Chapter 13. Improving Disk Speed

This book has continually pointed out the benefits of rapidly processing information in memory whenever possible, rather than incurring the higher costs of disk interaction. However, eventually the piper must be paid, and the disk must be accessed. This chapter discusses a number of steps that administrators can take to keep these performance-draining disk charges as low as possible.

The chapter is divided into three major sections. The first provides general (that is, MySQL storage engine and operating system neutral) suggestions on how to accelerate disk performance. The next section presents MyISAM and InnoDB-specific recommendations for getting the most out of your disk drives. Finally, the chapter closes with a collection of operating system specific ideas on reducing disk overhead.