SSHD only makes sense in a PS4

djs

• 1 min read

Not happy with the performance of a SSHD in my PC. Using it as a Steam drive was terrible - GTA V took forever to load.

So I tried moving OS X over to it and using it for that, as I always think OS X works best when it has a single big drive, but the boot times were awful. Once you're in the OS it's pretty okay, but nothing compared to a plain SSD.

So I swapped around and now I'm back to basically where I started, except Windows now has it's own SSD:

  • Kingston 120GB V300 SSD: Mac OS X (HFS+)
  • Samsung 120GB 840 EVO SSD: Windows 10 (NTFS)
  • Crucial BX100 250GB SSD: Installed Games (exFAT)
  • WD Green 1TB HDD: "Dump"/local mp3s/etc. (exFAT)
  • 1 TB SSHD: ? (likely exFAT)

I'm considering moving over all the stuff on my Green over to the SSHD and using it instead, as it is a bit quieter, and then making the Green drive for backups, maybe partitioning it 500 GB for HFS+/Time Machine, and 500 GB exFAT for Crashplan.

Using a SSHD just isn't fast enough for me on my PC. It doesn't act well as a Steam drive, or as a OS drive.

Why they make sense in a PS4

  • On PS4 you're likely to switch games less frequently, because you are too lazy to change discs (unless you buy digital but then you have other problems). This allows the 8 GB SSD cache to fill up with the game you are currently playing a lot.

  • For a game like Bloodborne a SSHD makes a difference. It can cache Hunter's Dream (the hub) and the current area you are in. If you play Destiny, it can cache the Tower and the current planet you're roaming around on.

  • The PS4 OS gets accessed frequently and will always be stored in the cache.

On a PC I didn't notice any difference between a regular HDD and a SSHD. On PS4 I have noticed the difference. A death in Bloodborne is a lot more time consuming now.

Anyway, that's it. Don't buy a SSHD unless it's for your PS4, or maybe other game console where you can swap HDD.