> > chunks than 1.3>=59 does. This isn't perfect, but even better. I've
> > noticed slow floppy access on minix filesystems, too (a lot of
> > seeking). As already stated some time ago, MS-Smartdrive now reads
> > complete tracks on the floppy; why not Linux? (The floppy controller
> > has a read-track command, BTW)
>
> The problem isn't read-ahead of the data in the file. The problem is that
> there is absolutely no read-ahead of the FAT. Only the one sector of the FAT
> that is currently needed will be read.
But if you read the first track you have all the FAT in memory; you
shouldn't need to go back to that track too soon. The problem seems
that there are much more seeks when accessing a floppy than there are
physical cylinders. This is true even with plenty (32MB) of
buffer/cache RAM.
Ulrich