Does Returnil keep system partition totally free of changes as long as it is active?

Hi,

I have the Windows 7 operative system installed in a SSD and I would like to keep it free of frequent writes in order to prolong its life. I have thought of Returnil as a quick manner to avoid writes to the disk. Does anyone knowing the insides of Returnil whether it prevents absolutely all changes to the system partition as long as it is active, so not even the minor but constant changes to the Windows register affect the partition? I guess in this respect that it is possible to define that Returnil clones the operating system in another partition, for instance by installing Returnil in this other partition.

If the answer to all these questions is yes, would this defeat the purpose of the SSD, i.e. its increased speed, because Returnil would have to make a copy of the system in a HDD partition, or only specific Windows components are cloned when they are needed and thus only a minor reduction in speed would be detected?

Thank you very much in advance for the help!
Evaristo

 

Hi Evaristo and welcome to the forums

the aswer to your question is yes and no. First the yes. RSS/RVS do include support for placing the virtualization cache for non-system disks and partitions on alternate/sacrificial volumes. That is, you could place the cache for a program partition on an SSD on a sacrificial platter drive to eliminate any writes to that specific partition.

Where the no comes in is where the System Partition is concerned. If the system is on an SSD, the write minimization does not apply as the cache for that specific partition must be created and maintained on the same disk: the System Partition.

Mike

 

Thanks Mike for your clarifying reply!

It is a pitty that the system partition cache cannot be located in a different partition, but I will have to live with it...