L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

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RobF99
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L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by RobF99 »

PrimoCache version: 3.0.2
Cache Settings: C, D, E drive all cached on 480 Gb SSD. 100% READ L2, W 0. L1 1 Gb. L2 Collect When Idle
Windows OS: 7
Hardware Information (CPU/Motherboard/Memory/Harddisks): Dell XPS. C 2 Tb, D: 3 Tb. E 4 Tb
Description: I copied 53 Gb of files From E drive to C drive. After files were copied I couldn't use the PC for about 10 minutes as the L2 Cache was updating. i couldn't even load a browser. As soon as the L2 update was finished - function was restored. I have seen this happen a number of times. There has to be a way for the software to interrupt the L2 update. As it is now this is not happening since verything drags real slow or virtually doesn't work until L2 updated - on such large updates
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Jaga
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by Jaga »

Is the file you are copying larger than the size of the L2? That's the only thing I could see that might cause serious issues.
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by Support »

Thanks for the bug report!
It seems that E drive becomes idle after copy and PrimoCache starts L2 Update, consuming too much CPU time. We'll check and tune this.
RobF99
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by RobF99 »

Thank you - yes it appears that nothing else can get hold of the CPU. L2 update behaving like it's on RealTime priority. it's not until L2 update stops that you get access back to the processor.

Thanks - looking forward to the fix.
gotterdammerungly
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by gotterdammerungly »

I appear to be having a similar problem to this. With 3.0.2 large L2 writes hog the system to the point of complete seizure. I went back to 2.7.3 for a week or so, and the problem vanished. Now I am trying 3.0.0, because I don't recall having this issue with that version either.
minhgi
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by minhgi »

I see why your computer seem to be locked when you are transferring 53GB worth of data to a different drive. L2 fetching data (updating cache) being previous read. Why don't you use defer write L2 since you have a large 480 SSD. Large enough fit that 53GB.

On may workstation, I set 100% L1 Read and shared L2 for my SSD with 60 sec delay. Even after the 60s data getting push to the hard drive, all of the write cache remain on the SSD. I have 512 SSD like yours and it fill with all my working data. My C: and D: are all raided hard drives.
gotterdammerungly
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by gotterdammerungly »

The point being made here, I think, is that it is not a phenomenon which occurred with previous versions of Primocache. Something has changed. Version 3.0.0 is currently working without freezes (even when writing large L2 amounts) on my PC.
RobF99
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by RobF99 »

minhgi wrote:I see why your computer seem to be locked when you are transferring 53GB worth of data to a different drive. L2 fetching data (updating cache) being previous read. Why don't you use defer write L2 since you have a large 480 SSD. Large enough fit that 53GB.

On may workstation, I set 100% L1 Read and shared L2 for my SSD with 60 sec delay. Even after the 60s data getting push to the hard drive, all of the write cache remain on the SSD. I have 512 SSD like yours and it fill with all my working data. My C: and D: are all raided hard drives.
I do the same already. What can often happen is that you can have 3 I/O operations competing on the SSD. You can have data reading from the L2 cache while data also being written to the L2 cache and depending upon your L2 update you could also have your L2 being updated (L2 Storage Write). So this can really SLOW down the SSD since you have simultaneous reading and writing I/O's and through the Primocache driver which also has its own overhead.

Incidentally the phenomenon I described with system freezing during a big L2StorageWrite operation can also happen with an L2 Cache write. The program needs some way to "interrupt" those if other resources are needed. Otherwise NO time is saved using the product since I have sometimes had to wait up to 10 minutes before I could use the system again. One day I waited around 30 minutes. I love the "snappier" system but loath the waiting on big operations.

Thanks!
gotterdammerungly
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by gotterdammerungly »

Have you tried other versions? I never had this problem before 3.0.2, and I have currently reverted to 3.0.0, which seems to be okay. I had to kill power to the L2 cache device the other day, in order to get back control of my machine from Primocache, which is something I hate to do, and have never had to do before in four years of using the program. I have had several of these lock ups since starting to use 3.0.2, but this one was long, very long...tiny flickerings of the L2 drive, Windows completely frozen. I can't use 3.0.2 and risk another such episode.
RobF99
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Re: L2 update causes system to slow - almost completely freeze

Post by RobF99 »

V2 versions won't have the problem writing to L2 cache because they don't have that ability BUT - now that I think of it, the problem wasn't there in V3.0.0 I might roll back and see what happens. The reason I installed 3.0.2 was that on my 32 Gb RAM system I can only allocate 1 Gb of memory to L1 - any higher I get insufficient resources. I was hoping it would be fixed in 3.0.2 but it wasn't.

This "freezing" doesn't happen all of the time. I think it happens in certain conditions but I can't establish any kind of pattern. It doesn't happen all of the time but does most of the time.
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