SSD Caching

[T0MMEN]

So im kinda getting into the idea of home servers and stuff like lancaching etc.

 

I have a couple of 250gb ssds, and a couple of 500gb harddrives. I was thinking about splitting one ssd and use it as caching for  2hdds, how would one do that? Ive seen some softwares. But is there another way to do it for free? What do you guys suggest?

[Dutch_Master]

If it must be free (as in: free beer) then Linux is the way to go. And Bcache is the tool to use. Mind, it needs quite some cli work to set up properly!

[T0MMEN]

16 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

If it must be free (as in: free beer) then Linux is the way to go. And Bcache is the tool to use. Mind, it needs quite some cli work to set up properly!

Sounds hard = not for me 

[Dutch_Master]

Oh, but it's fairly well documented. Here you go: click!

[unijab]

If you are using Linux and lvm, lvmcache is built in.

[Net Runner]

Since Linux is not an option you have to stick to GUI-based Windows solutions most probably.

Quote

I have a couple of 250gb ssds, and a couple of 500gb harddrives. I was thinking about splitting one ssd and use it as caching for  2hdds, how would one do that? Ive seen some softwares. But is there another way to do it for free? What do you guys suggest?

The first one that comes to my mind is built-in storage spaces feature https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/core-infrastructure-and-security/storage-spaces-how-to-configure-storage-tiers-with-windows/ba-p/256700. That will not provide caching in its common sense but speed storage-related things up since all the data will be processed through the hot tier (SSD). A great benefit of tiering is that unlike caching SSD drives will count towards your usable capacity. 

 

If your SSDs are from Intel you can use Intel CAS https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software/intel-cache-acceleration-software-performance.html for free. Otherwise, there is a 120 days trial and purchasing it might be pricey. 

On 3/13/2020 at 11:28 PM, T0MMEN said:

So im kinda getting into the idea of home servers and stuff like lancaching etc.

In case you need to feed this storage over LAN you can use SMB protocol that is provided by Windows out of the box (regular windows shared folders). In case SMB is not an option and block-level access is required you can use free Starwinds iSCSI target https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-san-free. It is capable of utilizing RAM and SSD drives for caching too and has built-in iSCSI Accelerator to speed things up even more.

[Nick7]

For Windows and easy to use is - PrimoCache.

You can download free trial to test it out.