Windows, striped SSD's and trim support?

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows, striped SSD's and trim support?

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10206

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#180850 23-Sep-2015 20:27

Im thinking of taking 2 of my too small SSDs and making a raid 0 for my steam library to get rid of the sound of a monkey on a typewriter coming from my PC constantly.

But will it trim? Looking online people keep banging on about intel storage drivers and stuff. I would probably just be doing it in disk management since that makes it portable between machines and doesnt care about what port its on either.

So, will it work or not? Im still on 7 at the moment, but a move to 10 will be happening eventually.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5349

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1393059 23-Sep-2015 20:35

Why not just use the two SSDs as they are? Who knows what trim will do. If you're using Windows RAID then the chances are higher, but W7 is pretty old now.

So, really, I gave you no useful information and shot down your idea. You're welcome ;)

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10206

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1393060 23-Sep-2015 20:47

Because my steam library is currently on a 2TB rust drive and is about 500 gigs, so a couple of 250 gig drives from the upgrades I will be doing shortly will work out nicely. Otherwise I will have to split it up manually and stuff. Ick. Work.

Richard rich.ms

Brumfondl

1198 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 524

Trusted

Subscriber

#1393068 23-Sep-2015 20:50

I am in the same boat as Timmmay. I can't see that you would get any noticeable speed increase and if you lose one drive you will have to re-download everything instead of just half.

So why bother?

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5349

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1393080 23-Sep-2015 21:06

You can't split the library? If you must do this upgrade to W10 and use storage spaces to create a logically larger disk.

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
13036 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3896

ID Verified

Trusted

Lizard Networks

Subscriber

#1393086 23-Sep-2015 21:19

Dont mess around with steam too much, its rather unfriendly with its library management.

If you dont move the GFC, modify it correctly, it assumes files are deleted goes bugger you! and just redownloads... Total pain!

Avoid Symbolic links too, Especially with massive games such as Payday 2. I used to have it Installed to a Secondary disk, Symlinked back onto SSD. it would copy the whole thing to the secondary, download the update.. Update the files And then move it all back again!
To those who are saying you have no speed difference, Have you see how badly steams updating system can tank IOs on update? Fair few games are rather noticeable and preferable to have that instant retrieval too.

You can however have multiple Libraries over many disks.

I see maybe 1GB of updates a day on average, With this whole library on auto-update hardly ever notice disk ticking away (Although two of those libraries are SSDs... And Symlinked games arent accounted for correctly.)

Im looking a ordering a couple of blacks in raid0 for steam, As the HDD is both a space limitation (my whole library is not downloaded there..) and speed is just not Quite there!

There are Steam library managers out there, but they all use symlinks in my testing... Painful as heck, but too lazy to write a script to do the work for me! I end up just re-downloading whole games...

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1393221 24-Sep-2015 08:31

I thought about moving my steam library to SSD, but then realized I could put a deposit on a house for that much storage :-P

I just stick with the large rust drive and some junctions to a 480gb SSD for the "current favourites"

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#1394955 26-Sep-2015 17:37

Intel Raid: If you have a 7 series (eg: Z77) or newer using the mobo raid and Intel RST driver/software yes TRIM should work. Ensure your mobo has the latest bios from the manufacturer.

Storage Spaces (Win 8, Win 10): Apparently yes the storage manager sends trim commands to the SSD's, haven't tried personally.

For dynamic disks in Windows disk manager: Don't know, never tried.