New Dell laptop with SSD and HD why SSD not configured as boot drive

[hal2kilo]

I just got a Dell 17 inch Inspiron 5070 that has an 8550U processor, 16GB of main memory, AMD 530 with 4GB, a 2 TB hard drive and a 256GB SSD.
It came configured with the hard drive as the boot/system disk and the 256GB SSD is configured as a cache with the Intel software.
Why did they not use the SSD as a boot drive?
Can the SSD be used as a boot drive?
Are there advantages to using the SSD as a cache?
My preference while its still new without a lot of software loaded is to reconfigure the SSD as a boot drive and make the 2 TB the general file storage and swap file like I have with my old trusted and true 1700 Vostro.

Where do you look to see how much of the SSD is being used for cache?

What do you all think, out there, is the way to go?

Cross-posting is not allowed.
Locking this.
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-not-set-up-for-bootff.2544991/#post-39412888

AT Mod Usandthem

 

[hal2kilo]

Wow. Definitely a quieter place than memory and storage. Maybe I'll ask there.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

SSD drive configured as a cache makes sense from Dell's perspective because most people don't understand computers very well and aren't up to juggling/organizing files across two different logical devices.

There's nothing stopping you from nuking the drive configuration and reinstalling it the way you want to. The cache should be somewhat configurable with the included software - most of the frequently accessed data, like the OS, will generally be loaded from the SSD. So it may not be worth the effort.

 

[hal2kilo]

SSD drive configured as a cache makes sense from Dell's perspective because most people don't understand computers very well and aren't up to juggling/organizing files across two different logical devices.

There's nothing stopping you from nuking the drive configuration and reinstalling it the way you want to. The cache should be somewhat configurable with the included software - most of the frequently accessed data, like the OS, will generally be loaded from the SSD. So it may not be worth the effort.

Are you saying that even though it boots off of the HD, the OS may be loaded on the SSD, or are you saying that a lot of what would be cached is the OS?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Are you saying that even though it boots off of the HD, the OS may be loaded on the SSD, or are you saying that a lot of what would be cached is the OS?

Yes.

 

[hal2kilo]

Yes.

Yes, which one. When I say loaded on the SSD I mean actually installed files.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yes, which one. When I say loaded on the SSD I mean actually installed files.

Installed by you or by the cache daemon?

Although it boots off the HDD, the caching software is likely loading the majority of the OS files on the SSD. A lot of what would be cached normally is the OS. Although depending on what cache software they bundled, it may be configurable one way or the other.