“Intel proposes that the flash memory cache should be located on the motherboard. It’s unclear whether it should be permanently installed or could be another type of memory socket. A Robson nonvolatile cache would require a driver to be loaded, however. The Robson cache connects to the I/O controller via PCI Express. Part of the technology is an intelligent prefetcher. The prefetcher anticipates which disk blocks will be needed from the hard drive and stores them in NV memory ahead of time. This data can persist even across boots. When requested by the operating system, the data is accessed using the low latency of solid state memory rather than the much higher-latency hard drive.”Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
- Vizo Luxon 3.5″ HDD external enclosure @ A1 Electronics
- Welland ME-740 3.5″ HDD Enclosure @ Overclockers.com
- ADS Tech Mini Drive Kit Hard Drive Enclosure @ Laptop Gamers
- VIZO Master Panel IDE & SATA Interface Review @ Virtual-Hideout
- The USB drive time bomb @ Dan’s Data
- Vizo Mirrorbox 32in1 media reader @ Rbmods
- Luxon LUX-350SA IDE & SATA 3.5″ External HDD Enclosure Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
- USB. SATA. How hard can it be? @ Dan’s Data
- Price Guide, March 2006: Storage @ AnandTech
Intel’s Robson aims to speed up harddrives

Extremetech is sharing some info they have gathered about Intel’s upcoming chipset add-on, Robson. It will be a flash based “intelligent” prefetcher, and will attempt to store some of the required data between the HDD and the CPU, in an attempt to reduce latency.