Do apps that claim to increase SD card performance really work? Strain on card? I was recommended an app today that supposedly increases the r/w cache on the SD card. By default it's set to 128kb.

I'd imagine this works in a similar fashion to a BufferedReader (in java).

My questions are:


Does this really work as advertised? Will I see increased I/O performance?
What effect, if any, does this have on the SD card? Can it cause premature failure?


Below is the Android Market description for SD Speed Increase
:


  SD Speed Increase
  
  This application allows you to make more powerful the using of SD Card. This is changing a parameter in a file system (thus the need of Root access) that manages the size of the cache on the memory card. By default, this value is set to 128 (kb) but it was found that changing this value in 2048 (kb), the performances are optimized, making read-write on our external memory faster. Many thanks to brainmaster, XDA Member that discover this.
  Note that if you reboot/turn off your device, you lose the setting that you did, so you can click on the dedicated box to allow this app to set on every boot the value that you choose.
  
  This function may be not work.


Device: ZTE Blade. Rooted and running CyanogenMod 7.0
Here's the original XDA thread.

Basically, it shows a fairly significant improvement for some devices.  2048 kB might not be the best setting for your particular device, so you might want to experiment.  I'm running it on my device and noticed a minor improvement; it certainly wasn't harmful.  I'm not 100% sure but I would think it would not increase wear.