Wagner Danda Weblog » SSD

How to fix Google Chrome problems with SSD – move cache to ramdisk

Wagner Danda — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:47:30 +0000

If you’ve experienced SSD stuttering while using Google Chrome, you’re not alone. Here is the quick solution: change Chrome’s cache directory to another location (i.e. non-ssd harddrive, ramdisk)!

So, how can I do this? It’s simple, you can tweak Chrome with the following startup parameters:

“…chrome.exe” –disk-cache-dir= –disk-cache-size=

Here is an example, pointing to a ramdisk drive (T:) and allocating a max of 500MB to it (which is nice to be able to control when you’re using ramdisk):

chrome.exe –disk-cache-dir=T:\ChromeCache –disk-cache-size=524288000

Here is a discussion post about these new parameters for more info:

Needed Feature: Cache Size/Location

So far this has worked great for me, much better than reallocating the whole home dir using symlinks, junctions and the –user-data-dir parameter . If you still want to do this, follow these examples:

Optimizing Ubuntu Linux to minimize possible SSD problems

Wagner Danda — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:55:50 +0000

Here are other tips on optimizing your Ubuntu Linux to minimize possible SSD problems. I still have some concerns about SSD stuttering and limited life-span, but I hope that following the instructions below I will minimize these problems:

Using noatime and nodiratime

UUID=da949f54-f6a5-4dd3-a293-8b2925834baf / ext4 noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro0 1

Setting up ramdisk on heavily used temp folder:

tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /media/ramdisk tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

Changing I/O Schedule to “deadline”

Source: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54379

So far, no problems.

First impressions: Solid State Drive (SSD) vs 7500 rpm HDD

Wagner Danda — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:37:27 +0000

So, my first impressions on SSD? It’s damn fast! Let me say that again, IT’S DAMN FAST!

Seriously, I’m talking about at least 10x faster… Check it out:

Boot time on Ubuntu 9.10 (disregarding BIOS initial checkup time)
- 7500 rpm HDD: ~160 sec
- OCZ Solid Series 60GB SSD: ~20 sec; (what?! yes, your read correctly)

Copying Files (ex: typical video of 600 MB)
- Before, with a “fast” 7500 rpm HDD: a lot… no need to mention, it was pretty lame…
- OCZ SSD: 12 seconds!

Firefox Browsing / Overall Impression:
- Opening tabs, clicking back and other things are now instantaneous with SSD.

Check out this vid to see a guy doing a boot time test on a Ubuntu with SSD: Booting Ubuntu 9 04 with SSD

Even if you’re on a budget,you can start with the entry-level OCZ Solid Series…

Nowadays you can get one for less than $150 bucks… Here is where I got mine:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=020610&cid=HDD.859

Based on some Internet reviews I thought this one would be too slow compared to the other options (i.e. Vertex), but It’s like comparing a Porsche 911 to a Bugatti Veyron, both are extremely faster than my Honda Civic

Happy shopping!