Using external memory devices to improve system performance

摘要

The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.

主权项

1. A method performed on a computing device that comprises a processor and memory, the method comprising:
determining, by the computing device in response to a read request for data where the read request is directed to a hard disk, that the data is available from a removable solid-state memory device that is separate from the hard disk, where the separate removable solid-state memory device is configured for completing the read request faster than the hard disk; and redirecting, by the computing device in response to the determining, the read request from the hard disk to the separate removable solid-state memory device.