BootCache

Mac OS X uses a boot-time optimization (effectively a smart read-ahead) that monitors the pattern of incoming read requests to a block device (the boot disk), and sorts the pattern into a "playlist", which is used to cluster reads into a private cache. This "boot cache" is then used for satisfying incoming read requests, if possible. The scheme also measures the cache hit rate, and stores the request pattern into a "history list" for being adaptive in future. If the hit rate is too low, the caching is disabled.

The loadable (sorted) read pattern is stored in /var/db/BootCache.playlist. Once this pattern is loaded, the cache comes into effect. The entire process is invisible from users.

System/Library/Extensions/BootCache.kext is the location of the kernel extension implementing the cache
Contents/Resources/BootCacheControl within that directory is the user-level control utility (it lets you load the playlist, among other things).

BootCache is started (via BootCacheControl) in /etc/rc, and a prefetch tag is inserted (unless the system is booting in safe mode ([shift]).
/etc/rc looks for BootCacheControl in the Resources directory of the BootCache.kext bundle, as well as in /usr/sbin
loginwindow.app accesses /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl directly, and does not find it.
Making BootCacheControl available in /usr/sbin, via a symbolic link, reduces the boot time .

/private/var/db/BootCache.playlist was 47,484 bytes on 9/26/08.

/usr/sbin/BootCacheControl

[-vvv]
[-b blocksize]
[‑f playlistfile ] start|stop 		Start/stop the cache using playlistfile
statistics Print displays /var/dc/statistics for the currently-active cache. 03/26/13 example 
> sudo bootcachecontrol  statistics print
initiated reads 3758
blocks read  306012
read errors  0; blocks discarded by error 0
batch 0 time              4.342s; batch 1 time              17.093s; batch 2 time              18.078s
blocks read in batch 0:   62033;   blocks read in batch 1:   143238; blocks read in batch 2:   100741
reader thread rate        3872kB/s, 95tps
total strategy calls      8691
non-read strategy calls   1238 bypassed strategy calls   2818
bypasses while active     1623
filled strategy calls     5873
filled during active I/O  5290
active time               58.411s
read/write strategy rate  127/21tps
callers blocked           39
time blocked on extents   88.770s
extents in cache          1978           extent lookups            7453        extent hits               6824
extent hit ratio          91.56%
hits not fulfilled        951
blocks requested          347066
blocks hit                299266
blocks discarded by write 112
block hit ratio           86.26%
leftover blocks           6522
leftover pages            0
block wastage             2.13%
history clusters          14
tag Insert the end-prefetch tag.
[-vvv] -f playlistfile merge playlistfile1 [playlistfile2 … ]
Merge playlistfile1... into playlistfile.
[-c] -f playlistfile output the contents of playlistfile.
-f playlistfile unprint Read a playlist from STDIN and write to playlistfile.
-f playlistfile generate [volume] Generate a playlist from standard input data for volume and write to playlistfile.
-f playlistfile truncate count Truncate playlistfile to count entries.
Deleting /private/var/db/bootCache has been known to fix kernel trap

Only supported on the root device, requires at least 128 MB of physical RAM before it is enabled (automatically).