cache from a CD-Rom drive at
all.
If you're short on available RAM, CD-Speedway is fairly effective for CD
caching only and you still need something like Smart Drive or Fast! to take
care of the regular HD caching. For motion video clips, even from a RAM
drive, CD-Speedway tends to be a little less smooth than Speedcache+,
probably because of the extra file I/O overhead with CD Speedway.
Speedcache+, with the CD driver installed, is now the ONLY cache I'm using
on my desktop and I'm also using it to good effect (without the CD driver)
on my 386SXL notebook machine.
regards,
Tom
I have 8MB of RAM. Does this sound like enough to use Speecache+?
– Dan
Should be no problem at all, Dan. When you're running from DOS, Speedcache+
will automatically use all available extended memory (unless you tell it
differently during setup). When running from Windows, Speedcache+ normally
will keep 1/4 of the installed extended memory for itself and 'lend' the
rest back to Windows if it's needed. This, too, can be adjusted during
setup by switches and parameters on the SpeedCache+ command line in
AUTOEXEC.BAT. I've been running with the defaults with no problems at all.
Tom
You've been talking up Speedcache+ quite a bit! Sounds like you really
like it. One thing that I seem to have missed in your posts though : Who
makes it? And where can I get it? I'm using Speedway now (and anxiously
awaiting the update – nudge Reese), but from what you've said, Speedcache+
is certainly worth trying.
Thanks,
Larry
Larry,
Speedcache+ is made by Future Systems Solutions (219) 824-4963 in Bluffton,
Indiana (they also wrote Norton NCACHE and Windows Smartdrv).
It can be purchased for 79.95 (plus shipping) from JDR Microdevices at
1-800-538-5005.
I have been using it for 4+ weeks and it seems to work fine. If you need
to cache a CD ROM it works really well assumming you can give it some memory
to work with.
nudge,nudge…wink,wink….say no more!
Reese.
Dan,
I have been using Speedcache+ for a month and its working great. I have a
number of other cache programs: Norton Ncache, MS Smartdrv, and PC-Kwik.
Ncache and PC-Kwik are both fine caches and either beats Smartdrv hands
down. Neither one caches CD ROMs, although they can be used in
conjunction with a another program CD Speedway which will cache ROMs at
the same time (of course you have to buy two products).
Personally I like Speedcache+ and thinks its a better product as it
intergrates all caching under one program. If you have a limited amount
of memory on your machine (so a small cache size) CD speedway might be
a better option as it can cache to disk file which then is cached by your
disk cache program.
PC-Kwik is getting a number of requests to add ROM caching to their product
and they are thinking it over for a future release. PC-Kwik latest release
(5.0) is a great disk cache with an all new Windows front end that allows a
multitude of configuration options (I played around with it for awhile but
dropped it as it did not seem any/much faster and offered no ROM support).
PC-Kwik comes bundled multiple ways:
1) – with their new Winmaster product (check the box carefully for inclusion as
not all have) which comes with version 5.0 of the cache.
2) – with their Powerpak product which includes version 4.13 along with some
other utilities like a print spooler, keyboard accelerator, etc….
There a new release due of the Powerpack by the end of this year which
will include version 5.0 of the cache.
3) – as a stand alone product.
Both options 1 & 2 also include a replacement RAM drive device driver which
shares memory with the disk cache which is a neat idea.
Ncache comes with the Norton utilities and is made by the same people who make
Speedcache+ (as well as Smartdrv). It does not have a pretty Windows front
end but I used it for a year with no problems and it offered delayed writes
[>> Continued in next msg]
[>> Continued from previous msg]
as an option long before PC-Kwik (who added it in 5.0).
Ncache had a problem for awhile with not being complient with Windows 32 bit
disk access option (that why I stopped using it). There is a patch in the
Symantec forum which fixes this problem although I not sure what is in alot
of boxes out on store shelves.
Speedcache+ loads high by itself, will use about 30k in a UMB and puts about
20-30K in your HMA by default (will share HMA with DOS). You can turn off
the HMA option but then your looking at 50-60k in a UMB. It will split
across UMBs by itself when loading which is great if you have alot in UMBs
like I do.
The other caches all take 35-50K in upper memory and load high by
themselves depending on cache options used.
Speedcache+ allows you to configure each drive partition differently (which
most caches allow) and keeps statistics for each partition which no other
caches that I know of allows. I'm currently using the same options for all
my partitions and occasionally check out how separate partitions are
working.
Because Speedcache+ caches ROMs it also allows you to cut back the number of
buffers (2048k each) when you start MSCDEX. I think the standard
recommendation is 10 buffers but with Speedcache+ you can cut that back to
2 and save 14k in UMB memory usage (every little bit helps).
Speedcache+ comes with two Windows accessory programs: one to monitor how
the cache is setup and functioning, and one to perform cache benchmarks that
simulates a variety of read/write scenerios (can be used to check out other
caches).
Speedcache+ really speeds up my ROM accesses. ROM files that take about
70-75 second drop to about 25 seconds on initial access and to 16-18 on any
subsequent accesses. I allocate 4MB of cache in Extended memory. I don't
know how I got by without before (I'm spolied now).
If you want to believe Speedcache+ tech support they will tell you to take
[>> Continued in next msg]
[>> Continued from previous msg]
memory away from Windows and give more to Speedcache+. Speedcache+ allows
you to create a 23MB cache (which I think is the largest on market). I
played around with a larger cache for awhile but bigger caches caused part
of the cache to not be able to load into the HMA anymore and I could not
afford the extra 30k in a UMB.
—————————————————————————
If you don't have/want Norton utilities then Ncache is a moot point.
If you don't really care about/use CD ROMS much then either PC-Kwik or
Speedcache+ are fine disk caches. Speedcache+ price is comparable to PC-Kwik
Powerpack (roughly $85) while PC-Kwik Winmaster is about $20-30 less although
alot of places have it sale as it is new (just check box for cache).
If you decide to go with the PC-Kwik Powerpack I would wait for the new
release or you will just be upgrading right away (don't know any other
details on Powerpack features other than I think they are taking orders).
Once PC-Kwik gets their act together an offers CD ROM caching they will have
a product tough to beat if you are thinking long term. Speedcache+ is also
ripe for a upgrade in late 1st quarter of 1993 so I'm sure they will stay
competative and you get CD ROM caching now.
I guess it really a balance of how much you could use the other PC-Kwik
products that come with their cache. You get more programs/functionality for
your money while Speedcache+ give you some extra memory options and CD ROM
caching.
What ever you buy I would make sure if you are using a memory manager that
you are using the latest version (QEMM 6.02 for Speedcache+) and are using
the latest version of MSCDEX (2.21).
Drop me a note if you want more specifics.
How much is SpeedCache and where's a good place (mail order) to get it?
Paul,
Speedcache+ is supposedly going to be available nationwide late this year but
if you want to order it now it is available from JDR Microdevices for $79.95
(86 with shipping) at 1-800-538-5005.
When I bought it only 5.25" disks were available (1 disk). I think there
will probably be an upgrade late first quarter of 1993.
Good luck, post a message if you have problems.
Daniel,
One of the things to take into account when looking for a CD-ROM cache is
how much memory you can dedicate to that cache. I believe Tom was using 8
Meg. of memory for his cache. Personally, I don't have that kind of memory
to give up. CD Speedway offers you the option of caching to hard disk,
which in many cases is just as fast as caching to RAMdisk. In addition,
since Microsoft RAMdrive.sys will cause errors alocating more than 4 Meg.,
keep in mind that you'll have to search out additional utilities to make
other products work with big amounts of RAM, let alone the fact that if you
don't have the RAM, RAM prices are going UP!
Speedway sets itself apart from the competition in one very distinct area.
It is a 'file' cache. I agree with Tom that in some cases file I/O can
cause a delay while loading the cache, but this only happens once. Every
subsequent use of the cache, the data is already there.
What will it cost you to use Speedcache+? If you have the RAM and a third
party RAMdrive, $129.00 retail. If you don't have the RAM, this amount is
going to add up fast. I recommend Speedway for a number of reasons. 1) If
you can't afford the RAM, you have the option to cache to hard disk (saving
your RAM for Windows or other tasks), 2) you can use Speedway in
conjunction with a cache you already have. Many SuperPCK users have gotten
excellent results, as I know many Norton users have as well, and 3) cost is
significantly less than Speedcache +. An update for Speedway will soon be
avilable which will do background reads and partial file caching.
Reese.
Reese,
A few points in clarification:
[1] My normal cache size for SpeedCache+ running under Windows 3.1 is 3 mb.
I did use 8 mb during my comparison tests with CD Speedway but 3 mb
seems to be more than adequate for most purposes. When running stuff
from DOS, SpeedCache+ will dynamically use whatever amount of expanded
memory is available at the time. This can be limited if you desire.
[2] Even when playing a sequence directly from the cache, Speedway is
slightly slower than SpeedCache+, presumably because of the file I/O
overhead, which isn't a factor with SpeedCache+.
[3] I've had no trouble at all using an 8mb ramdrive under Windows 3.1
using the RAMDRIVE.SYS. Perhaps this was an allocation problem under
earlier versions.
[4] For systems with memory constraints, my first choice would be CD
Speedway. It really is unique in its ability to cache from available
space on a hard disk. For systems with enough RAM, SpeedCache+ would
seem to have the edge, since it also serves as the general purpose HD
cache as well.
regards,
Tom
Tom,
Thanks for your clarification…I think it would be a benefit for more
users to jump in with the salient issues. Our technology is moving
forward, as I'm sure our competitors are. The (2) biggest things that
users of Speedway have asked for has been and is being addressed. 1)
Ability to do background reads to the cache. (Extremely important to
release the CPU to the task at hand.) and 2) the ability to do partial file
accesses, rather than full file access. Here lies the paradox…and also
BTW the reason for the update delay. Where's the cutoff…does one read 5K
chunks, 128K, 256K? or more of a file, and I could certainly offer
different opinions for different CD's.
This issue is currently being addressed. Important to note here that the
version of Speedway shipping is its FIRST iteration of product. We had to
start somewhere <g>. After only its first (6) six months on the market,
Speedway is the number one selling product for CD-ROM caching…and we
intend to keep our lead by offering additional performance and user
interface options not available anywhere else.
[More]
[Continued]
(continued from part one)
As mentioned earlier, if a user already has a hard disk cache, then adding
a new one seems an issue. We don't believe that the people running
SuperPCK, FAST!, Hyperdisk, PC Cache, and others should have to replace a
product that may work fine for them.
Your point about the RAMdrive working fine is something I would warn you
about. I also have been able to 'load' 12Meg. even 16Meg. Ramdrives on
some of our development machines. However, beta sites have reported to us
that these larger sizes caused system crashes under QEMM, 386MAX and
EMM386. Microsoft doesn't say, other than 4096 as a limit, whether there is
a problem, but I would still recommend a third party product which can be
verified before moving into an uncharted area such as this.
Lastly, as I have mentioned, in our tests internally (over the past few
weeks) against Speedcache+, Speedway dominated all motion video, gaming and
database CDROM apps using a third party RAMdisk called Nifty James. It's a
great public domain product (works in either EMS or XMS) . Both systems
were set to 8 Meg. Ramdisks and in all cases Speedway was 'slightly'
faster, not as you mentioned, slower. However, an important point here is
that by changing Speedway to hard disk caching using FAST! as the memory
cache, there was still an edge for Speedway, meaning that a user shouldn't
have to give away memory to the CDROM cache. Leave it in Windows where it
will help the most.
Maybe other users could join in, or better yet, a shoot-out may be in order
to determine the optimal CD ROM caching product. I'm all for it.
Reese.
Earlier I mentioned Nifty James, a product which I stated was 'public
domain'. This was an error…it is a shareware product and before my 'faux
paus' is taken literally my apologies to the author Mike.
I still believe that it is THE BEST ramdrive available bar none.
Reese.
Of course, there never seems to be a simple answer to these things.
I have 8MB of memory which sounds like an amount that is on the bubble.
How much would Speedway cost??
– Dan
Dan,
Average street price is around $ 79.00. It's retail price is $ 99.00.
Reese.