Write-Caching - Enable or Disable

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  1. Posts : 71,978
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #80

    jonnyhotchkiss said:
    I'm sorry, my brain's soft today. I understand the points being made, and thanks for the RamDisk link... but are you recommending to disable write-caching on SSD? (It will not be removed!)

    Techtonik's remarks could've been interpreted either way, also I'm curious if anyone has noticed their RAM being entirely consumed, as described...

    Thanks
    It would be recommended to leave write caching enabled for the SSD. :)
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  2. Posts : 260
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #81

    Callender, thanks a lot for the insights, I've just read your thoughts on allocation and your 'application review' - close to the top of increasingly large list of 'things to do' now is design my recovery strategy!

    '1' q, re "Browser Cache disabled": what's the browser cache, and do you mean completely disabled (some browser/registry setting, or disabled in RAMdisk), and if so, what impact does this have on performance/functionality? (thinking chrome's sync'ed user account experience, which already stutters in my sandboxie browser)

    Cheers
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  3. Posts : 260
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #82

    Scratch that. I read, it all makes perfect sense. So SSD for dll's and exe's I guess! And any residual multimedia (maybe that you'll "never" delete... if such data exists)

    I have 3USB ports, I don't know what the breakdown is one version, ie USB2 or USB3... I have a memory card slot, I also have an esata port. Would a 4gig sd card compliment my 250gig SSD with 8gig RAM, or should I try and master USB?

    thanks guys, learned more in the last 2 days than in the last 2 weeks
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  4. Posts : 71,978
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #83

    Glad we could help. :)
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  5. Posts : 4,776
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #84

    Write-cachcing on SSD


    Brink said:
    jonnyhotchkiss said:
    I'm sorry, my brain's soft today. I understand the points being made, and thanks for the RamDisk link... but are you recommending to disable write-caching on SSD? (It will not be removed!)

    Techtonik's remarks could've been interpreted either way, also I'm curious if anyone has noticed their RAM being entirely consumed, as described...

    Thanks
    It would be recommended to leave write caching enabled for the SSD. :)
    I leave write-caching enabled on the SSD. A RAMdisk is loaded onto the SSD. My response was in answer to the question from jonnyhotchkiss

    "RamDisk is new to me - is it hard to configure like you mentioned?"

    I realize that this isn't related to the excellent tutorial.

    In response to jonnyhotchkiss's follow up question:

    "Browser Cache disabled": what's the browser cache?

    It's configured not to store the browser cache on the hard drive. See:

    Browser.cache.disk.enable - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

    and

    Write-Caching - Enable or Disable-cache-options.jpg

    I do see that this is in no way related to your excellent tutorial!
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  6. Posts : 260
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #85

    4 year old comments suggesting that these tips and tricks pertain to older SSDs that aren't "TRIM" etc

    blah blah December 2, 2011 at 10:50 pm #
    You can ignore most of this with a modern SSD on Win 7. Here's the thing. A lot of folks waited for SSD's to standardize a bit, and the technology to become more reliable / less expensive. Once it did, more folks adopted it. However, geeks being geeks, they started looking online to squeeze more performance out of their SSD's. That's when they came across old articles talking about farming page files, temp files/folders, etc off onto other drives / ramdisks, etc. But most of this stuff is seriously outdated (yes, after only a year or two), b/c SSD's have matured fairly fast. Most SSD's are designed to last 5+ years, even with tons of writes (the writes being what wear them out the most). By pawning page files, temp files/folders, caches, etc off onto slower HDD's, your basically negating the speed advantage of the SSD. You now have a program (eg: web browser) loading from SSD quickly, but then bottlenecking speeds with page files and caches on HDD's. It's like getting a fast car so you can fly down the highway quickly, but you baby it by driving down residential streets so you don't wear it out. It's back-asswards. Likewise, Win 7 (SP1 by now) is good at detecting an SSD, and automatically avoiding defrags on it, setting it up with max possible DMA, disabling superfetch on it, etc, etc. You can double-check all those settings if you like, but you'll most likely find it's a-ok. If you really, really want to feel like a geek, setting up a ramdisk to toss temp files on can make you feel pretty techy. But even that can back-fire. Some folks are doing ramdisks with only 4gb of ram in their box. Win 64 is a big jump in ram consumption vs. Win 32. Really, unless you're using like 10+ gb of ram, making a ram disk is just removing ram from your memory pool which would be better used as *shock* memory! If making ramdisks for SSD's was a great idea, Microsoft would have coded in a utility to automatically do so if it detected an SSD. Bottomline, stop worrying about your SSD. Install it, make sure the firmware is up-to-date (the main reason people find them not working and RMA is b/c they don't update the darn firmware), and just enjoy it.
    Does anyone have any data to support either argument (for + against)?
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  7. Posts : 71,978
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #86

    I don't have any hard data off hand, but I can tell you for a fact based on real world experience that it's safe to leave write-caching enabled on today's SSDs. :)

    It's also safe to run chkdsk on a SSD.

    You don't want to defrag a SSD, but TRIM it instead.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #87

    jonnyhotchkiss said:
    Great tips, thanks for sharing your experience.

    RamDisk is new to me - is it hard to configure like you mentioned?

    Just to clarify, are you saying turn off (uncheck) write caching completely?

    I noticed that with write cache enabled there is a small increment in overall performance...
    but

    Now if you disable write caching... The whole system is more fluid ...

    About to test/backup native VHD (currently sitting on 200gig partition) before redeployment to new (replacement ocz) SSD ... proceeding with extreme caution

    That's right, uncheck write caching completely. But ,.. don't do it. Leave it there if you don't have a power supply, you don't want to get errors on the new set up SSD .
    Ramdisk is not complicated , you download the software , and add it through add new hardware. You can configure it on device manager . Don't make the image file and don't load it every bootup, don't save it either. If you really need it put it on a separate HDD , otherwise will wear your SSD , specially if it's a few Gigs in size. The Ramdisk software is limited trial, 3 monts I guess, after that you have to download the newest vesion for another 3 monts trial and so on ... , if you decide is good 4 you you can buy it ,... Have fun!
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  9. Posts : 260
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #88

    SSD TLC


    Thanks for the clarification guys.

    I'm currently booting (natively) from VHD(s). I'm thinking I'm going to continue to prep a windows install for "SSD optimisation", and then

    connect and format ssd in external
    copy VHD to new primary partition on SSD (not sure if I need to /sysprep, given the harddrive hardware has changed)
    copy boot and bootmgr
    install in laptop
    pray
    attempt boot.

    if it works, I can TRIM

    How's my logic?!
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  10. Posts : 260
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #89

    One more q, does RAIDing only apply if you have multiple SSD drives?if so, so ssd caching only apply to RAIDers?

    How to: Set up Intel Smart Response Technology (SSD caching)
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