Any input from anyone who has any knowledge of this fact as I don't want to make a $500 mistake (thinking about Intel 320 300Gb SSD)? Would be much appreciated!

Sandeep100,

Althought I am not a fan of laptops, especially for serious video editing, you should not run into the problems that have been mentioned re the SS Drives if you go with one that is large enough to keep in the area of 100g free on the drive for swap files and temporary files.

Windows and PD require a fair amount of space for temp files and virtual memory.

Hal OS - Win11 Pro, Alienware R13, CPU - Intel Core I7-12700KF 12 CPUs), 16g DDR5 4400 RAM, Video - Geeforce RTX 3080ti 12g, PD11 & PD365
My YouTube

Yes! Got a reply back from Cyberlink support - wanted to share it in case anyone had similar issues or questions. Anyone have opinions on this? Anyone try this before?

--------

Dear Sandeep,

Thank you for contacting CyberLink Technical Support.

I understand your concern related with Cyberlink PowerDirector 9 software, that you want to know if there any way to change the cache drive location on your computer.

In regard to your concern, we would like to inform you that you can change and increase the virtual memory location to D drive, so Cyberlink will start using D drive instead of C. Please follow the below instructons to accomplish this task.

1) Increase Virtual memory:

a. Right click on "MyComputer"
b. Select Properties -> Advance.
c. Click on "settings” under Performance.
d. Select "Advance".
e. Click on "change" under Virtual memory and select D.
f. Select "Custom" and enter initial value as "512" and Max value as "1024".

NOTE: If your existing settings are higher than recommended then leave them as before.

Use the below mentioned link to get back to us for your further queries:

>>https://membership.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/support-login.jsp<<

Please feel free to contact us back for any further clarification or for any assistance related to CyberLink products.

Thanks and Regards

Tracy
CyberLink Technical Support

sandeep100;

I will take a quick stab at this for you, but PLEASE understand that this forum is for discussion of PD9, not a general hardware forum...yes I know...hardware effects performance...but the lines get fuzzy when discussions like this get mixed in with program specific issues. First, yes, Shadow files and Cache files are different, but you should be aware that BOTH are kept on the C: drive.

Quote: because PD by default uses C: for cache files.

1. The location of the cache files referred to here are NOT defined by PD9 itself (although most programmers do hard-code this %systemdrive check into the sourcecode). The location of program cache files is determined by the OS. Windows uses the C: drive to create swapfiles and temporary files for running program processes by default. In earlier versions of Windows, the cache files could be pointed to an alternate drive (using the "advanced performance" tab under system properties), but in Windows 7 C: is the default, so even if you set a Paging file on D: (as stated by CL support above), most of the temporary file processing may still be routed to the C: drive. Cache files are hidden by the OS (as are the temporary files created during video production). I caution you AGAINST setting the cache on C: to NONE

Quote: considering SSD as my primary drive

2. The consideration between SSD and standard platter media drives is one of transfer rate and access time. SSD drives have great access time, so opening static programs is faster. Your Appliications installed on an SSD will always open fast.

They do NOT have great transfer rates (compared to fast I/O platter media drives) so large files that are re-written and modified on-the-fly, like the temporary files created during rendering and production (and as stated in #1 above, these are created on C: drive). That is the "rub" using SSD as the main drive on a system doing large and "fluid" file processes.

Finally, The amount of available free space needed on the local C: disk is determined by a formula/calculation based on, and affected by, OS requirements (long stated as a minimum of 20% free) + Program recommendations/requirements (set by each program developer) + CPU count/speed + RAM Memory addressable + GPU cores (and impacted by dedicated video memory and driver version) + SIZE of potential temporary files (based on how big and complicated your productions are).

Add in HD and Bitrate modifications during TransCoding and these temporary files can get quite large!! So the "100GB" recommendation is a "best-guess" that is made based on experience using large files on a STRONG SYSTEM. If you do not have a strong system than all bets are off!!!

Many will tell you that they run the program FINE on a laptop, but be cautious in your expectations, depending on the quality/complexity of your video productions until all the issues with multiple GPUs in laptops is resolved (an issue the CARD and laptop manufacturers are discussing and aware needs addressing).

ATTN Moderator..I hope this doesn't blossom into a hardware discussion you don't want.

FredB

Best explanation I have seen to date on SSD (on Windows 7).

As former SSD user, I can confirm all of it. RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6
(2 NVME 2TB, 1 SSD 2TB, 3SATA 18TB )
PD18 ULTIMATE 64bit
WINDOWS 10 PRO 64 BIT
GIGABYTE X570 AORUS PRO WIFI MB
RYZEN 7 3700X 8-CORE , 64 GB DDR4
ORSAIR HX1050 watts PSU

FredB

I have to ditto Rocket-Scientist. Thank you so much for that reply - really sheds a lot of light on the issue - the best response I've had and a great and understandable explanation about SSDs and resource usage. Of course as with any great explanation, you've provoked a few questions (I'll limit it to two and I appreciate your caution in talking too much hardware).

1. I've heard from other forms that it is a bad idea to have a page file on SSDs as they will quickly get worn out with writes and constant rewrites (which removes old data, copies it to a new location, or something like that). Others say SSDs nowadays have a long lifespan so its okay. Any thoughts.

2. Just spacewise, I was considering either Crucial M4 256GB SATA III or Intel 320 300GB SATA II (with the former performing moderately better but having about 50GB less). I had figured win 7 = 20GB but you said 20% so maybe 40GB, program files another 20-30GB. I figure the crucial should be good enough. Do you agree? I have a 2720QM, Nvidia 580M with 2GB DDR5 RAM, and 16GB 1600 system RAM with second set of hard drives being WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm in RAID 0 (for my write render to drives).

I want to share an article - best and most complete comparison of SSDs to spinning HDs with a few surprising results in favor of HDs.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20037/6

I've linked to page 6 - they say they put the SSDs in a 'tortured state' of being full and in spite of this they seem to outperform many spinning HDs in Page 6: File copy speed, wordbench Photoshop, Page 5: File copy test create video and Page 7: multitasking. Would you say these benchmarks are consistent with what you said about transfer rates on large files being rewritten and modified on the fly? By the way I was considering WD Scoropio 7200 as OS and read drive and an external USB 3 RAID 0 but would prefer SSD if possible since other apps could be faster.

Again thanks for the very thoughtful response.

Sandeep

SANDEEP100;

Answer to #1 - SSD Drives are MUCH better nowadays and having only your applications on the drive is the best way to go if you choose to use this technology for speed. Having the pagefiles on the SSD...well I don't want to make a definitive statement as I am not the expert on that technology. I do know that many programs (left over from the old 32BIT days) EXPECT a pagefile on the OS drive and eliminating it is not recommended, in my opinion. Having another swapfile on a secondary drive is fine, just not sure how much use it will actually get. For example, Cyberlink might have told you HOW to create a pagefile on the secondary drive, but will that make PD9 actually use it?? Maybe they coded it this way, maybe not.


Answer to #2, - The actual Windows program only takes up around 15GB after it is installed. The mention of 20% is the amount of free space that Windows sees as a minimum for adequate program function of WINDOWS only!! Applications, CODECS, datafiles and MY DOCUMENTS, etc. files are not included in this calculation.If you run a Program like PD9 or other programs that create files during operation (Photoshop, Audio editors, DVD Burning programs, etc.)...more space is needed to be reserved free for them. Hence, the "suggestion" of maintaining 100GB free on C:.

What I am trying to avoid, is leaving the impression that you can use PD9 with a minimum configuration...sure if you install WINDOWS, PD9 and NOTHING ELSE...EVER on your computer, you can use a small drive!!! Not in the real world!! Pay $50 more and get a larger C: drive. and expect that you will have a separate drive (NOT a partition) for your data files, videos, etc. If you only have one drive (like a laptop)...don't even BOTHER with a separate partition....leave it all in one block. I do not recommend external USB drives for active files (RAID or not). The data channel speed for USB is the limiting factor, and I can't comment on USB3 yet.

Many people buy the least expensive components and they suffer for it in performance. High quality components cost more, but are your best choice!! SSD vs platter is probably less the issue than quality and space and speed. Buy cheap, get low quality and lags!! You are doing the right thing...looking for benchmarks. This will contribute to your satisfaction once you put your system together. I hope these opinions help you.

Thanks again FredB. Very helpful.