Knut S. Grimsrud

Intel® Turbo Memory: Nonvolatile disk caches in the storage hierarchy of mainstream computer systems

Hard-disk drives are a significant bottleneck to system performance and are also responsible for a significant fraction of total system power consumption. Intel Turbo Memory addresses these problems by adding a new layer to the storage hierarchy: a platform-based and nonvolatile, disk cache. In this article, we describe the hardware and software elements of the Intel Turbo Memory architecture. We show how it supports the new ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive features in Microsoft Vista and describe its key caching algorithms. We present performance, power savings, and wear-leveling results achieved by Intel Turbo Memory.