Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!aim1!jlr1801
From: jlr1801@aim1.tamu.edu (Jeff Rife)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Norton cache and Windows
Message-ID: <13134@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Date: 7 Mar 91 06:41:43 GMT
References: <1991Feb28.185736.17694@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <7450004@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>
Sender: usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU
Organization: City of College Station, Texas
Lines: 47

In article <7450004@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> yoshida@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Stuart Yoshida) writes:
>altman@sbstaff2.cs.sunysb.edu (Jeff Altman) writes:
>> [...]
>> 	I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to find the 
>> perfect cache.  So far as I have stated earlier I feel the best package
>> is Hyperdisk.  PC Week agrees, with one reservation.  Hyperdisk is not
>> compatible with all drives.  This is because it does not use BIOS calls
>> but instead goes directly to the hardware.
>> --
>> - Jeff (jaltman@ccmail.sunysb.edu)
>> ----------
>
>  I just talked with the author of HyperDisk, and he said, "Hyperdisk
>  uses BIOS calls ONLY.  It's funny how rumors get started, isn't it?"
>
>  So whatever problems HyperDisk has, it's *NOT* because it goes
>  directly to the hardware.  It does not circumvent the software
>  interface protocols; it definitely uses BIOS calls.

Whatever is going on, PC Week is correct.  Hyperdisk has compatiblity problems,
but every disk cache I have tried has a problem with my hardware.

Running 386Enh, I run a DOS app, and try to read/write my 45 MB removable SCSI
hard disk, and the machine hangs.

The following caches cause this problem:

	CACHE			TIME SPENT TROUBLESHOOTING
	-----			--------------------------
	Norton cache		5 hours, plus 1-1/2 hour call to tech support
	PCKwik			1-1/2 hours (couldn't run in 386Enh at all)
	VCACHE			8+ hours, purchased because their tech support
				said it would work
	Hyperdisk		2 hours, I had given up by the time I got 
				it from cica

I use SMARTDRV.  It is a performance nightmare running certain DOS apps, but
they do run :-|

Note to Microsoft programmers who follow this group...RECODE SMARTDRV FOR MORE
SPEED.

--
Jeff Rife   P.O. Box 3836   |   "Because he was human; because he had goodness;
College Station, TX 77844   |    because he was moral they called him insane.
(409) 823-2710              |    Delusions of grandeur; visons of splendor;
jlr1801@aim1.tamu.edu       |    A manic-depressive, he walks in the rain."