Windows Are there any free alternatives to PrimoCache for Windows?

V

Vpppp

Novice
Hi guys,

I have been using BCache on Ubuntu to have SSD caching on top of an HDD.
Windows has PrimoCache that pretty much does the same with good caching algorithms but I'm looking at some free alternatives.

Thanks.
 
There used to be hybrid SSHDD which are built in ssd cached hdd device, right?

Are they no longer available or cost effective?

But these days just a normal SATA 2.5 inch SSD should be reasonable price and capacity?
 
ibose said:
Seems to be snake oil, you are better off just having a SSD as your OS drive.
Click to expand...
I already have an SSD for my main boot drive but I have a SATA SSD lying around that I was looking at using as a cache for my mass storage system. I've seen Intel Optane speed up load times in games.

Thanks for the suggestion on RamDisk, I'll try that out but I doubt I'll have enough RAM to have things cached. Not to forget that RAM is volatile so if I add data to RAM and switch off my PC thinking copy is done while it is ongoing in the background, that might cause some data loss.

vishalrao said:
There used to be hybrid SSHDD which are built in ssd cached hdd device, right?
Click to expand...
SSHDs generally have a smaller SSD to cache. I have a 1TB SSD that I use in BCache over a 4TB HDD and cache hit rates are pretty good in that arrangement.

ibose said:
And then there was Intel Optane. Neither seem to be around.
Click to expand...
Optane has a limitation of size. Even if I find an Optane capable system I would not be able to use a 1TB SSD as cache. If I recall correctly, Optane has an upper cap of 128 GB.
 
Vpppp said:
Not to forget that RAM is volatile so if I add data to RAM and switch off my PC thinking copy is done while it is ongoing in the background, that might cause some data loss.
Click to expand...
Read that article again. Then go through the tutorial linked in the first comment on that page.
Oh and I forgot that there was this if you are on Intel (on AMD, its called StoreMI)

How to Set Up Intel Smart Response SSD Caching Technology

Intel’s Smart Response Technology can significantly accelerate system performance, without your having to spring for an expensive, high-capacity solid-state drive. Here's how to set it up.
www.pcworld.com www.pcworld.com
Vpppp said:
I have a 1TB SSD that I use in BCache over a 4TB HDD and cache hit rates are pretty good in that arrangement.
Click to expand...
What kind of data are you caching ? Would love to see some numbers outlining the performance benefits
And Optane is dead -
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/i...ly-ssds-for-consumers-no-replacements-planned
 
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ibose said:
What kind of data are you caching ? Would love to see some numbers outlining the performance benefits
Click to expand...
I keep a lot of well-known datasets locally for ML development. Most of my ML training and testing requires result metrics on some well known datasets.
With caching in ubuntu I am able achieve around 38-40% hit rate for most used datasets. Most of my models are in the domain of scene recognition and object detection so I train a lot of models on MS-COCO dataset and VisuaQA dataset (both of which receive 100% hit rates).

I thought I could use same same tech for reducing game load times on windows as I have seen videos of Optane doing the same for game load times, but I guess it's a dead field nowadays with high capacity SSDs in the market.

Thanks for your help though.
 
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