Intel cache drive with encryption?

[XpediencY]

I have a z68 motherboard and all my hard drives are encrypted with truecrypt. Would adding a small ssd to be used as cache be a problem? Would the data stored on the cache be encrypted?

 

[Radical]

I don't think this answers your question, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to use software full disk encryption with SSDs.

 

[NoOther]

I have a z68 motherboard and all my hard drives are encrypted with truecrypt. Would adding a small ssd to be used as cache be a problem? Would the data stored on the cache be encrypted?

Any type of encryption severely hampers performance which is why I am assuming you want an SSD cache? Also the cache drive probably wouldn't be able to access the encrypted properly. Encrypting an SSD along with the other drives would probably cause its own set of issues.

I would say really the only way to know for sure is to try it out. Back up your current drive information, then give it a whirl.

 

[XpediencY]

Any type of encryption severely hampers performance which is why I am assuming you want an SSD cache? Also the cache drive probably wouldn't be able to access the encrypted properly. Encrypting an SSD along with the other drives would probably cause its own set of issues.

I would say really the only way to know for sure is to try it out. Back up your current drive information, then give it a whirl.

The performance impact isn't that severe with encryption as I've noticed virtually no difference in applications and gaming since I started using encryption. My only concern is with the complexities between caching encrypted drives. As far as I know, if the data on my cache wasn't encrypted, it would defeat the purpose of encryption on my machine as the data would still be salvageable. I would love to try it, but I really don't want to waste money buying an SSD just for a trial. I was hoping some others had prior experience or knowledge.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/truecrypt-security-hdd,2125-8.html

 

[NoOther]

The performance impact isn't that severe with encryption as I've noticed virtually no difference in applications and gaming since I started using encryption. My only concern is with the complexities between caching encrypted drives. As far as I know, if the data on my cache wasn't encrypted, it would defeat the purpose of encryption on my machine as the data would still be salvageable. I would love to try it, but I really don't want to waste money buying an SSD just for a trial. I was hoping some others had prior experience or knowledge.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/truecrypt-security-hdd,2125-8.html

Not sure how you haven't experience any impact in performance, everyone and their mother that I know has experienced performance degradation especially with software encryption like trucrypt.

As far as the cache is concerned, if the cache is not encrypted, it definitely defeats some of the purpose, but not entirely. Consider this, the purpose of drive encryption is really if someone were to steal your system. They would have to get by the encryption to get the data. With the cache being unencrypted, they could get information, but only the last information that was in the cache which might not be anything important. Since usually the cache is for helping to load and run applications, there shouldn't be any sensitive data in there. The only time sensitive data would be in there is for longer exteneded file transfers.

Also that review on Tom's didn't show a single game. That is usually where I have seen the most degradation in performance is trying to consistently access game files.

 

[XpediencY]

Not sure how you haven't experience any impact in performance, everyone and their mother that I know has experienced performance degradation especially with software encryption like trucrypt.

As far as the cache is concerned, if the cache is not encrypted, it definitely defeats some of the purpose, but not entirely. Consider this, the purpose of drive encryption is really if someone were to steal your system. They would have to get by the encryption to get the data. With the cache being unencrypted, they could get information, but only the last information that was in the cache which might not be anything important. Since usually the cache is for helping to load and run applications, there shouldn't be any sensitive data in there. The only time sensitive data would be in there is for longer exteneded file transfers.

Also that review on Tom's didn't show a single game. That is usually where I have seen the most degradation in performance is trying to consistently access game files.

To my knowledge, only load times are affected. After that, most if not all the data needed to be accessed are on the RAM which is not encrypted. However, shutting down the PC will wipe the RAM which keeps it secure enough for me.

I'm maxing out BF3 on 2560x1600 between 70-150 FPS with the exception of AA.

 

[NoOther]

To my knowledge, only load times are affected. After that, most if not all the data needed to be accessed are on the RAM which is not encrypted. However, shutting down the PC will wipe the RAM which keeps it secure enough for me.

I'm maxing out BF3 on 2560x1600 between 70-150 FPS with the exception of AA.

Well remember also that the beefier your system, the better your performance will be generally as well. But yes, mainly the issue is with load times. But consider if you are playing an RPG or an FPS, you load between maps or between areas or when you have a video that plays. It can sometimes create some stutter in the game. That is mainly the performance issues I have seen.

That being said, I am not saying that encryption kills performance, just that it hurts it. It's why I generally never use encryption on gaming systems and I keep my gaming and everyday systems apart. The gaming system is just for gaming.

 

[PC_User]

Well remember also that the beefier your system, the better your performance will be generally as well. But yes, mainly the issue is with load times. But consider if you are playing an RPG or an FPS, you load between maps or between areas or when you have a video that plays. It can sometimes create some stutter in the game. That is mainly the performance issues I have seen.

That being said, I am not saying that encryption kills performance, just that it hurts it. It's why I generally never use encryption on gaming systems and I keep my gaming and everyday systems apart. The gaming system is just for gaming.

Do you know how much encryption will hurt performance on an SSD with a quad-core CPU (current system in sig)? I've read that having multiple cores helps reduce the performance detriment.

 

[iconiK]

Modern CPUs have AES instructions and can process encryption VERY FAST, much much faster than any SSD can write. Per thread.

 

[Zangmonkey]

My understanding was the bitlocker along with TPM chips made encryption on-the-fly without any performance degradation?

 

[NoOther]

Modern CPUs have AES instructions and can process encryption VERY FAST, much much faster than any SSD can write. Per thread.

Not sure what you are trying to say here? Any encryption processing provides another step the system has to do and that has an effect on performance. It really doesn't matter if the CPU can process the AES faster than an SSD can write, you still have to process that information and that affects performance. You can see the results here even with the new advanced AES instructions:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2901/5
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitlocker-truecrypt-encryption,2587-7.html

And as you can see an encrypted SSD does take a performance hit:

http://media-addicted.de/ssd-and-truecrypt-durability-and-performance-issues/744/
http://anthonyvance.com/blog/security/ssd_encryption/

My understanding was the bitlocker along with TPM chips made encryption on-the-fly without any performance degradation?

TPM gives no performance bonus that I know of. It just allows an interface for hardware encryption rather than software for better protection. The AES-IN in the newer Intel chips is what helps give an added bonus to encryption processing.