Windows 7 introduces a new feature for Offline Files & Folders called \u201cTransparent Caching\u201d. <\/p>\n
Prior to Windows 7, to open a file across a slow network, client computers always retrieved the file from the server, even if the client computer had recently read the file. With Windows 7 transparent caching, client computers cache remote files more aggressively, reducing the number of times a client computer might have to retrieve the same data from a server.<\/p>\n
With transparent caching, the first time a user opens a file in a shared folder, Windows 7 reads the file from the server and then stores it in a cache on the computer\u2019s hard disk drive. The second and subsequent times a user reads the same file, Windows 7 retrieves the cached file from disk instead of reading it from the server. To provide data integrity, Windows 7 always contacts the server to ensure the cached copy is up-to-date. The cache is never accessed if the server is unavailable and updates to the file are always written directly to the server.<\/p>\n