I would like to use a (small) SSD disk as a cache for a large hard disk. I realize there are hardware-based products that do this: HighPoint RocketHybrid HBA, Intel SmartResponse and others. There is only one software-only product that I could find: ExpressCache by Diskeeper:
ExpressCache intelligently and automatically combines the best attributes of SSDs and HDDs without any effort or pre-requisite knowledge from the user, so users get the best of both worlds; dynamic performance and scalable capacity. Since SSDs as small as 4GB can be used, it provides an incredibly affordable solution for manufacturers.
Comprised of User mode and Kernel Mode components, ExpressCache uses the SSD as an intelligent cache, coupled with an HDD, to improve overall system performance and greatly speed up Windows PC startup, application launches and data access speed.
However, this product is OEM only!
I looked for alternatives, without any success... I cannot understand this: It sounds like a great idea, no additional hardware is needed, and it could really boost the disk performance without spending a fortune.
So, I'm asking if anyone knows any software that does this, either for Windows or Linux. Or if you think this is a bad idea, I'd like to know why.
Note: ReadyBoost is not really suitable for this. It is built with the assumption that disk writes are really expensive, has very little effect on systems with plenty of RAM, and does not scale properly if your SSD is 100GB+.