Optimizing Data Retrieval from Secondary Storage with a Proactive Intermediate Cache

As data volume expands exponentially, efficiently retrieving data from secondary storage has become a pivotal challenge. Secondary storage devices like hard disk drives often impose high latency during data accesses, adversely impacting overall system performance. To address this issue, we propose NestEgg, an innovative intermediate cache architecture tailored to accelerate data retrieval from secondary storage. NestEgg employs an intelligent, proactive caching strategy that selectively stores frequently accessed data in a dedicated low-latency external cache memory. NestEgg enables faster I/O operations and enhances the system's responsiveness by reducing the likelihood of fetching data from slower secondary storage. We outline the architecture of NestEgg and experimentally demonstrate its efficacy in boosting performance for realistic workloads through simulations. The results validate that NestEgg can substantially improve I/O access times over conventional storage hierarchies across numerous scenarios and access patterns. Overall, our solution delivers a promising advancement in bridging the latency gap between primary memory and secondary storage.