Patent ID: 8086816

Claim:
A method for improving the performance of a computerized data storage and access system comprising the steps: (a) providing a virtual representation of an existing data storage controller on a digital storage medium internal to or accessible to a computing system through which the data storage and access system is leveraged; (b) providing a configuration interface on the digital storage medium, the interface executable by an operator of the computing system; (c) using the configuration interface, reserving an amount of available memory for dedicated use as any one of a data cache or additional storage space for storing data written to one or more disk drives representing data storage disks of the data storage and access system, the available memory including random access memory from main memory and solid state memory accessed by the computing system via a peripheral memory device; (d) intercepting read and write requests to the data storage controller from the central processing unit of the computing system via the virtual representation of the controller; and (e) writing data into the reserved memory or serving data from the reserved memory in lieu of accessing a data storage disk represented by the one or more disk drives.