FAQs
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FAQs
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Frequently Asked Questions. How does Data2Quick work? When Microsoft requests information (a file to load a program for example) it first looks into its’ memory cache and if the information is not there, it goes to the hard drive for it. It then “reads” and uses the data. Microsoft sets the maximum amount it can read to 64k. That means that if a file is larger than 64k (which most are) it must a go back to the hard drive (seek) to get the rest of the request. The reason Microsoft only reads in 64k amounts is that when W95 was first developed, memory was extremely expensive and using it to store extra data was not an option. Data2Quick takes advantage of more memory. Data2Quick increases the amount of data read ahead from 64k to up to 1Mb dynamically. Now when MS requests data, it sees much more of it in memory cache and immediately uses it thereby bypassing the much slower hard drive. How much memory do I need? We recommend a minimum of 32 Mb of RAM. In order to get the most out of your system though, you should be using 64 Mb +. Will Data2Quick work on my old system with Windows 95 with a 200Mb hard drive? Absolutely.
Data2Quick recognizes that slower hard drives function better with lower amounts of read
ahead. It has the intelligence to recognize the slower drive and adapt to
smaller read ahead amounts. The only requirement is that you have enough memory.
We recommend a minimum of 32Mb with optimum at 64Mb or better. I have one of the computers I see in PC Magazines comparison test. Do I have it already? Not all lines were shipped with Data2Quick (then called DPM). The easiest way to tell is to look in your Windows\system directory for the file called ios0.vxd. If it is present you may still want to upgrade because there have been several significant improvements in the Data2Quick driver. Can Data2Quick cause problems with my system? Data2Quick is one of the safest pieces of software you can put in your system. DPM is a device driver that loads during boot up and runs seamlessly in the background. All it does is increase Microsoft’s read ahead amount from 64k to up to 1Mb. I’ve seen a lot of hard drive tests. Are they all the same? No. Some tests measure seek time. Others measure the data transfer rates outside the system. Still others measure the time it takes to do scripted tasks. Are there any hard drive tests that the average computer person can understand? For the average every day user the best tests are the ones
that run a script of common programs and tasks, time them, and print out a score
based on the amount of time it took to complete the tasks. The best and fairest
two we believe are from Ziff Davis (PC Magazine). Winbench
99 and SpeedRate
are both downloadable from their website and you may access them from here. Both
tests measure Windows 95 and 98’s ability to take data from the hard drive and
put it to use. The main difference between them is Winbench
99 is much bigger and measures more criteria, while SpeedRate
is relatively
small and easily downloadable and will give you results within seconds. What's the most important measurement of hard drive speed? The most important attribute when looking at getting a new hard drive is the “data transfer rate”. It is usually measured in Megabytes / sec. This measurement is the actual amount of data a hard drive is capable of feeding the operating system. A word of caution here, most hard drive companies say their disks transfer up to 66, 100 Mb a sec. Don’t be fooled. These are theoretical limits. Most UDMA 33 drives we’ve tested only transfer 4 to 6 Mbs. We have seen data transfer rates up to 18 Mbs on UDMA 66 drives
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