AC100_enablement

special configuration for the hardware (flash drive): How to disable on-disk cache in all the browsers?

Asked by Ivan Zakharyaschev

From what one can learn about tuning systems for SSDs (e.g., [1]) (and the flash memory drive in Toshiba AC100 is similar), there is a recommendation to turn off the on-disk cache in the web browser:

disabling these frequent small writes would

* contribute to saving the drive from wearing out (which is important for the small-sized, built-in drive)
* and also speed up the system (writes are slow, perhaps even choking the system for a while -- http://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chrome/rkXAt47LoEI/a2peYQcegGgJ )

[1]: http://blog.superuser.com/2011/05/10/maximizing-the-lifetime-of-your-ssd/

Now I suggest to collect information on how to disable the on-disk chache in all the browsers in Ubuntu (firefox, chromium, epiphany, midori, rekonq, etc.), how to save this setting, and how to make it system-wide (so that it is valid for all the users).

(Perhaps, one answer per one browser.)

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Ivan Zakharyaschev (imz) said : 		#1

For chromium -- http://superuser.com/a/418591/65570 :

You can limit the disk cache size with a very small number (say, 1 byte) with an option:

--disk-cache-size=N

Where 'N' is the cache size limit, in bytes

Perhaps, another option is also useful for a similar purpose: --media-cache-size=1

(Now I wonder whether it's possible to put this option into a configuration file, preferrably system-wide one.)

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Ivan Zakharyaschev (imz) said : 		#2

For firefox, in the menu:

Edit > Preferences > Additional (Дополнительные) > Network

turn off automatic control of the cache (отключить автоматическое управление кэшем)

and

use for cache not more than 0 MB on disk.

Also, for faster work in firefox, I've disabled orthography checking (I'm afraid it adds to the system (CPU) load, and slows down the system), and smooth scrolling (in the menu: Edit > Preferences > Additional (Дополнительные) > General).

I still wonder how to put these settings into a configuration file (preferrably, system-wide), so that I can reproduce this setup by just copying the files, without manually tweaking the menu.

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Ivan Zakharyaschev (imz) said : 		#3

As for the other browsers (Epiphany, Midori, rekonq):

I could make this configuration through the menu, but I have to figure out yet how to make it through a distributable configuration file, so that the system could be automatically set up in this way...

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#4

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.