Extra fast storage

[Purely0wned]

I'm running out of space on my combo of 240gb ssd and secondary 500gb hard drive. I'm looking to upgrade and add more storage, and have a few questions. Is it possible to have a ssd cache and 2tb hard drive combo as 3rd and 4th drive? Should i go for a 2tb sshd? Or am i complacently limited to hard drive options and flash wont even work? 

[Captain_WD]

I'm running out of space on my combo of 240gb ssd and secondary 500gb hard drive. I'm looking to upgrade and add more storage, and have a few questions. Is it possible to have a ssd cache and 2tb hard drive combo as 3rd and 4th drive? Should i go for a 2tb sshd? Or am i complacently limited to hard drive options and flash wont even work? 

 

Hello Purely0wned and welcome to Linus Tech Tips forum

What are you planning on doing with the extra storage? If you are going to use it only for storing media and files and not running demanding applications or games off of it, using SSD to cache it would be pointless as caching stores boot files of the most frequently used programs.

It works the same on separate SDD (configure to cache) + HDD and a standalone SSHD.

You are completely free to use whatever you would like (pure SSD, SSD + HDD, cached HDD by SSD, SSHD, pure HDD, etc.), it all comes to if it's worth the speed boost. I would recommend getting a larger HDD if it's only for secondary storage. I could offer checking out WD Green if you are going to only store on the drive and WD Black if you need a better performance drive with larger capacity.

WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NFbUhU

WD Black: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=TQADvh

Captain_WD.

[Purely0wned]

Hello Purely0wned and welcome to Linus Tech Tips forum

What are you planning on doing with the extra storage? If you are going to use it only for storing media and files and not running demanding applications or games off of it, using SSD to cache it would be pointless as caching stores boot files of the most frequently used programs.

It works the same on separate SDD (configure to cache) + HDD and a standalone SSHD.

You are completely free to use whatever you would like (pure SSD, SSD + HDD, cached HDD by SSD, SSHD, pure HDD, etc.), it all comes to if it's worth the speed boost. I would recommend getting a larger HDD if it's only for secondary storage. I could offer checking out WD Green if you are going to only store on the drive and WD Black if you need a better performance drive with larger capacity.

WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NFbUhU

WD Black: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=TQADvh

Captain_WD.

I mostly plan to use it for gaming, I like having my stuff load fast . So would a ssd 60gb +/- and hard drive combo be a better option then say a 2tb sshd with only 8gb cache built in it?  Would it allow more applications to use it? I strongly appreciate your help 

[Captain_WD]

I mostly plan to use it for gaming, I like having my stuff load fast . So would a ssd 60gb +/- and hard drive combo be a better option then say a 2tb sshd with only 8gb cache built in it?  Would it allow more applications to use it? I strongly appreciate your help 

 

Do have in mind that the OS usually takes up around 35GB and SSDs generally require 12%-15% of free space in order to function properly (caching purposes). 60GB SSD would give you around 16Gb of free space on the SSD to operate with and to put games or programs there. For games to load faster, they actually need to be installed on the SSD, otherwise they will load just as slow.

 

If you are talking about a 60GB SSD for caching the HDD, same rule applies as with SSHDs - it would store the most commonly used programs' boot files and you have zero control which ones would they be. My suggestion would be to figure out what do you need to load faster (which games and programs) and figure out how much space you would need. 120GB/128GB SSDs are getting very inexpensive and one of those would give you about 75GB-80GB of usable space without overfilling it for your more demanding games. Combine that with a regular HDD for normal storage and less demanding programs and games and you would get a great setup (something most people currently have).

 

Captain_WD.

[Purely0wned]

Do have in mind that the OS usually takes up around 35GB and SSDs generally require 12%-15% of free space in order to function properly (caching purposes). 60GB SSD would give you around 16Gb of free space on the SSD to operate with and to put games or programs there. For games to load faster, they actually need to be installed on the SSD, otherwise they will load just as slow.

 

If you are talking about a 60GB SSD for caching the HDD, same rule applies as with SSHDs - it would store the most commonly used programs' boot files and you have zero control which ones would they be. My suggestion would be to figure out what do you need to load faster (which games and programs) and figure out how much space you would need. 120GB/128GB SSDs are getting very inexpensive and one of those would give you about 75GB-80GB of usable space without overfilling it for your more demanding games. Combine that with a regular HDD for normal storage and less demanding programs and games and you would get a great setup (something most people currently have).

 

Captain_WD.

I already have my OS on my 240GB ssd. Yeah i figure that it's the most common programs but would I be able to have more programs that I could utilize since i would have more flash cache? Wouldn't 120GB/128GB be overkill since I'm already running my OS on my current primary ssd? I do agree that they are in fact quite cheap  B)

[Captain_WD]

I already have my OS on my 240GB ssd. Yeah i figure that it's the most common programs but would I be able to have more programs that I could utilize since i would have more flash cache? Wouldn't 120GB/128GB be overkill since I'm already running my OS on my current primary ssd? I do agree that they are in fact quite cheap  B)

 

 

Probably, but again it depends on how and what you use from the HDD.

I would say caching a HDD that is used mostly for media and file storage is a bit pointless, but if you run programs off of it it might help a bit

 

Captain_WD.

[Purely0wned]

 

Probably, but again it depends on how and what you use from the HDD.

I would say caching a HDD that is used mostly for media and file storage is a bit pointless, but if you run programs off of it it might help a bit

 

Captain_WD.

 

So if i was to use it store games my best bet is going with say a 60-120Gb +/- SSD and HDD combo over the hybrid drive right? 

[Captain_WD]

So if i was to use it store games my best bet is going with say a 60-120Gb +/- SSD and HDD combo over the hybrid drive right? 

 

 

The larger SSD would give you more space to store files on. Hybrid drives and HDDs cached by SSDs work the same, the only difference being the capacity of the SSD that can store load files. Larger SSD means more files can be stored there. 

I would still say that your best bet would be to get a separate SSD that is large enough for your OS and for installing the whole games and applications that are more storage-demanding, and then use a standalone HDD for storage and less-demanding applications. 

 

Captain_WD.