Data Location & Speed Implications

[kaymann]

Scenario:

C Drive - Read Speed 3562 MB/s, Write 3036 MB/s, size after windows and programs 150 GiB
D Drive - Read Speed 563 MB/s, Write 533 MB/s, size for data 364 GiB

As an ex-IT guy I would put windows and programs on C drive and data on the D drive.
As an astro photography guy I am thinking the Desktop with it's SharpCap data folder should be on the faster drive albeit smaller.
As a side with the "nights session" only in C drive as I would/do move old data to the D Drive in a Storage folder.

So would the Speed of C be benificial to FPS and data collection with SC or is it just over kill?

[admin]

Hi,

in theory, a USB3 connection can allow 5Gb/sec or about 625MB/sec data transfer, which could be more than the capability of your D: drive. However, I can't think of any cameras that can hit that data rate - they tend to peak in the 300 to 400 MB/sec range. So, that would tend to imply that your D: drive would be fine...

However, some SSDs can only write a certain amount of data at their maximum performance before slowing down - often that amount can be about 10% of disk capacity. This is related to the SSD having an area set aside for fast writing that is working at 1 bit per cell, then over time this data will be migrated to slower multi-bit-per-cell areas to make the fast write area available again. If this sort of thing happens on your D: drive you might find that you could hit problems with write speed part way through a session, so watch out for anything like that.

cheers,

Robin

[kaymann]

I just did a confirmation of everything you said and the FPS in SER mode was exactly the same as the "D" drive so that settles that!
Thank you for confirming that bit of gnawing curiosity!