Out of Pod Experience

I forget. Honestly though just google speed times for HDD's see what the seek read, read write times are for both. But cache is the fastest type of memory so...

It's normal and probably not because of the cache. Bigger disks tend to be faster because of the bigger platters.

There should be no great difference at all. Maybe the 16 meg version would be very slightly alower, you'd only notice the difference with massive and frequent file transfers

Part of your problem is that you're using a Seagate HDD. I've had them before. I've also had them fail - often. I use only WD now - one of them has been running strong for 7-1/2 years (I keep it around to see how long I can keep it going - all of its data is backed up).

And the increase in speed from 16 to 32 is negligible. You most likely won't notice it.

Cache isn't a type of memory, it is technique for reducing read/write times by storing frequently accessed data somewhere convenient to access. A cache can be implemented in hardware (as with hard drives) or in software (as is the case with databases).

Hard drive caches are almost EXCLUSIVELY flash memory, which is much faster than the hard drive itself, but is still much slower than ROM, SRAM or DRAM.

EDIT: Due to the way hardware caches work, larger caches are actually slower. For hard drives, the sweet spot for cache sizes are between 16 and 32MB, depending upon the hard drive.

currently my slowest component is the cpu according to the readouts, the HDD outperforms. Then again its a core 2 duo the rest of the guts are mostly made in the i7 core era.

Except that HDD caches are flash memory, not SRAM. 32MB of SRAM would probably be quite expensive considering it is only a single part of the entire package.

Citation needed. I very much doubt that. If my hdd caches were flash they would've been broken long ago.

Also, if cache isn't a "type" of memory then ROM isn't a "type" of memory either :P

Sorry, was trying to post this earlier but forums seemed to be down at the time.

I was getting mixed up between Hybrid Drives and SSDs which use flash memory. Normal hard drives use *DRAM* for their cache, not flash. Please note that DRAM is still much cheaper, and is considerably slower than SRAM. SRAM is one of the most expensive memory types out there and is only used for L1 CPU caches and register memory (and perhaps you see a little bit of it in L2 caches too). Note that while the SRAM chip I linked above costs only $5, it's has just 64k of memory. I *was* able to find a 16mbit SRAM chip for $13, however the access time is much worse. That's over 1 USD per megabyte. A 32MB SRAM cache would cost over $32 - not including the costs for any other hard drive parts. And if you use the good stuff, it could probably cost more than most hard drives too.

And ROM *is* a type of memory - in fact it is the simplest type of memory there is. Technically called "Bit masked ROM", plain ROM chips are simply hardwired at the time of fabrication with the memory addresses permanently wired to a high voltage for "1" and wire to ground for "0". ROM is the simplest and fastest type of memory. It is also the cheapest when ordered in mass quantities. Of course ROM has the downside of requiring you to retool your fabrication process if you want to change the contents of your ROM chip.

Eventually ROM gave way to PROM - Programmable ROM. It worked similarly to ROM, except that each memory address was wired with a fuse, which could be blown/burned out to program the ROM with data after fabrication. This allowed the PROM chip to be programmed after fabrication - greatly simplifying fabrication processes.

In time, PROM was suitable to the not entirely read-only EPROM and EEPROM memory types, which eventually lead to the flash memory that we know and love today.

I apologize if I ramble, but computers are my passion.

Quick update - The two 300 Gig drives were failing when doing high write I/O to them (they actually dropped from the SATA port), so were written off. Bad controller board probably.

I ended up getting a Seagate Momentus XT 'Hybrid SSD Drive' (500 Gig). It was either that or the 300 Gig VelociRaptor, and the Seagate was $60 less for 200 more Gig and almost the same access times.

Updating the topic now, since I'd like to continue with any generic HDD discussion; Some of the points made here have been interesting - thank you.