I/O Prioritization in Windows Vista
DownloadI/O Prioritization in Windows Vista
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Over the past ten years, almost every critical component of the PC except the storage device has gained significantly in its performance. Storage devices have not seen the same performance gains as other PC components due to their mechanical nature. As a result, more and more PCs are becoming seriously I/O-constrained.
The Microsoft Windows Vista operating system implements I/O prioritization to help alleviate I/O bottlenecks within the PC. I/O prioritization helps to ensure an acceptable level of system responsiveness to the user without significantly decreasing overall throughput.
This paper describes the need for prioritization, describes the various strategies that Windows Vista uses to keep the PC responsive, and provides information and guidelines for application, driver, and storage device vendors to take advantage of these strategies.
This information applies for the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
In this white paper:
| • | The I/O Prioritization Concept |
| • | Throughput versus Responsiveness |
| • | I/O Access Patterns |
| • | I/O Prioritization Strategies |
| • | Implementing Prioritization in Applications |
| • | Implementing Prioritization in Drivers |
| • | Driver Guidelines |
| • | Device Guidelines |
| • | Cached, Noncached, and Mapped File I/O |
See Also:
Windows Vista Storage I/O Prioritization [WinHEC 2006; 806 KB]
