eBoostr trial: setup and installation

eBoostr trial: setup and installation

With my fresh flash memory card in place (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/04/eboostr-trial-sd-card.html), the next step in my eBoostr trial (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search?q=eboostr+trial) is to download and install the software.

The eBoostr website (http://www.eboostr.com/) is simple and straightforward. There seems to be a dearth of documentation, but that might be intentional given the size and simplicity of the app. Installer is only 1 MB and installed in seconds, not counting the reboot.

After the reboot, eBoostr started up and asked to build a cache file. The eBoostr FAQ suggests a cache of 1 GB, unless you have many apps or big software packages installed. I think I run many apps, so I went with 2 GB.

Building the cache took a good 10-15 minutes. Presumably it's a one-time process, but can be redone as needed. (As of this writing, there was no rebuilding after two reboots.)

After the cache was built, I ran the built-in speed test to get a baseline. Based on a previous report by Loyukfai on the GM forum, I was not expecting to be impressed. My expectation was wrong.

[screenshot]

Apparently, my new high-speed SDHC card is nearly as fast as advertised, clocking in at ~14MB/s. which makes reading from the cache 1.8x faster than reading from the pagefile. Considering my hard drive was upgraded to 7200 rpm with 16 MB cache (vs. my old 5400 rpm with 8 MB cache), that's a fantastic jump in speed.

But again, speed is secondary in this trial. Lowering heat by reducing hard drive activity and power consumption is the goal. Thus, I'll be leaving its so-called Power Save Mode on, even when plugged in. Supposedly it redirects cache requests to the flash drive cache instead of the hard drive. That test will be mostly subjective, but I'll keep an eye on battery usage too.

What's really nice about this trial is that I can test out the full version of eBoostr with no long-term time limit. The free trial has no expiration date, but it turns off four hours after boot up, so I can do a thorough trial before deciding to buy. The free trial is necessary given how its functionality varies greatly with one's hardware, but the unlimited four-hour test periods are quite generous and consumer-friendly.
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