SSD cache for HDDs Windows 11

[LH747]

My system currently has 2x 8TB HDDs, an unused SATA SSD and an NVMe boot drive. I want to use the SATA SSD as a cache.

 

In my research so far there is a software called primocache. My question is are there any free alternatives? If not is primo cache worth the money?

 

System Specs:

Motherboard: B550 Aorus ELITE AX V2

CPU: R7 5800x

GPU: Gigabyte Gaming 3080Ti

RAM:  4x 16GB Team group Delta R @3200MHZ (XMP)

Storage: 2x 8TB Seagate Ironwolf, 1x 256GB Gigabyte NVMe boot drive, 1x 256GB Samsung 860 EVO SATA SSD

CPU Cooler: iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler

Case fans: 3x Cooler Master MF120

PSU: Corsair RM 850w

[Electronics Wizardy]

There is storage spaces in windows that can do this for you, takes a bit of powershell to setup though.

 

What are you storing on the hdds? Games? Id setup the 2 drives in raid 0 then add the ssd cache.

[LH747]

20 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

There is storage spaces in windows that can do this for you, takes a bit of powershell to setup though.

 

What are you storing on the hdds? Games? Id setup the 2 drives in raid 0 then add the ssd cache.

I am storing games on one drive I want to accelerate this drive, the other drive is for my plex server. I don't want to break my system switching to RAID from AHCI.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, LH747 said:

I am storing games on one drive I want to accelerate this drive, the other drive is for my plex server. I don't want to break my system switching to RAID from AHCI.

This is all in software so you don't need to change any bios settings. Id stay far away from bios raid.

 

You can also use the amd storemi here.

[LH747]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

This is all in software so you don't need to change any bios settings. Id stay far away from bios raid.

 

You can also use the amd storemi here.

I tried installing Storemi but I get error code 65536. Can't install software RAID because its not compatible with Windows 11 apparently.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, LH747 said:

I tried installing Storemi but I get error code 65536. Can't install software RAID because its not compatible with Windows 11 apparently.

Windows 11 has a built in ssd caching and software raid with storage spaces. 

[LH747]

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Windows 11 has a built in ssd caching and software raid with storage spaces. 

Thank you I will look into this!