May 17 2006, 11:00 PM, updated 20y ago
QUOTE
Windows Vista will let users add more memory by plugging in USB-based flash drives, a Microsoft executive said this week at the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.
Jim Alchin, a group vice president for Windows, said that the flash drive option would be accessed by the new Superfetch technology, which was designed to speed up application start-up times.
Superfetch would monitor the system, then pre-load .dll files of the most-used applications during the OS boot process. When the user actually launches the application, it loads considerably faster, since some of it is already in memory.
"Superfetch works great if you have a reasonable amount of memory, and it works fantastic if you have boatloads of memory," Alchin said at PDC.
To that end, Superfetch would be able to call on memory it finds in connected flash drives, the gum-sized USB devices designed to store files for easy transport between PCs.
Superfetch would add the flash memory it finds in the USB drive to Vista's virtual memory, said Alchin. That virtual memory in turn is used to hold the pre-loaded.dll files.
Data stored in the drive's flash memory would be encrypted, said Alchin, and removing the drive while the OS is running would not destabilise Vista.
Windows Vista, while in its first round of beta testing, was not expected to debut until late 2006. The Superfetch technology is included in beta 1, but the USB option would not appear until a later version of the preview OS.
Jim Alchin, a group vice president for Windows, said that the flash drive option would be accessed by the new Superfetch technology, which was designed to speed up application start-up times.
Superfetch would monitor the system, then pre-load .dll files of the most-used applications during the OS boot process. When the user actually launches the application, it loads considerably faster, since some of it is already in memory.
"Superfetch works great if you have a reasonable amount of memory, and it works fantastic if you have boatloads of memory," Alchin said at PDC.
To that end, Superfetch would be able to call on memory it finds in connected flash drives, the gum-sized USB devices designed to store files for easy transport between PCs.
Superfetch would add the flash memory it finds in the USB drive to Vista's virtual memory, said Alchin. That virtual memory in turn is used to hold the pre-loaded.dll files.
Data stored in the drive's flash memory would be encrypted, said Alchin, and removing the drive while the OS is running would not destabilise Vista.
Windows Vista, while in its first round of beta testing, was not expected to debut until late 2006. The Superfetch technology is included in beta 1, but the USB option would not appear until a later version of the preview OS.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=20100
Interesting.. but I have doubts that these USB drives may be slower than ordinary hard disks... any comments?
This post has been edited by ATI.Bob: May 17 2006, 11:03 PM
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