PocketMatrix

Well, remember that the file is likely to be on a storage card, in which case speed would drop dramatically.

What's the overhead for I/Oing off a storage card? All my test equipment (various ipaqs and a couple of other handhelds i managed to get my grubby hands on) just have either 32/64mb memory. Haven't experimented with storage cards. Are there programm installation differences? I just use the ezsetup/cab creator method for my titles, will I have to change things to appease the users that want their programs stored on a card? Right now my goal is to have all titles I release to keep the footprint at either 3mb's or smaller, including resources, which means data packing and such. That kind of methodology won't work if storage cards are dramatically slow.

Questions/Comments/Complaints?

Well with allocated memory you already have the relavent information located and stored for easy retrieval, with 'disk' access the device still has to located the file. Allocation also allows you, the programmer, to easily work with the file in your code... atleast that would be my take on the situation.