SanDisk flogs strap-on to speed up your lazy Windows 7 PC
Retrofit SSD plus caching software
SanDisk has brought out a cheapish solution for flash-less Windows 7 PCs. The firm promises a start-up time that is four times faster as well as app-loading that's 12 times faster if you buy its new SanDisk SSD and caching software bundle.
The ReadyCache package includes a 32GB SSD, a 3.5-inch mounting bracket, a 6Gbit/s SATA cable and screws. Once it's installed on any Windows 7 PC, you can download the ReadyCache software from SanDisk's website, install it and watch your PC accelerate.
The software is built by Conducive Technologies and SanDisk has exclusive rights to it. It contains algorithms that find frequently used files on one or more hard disk drives in the PC and then place a copy onto the SSD.
SanDisk claims the package will help your PC start up to four times faster, shut down in a few seconds and load applications up to 12 times more quickly. If multi-tasking performance is hobbled by swapping to disk then it will become much smoother as well.
ReadyCache costs 60 bucks, has a 3-year warranty, and can be bought from Amazon and NewEgg. ®
COMMENTS
Re: UK punters
Just pop into PC World and pick one up for £99.99.
Or £359.98 if you take the extended warranty too.
Re: DoH
Way to entirely miss the point, double-oh-seven.
Ultimately you are better off with a large-ish SSD as your actual boot drive performance wise. 256gb drives are fairly cheap now. However these caching drives do offer good performance for little hastle. Rather than have re-install Windows etc you can just pop one of these in to get a boost. Also if the cache drive fails all your data is still safe on your HDD.
Re: So... Value
I recently purchased that Intel 320 SSD that as reviewed well by Reghardware. 128 GB for £60. Seems better value than this offering.
An Expresscard version for a laptop would be nice, though.
aka Intel RST....
This sounds rather similar to Intel RST (available on Z68 and Z77 boards, amongst others).
My rig has a 64GB SSD (on SATA3), "in front of" my 1TB RAID5 array (sadly only SATA2).
It carved my boot time down 50% and does make a hell of a difference if you use the same apps regularly. I also shoved a total of 8GB DDR3 in (up from the original 4GB) and now it never even touches the pagefile.
Also, if you have a big enough SSD (or choose to run a smaller cache), RST also lets you use a partition on the SSD, instead of the whole thing - so you could put the O/S on the SSD and use the SSD to cache the other items.
You'll still not up your Windows Performance Index though, as Windows doesn't "see" the SSD, it still assumes HDD and thus limits the drive performance rating.
Worth considering if you're upgrading your main system components anytime soon... :)
