SSDs, HDDs and RAMdrives

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  1. BJB
    Posts : 188
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
       #1

    SSDs, HDDs and RAMdrives


    Bit late joining the SSD club but I finally have one, 120GB, teamed up with a fast 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM and an i5. Win 7 performance is impressive, but thinking about the longer term is there much to be gained by moving the browser caches and Win temp files off of the SSD? Perhaps the paging file too if that's possible? And if so, might it be possible to move them to a RAM drive rather than to the HDD? My usual pattern of use is perfectly happy running in 4GB RAM so would this be an effective way to use the other 4GB? And if any of this is possible are there any pitfalls in going down this road?

    My old Win 7 is still running fine so there is no pressure at all to rush the new setup. I'm happy to sit and gather the benefit of your experiences with this sort of thing.
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  2. Posts : 2,497
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
       #2

    I wouldn't use a RAMDisk at all. They were useful with DOS and other ancient operating systems but they are of little use in a modern OS. Modern operating systems have a sophisticated caching system that provides most of the benefits of a RAMDisk with fewer problems. A 64 bit OS will use 8 GB RAM, and do a better job than any messing with a RAMDisk. A RAMDisk will improve some specific aspects of performance but overall it will cost you.

    Putting the pagefile on a RAMDisk is one of the worst uses of a RAMDisk anyone has ever thought of.
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  3. Posts : 1,045
    Win8/8.1,Win7-U64, Vista U64, uncounted Linux distor's
       #3

    With your equipment you don't need to mess with a ramdrive. Moving W7 files to the HDD does save space on the ssd. There are several tutorials here that walk you thru the process.
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  4. BJB
    Posts : 188
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    OK, get the message about the RAMdrive. I've moved all my own stuff to the HDD so don't expect the SSD to even reach 50% used, but what about the browser caches and Win temp files? Is it no longer necessary or even worthwhile to make any effort to reduce unnecessary writes to the SSD?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #5

    BJB said:
    OK, get the message about the RAMdrive. I've moved all my own stuff to the HDD so don't expect the SSD to even reach 50% used, but what about the browser caches and Win temp files? Is it no longer necessary or even worthwhile to make any effort to reduce unnecessary writes to the SSD?
    I moved my browser caches from SSD to HDD, but have been reliably advised that it was probably pointless given that the "wearing out the SSD with unnecessary writes" thing has been grossly exaggerated, at least for recent generation SSDs and the typical use case. I never moved the cache back to the SSD, but I have no reason to believe that would be inadvisable.
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  6. Posts : 67
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #6

    BJB said:
    OK, get the message about the RAMdrive. I've moved all my own stuff to the HDD so don't expect the SSD to even reach 50% used, but what about the browser caches and Win temp files? Is it no longer necessary or even worthwhile to make any effort to reduce unnecessary writes to the SSD?
    I would not move them. You can monitor your writes with a tool like CrystalDiskInfo, but browser cache isn't going to be a problem, nor are temp files unless you're doing something fairly unusual on a very regular basis.

    The only thing I do as standard to reduce writes is to disable Hybrid Sleep on my main PC, which is hooked up to an APC UPS that will wake it from sleep to hibernate in the event of a prolonged outage. I also make sure my WMC Recorded TV drive is a regular hard drive, which one would tend to do for space reasons anyway.
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  7. Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       #7

    Leave your Page File on the SSD (OS drive) otherwise you'd negate some of the benefits of SSD speed. I also move all Temp files to a HDD along with Users and ProgramData. I run CCleaner a lot more than most people so it only hits the HDD.

    I agree too on the RAM disk, it would show good benchmark number but no real world benefit. If you have a Samsung 840EVO or Pro you can enable Rapid Mode, which help a little bit.
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  8. BJB
    Posts : 188
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    OK, thanks. I'll probably move them anyway as it can only be helpful in the long run, if only marginally. I've had my medion md 8818 for over 7 years now and only hope this box lasts and performs as well as that one has done.
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  9. Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       #9

    You seem savvy, but these may give some additional insight.

    User Folders - Change Default Location

    I have used the following method a few times now:

    User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation
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  10. BJB
    Posts : 188
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Britton30 said:
    You seem savvy, but these may give some additional insight.

    User Folders - Change Default Location

    I have used the following method a few times now:

    User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation
    I've always moved my user folders to a separate data partition as this greatly simplifies and speeds up system imaging and restore. However after a recent incident on the Medion in which a corrupt flash drive somehow caused loss of my data partitions, and this in turn caused both Acronis and Reflect to fail to restore a bootable system partition, I'm inclined to leave my user profile on the SSD and simply include my data folders, which are located on the HDD, in the libraries on the SSD.
      My Computer


 
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