Data HDD with SSD catch drive - eviltoast

After upgrading my internet connection I immediatelly noticed that my HDD tops 40 MB/s and bottlnecking download speed in qbittorrent. Is it possible to use SSD drive as a catch drive for 12 TB HDD so it uses SSD speeds when downloading and moves files to HDD later on? If yes, does it make sense? Anyone using anything simmilar? Would 512 GB be enough or could I benefit from 2TB SSD?

HDD is just for jellyfin (movies/shows), not in raid, dont need backup for that drive, I can afford risking data if that matters at all

All suggestions are welcome, Thx in advance

EDIT: I obviously have upset some of you, wasn’t my intention, I’m sorry about that. I love to tinker and learn new things, but I could live with much lower speeds tho… Please don’t hate me if I couldn’t understand your comment or not being clear with my question.

HDD being bottleneck at 40 MB/s was wrong assumption (found out in meantime). I’m still trying to figure out what was the reason for download to be that slow, but I’m interested in learning about the main question anyway. I just thought I’m experiencing the same issue like many people today, having faster internet than storage. Some of you provided solutions I will look into, but need time for that and also have to fix whatever else I’m having issue with.

Keep this community awesome because it is <3

  • rambos@lemm.eeOPEnglish
    33·
    3 months ago

    Are you also talking about incomplete directory in qbit? Doesnt make it faster afaik, but I might be wrong. I havent tried anything yet, wanted to check is it something usual or not worth at all. Got zero experience with using SSD as catch drive, it just made sense to me

    • braindefragger@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      3 months ago

      Yes, if the temporary directory where the files are being downloaded (incomplete folder) is on the SSD, then it will be faster, especially if you’ve identified a cheap HDD as your bottleneck.

      Unless you are incorrect about the HDD being the bottleneck.

      • rambos@lemm.eeOPEnglish
        44·
        3 months ago

        Yeah it will be faster, but its extra step before the files get available on HDD.

        Even if my HDD is super fast and healthy it would still be a bottleneck for 2Gbps fiber? Ill deffo play with HDD more to find max speeds, wasnt paying attention before because it felt normal to me

        • braindefragger@lemmy.worldEnglish
          61·
          3 months ago

          Of course it’s an additional step. But it will download faster. Which was what you asked for, specifically in your post above.

          If you write directly to your HDD it will take longer to download. If you write to your ( faster?) SSD the download will be faster but yeah, processing has another step of copying.

          I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re asking.

          Best of luck.

          • rambos@lemm.eeOPEnglish
            34·
            3 months ago

            Yeah feels like that lol. Thx anyway, have a nice day dude

      • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        26·
        3 months ago

        what OP wants is to download the file to a SSD, be able to use it on the SSD for a time, and then have the file moved to spinning disk later when they don’t need to wait for it.

        this is just adding an extra step to the process before the file can be available to use. you’re just saving the copying to the HDD until the very end of the torrent.

        • braindefragger@lemmy.worldEnglish
          61·
          3 months ago

          Yeah, of course it is. Because that’s what OP asked for. I don’t see ( use it for a bit first and then automatically copy it over ).

          I see:

          Is it possible to use SSD drive as a catch drive for 12 TB HDD so it uses SSD speeds when downloading and moves files to HDD later on?

          I assumed OP wanted Faster Download Speeds > Time to Access File

          You know what. I don’t care. This whole post is ridiculous.

          • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            15·
            3 months ago

            what is the point of faster download if you just have to do another entire copy after that?

              • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
                15·
                3 months ago

                or you could, you know, think about it for a second from their point of view. and they have already clarified this in other comments.

                • braindefragger@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  41·
                  3 months ago

                  Man you’re slow.

                  I don’t need to think about anything. I’ve built out millions upon millions of dollars worth of infrastructure over the past 20 years. I understand the options.

                  I answered the question asked. Others hinted at raid solutions. OP went out of his way to let us know how he’s a newb so good luck with that.

                  Long term solution is 100% setting up a raid.

    • DaGeek247@fedia.io
      4·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, I use the incomplete folder location as a cache drive for my downloads as well. works quite nicely. It also keeps the incomplete ISOs out of jellyfin until they’re actually ready to watch, so, bonus.

      If it’s not going faster for you there’s probably something else that’s broke.

      • rambos@lemm.eeOPEnglish
        31·
        3 months ago

        It will download faster to SSD, but then I have to wait the files to be moved to HDD before getting them imported in media server. Im not after big numbers in qbit, I just want to start watching faster if possible. Sorry Im probably not explaining well and Im not sure if Im asking for something that even make sense

        • DaGeek247@fedia.io
          2·
          3 months ago

          qbittorrent moves the completed files to the assigned literally as soon as it is done.

          • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            3 months ago

            but if the disk is actually bottlenecking at 40MB/s it will still take time to copy from the SSD. That plus the initial download to SSD will just end up being more time than downloading to the spinning disk at 40MB/s in the first place.

            • Terrasque@infosec.pubEnglish
              31·
              3 months ago

              I doubt the disk will bottleneck at 40mb/s when doing sequential write. Torrent downloads are usually heavy random writes, which is the worst you can do to a HDD.

            • DaGeek247@fedia.io
              31·
              3 months ago

              That’s not how hard drives work, and doesn’t take into account that OP might want to download more than one thing at a time.

              Hard drives are fastest when they are moving large single files. SSDs are way better than hard drives at lots of small random reads/writes.Setting qbittorrent up so that all the random writes inherent to downloading a torrent go to a small ssd, and then moving that file over to the big hard drive with a single long writer operation is how you make both devices perform to their best.