HTPC Timeshift and SSD

[Dia01]

I have recently shifted my previous build to a dedicated HTPC (spec's below). I have in the past had a few HDD's fail over the years suspected due to the constant read/write activity for Live TV Time Shifting and I know that SSD's are not recommended due the endurance cycle limits whilst using for such a scenario. I have recently played around with utilising the RAM as I have 4 x 8GB DDR3 sticks as a RAMDrive via MSI's software, but I have encountered boot problems over time which I suspect for some reason the boot drive is being corrupted. I have since reinstalled windows 10 and dedicated the time shifting to an old OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD and have't had issues with boot corruption since. I

I was wondering though whether it was possible to install an Intel Optane M.2 Cache Drive 32GB would actually work, but I am suspecting these drives also have limited read/writes and they would be as good as an SSD in the end?

HTPC Spec's:

• MOBO - MSI Z97M
• CPU - i7 4790K
• RAM - (2x8G) 1866MHz Kingston HyperX FURY RAM
• GPU - MSI GTX 970
• OS Drive - Samsung 850 250GB
• Storage - WD Black 1TB
• Recording/Timeshift Drive - OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
• TV Tuner - TBS6281SE DVB-T2/T/C TV Tuner PCIe Card

Any advice at all would be great.

Edit.

Researching, I don’t believe that the Z97 chipset would actually support and Optane Cache drive. I’m thinking the corruption bad_system_config_info I have been experiencing maybe related to the MSI RAMDrive software. I might simply try an alternative program to see how it goes.

 

[newtekie1]

The older chipsets don't support the Optane technology for caching, but you can put an Optane drive in any motherboard and it will just be detected as a standard M.2 NVMe SSD. Also, one of the selling points of Optane drives are the greater endurance.

 

[Dia01]

The older chipsets don't support the Optane technology for caching, but you can put an Optane drive in any motherboard and it will just be detected as a standard M.2 NVMe SSD. Also, one of the selling points of Optane drives are the greater endurance.

Thanks mate for the reply. I tried an alternative to MSI's RAMDisk last nigh (ImDisk Toolkit) thinking that it was maybe the program corrupting the boot file, but once I installed the other 2 x 8GB sticks (DDR3 16GB (2x8G) 1866MHz Kingston HyperX FURY RAM), every second boot just froze to a blank screen, but no BSOD. Clearing the BIOS, adjusting RAM speed and timings didn't offer any solution, uninstalling the program and removing the 2 x 8GB sticks also didn't resolve the issue, so something once again has corrupted. So again, I have re-formatted and re-installed Win 10. This board either doesn't like utilising RAMDisk's or just doesn't cope well with 4x8GB sticks installed, so I won't be trying that again.

So my last question is, will the NVMe Optane M.2 Cache Drive 32GB be compatible with a SATA M.2 slot, I suspect it should just simply utilize 2 lanes instead of the 4?

 

[newtekie1]

So my last question is, will the NVMe Optane M.2 Cache Drive 32GB be compatible with a SATA M.2 slot, I suspect it should just simply utilize 2 lanes instead of the 4?

I don't think it will be compatible, the Optane drives are PCI-E only.

 

[Dia01]

Your probably right, I just can't seem to find any definitive yes or no answer searching the web. I guess my use case is a little strange as I don't require the drive to work in conjunction with the OS drive as cache, I just simply want to add it for smaller storage for Live TV Buffer and don't really need the speed of 4 x PCIe lanes either. That and better durability of a normal SSD is what I am chasing.

 

[newtekie1]

Honestly, modern SSDs are pretty durable. I mean, for about $10 more than a 32GB Optane drive you can get a 250GB MX500. If you limit the timeshift size to 32GB anyway, then the drive will live a very long life thanks to wear leveling. The drive is rated for 100TB, but the reality is tests have show modern SSDs last in the Petabytes written levels of endurance.

 

[Dia01]

Thanks for your suggestions newtekie1. I've limited the buffer to 10GB on the OCZ 120GB drive anyway, if it does eventually give up the ghost down the track, no harm or loss really.

 

[Dia01]

Quick update.

I can confirm that the Z97M motherboard does detect the Intel Optane M.2 Cache Drive 32GB and is working fine as a Live TV Time Shift drive within my HTPC. Thanks for your assistance newtekie1