                          BUFFERS

    BUFFERS=n
    BUFFERS=n,m	[/X]						[new DOS 4.0]

n specifies the number of disk buffers that DOS allocates in memory during
    the boot process. The default value for DOS versions prior to 3.2 is 2.
    Later versions have a default of five or more, depending on how much 
    memory your PC has. For most programs, 2 is NOT enough. The maximum value
    is 99 (pre DOS 3.2), or 255 (DOS 3.2 and later). If you have a hard disk, 
    n should be at least 10, and usually no more than 20 are needed.

m specifies the number of consecutive buffers to read in addition to the one
    being requested, when data must be read from disk. The default value is 
    0, the maximum value is 8. If data is already in a buffer, it will be used
    rather than reading it from the disk.

/X specifies that the buffers should be placed in expanded memory. When /X
    is present, n can be up to 10000. See the NEW_TERMS MEMORY topic for a
    description of expanded memory.

A disk buffer is an area of memory that is used to store data read in from or 
to be written to disk. The primary use of buffers by DOS is to save 
information about your disks and the directories on them. For a program that 
reads or writes small blocks of data to the disk frequently and in some order
, rather than jumping around a lot, additional buffers can increase the speed 
of the program. For instance, a database program may run more efficiently if 
you have allocated 15 or 20 buffers. Other programs will benefit more from 
virtual disk (see the DEVICE VDISK.SYS topic for additional information).
