StoreMI with a SATA6G SSD and a SATA6G HDD?

[VirtualLarry]

I know that most of the recent threads revolving around StoreMI and Optane involve an M.2 NVMe SSD.

Does StoreMI make any sense, with a SATA6G caching SSD for a SATA6G HDD? I realize that the latency benefits of an NVMe caching drive won't be present, but just for discussion's sake, would SATA SSD caching for SATA HDD be worthwhile at all?

I was thinking of getting a newer AMD AM4 mobo, which would include support for StoreMI, and I currently use a 240GB TLC SSD, and a 4TB HDD.

Then again, if I can afford a new mobo, I can probably afford to drop $100-150 on a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD too.

Just thinking.

 

[nosirrahx]

Doesn't StoreMI use both spare RAM and the SSD together to cache more efficiently than the SSD alone (with Intel RST for example)?

I would assume that due to the abysmal 4K and latency of a HDD that a SSD cache would always make a huge difference, even if the SSD is a mid range SATA drive.

 

[cbn]

Does StoreMI make any sense, with a SATA6G caching SSD for a SATA6G HDD?

I would think so.

 

[Ratman6161]

When I upgraded my system to a 960 EVO that left my trusty old 250gb 850 EVO without a job. So I'm using it exactly as you describe with a 500gig disk drive as a data drive. Works great.

 

[VirtualLarry]

So, if StoreMI is just FuzeDrive, do you download and install FuzeDrive, and if you have StoreMI on your mobo, it just works? Can you get StoreMI for a B350 board, or does it have to be a B450 / X470? The reason I ask is, can it be added via a BIOS / UEFI update?

I'm thinking of re-doing my main rig, it has a Ryzen 5 1600, an AB350M Pro4, 2x8GB DDR4, and a 240GB SATA6G SSD, and a 4TB (5900RPM, I think) SATA6G HDD. I don't need all of that extra space, but I need some of it.

 

[mxnerd]

According to AMD, StoreMI is only available free to X399 (ThreadRipper) and 400 series (X470, B450, 2nd gen Ryzen) chipset motherboards.

https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/store-mi

Don't think you can just download and install FuzeDrive and run it on StoreMI motherboard.

StoreMI is a special version of FuzeDrive.

There is FuzeDrive for AMD, but you have to buy it.

http://www.enmotus.com/amd

http://www.enmotus.com/amdfaq?hsCtaTracking=a8d6aff0-dca2-40d0-b0c3-e646928ca74d|64bb7a7f-f0e9-4e82-a7a6-b7db087d5080

 

[VirtualLarry]

Re-visiting this topic. I have, in the interim, upgraded my ASRock AB350M Pro4 board, and case, to a Gigabyte AX370-Gaming ATX mobo, and a Rosewill Magnetar case.

Anyways, just the other day, my primary GPU quit. Turns out, the GPU's fine, but the primary PCI-E slot appears to be out. And at this point (waiting for a shipment including some A200GE APUs), I'm not sure if it's my Ryzen R5 1600 CPU's primary PCI-E lanes, or the mobo slot. Some swapping of parts is in order, to determine that.

IFF I need a new mobo, I was thinking of spending large, and getting a nice X470 board, with StoreMI.

I currently have a 240GB Adata SP550 2D TLC SSD (with DRAM cache, I believe)., and a 4TB Seagate 5400RPM HDD that was shucked from an external.

Would look at combining the two, OR, I also have some 256GB Patriot Scorch PCI-E NVMe M.2 SSDs on order too. So maybe I could use one of those, for the "fast" tier for StoreMI. Would maybe have to re-install all of my stuff though.

I got these AX370-Gaming ATX mobos refurb for $50 @ Newegg. They're still available (new?) from 3rd-party marketplace sellers, for around $130, if I want an exact replacement.

I'm having more issues with this AMD kit than I've ever had, in terms of failures and glitches. Not to knock AMD, they've done a bang-on job with Ryzen, but it's just unfortunate that I've had failures.

 

[cbn]

For People that have 480GB and larger SSDs I have been wondering if any of them are using the leftover part of the SSD (ie, the part not used by StoreMI that can be partitioned separately) for Primocache or something else?

Example: 480GB SSD with 256GB (of 480GB) used for StoreMI's fast tier and 224GB leftover from 480GB used for caching a RAID (or single) volume?

If not using Primocache Maybe combine StoreMI with FuzeDrive basic?

 

[cbn]

Virtual Larry, I think using a SATA SSD with HDD is a good idea for StoreMI systems with plenty of RAM.

But I wonder about Systems with maybe 8GB RAM. Does 32GB (or 58GB) Optane + 3D TLC (or even 3D QLC) SATA SSD make a better storage system compared to the same 8GB RAM + 3D TLC NVMe SSD?

I am thinking mainly page-out for browsing, but also overall system usage.