FLASH CACHE Integrated in Intel's & Windows Vista

FLASH CACHE will be used by Windows Vista to store frequently accessed data from the hard drive, a technique Microsoft calls ReadyDrive. Using Flash memory means the data can be retrieved not only more quickly than it can from a hard drive, but also at a lower energy cost, boosting battery life. In Dell machines this FLASH CACHE is enabled by default if you choose the machine with Windows Vista pre installed. If you want to install XP on this pre installed Vista machine, you will have to disable the FLASH CACHE. Otherwise it will not allow you to change the SATA operation method of AHC1 to ATA.

This is Intel's pitch. Hard drive vendors are pushing HDDs with integrated Flash memory, again to be used as a fast-access cache by Vista.