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Ideal RST Cache SSD

K

Kurlon

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 1, 2004
Messages
72
I've got a MX500 1TB winding it's way through shipping to me as my new primary drive, replacing a crusty old 233GB lump of spinning rust.

I had an OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD in use as a cache drive via Intel's RST system, compared to modern SSDs it's slow but it did help mask the pain of the 5200RPM unit it was paired with. I'm looking at getting a 4TB to 6TB drive to slot in as secondary storage and would like to enable an SSD cache for it, but want something faster than the old Vertex. Does anyone make a speedy 64GB SSD these days? (Max size allowed by RST, I'm not opposed to overprovisioning a larger drive if possible.)
 
Don't bother. SSD cache drives are good for storing smaller files that are continually accessed. Think OS, apps, game files, etc. All this stuff will now be sitting on your new MX500.

I'm betting the large HDD will be used as most others use them, for large media files that are accessed relatively rarely. Such files are read in only at the rate they are consumed and not all at once (i.e., slowly). HDDs will have no problem keeping up with such usage, and a SSD cache on top of it would be imperceptible.
 
Best case would be look for a drive that has good 4K random read/write, since that is what the cache software will be optimizing for. I did setup an Intel RST cache last year and you are right, it's not awesome, but it does take the edge off of using ONLY a platter drive. I would still recommend it if you plan on using a platter for your main harddrive. On my work computer I used the Sandisk ReadyCache system for about a year before finally just moving to straight SSD. That setup was pretty good and I got it on sale for like $30 or $40. It would also write to the SSD initially and then transfer over to the harddrive in the background. But the programs I used consistently everyday at work would pop up instantly, which was all I really wanted as opposed to my co-workers that would sit there for 20-30 seconds sometimes while the harddrive light thrashed.
 
You'll want something with good endurance which eliminates planar TLC drives. I am liking the 850 Evo and BX300 these days... I've had the same experience as AppreciateYou. I set up HyperDuo virtual disks in cheap controllers for my parents desktops and its just about like a large SSD. I've set up two production servers with tiered storage spaces and my test server as well with 850 Pros, Mushkin Reactor (MLC) and PNY Cs1211 drives paired with various 7200 rpm drives in RAID arrays and they are spiffy as all heck. I love virtual servers that reboot in 12 seconds as opposed to 5-10 minutes and are snappy at desktop rather than chugging for a long time.
 
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