HD Overdrive: Corsair's Accelerator SSD Cache
Introduction
Solid State Drives are a fabulous way to boost a system's performance, but for all their strong points, they aren't an easy upgrade for a lot of people. Performance can vary significantly between manufacturers, only the most expensive drives can replace the need for an HDD in an enthusiast / data-heavy system, and reinstalling a full suite of software from scratch is a major headache.
Corsair's Accelerator Series family of SSDs is designed to reduce the barriers to the SSD option by offering a solution that's accessible without the need to wipe your existing HDD or create a storage plan that ensures you make the best possible use of a small SSD, while leaving the bulk of your data on a rotating platter. With a cache accelerator, you can theoretically enjoy the best of both worlds. This is made possible thanks to specialized caching algorithms developed by Nvelo. Their software, dubbed Dataplex, monitors the data a user accesses on the HDD and caches commonly used bits of data to boost performance.
Corsair claims that "Using an Accelerator Series solid-state cache drive can boost your system's read and write performance up to 5x compared to using a hard drive alone. Just add the cache drive to your system, download and install the intelligent caching software, and start enjoying faster boot times and quicker file access." We'll investigate how well such claims hold up in the real world.
Installation and Registration
Corsair ships the drive with a 2.5" to 3.5" bay adapter and some mounting screws, but you can't just drop the new drive in your system and call it quits. First, you have to turn the drive over and write down the 28 character alphanumeric code. There's no prominent sticker that points this out, and while it is mentioned in the installation guide, we'd wager a fair number of enthusiasts don't bother to consult such literature when installing something as simple as an SSD. It doesn't help that the code is on the bottom of the disk and looks, at first glance, like a serial number.
Corsair's booklet instructs you to write the code inside the manual. Said manual is printed on glossy paper, which makes writing with pencil an exercise in futility; most ink will simply smear. We recommend writing the code on actual paper and think Corsair should've included a peel-off sticker.
Windows detects the SSD as a standard 60GB drive. At this point, you visit Corsair's website and download the software package. The key code has to be entered at two separate points -- once at Corsair's website, and once during the driver installation process. After that, the system reboots and the drive vanishes. It's even invisible to the Device Manager and the storage management utility inside Windows' Administrative Tools. There's a small, DOS-based status utility embedded in the Dataplex folder inside the Start Menu for checking drive status, however.
That's it. There are no user-configurable settings of any kind and currently no drive health monitoring utility.
Corsair's Accelerator Series family of SSDs is designed to reduce the barriers to the SSD option by offering a solution that's accessible without the need to wipe your existing HDD or create a storage plan that ensures you make the best possible use of a small SSD, while leaving the bulk of your data on a rotating platter. With a cache accelerator, you can theoretically enjoy the best of both worlds. This is made possible thanks to specialized caching algorithms developed by Nvelo. Their software, dubbed Dataplex, monitors the data a user accesses on the HDD and caches commonly used bits of data to boost performance.
Corsair claims that "Using an Accelerator Series solid-state cache drive can boost your system's read and write performance up to 5x compared to using a hard drive alone. Just add the cache drive to your system, download and install the intelligent caching software, and start enjoying faster boot times and quicker file access." We'll investigate how well such claims hold up in the real world.
Corsair ships the drive with a 2.5" to 3.5" bay adapter and some mounting screws, but you can't just drop the new drive in your system and call it quits. First, you have to turn the drive over and write down the 28 character alphanumeric code. There's no prominent sticker that points this out, and while it is mentioned in the installation guide, we'd wager a fair number of enthusiasts don't bother to consult such literature when installing something as simple as an SSD. It doesn't help that the code is on the bottom of the disk and looks, at first glance, like a serial number.
Corsair's booklet instructs you to write the code inside the manual. Said manual is printed on glossy paper, which makes writing with pencil an exercise in futility; most ink will simply smear. We recommend writing the code on actual paper and think Corsair should've included a peel-off sticker.
Windows detects the SSD as a standard 60GB drive. At this point, you visit Corsair's website and download the software package. The key code has to be entered at two separate points -- once at Corsair's website, and once during the driver installation process. After that, the system reboots and the drive vanishes. It's even invisible to the Device Manager and the storage management utility inside Windows' Administrative Tools. There's a small, DOS-based status utility embedded in the Dataplex folder inside the Start Menu for checking drive status, however.
That's it. There are no user-configurable settings of any kind and currently no drive health monitoring utility.
