Somthing toward a "sticky:" Suggestiion for a configuration discussion for various PC usage patterns

[Support]

I think the L1 cache and cache overhead take too much RAM from the system. Your free RAM (~6GB now) may not be sufficient for games. I suggest 6~8GB for L1 Cache and change block size to 32~64KB to reduce the cache Overhead.
Note: Changing block size will reset the L2 cache content.

[Support]

And since you enable Defer-Write for both L1 and L2, you should enable the Defer-Write option "Flush L1 Cache to L2 Cache".

[barzattacks]

Thank you, I have made those changes. Do you think the Defer to write being set to 90 secs is good or should I go for the full 300? This is mainly for games.

[Support]

For tuning Defer-Write parameters, please see https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/pri ... write.html
A big latency can reduce writes on disks, however, it also introduces more risks of data loss and may trigger "urgent writes".

[tverweij]

My 2 cents: Never use defer write when you don't have a battery backup - a laptop with a functional battery or a machine with an UPS, otherwise the danger is too high. Unless the data is so unimportant that it can be lost.

[jollysight]

I wonder, as a 50-year-old newbie to PrimoCache, if I could ask for similar advice. First of all, I selected Accelerate Read & Write from the Preset menu and I didn't change anything. I haven't delved into the Advanced Options, but I'm happy to do this if required. So my options currently look like this:

primo config.png (81.23 KiB) Viewed 11283 times

I'm running Windows 10 and I have 32Gb of memory. The L2 cache is a 120Gb SSD. My drive setup is as follows:

primo.png (90.84 KiB) Viewed 11283 times

E: is a HDD that contains audio/video files. Until I installed a larger SSD, all my games were there as well, but I've now moved these to the C: SSD.

S: is a 256Gb flash drive that I use for storing and streaming downloads from the BBC iPlayer, Netflix, etc. I've already noticed these are far more stable and responsive since I started using PrimoCache

That 99MB partition with no drive letter? It's something on the C drive that I can't seem to remove. Should I deselect it from PrimoCache?

I use the PC for streaming video, editing audio and playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Division 2.

Any tweaks you think I should make? Thank you in advance.

[Support]

That 99MB partition with no drive letter? It's something on the C drive that I can't seem to remove. Should I deselect it from PrimoCache?

Yes, no need to cache this drive.

PS. L2 cache seems too small for caching the drive E which is 1.8TB.
PS2. Please note the risk of the data loss when you enable the Defer-Write. For more information about Defer-Write, please see
https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/pri ... write.html

[jollysight]

That 99MB partition with no drive letter? It's something on the C drive that I can't seem to remove. Should I deselect it from PrimoCache?

Yes, no need to cache this drive.

PS. L2 cache seems too small for caching the drive E which is 1.8TB.
PS2. Please note the risk of the data loss when you enable the Defer-Write. For more information about Defer-Write, please see
https://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/pri ... write.html

Thank you so much for your help. 99Mb partition has been deselected. I noticed some advice given earlier to another user re. enabling the "Flush L1 Cache to L2 Cache" option when using Defer-Write on both L1 and L2 caches, so I've done this.

If I need to increase the size of the L2 cache, is it possible to split it across 2 devices? Could I assign all of the 120Gb SSD and some additional space on the C drive? Or does it all have to be located on one physical device?

[Support]

I noticed some advice given earlier to another user re. enabling the "Flush L1 Cache to L2 Cache" option when using Defer-Write on both L1 and L2 caches, so I've done this.

Your L2 is set to 100% read, no write caching. So this option doesn't work. If you want to also use L2 for write caching, please see
https://kb.romexsoftware.com/en-us/2-pr ... te-writing

If I need to increase the size of the L2 cache, is it possible to split it across 2 devices? Could I assign all of the 120Gb SSD and some additional space on the C drive? Or does it all have to be located on one physical device?

PrimoCache requires one L2 cache logical volume for L2 cache, so you can make partitions in multiple devices into one volume first, for example, through Dynamic Volumes or Raid technology.

[jollysight]

PrimoCache requires one L2 cache logical volume for L2 cache, so you can make partitions in multiple devices into one volume first, for example, through Dynamic Volumes or Raid technology.

That makes sense. I'll look into that as a solution. Thank you. You've been very helpful.