Best setup for SSD + HDD's?

[NirK]

I have a 128gb crucial M4 SSD and 2 x HDD's.. I have noticed recently that games are getting very big in size and a 256gb SSD would just get filled up quickly like my 128gb... So until 512gb or 1tb SSD's are cheap what is the best setup with 2 HDD and 1 SSD?

At the moment I install windows on SSD and by the time I have a few games installed it is full and I have to use my HDD's for storing and loading games, would it be better to set up intel rapid storage and use the SSD as a cache for the 2 hard drives?

Would this get better load times for games when loading them from the HDD? is there a better way I can set it up to get the storage of my 2 HDD's and get faster loading times for games? I know the intel rapid storage can use the SSD as a cache but would this work for games as well if I gave it 80gb to use as cache and used the other 48gb for windows etc.?

Is it possible to use 1 SSD as a cache for 2 HDD's and also if this will work for making games load faster etc... I have a new Z97 motherboard and 8Gb ram.

 

[Schizo]

Ssd for windows only and a hard drive for games only.

This is my set up,never noticed a difference in loads time,you are only talking a few seconds different from a ssd to a hard drive anyway.

I have a 750gb momentus hard drive for steam only,it has 730gb of games on it and its never ever been a problem.

 

[NirK]

I have a 1tb drive, 500gb drive and a 128gb SSD, most of my games are on the hard drive and it seems like a waste of having an SSD. I don't think it is possible to partition the SSD so the hard drive can use 64gb as a cache and I can use the other 64gb for windows etc? The point of this is that I would get 1tb of storage for games and whatever games I am playing at that time should load at SSD speed as they would be in the 64gb cache... and I would still have the other 64gb for windows etc.... So most things would be at SSD speed and I would not have to buy a 512gb SSD... But I am not sure if this will work?

 

[NirK]

Ssd for windows only and a hard drive for games only.

This is my set up,never noticed a difference in loads time,you are only talking a few seconds different from a ssd to a hard drive anyway.

I have a 750gb momentus hard drive for steam only,it has 730gb of games on it and its never ever been a problem.

Games do load about twice as fast on an SSD vs HDD though, has anyone set up a cache as a partition on a SSD that works? I think the intel smart response is meant to be a dedicated SSD so I don't know if caching 64gb of my 128gb SSD would work? (and using the other 64gb for windows etc).

 

[ED209]

I have a Samsung 840 EVO and a 500GB Samsung F3 HDD.

all my steam games except one or two I play often are stored on my HDD, a few are on my SSD.

I have all my windows temp files stored to the HDD and also have my page file moved over to the HDD, windows restore also disabled to keep as much SSD space free as I can.

if and when I format my SSD I can just install steam and then point it to the library on my HDD and all my games are back except the ones I store on my SSD.