SSD and Cache SSD?

[I_Am_Skip]

Hello,
I am interested in purchasing an ssd drive for my pc.
However with the current pricing for ssd's I was thinking around staying within a 120-256gb range for size.
This ssd would be a boot drive and have common programs (except very large programs) installed on it.

My question is, is it possible to have another ssd as a cache a mechanical hdd for larger programs such as games etc? (therefore the system is an ssd with an ssd (cache) + hdd)
The reason is I do not want to install and uninstall large programs from the main ssd so its life is conserved. This also means I can keep larger programs on the main hdd easier and have the more commonly used ones cached. For example, steam games can only be installed on one hdd only and can take up vast amounts of room quickly. This is why I'd rather have them installed on the hdd and cache the ones I'm playing more often at that time.

I am on budget constraints and it would be cheaper to purchase two smaller ssd's and a hdd rather than one larger capacity ssd.

Thanks everyone for your time reading this.

 

[Frosty is a Snowman]

I think this is what you are looking for
OCZ Synapse Cache SATA III 2.5" SSD - OCZ

I have been looking at getting one of these for my laptop rather than having an SSD as a primary drive. and having limited space.

These seem to be very good at their job and are getting very good reviews.
You add it as a second drive and it caches all of your regular applications and files for quicker access

It is like a better version of the seagate momentus hybrid hard drive
As you get better speeds from the SSD and a lot more cache.

If you install this you wouldn't need another SSD as your primary drive and dont even need to do a reimstall of the OS, I think you only need to install the OCZ software to allow it to function.

 

[I_Am_Skip]

I am aware of caching ssd's. However I'd rather use the srt feature available on the z68 chipset.

But my question was, can I use a caching ssd for a larger mechanical hdd whilst still having another ssd being used as the primary OS drive?

Or would it just be smarter to move large files/programs between the mechanical drive and primary ssd using symbolic links and forget the caching drive?

Thanks

 

[Slaymate]

As far as I know what your asking is not possible. And I don't think symbolic links will help. I moved to a fully SSD computer, but I don't save music, movies and old games on my system.

 

[I_Am_Skip]

Do you just save your music, movies and things on a larger mechanical hdd?

 

[Frosty is a Snowman]

I found the best option for movies, music, images etc was just to have a NAS attached to my router.

 

[Slaymate]

Do you just save your music, movies and things on a larger mechanical hdd?

I burn them to a DVD.

 

[I_Am_Skip]

Whats a NAS?
Do you have a sharing setup going on your router so you can access all files from any device on the network?
Cause that actually seems like a good way to go

 

[Slaymate]

Network-attached storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, you can setup sharing rights through your router. If your router is fairly new it might have a usb port built into it, then you can use something like this.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX N0028USU External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0

 

[I_Am_Skip]

Thanks for the reply! I'm considering network sharing now