DIY Hybrid Drive with SATA/RAID card options/info? (HyperDuo)

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Helgaiden

Helgaiden

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Was watching some tech review videos and one youtuber was confused as to what HyperDuo was. This reignited my interest in doing a higher performing hybrid drive setup than an off the shelf option. The seagate hybrid drives don't have as much SSD portion as they could, and my younger brother doesn't have a whole lot of money but does have a 500gb HDD and a 128gb SSD i handed down to him. I tried to cheat and make that 128gb SSD a ReadyBoost drive in windows 10, then it turned out that Windows Store apps, gears of war 4 specifically in this case, will fail to run with that drive set as a readyboost drive because of permissions or something. No matter how many permissions i added or adjusted on that drive. Prior to that, i tried to make that SSD an intel Smart Response cache drive, but apparently that system specfically requires the CPU to be a named intel i-series as opposed to a Xeon (even if its the same architecture and socket). Odd. So now it just holds BF1 and thats pretty much it. I feel like it can be much more beneficial if it could be used as cache for the main spinning drive like the hybrid drives work.

I had originally given up on a hardware based trick for these, but am interested in it again after SSD prices shot up again. Marvell HyperDuo looks like the answer: http://www.marvell.com/storage/system-solutions/sata-controllers/hyperduo/

I see this online for $23 and it interests me (lightning deal, usally its over $50 i think:
https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-Chann...&qid=1485284945&sr=8-3&keywords=hyperduo+card

but im not sure of going with that one over the Highpoint Rocket 620AP for less as the newegg reviews on it are less favorable, mostly of people giving 1 star because the drive ONLY works with an SSD + HDD, though i can't find any info that says the drives need to be the same sizee or not. I dont think they have to given how HyperDuo works, but it sucks not being totally sure.
https://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Ro...&qid=1485284986&sr=8-2&keywords=hyperduo+card

Then there is this more expensive model.
https://www.amazon.com/Syba-SD-PEX4...&qid=1485284986&sr=8-8&keywords=hyperduo+card

The plan is to eventually get a single large SSD, but his motherboard only has SATA II despite its adeptness in gaming still. So looking at SATA 3 cards to ensure the full performance of an SSD was a possibility either way, but maybe going with an add-in card to add some cool Hybrid-Drive functionality in the meantime would be nice too.


Anyone have any feedback on this? If having to wipe the drives is necessary to set up HyperDuo, im a little less interested but i guess i can always make an image of the OS first to make it easier.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You are completely overcompliating this for zero gain.

In this system, there are two drives?
128GB SSD and 500GB HDD. Correct?
And only SATA II ports?

1. The SSD is already hampered a little bit by the SATA II
2. Using the SSD as a cache for the HDD serves no real purpose in a gaming system
3. Using part of the SSD as a cache only helps in read speed, and only those blocks which live on the SSD.
4. Aside from level loading time, most games do not benefit from living on the SSD

Don't throw more money into this old slow system.
 
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Helgaiden

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Well of course i know it wouldn't benefit a gaming system after the point of loading, but it improves things overall. The point of the end user here, my brother, is keeping things simple as to only have to deal with one volume. If i knew he wouldn't find it an inconvenience to have to designate game install paths and constantly be aware of where things are getting saved, i wouldn't even be thinking about this. But alas, that is not the case. The current 7200rpm HDD doesn't seem like it keeps up that well. Obviously a slow HDD doesn't really affect the gaming performance, but a Xeon x5687 with 12gb of DDR3 and a GTX 770 still maxes out pretty much everything we throw at it, especially given the fact his monitor is 1440x900. Old it may be, but viable it still is. The SSD was only recently added to the system, the 500gb HDD is the main/boot drive because it was all that was available at the time of the build.

Anyways, the add-in cards mentioned up the SATA spec to SATA III which brings it up to speed to fully realize any possible gains from either a hybrid drive setup or a straight single large SSD. However i am aware that the real world benefit of an SSD on SATA II is still greatly improved (and not that far off then on SATA III when using it normally, even though synthetics say otherwise). I realize its an overcomplicated solution, but that entire build has been an overcomplicated solution to building an extremely budget friendly yet powerful system.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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For Steam game installs, you can designate whichever drive and/or folder you want as the default.

128GB for the OS and applications, a folder on the 500GB as the default, nothing to think about, install location for Steam and Origin games.
 
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Helgaiden

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Did that myself for years.


Trying to focus on single volume for my brother though. Have already presented him with the option of setting it up that way. He prefers it the single volume way to keep things as easy as possible. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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USAFRet

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Seeing as the Intel Smart Response will not work with a Xeon, and if it did, you could only use 64GB of that SSD....

Consider just removing the SSD.
Have everything on the HDD.
Or leave the SSD in there, but have the HDD be the C drive, with the OS and everything else. Use the SSD for...video storage or whatever.
 
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Helgaiden

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The HDD is already the C drive. There is a secondary HDD for large files, my brother likes to record gameplay footage and the save path is on the second HDD. The SSD thats in there has BF1 on it, which even on an SSD still is a bit of a slow loader but its wayyyy faster than on his HDD. Thats it. he didn't set bf1 up on that HDD, i did. If he ever has any issues with it, im the tech support for that.

Talked to him a little while ago regarding this hybrid solution, he wants to keep it simple and just save for a large SSD to use as C drive and keep a large HDD for secondary storage. *shrug*
 
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