# USB as a temp drive?



## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

So, as an idea to limit the disk writes to my SSD i was thinking of buying a USB 3.0 16GB flash drive and using it as a location to store temp files, both for windows system files and programs like Winrar. Another reason is that where i am, i suffer from lots of ranom power cuts, usually a couple of times a month and i'm pretty sure my last HDD failed as it was writing data at the time of the power cut; i'd like to limit the negative effects of this if possible.

I would have to change the environmental settings for my computer as well as move the Programdata folder (and use a junction) is there anything else i would need to move, and can anyone see any problems in doing this?

I also download torrents, which i'd put on this RAM disk (yes i know i am a dirty pirate, but it's mainly TV shows that are completely unavailable where i live). My idea is to have the USB disk to write out the torrents once complete, this limiting the writes to my storage HDD. I'd be extremely upset if my 2TB drive went the way of my 500gb one


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## 1nf3rn0x (Aug 29, 2012)

Buy a cheap external drive instead, would work better.


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

1nf3rn0x said:


> Buy a cheap external drive instead, would work better.



They are unavailable. otherwise i would. i was tempted to buy another 8gb of ram and set up a ramdisk. But, i think this would be overkill.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Aug 29, 2012)

silkstone said:


> They are unavailable. otherwise i would. i was tempted to buy another 8gb of ram and set up a ramdisk. But, i think this would be overkill.



If that's the case, then I guess the USB will have to do...


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

1nf3rn0x said:


> If that's the case, then I guess the USB will have to do...



a 16gb usb costs around $12, while a the cheapest i can find an external hdd is about $80. Also, with an external HDD, i would still have the issue of power cuts killing the drive.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Aug 29, 2012)

silkstone said:


> a 16gb usb costs around $12, while a the cheapest i can find an external hdd is about $80. Also, with an external HDD, i would still have the issue of power cuts killing the drive.



Anything you can invest to protect your system from the random power cut outs..? That would be a good idea


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

1nf3rn0x said:


> Anything you can invest to protect your system from the random power cut outs..? That would be a good idea



I can find usb 2.0 external drives for $50, but i think usb 2.0 would be too slow for my needs.


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## erixx (Aug 29, 2012)

My first investment would be a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) They start from around 50 dolars I believe.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Aug 29, 2012)

erixx said:


> My first investment would be a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) They start from around 50 dolars I believe.



I was hinting towards what erixx said


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

1nf3rn0x said:


> I was hinting towards what erixx said



i would love one, but all that are available are the ones on this page: http://phongvu.vn/thiet-bi-tin-hoc/ups-bo-luu-dien-on-ap-126c.html

The decent ones that would actually be able to power my computer are at least $100, which i don't have spare at the moment. the $50 ones look like trash. As a reference 1,000,000 ~ $50 for the prices on that page.


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## Mussels (Aug 29, 2012)

USB drive wont work. the MLC flash they use causes stutter problems, worse than first gen SSD's.


i tried this as well, didnt work. ramdrive should work fine, if you're willing to risk losing your temp data.


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

Damn, i just bought one. Didn't have chance to read your post before i went out.

Did you try a usb 3.0 drive or 2.0? It should at least sever as a place i can store my torrent before writing them to my media drive, right?

I also picked up a UPS: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR500CI-AS

unfortunately, it doesn't have auto-shutdown software  but it's the best i could get on my limited budget.


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## Mindweaver (Aug 29, 2012)

silkstone said:


> Damn, i just bought one. Didn't have chance to read your post before i went out.
> 
> Did you try a usb 3.0 drive or 2.0? It should at least sever as a place i can store my torrent before writing them to my media drive, right?
> 
> ...



You don't need auto-shutdown software. You can use windows built in software. Windows will see your UPS in power management, and you can set it to power down when it gets to the percentage you want it too. 

*EDIT: Just remember to hook up the serial or USB cable it comes with from the UPS to your Computer.  (Should be USB)*


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## Mussels (Aug 29, 2012)

silkstone said:


> Damn, i just bought one. Didn't have chance to read your post before i went out.
> 
> Did you try a usb 3.0 drive or 2.0? It should at least sever as a place i can store my torrent before writing them to my media drive, right?
> 
> ...



it all depends on the flash drive and its controller. best test i found was to set firefox temp location on the flash drive, and load up a several firefox tabs with lots of images. that always caused epic lag for me on USB.


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

Mindweaver said:


> You don't need auto-shutdown software. You can use windows built in software. Windows will see your UPS in power management, and you can set it to power down when it gets to the percentage you want it too.
> 
> *EDIT: Just remember to hook up the serial or USB cable it comes with from the UPS to your Computer.  (Should be USB)*



there is no usb cable or connector  non of the $40 models have them. The models with usb are closer to $150


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## Mindweaver (Aug 29, 2012)

I have a 40gb SSD on a external USB3 and it's faster than my RAID 0 3x 250gb drive and the 40gb drive is one of Intel's first or Second Gen SSD's... write 40/ read 180... Example I moved RAGE from my RAID 0 to the external 40gb drive, and it played smooth as butter.(I moved it using the junction method.)  So, the USB3 read and write speeds can handle it.. It's just left up to the USB3 drives ability to handle the speeds 



silkstone said:


> there is no usb cable or connector  non of the $40 models have them. The models with usb are closer to $150



Aww yea... It may not have it, but it's better than nothing man.  It should do what you need it to do and that's save hardware's lives.. hehehe


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

Mindweaver said:


> I have a 40gb SSD on a external USB3 and it's faster than my RAID 0 3x 250gb drive and the 40gb drive is one of Intel's first or Second Gen SSD's... write 40/ read 180... Example I moved RAGE from my RAID 0 to the external 40gb drive, and it played smooth as butter.(I moved it using the junction method.)  So, the USB3 read and write speeds can handle it.. It's just left up to the USB3 drives ability to handle the speeds
> 
> 
> 
> Aww yea... It may not have it, but it's better than nothing man.  It should do what you need it to do and that's save hardware's lives.. hehehe



Yea, i've been wanting to get one for a while.. if only there was one big enough for my whole house (and didn't cost $10k)

The speed of the usb stick seems pretty good, i get about 90MB/s read and 10MB/s write over usb 3.0



Mussels said:


> it all depends on the flash drive and its controller. best test i found was to set firefox temp location on the flash drive, and load up a several firefox tabs with lots of images. that always caused epic lag for me on USB.



I just set it up, using chrome. I moved the cache folder and made a junction, there doesn;t seem to be any ill effects.

I've moved the windows temp directory and the next thing i will try moving will be my c:\programdata folder. Is there anything else worth moving?


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## erixx (Aug 29, 2012)

Regarding UPS only: I have used for 10 years an UPS without "smart features" and it is just fine. If power is cut it "peeps" to warn you and give you time to shut down. And it also protects from overcurrent etc. Really all the "ultimate features" are overkill (now I have an USB APC USP and well, it is overkill for home/office use)

All said IMHO


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 29, 2012)

you have to realize even if temp files are being written to the flash driver that HDD would be in a read mode. In all due honesty Id recommend getting a UPS if your area is very prone to brownouts and black outs


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## silkstone (Aug 29, 2012)

erixx said:


> Regarding UPS only: I have used for 10 years an UPS without "smart features" and it is just fine. If power is cut it "peeps" to warn you and give you time to shut down. And it also protects from overcurrent etc. Really all the "ultimate features" are overkill (now I have an USB APC USP and well, it is overkill for home/office use)
> 
> All said IMHO



Yea, the main problem is it is only 300 W. I am not sure if it wil be able to power my sytem at all; i am optimistic that it will be ok when idling or web browsing but i am sure it will not when gaming.

I decided not to move my programdata folder. Mainly because it seems quite difficult, but i am also unsure of the impact of moving it. Any ideas?

Edit - I changed my mind again. I managed to delete all the folders in Programdata with exeption of Microsoft and Adobe, no matter what i try, I can't take ownership to remove them.

what would the effect of moving the microsoft folder be? Any ideas how to go about doing it, i have googled, and followed the steps, but permissions just don't seem to be passed down to me


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