Re: [reiserfs-list] Re: [PATCH] 2.4.10 improved reiserfs a lot, but could still be better

[davidsen@tmr.com (bill davidsen)]

In article <20010924185755.E4126@schmorp.de> Marc Lehmann wrote:
| On Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 06:53:03PM +0200, Matthias Andree
| <matthias.andree@stud.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
| > Linear writing as dd mostly does is BTW something which should never be
| > affected by write caches.
| 
| A write cache can and will speed up linear writes on typical ide setups.

Pedantically I guess that's true, but I wouldn't expect any significant
change unless the drive were badly fragmented, since the write cache on
the drive should hold enough data to allow all data to a track to be
written in a single revolution.

Write cache makes a big difference in normal use, where seeks and such
can be optimized, but for a single process writing a single file (ie.
dd) I don't see where it would or could help much.

Since the single process is not a typical case on most systems, I don't
see that it's a burning question.

-- 
bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
 "If I were a diplomat, in the best case I'd go hungry.  In the worst
  case, people would die."
		-- Robert Lipe