Concerns

SSD (Solid State Drives) All Other SanDisk SSD
1

I just received the drive two days ago, and it has already written 156GB to itself. That’s almost 5 total rewrites in 2 days! At this rate, I’ll be lucky if the drive lasts a few months at best.

I’ve noticed that EVERY file I download and open is cached. For example, simply downloading a video file and opening it immediately prompts the software to delete the required space from the cache, and then write it onto the drive. Not to mention that the software has cached, deleted, and recached my Guild Wars 2 installation at least 10 times now over these 2 days.

In addition, there’s zero way to select folders, files or drives that you DON’T want cached. Not to mention there’s also no way to select preferred files that you WANT cached.

Pretty disappointed here.

593×518 44 KB

2

Well first your calculation for the total number of GB written is a little off. The number listed 156675645 is the total number of write operations issed by the host. Each write operation is done in 512bytes. To get the total GB written use the following method.

Number of total write operations x 512 = total number of bytes written

156675645 x 512 = 80,217,930,240

Total number of bytes written / 1,024 = total number of kb written

80,217,930,240 / 1,024 = 78,337,822

Total number of kb written / 1,024 = total number of MB written

78,337,822 / 1,024 = 76,501

Total number of MB written / 1,024 = total number of GB written

76,501 / 1,024 = 74.7

So actually you have only written about 75GB to the drive. Now is 75GB of data written on the high side? Yes, however this is not abnormal. The first few weeks or so after the software has been installed Expresscache will be learning your usage patterns. During this learning period is when you will see the most writes to the SSD. Since it does not yet know your usage patterns all LBAs read will be cached. As the Expresscache software learns your usage patters only the LBAs that have been read at a high frequency will be kept in the cache.

Now let’s address file selection for caching. The ExpressCache software does not cache at the file of folder level. ExpressCache caches LBAs. The software does not know what data is contained in the LBAs so there is no way to select what you want cached. ExpressCache only monitors the LBA for high frequancy reads and caches those LBAs. 

The Expresscache software will need some time to learn your usage patterns. After it determins high usage of certine LBAs they will be given priority and not be flushed from the cache. In the begining and until it learns your usage patterns it will cache any LBAs read and flush the cache as needed. 

Another factor is that you have had 3 unexpected power losses. Anytime there is an unexpected power loss it can cause the cache to not be in sync with the HD. Anytime this occurs the cache will be flushed. 

All this said even at the current usage rate the drive would last at least 3 years which is the warranty period. The usage should slow down once your usage patterns are learned by the Expresscache software. 

3

Thanks for the reply. I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of the S.M.A.R.T reading, not many HDD vendors use that parameter. The 3 unexpected shutdowns also were just me booting in and out of my BIOS since after installation my motherboard decided to attempt to boot of the SSD. 

I jumped another 20GB over the course of today, I’m just at a loss as to where it’s coming from. It’s not like my HDD has anything on it aside from Windows and a Guild Wars 2 installation (15GB) for the most part.

Regardless, if the drive does end up crapping out over the 3 year warranty because of an end of life issue, it’s covered right?

4

These comments speak volumes. Despite the marketing approach and design that say its plug and play and simple, your audience is going to be fairly techy. Of your comments, these concepts need to bubble up to the literature the potential buyer can browse and see:

  1. The ExpressCache software does not cache at the file of folder level. ExpressCache caches LBAs. The software does not know what data is contained in the LBAs so there is no way to select what you want cached. ExpressCache only monitors the LBA for high frequancy reads and caches those LBAs.
  2. The Expresscache software will need some time to learn your usage patterns. After it determins high usage of certine LBAs they will be given priority and not be flushed from the cache. In the begining and until it learns your usage patterns it will cache any LBAs read and flush the cache as needed. Specifically that this process could be a few weeks.

I was really pleased on how easily it was installed and general concept. Since its operating at controller level performance, I was expecting key blocks, including OS related, to build up quickly even as the system was rebooted. I was left scatching my head when I its been running for 19hours and only 8.5GB made its way into the cache.

Regards,

Paul

5

I agree 110% with paulbates :

 

  1. The ExpressCache software does not cache at the file of folder level. ExpressCache caches LBAs. The software does not know what data is contained in the LBAs so there is no way to select what you want cached. ExpressCache only monitors the LBA for high frequancy reads and caches those LBAs.
  2. _The Expresscache software will need some time to learn your usage patterns. After it determins high usage of certine LBAs they will be given priority and not be flushed from the cache. In the begining and until it learns your usage patterns it will cache any LBAs read and flush the cache as needed. Specifically that this process could be a few weeks.         _

While I didn’t spend as much time researching this product as I normally would, (prior to purchase), I also found little, if any of the above.

6

grazed wrote:

 

Regardless, if the drive does end up crapping out over the 3 year warranty because of an end of life issue, it’s covered right?

 

 

Yes this would be covered