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ID:SD SMARTDrive from Microsoft
Quarterdeck Technical Note #184
by Stan Young
last revision:  12 February 1992

                       USING MICROSORT'S SMARTDRV.SYS

The Windows Setup procedure installs Microsoft's disk cache called 
SMARTDRV.SYS.  The default size of this cache tends to be large.  Windows can 
reclaim memory from this cache when it starts up, however programs that are 
run outside of Windows which use expanded memory cannot do this.  If you run 
programs outside of Windows which would benefit from expanded or extended 
memory, you may want to consider either removing SMARTDRV.SYS entirely from 
your CONFIG.SYS file, or at least reducing its size.  

SMARTDRV.SYS takes parameters to set the size of the cache, the first 
parameter being the "NormalCacheSize" and the second being the 
"MinimumCacheSize".  An example SMARTDrive installation might look as follows:

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DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 256

In this example, SMARTDrive takes 1024K (1MB) of memory when you are not in 
Windows and 256K while you are running Windows.  While it is difficult to 
suggest a cache size that might be best for you, one possible suggestion might 
be to use the minimum amount only.  To do this, using the example above, you 
would edit the line to read:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.SYS 256 256

No problems have been detected between any Quarterdeck products and this 
cache, so if you feel you would benefit from disk caching, and SMARTDrive 
meets your performance requirements, it should be fine to use.  As noted the 
default size tends to be a bit large for users who are using programs that 
benefit from expanded or extended memory, but the information above should 
give you some hints on how to adjust this usage.

Only you can determine the appropriate size of the cache, depending on how 
disk intensive your programs are, compared to your programs need for expanded 
or extended memory.  If you are not running programs that are disk intensive, 
deleting the cache entirely may make sense. 

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Further information on the parameters used to control the size of SMARTDRV.SYS 
can be found in the back of the Windows 3.0 manual.

  ************************************************************************
  *This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
  *is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit.  *
  *         Copyright (C) 1988-92 by Quarterdeck Office Systems           *
  ************************ E N D   O F   F I L E *************************

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