Freeze problems when using primocache

[npelov]

Since I use PrimoCache I notice long freezes (2 to 10 seconds) - programs are responsive, except the last action - for example running new program, opening control panel, etc.
The freezes are more common when I use USB3.0 flash drive, but they also happen (rarely) with fast SSD hard drive (480 GB Intel 535 - >400mb/s write speed) used as L2 cache. I'm currently trying the "IDLE ONLY" option for gathering interval. I didn't notice any freezes since I set it on SSD setup, but I don't know about the USB flash machine - I don't work much on it. Could you include timing analysis when you debug (if you haven't already) and gather information what's the biggest delay of a sector being read/written.

[npelov]

Just had two freezes - one bigger (5-6 seconds) in PHPStorm IDE and one smaller (2-3 seconds) in Google Chrome browser. Even the mouse cursor is stuck to what it was and doesn't change. Nothing responds. The other programs continue to respond but my guess is they don't write something to disk. I didn't have enough time to check if using disk with another program will work during the freeze.

[Support]

Can you upload a screenshot of PrimoCache main dialog which shows the cache settings? Thanks.

[npelov]

Here it is. However usually I don't have L2 cache for C: (SSD). I happened to have spare SSD for a while and I'm testing it as an L2 cache for the first SSD. Also I'm playing with the amount of L1 cache - it wasn't always like this.

I'm struggling to decide if I want to buy PrimoCache. As you see I want to have cache even for my SSD, so these freezes actually make it worse than before. The ssd by it's own didn't have those freezes. Actually I never had them with spinning hdd too.

[Support]

Did the freeze happen if there's no L2 cache for C drive? Since your C drive is SSD, it's no need to set up L2 cache for this drive. If doing so, it may even lower the performance.

[npelov]

yes, the freeze happened when there was no L2 for the SSD. Actually I added it after the last freeze and since then I didn't have any freeze. The idea of L2 cache for ssd is to preserve cache between boots. I'm probably not going to leave it like that, but that's not what's causing the freezes. And they are very rare with SSD, but I'm not working too much on my laptop, so I can't confirm if it's happening with USB flash. I can try and remove L2 from my laptop and see if it freezes again, but it'll take some time.

Btw, from experience I know that on some flash drives (maybe most of them, didn't test it much) reading and writing at the same time reduces the speed quite a lot. for example writing could be 2-4MB/s and reading 15-20MB/s in a USB 2.0 flash, but when you write and read at the same time speed drops to 0.1 to 0.3 MB/s for both read and write. maybe that's what causing the problem. I haven't tested that on a fast usb3.0 drive

[gotterdammerungly]

I might be having similar problems with the latest version(s) of Primocache, and I am using a very fast Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0 flash drive. The whole machine freezes solid, sometimes for a second or two, sometimes for a long time, often when using Firefox browser, although it happens with other software too. Disk activity sporadically continues, on both the HDD and the Sandisk/Primocache drive. From looking at the drives in Task Manager I have noticed that the Sandisk being used by Primocache is frequently 'maxing-out' and indicating an enormously high access time, which seems to be related to these lock-ups. I have been using Primocache on all three of my PCs for several years and this does seem to be a recent unwanted development.
I'm using Windows 10 on an HP laptop with 8gb ram and an AMD A8-4555M.

[Support]

@gotterdammerungly, do you mean that this problem didn't happen with old versions? May I know which version worked well before?
Thanks.

[gotterdammerungly]

primosetup.jpg (178.81 KiB) Viewed 5784 times

I believe the problem started with version 2.3.0. It does seem to me to be Primocache-related, as intermittent activity occurs on that drive after the system has 'frozen' (not crashed - if you wait long enough it 'unfreezes' - except once it took so long I had to hard re-boot). This laptop is an HP, it used to be Windows 8.1, but is now 10. I do not recall having any such problems with 2.2.0.
Here is my current Primocache configuration, active for the last day or two. No problem as yet - I think the 'Buffer' Defer-Write setting may have helped. I have not yet had any problem with this config. Will post if I do.

[gotterdammerungly]

2.4.0 may be okay - have only had it two days, and so far so good!