Understanding the 128GB SSD Limit on FuzeDrive for AMD Ryzen Version

Understanding the 128GB SSD Limit on FuzeDrive for AMD Ryzen Version

The AMD version of the FuzeDrive software is targeted exclusively at the AMD RyZen family of motherboards and systems. The supported SSD capacity for the basic version is limited to 128GB SSD fast tier capacity. Other OEM versions may have different limits, e.g. 256GB. However, this does not mean you cannot use larger SSDs, it just means that you can only apply up to size of that limit toward acceleration, and the remainder becomes usable as a standalone virtual SSD device.

The following examples assume a 128GB limit as found in the FuzeDrive Client Basic version. If you wish to support larger capacities than 128GB for the SSD, the Plus version of the software can support up to 1TB sized SSDs.

When an SSD larger than 128GB is used in the basic version, we call this a "carve out" of the SSD. For example, if we have a 512GB SSD we wish to use, 128GB will be used for the FuzeDrive, and the remainder of ~384GB will be carved out as a standalone virtual SSD and can be used as a standalone data drive in addition to the FuzeDrive. Note, as FuzeDrive uses some of the raw capacity for metadata, there will be an approximate reduction of usable capacity which is around 2GB per drive. Remember that you can actually use the bulk of the capacity unlike traditional SSD caching solutions where the entire SSD capacity is hidden or unavailable.

It is important to note that the FuzeDrive utility can only add a blank SSD to an existing formatted HDD (Accelerate My Bootdrive), or a blank HDD to a formatted SSD (expand my bootdrive). It cannot merge two drives that are being used. One must always be blank. The same applies to a data drive. So for example, you cannot merge a C: and a D: if they are on two different disks you wish to fuze. You will need to first back up one of the disks and delete the volume before being able to fuze the two drives together.

Furthermore, as Windows limits how much a boot drive may be shrunk (which is necessary to support the carving operation), the software is unable to support expansion of SSDs > 128GB (or 1TB in the case of Plus). A larger capacity license may be available so check on the Enmotus store or with the vendor you purchased the PC from. You can also follow the guidelines in the KB article: Migrating Windows 10 from an SSD to a HDD on how to migrate your SSD O/S to a HDD  first, making the carve out of the larger SSD with a smaller license limit work.


Examples (128GB Basic Version):

Starting Drive

Drive Added

Result

Comments

1TB HDD Boot Drive

Blank 120GB SSD

1.1TB Bootable FuzeDrive

100% of SSD Used for Tiering

2TB HDD Boot Drive

Blank 250GB SSD

1.1TB Bootable FuzeDrive

~126GB Virtual SSD Drive

~50% of SSD Used for Tiering

Remainder presented as SSD data drive

120GB SSD Boot Drive

Blank 3TB HDD

3.1TB Bootable FuzeDrive

100% of SSD Used for Tiering

512GB SSD Boot Drive

Blank 4TB HDD

Not supported by the software directly. If using a third party migration tool, can still create a 4.1TB bootable FuzeDrive with 384GB virtual SSD data drive. 


Windows limits how much the OS partition can be shrunk. See the user guide on suggested ways to first migrate to the HDD, then perform the FuzeDrive transformation. Also see KB article: 


Remember to follow the guidelines in the user guide for expanding your old partition to take advantage of the new capacity using Windows Disk Manager's Expand function, and of course backing up your system before making major changes to your configuration.


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