My 64GB M4 has been behaving weirdly, so I have a larger 128GB Samsung 840 arriving tomorrow. All of my media/photos/etc are all stored on a 3TB WD Green drive, that seems to get thrashed for some reason by iTunes/AppleTV when I'm checking disk activity (I know, iTunes is a stoopidly written program, but it's great for the kids with the AppleTV). I'd like to try using SSD caching for the 3TB drive to reduce drive noise and hopefully increase longevity. The ol' 64GB was only just over half full with OS/apps, so the newer drive will have a bit of extra space, so I have two options:
1) For simplicity, make a separate ~20GB partition on the new 840 and assign that as the cache drive. Pros - only 2 drives total, fewer wires less power draw. Cons - with the whole TLC debate, might shorten the 840's lifespan, might slow down access speed for the OS.
b. Use the 840 for OS/apps and wipe the m4 and use as the cache drive. The reason the m4 is being retired is it would suddenly stop completely and crash the system and just be gone even from BIOS on restart. I updated the firmware and it seems fine now, but I just don't trust it. As a cache, I wouldn't care if it died, since the media drive doesn't get written to much, and there isn't anything mission critical on it. I also have an old, slow Kingston SSDnow! V-somethingerother 32 GB drive I could use. It's much slower, but never had any crashes. Pros - physically separated from the OS drive, less wear n tear. Cons - more wires/clutter.
I've never used SRT/caching, so I'm hunting for advice from those who have done similar. Which approach is easier to implement? What would you do?
1) For simplicity, make a separate ~20GB partition on the new 840 and assign that as the cache drive. Pros - only 2 drives total, fewer wires less power draw. Cons - with the whole TLC debate, might shorten the 840's lifespan, might slow down access speed for the OS.
b. Use the 840 for OS/apps and wipe the m4 and use as the cache drive. The reason the m4 is being retired is it would suddenly stop completely and crash the system and just be gone even from BIOS on restart. I updated the firmware and it seems fine now, but I just don't trust it. As a cache, I wouldn't care if it died, since the media drive doesn't get written to much, and there isn't anything mission critical on it. I also have an old, slow Kingston SSDnow! V-somethingerother 32 GB drive I could use. It's much slower, but never had any crashes. Pros - physically separated from the OS drive, less wear n tear. Cons - more wires/clutter.
I've never used SRT/caching, so I'm hunting for advice from those who have done similar. Which approach is easier to implement? What would you do?
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