Samsung flashes the cache for Vista

Samsung's Flash SSD caches hard drive data in Windows Vista

Korean manufacturer Samsung has announced that a 4GB solid state disk (SSD) is now being readied for production.

The component is designed to serve as a high speed Nand Flash cache for notebooks and PCs in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

The device is designed to be compatible with Windows ReadyBoost, a new Vista feature that uses Flash memory to improve system responsiveness.

ReadyBoost enables users to avoid the annoying multi-second delays experienced when moving within and between frequently used applications.

"By caching hard drive data using Samsung's Flash SSD and the Windows Vista, a typical user will see performance gains that will make working with their PC lightning fast," said Don Barnetson, director of Flash marketing at Samsung Semiconductor.

Windows ReadyBoost will intelligently populate the SSD with the data a user needs before they ask for it.

According to Samsung, it readies a user's favourite applications and data in the background, accelerating everyday actions such as starting applications and switching users.

When a user requests that data, rather than being limited to servicing 100-200 requests per second as with a traditional HDD, Samsung's SSD can service up to 5,000 requests per second, virtually eliminating data seek delays.

The 4GB SSD can work in tandem with a hybrid hard drive, coming into play as a secondary source of cached data.

The technology can be located virtually anywhere on the motherboard and is connected through the ATA port.

The Flash cache complements DRam and, because Windows Vista automatically compresses all data stored in a ReadyBoost device, the 4GB drive would, in practice, act as up to 8GB of user data.