HP Vectra XW Optimization Manual page 21

What Else is Memory
Used For?
Data copied from
the hard disk drive
to the disk cache
Memory dedicated
to the disk cache
Windows NT also uses memory to accelerate data transfers with the
system's hard disks. To do this, an area of memory is dedicated to a disk
cache, which stores copies of the latest data read from or written to the
hard disks. If the processor then accesses the same data again, it will be
loaded from memory at much higher speed than from hard disk.
Because much of your system's work is repetitive, disk caches offer a
significant performance advantage with most applications. The amount
of memory dedicated to the disk cache is determined automatically.
Data accessed at the
access speed of
memory (60 nS)
Windows NT uses a dynamic allocation mechanism to configure the
disk cache according to the amount of memory available.
The memory used by the disk cache will not be available for use by
your applications. When determining your memory requirement,
remember to add an extra allowance for the disk cache.
1 Your Personal Workstation's Performance Features
Matching Memory Capacity to Your Requirements
Hard disk drive
Data accessed at
the access speed of
the hard disk drive
(typically 10 mS)
English 15