2 ssd's 1 hdd question

[Felix_Bertta]

I have a question before I even consider on buying 2 ssd's for my new rig. Is it possible to use one SSD (Samsung 850 pro 1tb) as my boot drive and storing games while using another ssd (Samsung 850 pro 256 GB) as cache between the 1tb ssd and a 4tb hard drive (Western Digital Black)? I want to be able to have fast transfer speed between the two devices when I am moving large volumes of data. I have heard that ASUS has goo caching software so I will be buying an ASUS rampage v extreme if that helps.

[TheKDub]

I believe so.

[Felix_Bertta]

That is very helpful. 10/10 best tech advice I have ever received. Seriously though I was wondering if anyone has done it and have tips on doing correctly.

[WoodenMarker]

That is very helpful. 10/10 best tech advice I have ever received. Seriously though I was wondering if anyone has done it and have tips on doing correctly.

There's no point caching a ssd with a slower ssd. 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[Felix_Bertta]

There's no point caching a ssd with a slower ssd. 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

I'm still learning the ropes here. Thanks for the tip. So I should just use only one 1tb ssd and connect my 4tb hdd to it? I should get ok speeds between the two devices, right?

[WoodenMarker]

I'm still learning the ropes here. Thanks for the tip. So I should just use only one 1tb ssd and connect my 4tb hdd to it? I should get ok speeds between the two devices, right?

Why would you ever connect drives to each other?

[Felix_Bertta]

Why would you ever connect drives to each other?

 

 

I'm going to do what Linus did in this video . Use the SSD as boot and the HDD as storage. 

[WoodenMarker]

I'm going to do what Linus did in this video . Use the SSD as boot and the HDD as storage. 

That doesn't entail connecting the drives to each other. 

Just plug them in normally and have 2 drives.

[Felix_Bertta]

That doesn't entail connecting the drives to each other. 

Just plug them in normally and have 2 drives.

 

Gotcha thanks.

[Ryoutarou97]

That doesn't entail connecting the drives to each other. 

Just plug them in normally and have 2 drives.

 

I think what Felix was trying to do was to basically write to a 256 (though 128 should be enough) drive, then have that drive pretty much copy everything on itself (deleting the data on the SSD in the process) to the HDD, thus acting like a buffer (or cache as he said since that's essentially what it would be) for the HDD meaning that as long as he doesn't write more than 256 gb at a time to it, it should work to give him the write speeds of an SSD for his HDD.

[WoodenMarker]

I think what Felix was trying to do was to basically write to a 256 (though 128 should be enough) drive, then have that drive pretty much copy everything on itself (deleting the data on the SSD in the process) to the HDD, thus acting like a buffer (or cache as he said since that's essentially what it would be) for the HDD meaning that as long as he doesn't write more than 256 gb at a time to it, it should work to give him the write speeds of an SSD for his HDD.

That's not what was done in Linus' video.

[Ryoutarou97]

That's not what was done in Linus' video.

Oh, you're right. Well, do you know if my interpretation is possible? It would be an awesome way to speed up write times with like a 60gb SSD. 

[WoodenMarker]

Oh, you're right. Well, do you know if my interpretation is possible? It would be an awesome way to speed up write times with like a 60gb SSD. 

Caching a hdd with a ssd doesn't speed up write times. It improves read speeds of frequently accessed filed from the hdd. 

[Ryoutarou97]

Caching a hdd with a ssd doesn't speed up write times. It improves read speeds of frequently accessed filed from the hdd. 

I may have the wrong terminology (though caching sounds incredibly useful too), but what I was trying to say was that you would write the data to the SSD, then the SSD would in the background copy that data to the HDD and then the SSD delete the data it copied off of itself.

[WoodenMarker]

I may have the wrong terminology (though caching sounds incredibly useful too), but what I was trying to say was that you would write the data to the SSD, then the SSD would in the background copy that data to the HDD and then the SSD delete the data it copied off of itself.

Why would you ever do that?

[Ryoutarou97]

Why would you ever do that?

Well, you would only be writing to the SSD, (an analogy would be pouring water into a basin that drains through a water filter so you don't have to keep the sink on low to fill the water filter) so as long as you don't let it fill up you would get SSD write speeds. With a 120gb SSD for this 'write cache' and a 250gb or even 500gb 'read cache' for most commonly used files on something like an 8gb HDD or 16gb RAID array of HDDs a content creator might get SSD speeds most of the time writing and fast load times for programs and the OS while only paying for about 500gb SD + 8-16gb HDD. Though I suppose a content creator would be able to afford an expensive computer. I don't know who would use it, but it would work. Oh, look, I've answered my question.

 

I would (if I ever build my computer. Apparently giving your children thousands of dollars to buy graphics cards is not good parenting. Who would have guessed it?) use 2tb of HDD space. If this existed, I would use a 60gb write drive and a 500gb boot and program drive.

[WoodenMarker]

Well, you would only be writing to the SSD, (an analogy would be pouring water into a basin that drains through a water filter so you don't have to keep the sink on low to fill the water filter) so as long as you don't let it fill up you would get SSD write speeds. With a 120gb SSD for this 'write cache' and a 250gb or even 500gb 'read cache' for most commonly used files on something like an 8gb HDD or 16gb RAID array of HDDs a content creator might get SSD speeds most of the time writing and fast load times for programs and the OS while only paying for about 500gb SD + 8-16gb HDD. Though I suppose a content creator would be able to afford an expensive computer. I don't know who would use it, but it would work. Oh, look, I've answered my question.

 

I would (if I ever build my computer. Apparently giving your children thousands of dollars to buy graphics cards is not good parenting. Who would have guessed it?) use 2tb of HDD space. If this existed, I would use a 60gb write drive and a 500gb boot and program drive.

Please rephrase. Whatever I'm making of what you posted is making no sense.

[Ryoutarou97]

Please rephrase. Whatever I'm making of what you posted is making no sense.

Which part? I would rather not retype all that in different words.

[WoodenMarker]

Which part? I would rather not retype all that in different words.

Describe the configuration you had in mind and why it would be useful.

[Ryoutarou97]

Describe the configuration you had in mind and why it would be useful.

It would be a 2tb HDD with a 250gb cache drive since I use my most commonly used programs a lot, and don't really need the speed for other stuff, but I want it to cache commonly used files too since I wouldn't take the time to save them to the boot drive when I normally use the computer. That's why I would use a cache drive for reading rather than a boot drive. Then, I would use a 120gb drive for write caching if it existed since I can't think of an instance that I would save more than 120gb at a time, but would be getting SSD level write speeds every time I wrote.

[WoodenMarker]

It would be a 2tb HDD with a 250gb cache drive since I use my most commonly used programs a lot, and don't really need the speed for other stuff, but I want it to cache commonly used files too since I wouldn't take the time to save them to the boot drive when I normally use the computer. That's why I would use a cache drive for reading rather than a boot drive. Then, I would use a 120gb drive for write caching if it existed since I can't think of an instance that I would save more than 120gb at a time, but would be getting SSD level write speeds every time I wrote.

What's the point of fast write speeds to a temporary drive?

[Ryoutarou97]

What's the point of fast write speeds to a temporary drive?

Let's something, let's say working in photoshop to touch up some family photos. You decide to save them before you keep working so you press save all. The HDD takes a while spinning to this file then that file and doing what a hard drive does. If you had a temporary writing SSD, you could just write to it and be done saving much faster. It would then copy the files in the background while you can keep working. Basically, it would have the benefits of faster write speeds without paying so much for a large SSD.

[WoodenMarker]

Let's something, let's say working in photoshop to touch up some family photos. You decide to save them before you keep working so you press save all. The HDD takes a while spinning to this file then that file and doing what a hard drive does. If you had a temporary writing SSD, you could just write to it and be done saving much faster. It would then copy the files in the background while you can keep working. Basically, it would have the benefits of faster write speeds without paying so much for a large SSD.

Photoshop has options to set drives as scratchdisks that automatically overflow to other drives when full. Many content creation programs have options like this already.