Windows 10: Optane, the poor man's SSD

Hi,
Will this work on a laptop with M2 SSD slot with PCIe3.0 x2?
Intel 16GB Optane Memory - M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 NVMe 3D XPoint (MEMPEK1W016GAXT) | BT Shop

 

Hi,

Optane memory used as a caching device will only work if the motherboard supports it. Namely Kabylake and higher up.
As a system drive I suppose it would work in a system with a M2 2280 compatible slot supporting PCIe 3.0 x4.
But please verify with the seller before buying as I'm assuming here.
If it works, I'd recommend going for the 32 Gb module as 16Gb is just too small to install W10 on.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Thanks for the information, I am interested in learning about these Optane SSD/memory, hence my inquiry.

 

Hi,

You're welcome.
Apparently a 2 lane PCIe slot suffices.
Which could be fun as that would actually make it feasable to run 2 Optane modules off a PCIe card supporting two M2 slots.
Just thinking out loud here...*Smile

https://hothardware.com/reviews/inte...ormance?page=2

The link above tests the Optane module with W10 OS installed on it. The test system is fully compatible but as said, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work as such on other, so called "non-compatible with Optane" systems as well. Not as a caching device of course but as a small 32 Gb SSD.

Cheers, *Wink

 

32mb optane is overkill unless you are a heavy duty multitasking guru on crack. I paid $25 for mine and it only works with i3, i5 and i7 with 7th gen Kabylake processor as of now. You don't have to have a Dell or Intel motherboard though.
No it won't work as a small ssd, it is mostly a cache that is tied in with the drive with the OS on it and if you replace that drive it won't boot unless you first deactivate Optane. It's like the main drive with a big accelerator on it. If it takes hold they will probably expand the possibilities.

 

I’m still trying to understand why modern HDDs don’t have internal RAID and a SODIMM slot? Understandably, these would represent the performance end of the product line, but it’d probably be worth paying for.

 

Hi,

Hybrid drives combining a HDD and a small SSD already exist.

Cheers, *Smile

 

Not in the way I described. First, hybrids have NAND not actual DRAM like I’m talking about. Two, a HDD with internal hardware raid doesn’t exist that I’m aware of.

 

Hi,

Why use volatile RAM for caching ? Every time the machine restarts it will have to rebuild the cache.
As for hardware controlled RAID in a HDD, I fear that the cost will be tremendous to implement that.

Cheers, *Wink

 

1.DRAM is faster than NAND
2. You could upgrade the amount of RAM if it used a SODIMM slot.
3. Infinite read/write cycles.
4. No volitility if a small button battery were added to keep voltage on RAM. Also a copy of the RAM cache could be stored to disk and dumped back to RAM after power is restored. Sort of like a hibernation file.

The internalized RAID setup would be expensive at first but would get cheaper as time went on and became more common.

 

Hi,

What you're describing is how a dedicated raid controller works.
Why would you want to build it inside a HDD which has a relaitively short lifespan compared to a dedicated card which can take care of a multitude of drives at once .
Moreover it can do a whole raft of raid configuration and combination thereof in one go.

The controlers still exist for SAS drives for instance. Maybe for plain SATA drives as well but I haven't come across any as yet.
Nowadays SSD sata drives are becoming much more accesible and faster and faster, especially the NMVe ones or systems using VROC raid setups.

All in all I doubt any manufacturer would invest in developping HDDs much further except for higher and higher platter densities.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Things get miniaturized and simplified all the time. No reason to think that an integrated RAID for a consumer HDD wouldn't do the same *Smile

Also dedicated RAID controllers aren't something that you see in a PC sold @ Best Buy.

As for the short lifespan of HDD's, mine are usually in service 3-5 years.

There has got to be some way to make a traditional spinning disk more multitask friendly. It pissed me off when my PC is basically locked up because Windows 10 is churning the drive while installing updates or whatever other program wants to spin the disk @ 0.01 Mb/s.

 

Hi,

Sure but who'd invest in such a controller for a single disk. You'd basically need at least two indepent disk platter controlers, one raid controler too... And then there are format restrictions and so on. Feasible technically I'm sure but economically ?
IOW, if it were realistic then I'm sure they'd done years before ssds hit the market.

HDDs are mechanical devices so there's always the high latency because of that. If it were me I'd buy an ssd and use the spinner for sorage only.
Hybrid HDD's aren't all that bad and offer up to 4 Tb of storage should you need it.

Cheers, *Wink

 

How did this thread get off the Optane of the OP ?

 

Well, I did that *Smile