Can this m.2 SSD be used to cache an HDD like the optane?

[Zii]

I want to buy this m.2 SSD, because it's an excellent price. However the only reason I want to buy it is because intel's optane m.2 (as seen in this video) works extremely well caching alongside a mechanical drive.

So my question is; even though the WD m.2 SSD I linked above isn't an intel optane, will it still work the same way demonstrated in the video? Is 3D NAND too different from intel's 3D Xpoint to configure it to function like that? Will I have similar results?

 

[USAFRet]

I want to buy this m.2 SSD, because it's an excellent price. However the only reason I want to buy it is because intel's optane m.2 (as seen in this video) works extremely well caching alongside a mechanical drive.

So my question is; even though the WD m.2 SSD I linked above isn't an intel optane, will it still work the same way demonstrated in the video? Is 3D NAND too different from intel's 3D Xpoint to configure it to function like that? Will I have similar results?

No.
It does not work like that.

You're looking at a 500GB NVMe drive.
There is no need to try to use that as a cache for a spinning HDD.

Use that drive as it stands....as a very, very fast 500GB SSD.

This drive and the Optance cache things are two completely different concepts.
And this drive is fast across its whole 500GB space.
Unlike a 16GB or 32GB Optane cache thing, which is fast only in read, for that little bit of data that lives in that small cache space.

 

[bignastyid]

With a 500Gb drive there is no reason to use it as cache. Use it as the OS/primary drive and use the mechanical or hybrid(sshd) as storage. All using optane does is give you a complicated hybrid drive. The reason Intels pushes these drives to be used as cache is because they are tiny.

 

[Dugimodo]

Agree with above comments, a large SSD is best just used as an SSD.

However if your system supports intel rapid storage technology it can be used with any SSD to cache a HDD the same as optane does. The caching technology has been around longer than optane has and is supported on a bit more hardware.

I've never set it up personally though, I don't think there's many real world uses for caching for most of us. I just use an SSD for the OS and a HDD for storage which is a pretty common setup these days. I recently added a second SSD for my games as well, but that's just a luxury.

Optane would make a lot more sense to me if intel let us use it for a storage drive instead of the main OS.

 

[Zii]

USAFRet

Okay, so it's really fast, but not fast ENOUGH to be used for caching like the optane then?

bignastyid

Sadly, 500GB is not enough. I have easily 8TB worth of files I need to access occasionally. I can move them over to my SSD, but I doing this so often it will eventually kill my SSD sooner.

Dugimodo

Do you mean use a seperate SSD for the caching? Or does it optimize the SSD I am currently using as boot?

 

[USAFRet]

USAFRet

Okay, so it's really fast, but not fast ENOUGH to be used for caching like the optane then?

You're confusing two different Optane things.

The Optane cache modules.
16GB or 32GB. Used for a cache for an HDD.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=n82e16820167426

The Optane 905P PCIe drives.
960GB for $1300
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167458

Compare to $380 for a 1TB WD Black, like you linked above.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820250099


You don't use the WD Black or the Intel 905P for a "cache" drive. That's not the way it works.
They are usable drives in their own right.

Sadly, 500GB is not enough. I have easily 8TB worth of files I need to access occasionally. I can move them over to my SSD, but I doing this so often it will eventually kill my SSD sooner.

Copying stuff like that to and from an SSD won't kill it.
That is a long dead idea.

 

[Dugimodo]

My 500GB 850 evo is nearing 3 years old and has been in constant use as my C: drive, has the swap file on it, and I run some games from it.
The Samsung software reports it's health at 100% and shows it's barely scratched the surface of it's life expectancy. Normal use of an SSD will not wear them out in the usable life of a PC.

If you do want to use an SSD to cache a hard drive you can do it with Any SSD not just the optane ones, they are just a little better at it.
Like most enthusiasts though I see no point to it over a conventional SSD boot drive and HDD storage drive arrangement.

Caching will not help you with "occasional access" anyway because those files will not be in the cache and will perform the same as if the cached drive wasn't there.

Sounds like the AMD solution is better - can be added and removed from an existing drive without reinstalling anything and can be used on a storage drive not just the OS drive like intels version.

I believe to use intel rapid storage you have to start fresh and set up the BIOS first then install windows, but having not done it I'm not certain about that.
I think it's special RAID mode at the BIOS level for intel.

Just use an SSD to boot from and forget all this other stuff, I don't think it's worth the hassle.

Now in a laptop or mini PC as a way to get a large storage space and fast performance on a single OS drive at a reasonable price, there it makes some sense.

 

[USAFRet]

My 500GB 850 evo is nearing 3 years old and has been in constant use as my C: drive, has the swap file on it, and I run some games from it.

7 of the 8 SSD's in my house systems report 100% health. All drives between 2 and 6 years old.
The 1 that is "less than 100%" is at 99%. It is a 6 year old 120GB Kingston, the original C drive from 2012.

All my systems are SSD only, except for the 12TB NAS box.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

A cache on an 8TB drive, used for storing large files, is likely to have practically no impact on performance.

Caching is mostly useful where there are small parts of the data that are frequently and consistently accessed, but most of it is rarely touched, and it is hard to separate the two. The few GB of OS on a system drive full of movies, documents etc. is a common case.

If today you're using a 100GB part of the drive, and tomorrow you're using a different 100GB part of the drive... caching will do nothing.