In this day and age, if you don't own an SSD, is it still worth it to short stroke?

[Rafael Mestdag]

I mean, if you not only don't have an SSD, but also you don't have any idea when you're going to, is it worth it getting rid of some data(not crucial data) in order to short stroke?
Is it worth the trouble when it comes to speed after all?

 

[vrumor]

You can get an SSD so cheap nowadays, just buy one.

 

[USAFRet]

I mean, if you not only don't have an SSD, but also you don't have any idea when you're going to, is it worth it getting rid of some data(not crucial data) in order to short stroke?
Is it worth the trouble when it comes to speed after all?

Not even a little bit. Especially if you have no idea of what you are doing, and why you are doing it.
Why toss away a significant portion of your drive space.

Yes, the outside of the drive is 'faster' than the inside tracks.
However...I dare you to sit in front of two identical systems, and tell me which one is short stroked and which one is not.

No 'benchmarks'...actual everyday usage.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

I mean, if you not only don't have an SSD, but also you don't have any idea when you're going to, is it worth it getting rid of some data(not crucial data) in order to short stroke?
Is it worth the trouble when it comes to speed after all?

Not even a little bit. Especially if you have no idea of what you are doing, and why you are doing it.
Why toss away a significant portion of your drive space.

Yes, the outside of the drive is 'faster' than the inside tracks.
However...I dare you to sit in front of two identical systems, and tell me which one is short stroked and which one is not.

No 'benchmarks'...actual everyday usage.

Yes, I usually go by the numbers that Crystal Disk Mark shows, and it's a significant improvement in terms of absolute numbers. But when it comes to the actual use it doesn't make all that much difference... So I guess you're right.

 

[USAFRet]

Many things give big benchmark numbers, but fail to deliver in realworld use.

Stroking, SSD+RAID0, Samsung RAPID mode, etc, etc.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

Many things give big benchmark numbers, but fail to deliver in realworld use.

Stroking, SSD+RAID0, Samsung RAPID mode, etc, etc.

As I had a 500GB drive to spare, so to speak, I deleted it and short-stroked it down to 100GB and only copied over a few games to test it out. I have to say that loading times are down by about 25-35% I'd say, I know it's empirical but you can really tell the difference.

 

[USAFRet]

Many things give big benchmark numbers, but fail to deliver in realworld use.

Stroking, SSD+RAID0, Samsung RAPID mode, etc, etc.

As I had a 500GB drive to spare, so to speak, I deleted it and short-stroked it down to 100GB and only copied over a few games to test it out. I have to say that loading times are down by about 25-35% I'd say, I know it's empirical but you can really tell the difference.

And if you're going to go through all that, skip a couple of Starbucks and a Pizza Hut delivery, and get an SSD and be a lot faster than that.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

I've just tested out Splinter Cell: Conviction and it seems like an improvement in loading times of about 50% if not more, and this is an old gen. SATA II WD drive.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

[/quotemsg]
And if you're going to go through all that, skip a couple of Starbucks and a Pizza Hut delivery, and get an SSD and be a lot faster than that.[/quotemsg]

I know you're right but right now I don't have money to spare on an SSD. All I've got are 2 HDD's, one of which I can short-stroke. I live in Brazil, a 120GB SSD here costs on average about the equivalent to 90 US Dollars and I currently don't have that money to spare on an SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

Well then go for it.

 

[junkeymonkey]

''You can get an SSD so cheap nowadays, just buy one. ''

all the ones I been interested in went way up in price 240gb mlc s10 was 69$ now 100 ??? though newegg may have a great sale on a Samsung right now ??

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL021717C&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL021717C-_-EMC-021717-Latest-_-InternalSSDs-_-20147372-S10A2B&ignorebbr=1

to be honest these wd blacks do all I ask just fine I don't see where loading and boot times are any big concern ??

[page 5 conclusion ]
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/12/10/hdd_vs_ssd_real_world_gaming_performance/5

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, SSD prices have risen over the last year.

But the original question of "Is shortstroking worth it?"...can only be answered by the person that might do it.

It's not worth it to me.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

To me at least, it's very well worth it, I'm using those 100GB from the WD Blue 500GB to copy some games and programs and it's loading them a lot faster than usual.

 

[USAFRet]

To me at least, it's very well worth it, I'm using those 100GB from the WD Blue 500GB to copy some games and programs and it's loading them a lot faster than usual.

And with games now reaching 50-60GB, that 100 won't go far.

 

[junkeymonkey]

remember when a 80 gb hard drive was the mc'daddy and the to have drive ?? lol..... today windows alone sucks up to 30gb easy to eat 250gb of a 500gb drive now a days

 

[USAFRet]

remember when a 80 gb hard drive was the mc'daddy and the to have drive ?? lol..... today windows alone sucks up to 30gb easy to eat 250gb of a 500gb drive now a days

The outcry of Falcon 3.0, when it took up 40 MB. When a large drive was 125 MB.
Yes, megabytes, not gigabytes.

 

[Solandri]

The ratio between a HDD's outer vs inner track is typically 2:1. So placing games on the outer track will yield a performance of 2 vs. an average performance for the entire drive of 1.5. or a 33% improvement disk speed (25% decrease in load times). Max improvement would be 2:1, or a 100% improvement in disk speed (50% decrease in load times).

A SATA III SSD typically offers a 400% (4x) improvement in sequential read/writes (80% decrease in load times), and a 3,000% (30x) improvement in 4k read/writes (97% decrease in load times). If you enable AHCI mode, the 4k read/writes can improve by up to 15,000% to 25,000% (150-250x, 99.3%-99.6% decrease in load times)).

There is just no comparison. Instead of spending time configuring your HDD for short-stroking, you are better off putting that time and effort into getting a part-time job so you can make enough money to buy a SSD. Really. This is one of those purchases which will save you so much wait time over the life of the computer that you are actually worse off pocketing the $60-$90 and continuing to use the HDD.

 

[junkeymonkey]

were moving on up just wish Microsoft would come back to basics with a OS unwanted / unneeded crapware / malware with just enough os imbedded to boot on

anyway good luck