Windows dual boot ruins cache ?

[Zorcky2C]

Hello,
I feel like sine i've plugged in a second windows bootable drive in my PC, my primocache setting does not speed up my PC anymore. I want to speed up a C: drive, but since i have 2 windows bootable drives, the booted drive become the letter C:, and i feel like the cache i have set up always caches the letter C:. (So i feel like it caches 2 drives and the cache is corrupted. And because of that, it does not speed up my PC properly anymore).

Is this possible ?

Here's more infos:
I have 3 drives
- 2Tb HDD (Segate Barracuda) [Windows] <------------------- for gaming only
- 1Tb HDD (WD Blue) [Windows/Ubuntu] <-------------------- for work only
- 250 Gb SSD (Crucial MX500 SATA/m.2) [Primocache] <---- for caching 2Tb HDD (Segate Barracuda) only

I want to cache only my 2Tb HDD (Segate Barracuda), for boot speed, OS responsiveness, gaming BUT more importantly not loose any ingame performances.

Thank you, i appreciate a lot the Technical Support service !

---------------------The rest of my hardware---------------------
CPU: ..................Ryzen 5 2600 6c/12t @ 4.1Ghz (1.36V)
Motherboard: .......ASRock AB350M PRO4
RAM: .................2x8 GB Crucial Ballistix @ 3600Mhz CL16 18 18 (1.35V)
GPU: .................Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Windforce OC
PSU: .................Gigabyte B700H 700W 80PLUS Bronze
Display: .............Alienware AW2518HF 25" 240Hz 1ms

-------------------------Primocache config-------------------------

[janusz521]

You need to install and configure PrimoCache on each Windows instance separately. PrimoCache only will be active if it is present on the partition you are currently booting from. If you are using Prefetch you may need separate SSD partitions too. Of course, PrimoCache will not help when running the Linux partition.

[Nick7]

Using PrimoCache with using dual boot is dangerous and it may/will corrupt your data. Only alternative is to wipe PrimoCache cache on each boot from different OS (it's possible it does that now, not sure, haven't tried actually).

Why?

Imagine you were running PrimoCache, and majority of stuff you do is in cache.
Now, boot to 2nd OS. It's not using PrimoCache (even if it was, similar issue). Now you change something on cached drive from 1st OS.
Now you boot again to primary OS. Your Cache does not know something changed, and where it changed on disk, so if PrimoCache doesn't drop complete cache, it may thin there's something on disk that was there before you actually changed it from your secondary OS, since it cannot track that.

Now, again - not sure what PrimoCache does now - it could use some timestamps to see that partition was actually on on another OS and:
a) drop whole cache
b) re-read whole data to verify all data in cache
c) do nothing (worst, it will cause data corruption)

Using same cache on 2nd OS should actually be possible to add to PrimoCache.. but I guess it's up to developers to add it (PrimoCache installed in both OS instances, can check disk ID to verify where what belongs, etc...).

[Support]

As janusz521 and Nick7 said, if you really need to use PrimoCache on dual boot, you need to handle it carefully. Install PrimoCache on each Windows and use different SSD cache for different partitions. Partitions under caching in one Windows should not be modified in other Windows.

[Zorcky2C]

Thanks for all the replies but this is not what i really want.

I do have a 2 windows installed on 2 separated drives, but i want to cache only 1 drive.
I am concerned because i am caching the C: drive from the "gaming windows installation", but when i boot my "working windows installation" i still see all my drives and i am worried that my SSD is gonna cache my work drive which is at that time the C: letter.

I haven't installed Primocache on my work drive.
Is the SSD cache gonna interfere with my work drive ?

[Nick7]

Drive (partition) you cache from one OS should not be mounted on other OS.
So, for that partition, go into Disk Management, and remove drive letter so it's not seen.

[Support]

If PrimoCache is not installed on your work drive, no caching will start when you boot into your "working windows installation".
And for safety, as Nick7 said, you may go into Disk Management and remove the drive letter for the drive you cached in another OS.

[janusz521]

Only the disk volumes that you see in the Cache Task are being cached. You may distinguish them by their size. The drive letter is specific to the OS on the partition you are booting from so it does not matter if it correlates with disk letters assigned on some other boot partition.

It is a bit strange that your "L2Storage Read" is 0. Maybe you have just created the cache. Check it again after several reboots. Probably you will not need the L2 cache being that big as well. It eats away the RAM. I am happy with just 32 GB of L2 cache right now but I do not play games on this disk.

My current stats look like:

-------------------
Total Read 7.21GB
Cached Read 5.42GB (75.2%)
L2Storage Read 2.96GB (41.1%)
L2Storage Write 1.82GB
Total Write (Req) 3.02GB
Total Write (L1/L2) 3.02GB / 0
Total Write (Disk) 2.39GB (79.2%)
Urgent/Normal 0 / 2.39GB
Deferred Blocks 406 (0.1%)
Trimmed Blocks 24005
Prefetch Inactive
Free Cache (L1) 1.68GB
Free Cache (L2) R: 26.17GB, W: 0
Cache Hit Rate 75.24%

[Zorcky2C]

Alright i got it.
Thanks everybody for the responses you gave me