SSD or use D Drive for DCS and Sim files with SSD?

[woodsglen]

I have a modest 256Gig SSD.

 

I use this PC for music applications and flying. (VST instruments ) Cakewalk, and DCS world is on the SSD.

Other programs i keep on a program files folder on a 2 TB D Drive.

 

I've been out of the loop flying since last spring really.

 

My MB is not taking bull advantage of the SSD since my money went into my simulator thrust master,, the SSD, ram, and a GTX 780.

 

My MB and processor are still on a retail HP with an AMD atholon IIX4 635 processor.

 

What should I limit the SSD to ( other than OS ) and what can i mover to the D Drive? should all of my flight sims ( DCS world, X-plane, etc ) be onb the SSD?

 

I have 56Gigs left out of 232G of SSD drive space.

 

I've read about using the swap file on the SSD ? How do i manage that - or set that up?

 

I know just enough to be potentially dangerous when it comes to setting up a computer to be really customized.

 

thanks for any advise.

 

WG.

[Rudel_chw]

What should I limit the SSD to ( other than OS ) and what can i mover to the D Drive? should all of my flight sims ( DCS world, X-plane, etc ) be onb the SSD?

 

Yes, I would recommend leaving the SSD just for the OS and the most used programs. If you use Lightroom for photo editing then its Catalog should also be on the SSD since it greatly improves the browsing of our photos.

 

I have 56Gigs left out of 232G of SSD drive space.

 

I would put on the 2 TB drive all your documents (and also the documents of other users that may be using your PC), the \TEMP folder should be here too, and also the swap file.

 

I've read about using the swap file on the SSD ?

 

Thats a bad idea, since the write cycles that a SSD allows is much less than a conventional disk it "wears" sooner if you use it for much writing. Thats why the swapfile and the TEMP folder should be on the mechanical drive rather than the SSD.

 

How do i manage that - or set that up?

 

Here is how you can move the Windows documents folders:

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025058/answer-line-move-data-files-from-an-ssd-to-a-hard-drive.html

 

and here they show how to move the swapfile (and the hibernation file if you use a notebook):

 

http://lifehacker.com/5802838/how-to-maximize-the-life-of-your-ssd

 

Best regards.

[ronbo613]

I've read about using the swap file on the SSD ?

Thats a bad idea, since the write cycles that a SSD allows is much less than a conventional disk it "wears" sooner if you use it for much writing. Thats why the swapfile and the TEMP folder should be on the mechanical drive rather than the SSD.

That may have been true a few years ago, but in most cases, there is no need to put the swap file on another drive to "preserve" your SSD. Modern SSDs will last for years with normal use. If you're worried about "using up" your SSD, buy more RAM and your system won't even need a swap file.

 

If you have creative apps, placing your save files on a mechanical drive will save space on your SSD. I also have my scratch discs on a mechanical drive for my Adobe software, including video editing programs that produce large save and preview files, and it runs fine.

 

I would run the OS and your programs on the SSD. If you write large save files, put those save folders on the spinner. As far as your games, pick the ones you play most, put those on the SSD. Even if you put your games on a 7200rpm hard drive, the only time you will notice slowness is when things load.

 

Even if you wear out your 256G SSD in a year or two, which is very unlikely, buy another one for $50.

[Rudel_chw]

I believe that its better to err on the safe side, and moving the TEMP and the Swapfile are easy steps that you can take to improve the reliability of the SSD drive. I see that there is still some controversy regarding the wear on SSD:

 

http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html

[ronbo613]

I believe that its better to err on the safe side, and moving the TEMP and the Swapfile are easy steps that you can take to improve the reliability of the SSD drive. I see that there is still some controversy regarding the wear on SSD:

 

http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html

 

Here's a quote from the article in the link above:

 

"If you're a consumer you don't have to worry about the internals of endurance management - because most new SSDs are good enough (if they're used in the right applications environment)."

 

For a typical consumer MLC SSD, it would take about 80G of writing to the NAND a day to "wear out" the drive in about five years. If you have enough RAM, the pagefile is probably nearly never used, so why worry about it? If you want to move your stuff off a fast SSD and put it on a hard drive, it's your choice. If you are writing 80G of data to your SSD per day, it's probably a good idea if you plan to give your SSD to your grandkids.