How should I use SSD ??

[czcina]

Hi. I'm thinking to get SSD but not sure what to do with it.
I have read somewhere that I could use it to "speed up" my current HDD. Raid 0 or 1 or something.


Question:

Is it better to do something like that - speed up my HDD somehow
or
Just install my OS on SSD that's it.

Was also thinking to put two games on SSD , together with windows 7.
I'm thinking to get 60GB, 6GB/s

Any suggestions/links would be nice. Also if RAID would be better for me suggestions/links with "how to".

Thank you!

 

[chugot9218]

Install your OS and your main programs/games on the SSD, you can set it up as a cache drive for the HDD but I think it works better for the OS and your commonly used programs.

I also believe you want to keep it around 70-80% capacity, any higher and I think you start seeing performance degrade.

 

[czcina]

So looks like I should go for 120GB rather than 60GB.
Whats cache drive ??

 

[chugot9218]

It stores frequently accessed data on the SSD so instead of having to go for the HDD for the data it can pull it off the much faster SSD.

 

[czcina]

Ok. So that's what I will do. Install OS on my SSD , together with my game and then look for info how to create that cache drive. Thx for help!!!

 

[goodguy713]

depends on what your looking to do... installing an ssd drive and installing your os on it is the most common use. how ever it really just depends because you dont really have to install the os on your ssd drive and just use it as a secondary drive. me for instance i have 1 patriot wildfire ssd drive with my os installed and two one terabyte drives as my mass storage . with another ssd drive for stuff that i use most frequently .. a revo drive 3 .. i use it pretty much only for games . and its a pci express ssd drive.. so there's a lot of options .. usually if you have games installed on an ssd drive they load faster then a standard hard drive .. as far as gaming performance though.. you wont get much benefit unless its a really data intensive on the drive .. but with me for instance compared to an average user im a bit over the top.. how ever that being said im generally in game a few seconds before every one else in games like bf3 .. if your just planning to use it as a boot disk you wont need a very big one .. but prices on 240 GB drives are getting really cheap compared to a few years ago so .. its not a bad investment you will especially notice an improvement on older systems provided they can use sata2 or sata 3 .. some people dont realize that a major bottle neck in your system is the hard drive because your computer can only access the data as fast as its able to get it .. so with an ssd drive most of your applications will run faster..

 

[djscribbles]

I use a 60GB drive for OS and a few programs, and don't often find myself wanting for space.

You can use the command line tool "mklink /d" to move programs/games back and forth between the SSD and HDD.

By disabling Hibernate, system restore, and putting pagefile only on HDD, you can reduce the amount of space Windows takes up to have about 40GB free (I can tell you exactly tonight, I've just formatted). Instructions here: http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/

I also move my Users and ProgramData folders to the HDD using this method: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/win7-how-do-i-move-user-folder-to-a-different/565f16a5-e5ed-43c9-8422-4f56aebb296e

If you use steam, there is a program called SteamMover that will give you a UI for moving games between two locations (it uses mklink under the hood). I like to install steam to my SSD (for fast start up), and before I login the first time, I do "mklink /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps" D:\steamapps" (after creating a folder D:\steamapps). This way, all games are downloaded to D: by following the link, and I can choose to put a game on the SSD using steam mover.

Mostly, it's just RPG games (games with frequent/long load screens) that really benefit from being on an SSD. Multiplayer games usually don't benefit at all, because the game usually waits for all players to load before starting, so theres no advantage to loading faster.


The setup works great for me, doesn't require much upkeep, and keeps your user and application data from chewing up all your valuable SSD space. It's probably not for everyone, as the setup requires some work, and isn't very user friendly, but it's easy once you've done it a couple times (I formatted last night, took me about an 1.5hours to have my system back up and running games).

 

[DarkSable]

Ok. So that's what I will do. Install OS on my SSD , together with my game and then look for info how to create that cache drive. Thx for help!!!

No, you misunderstood. You have two options.

The first is installing the OS and games on the SSD,
and the other is using the ssd as a cashe drive.

 

[quilciri]

Given the level of technical expertise you appear to have, I *highly* recommend simply installing your OS and your most often used programs to the ssd.

Configuring the ssd as a cache requires some tinkering, even on a z77 platform. If you have an AMD or older intel build, it gets more complicated (needs a seperate software caching scheme among other things).

good luck!

 

[djscribbles]

You can by HDDs with integrated Caches, that is the simplest solution for using a caching scheme; I haven't used the intel caching system, or any sw based caching, but I would assume they are a PITA to setup, as quilciri said.

 

[chugot9218]

Yeah, they have "hybrid" drives now that have mechanical drives as well as solid state storage, where the solid state storage is essentially the cache drive.