Difference in performance of 8MB cache and 16MB cache Hard disk

Question

I want to know what are the performance differences between a 8mb cache hard disk drive and 16mb. If i buy one should i prefer 16MB if yes then why?

Solution

Cache is basically a very fast way of a hard disk having access to information. Essentially it's a buffer. For example, let's say you are going to write data to a hard drive, but writing is an expensive operation. So the hard drive will typically cache several write requests and do them all at once. It can be used for command queuing, or as a way of synchronizing speed between two RAID volumes. The bigger the cache, the more wiggle room the controller and operating system have in prioritizing access to an actual platter (or NAND for SSD folks).

It depends on what you are using the drive for, I would probably look at other factors like latency (random, sequential), RPM (7200 is ideal, faster is better). I would certainly consider these two options before cache size for an every day user.

Comments

[Fraz Sundal]

Can you notify some operations that might show the difference