Power Computing PowerBase Low-Profile, User Manual

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Chapter 2: How To Use CD-ROM ToolKit 173
A cache is a temporary storage area for information used frequently by your system. Cache
stores data that has been gathered from your CD-ROM into RAM or to your hard disk.
Acceleration results from the fact that your system is able to find and supply data from RAM
and your hard disk much faster than it can from a CD-ROM.
A few facts about static and dynamic cache
Before you set cache profiles for your drives with Drive Setup, there are a few
things you should know about Static and Dynamic cache.
A static cache grabs the first information accessed off of a CD-ROM and
stores it in RAM (with static RAM cache) or on your hard drive (with static
disk cache). With static cache, the first data accessed is placed in cache and
does not change until a new CD is inserted. Frequently, the first information
accessed is the CD’s directory or table of contents. Directories and tables of
contents are pointers that direct search inquiries to requested data.
If you use a lot of reference CDs, like dictionaries, or CDs with a lot of files,
like shareware discs or clip art collections, using static cache will improve
your computer’s performance in locating the information you request.
Performance improves because your computer can go to RAM or to your hard
drive for the pointers that lead to the data you seek. Your computer can
search RAM or your hard drive much faster than it can search a CD-ROM.
A dynamic cache grabs information as it is being read and stores it in RAM.
When dynamic cache is full, the first information grabbed is pushed out of
the cache (overwritten) by the next information grabbed.
Dynamic cache gives you fast access to the most recently used information.
This speeds up your computer’s performance when you frequently ask for the
same data from a CD-ROM.
More detail about cache options is found in Chapter 4 of the online CD-ROM Toolkit User
Guide .
NOTE