Update to SSD caching of desktops, laptops, and VMware/Hyper-V datastores
The SSD industry keeps moving forward, with the variety of SSD caching solutions bundled with particular SSDs seeming to be mere stop-gaps until 512MB SSDs truly become affordable.
Well, then again, what if you don't wish to rebuilt your 1TB or greater C: drive (laptop or desktop), slipping in an SSD and some software, to speed things up dramatically, automatically?
What if you have a safe but slow RAID5 (eSATA/USB 3 RAID5 4 drive enclosure for <$200), and wish to speed things up, considerably?
Here's a recent sampling of news that you may want to chew on:
PC Caching Software is Not All the Same
Published July 31, 2012 | By Jim Handy
thessdguy.com/pc-caching-software-is-not-all-the-same
The folks at NVELO recently provided The SSD Guy with some benchmark data comparing their Dataplex software’s performance against the Intel iSRT caching software that is becoming prevalent among Ultrabooks... For those unaware of these two technologies, they are both caching software that automatically maintains “Hot” data within a low-capacity SSD while leaving “Cold” data on the system HDD. The end result is that the PC performs as if it boasts a large SSD when, in truth, it uses a standard HDD and a modest-sized SSD, giving SSD-like performance at HDD-like prices, with full HDD capacity.
NEVEX
PROACTIVELY OPTIMIZES YOUR CACHE FOR HIGHLY-TARGETED I/O ACCELERATION
www.nevex.com/products/technology
...First read data is retrieved from primary storage and copied to the NEVEX cache. A second read promotes data to system memory. Subsequent reads are returned at high-performance RAM or Flash speed. All data is written synchronously to both the primary storage and the cache....CacheWorks installs into the Windows Server OS, on a physical server or running in a VM under VMware, Hyper-V, etc. NEVEX also runs in the Host OS for Hyper-V, supporting live migration.
VeloBit Releases HyperCache SSD Caching Software for VMware and Citrix XenServer
Posted by Media Coverage on Wed, Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:15 AM
www.velobit.com/news-and-events/bid/132987/VeloBit-Releases-HyperCache-SSD-Caching-Software-for-VMware-and-Citrix-XenServer
VeloBit provides plug & play SSD caching software that dramatically accelerates applications at a remarkably low cost. VeloBit uses Solid State Disk (SSD) to create a transparent application acceleration layer that boosts I/O performance by 10x. The software installs seamlessly in less than 10 minutes and automatically tunes for fastest application speed. VeloBit deploys and operates transparently to existing applications, storage, or data management.
As you might have guessed, I have applied for the VeloBit SSD Loaner Program, could be interesting to compare to my CacheCade 2.0 SSD read/write cached RAID5 array, if the pricing is reasonable for the single-CPU virtualization home tech enthusiast. but I just don't know, yet...
August 16 2012 4:20pm Update:
happened to be traveling very near VeloBit today, so I reached out to my assigned sales person (for the trial), and he kindly agreed to meet me on site. We discussed what this site is about, and began to talk about trials.
Here's a picture I snapped of the corporate park in Lincoln Massachusetts, where VeloBit is located, very near lovely Concord, home of Minuteman National Park:
