SSD Vs HD

[lwfitz]

I just had what looks to be a fatal SSD crash during a dist-upgrade, so tomorrow it looks like I will be parts shopping.

All of my machines are running SSD's for the root and home partitions and I love them but my question is, is it really worth it?
What am I really gaining? I save a little time and my machine is faster but are SSD's really advanced enough now to
be a viable replacement for the mechanical drive? This one that failed was a 60gb drive that has lasted me almost exactly a year and a half (purchased February 13, 2012). It looks like this drive will be covered under warranty so thats cool and yes I know HDD's die too.

If Im storing most of my data on a mechanical drive because SSD's are still pricey then Im still limited to the capabilities of the mechanical drive.

I know many of you use SSD's and Id love to get your input on this.

[VastOne]

I will not use a SSD for mission critical things because of the unpredictable life line... They are nice, they are a bit faster, but no where near as stable as I need

It's like driving 80 in a 70 zone... It is dangerous and fun, but you really only gain 10 miles in that hour at such a risk

[lwfitz]

Interesting. Thats pretty much the same conclusion I have come to. Although they are better than ever, the risk still out weighs the benefits. Thanks VastOne

[dizzie]

Since I finally (yesterday) got my first SSD, now I can reply to this, and explain how I have my system configured:


SSD? sure it fun in the fastlane when it comes to transfer speed, but with Linux and the (lame excuse that a swap will destroy the SSD...) I would get a small (lets say 64gb) and set it up in your system as drivecache (like a "hybrid disk") So fx. your old and ages Seagate disk that does a whopping 2-5mb sec transfer on a good day, just wont cut it anymore right? With drivecache (even as small as only 64gb) the most used files will sit on the SSD and gives you a insane readspeed from your most common tasks. For lwfitz gimp and stuff will sit on the ssd as ready-cache, while all your games, and mp3s will sit on your mechanical drive.


With this setup ^ I get like 400mb/sec read and write, SSD alone = 550'ish = No much difference really. Oh and ZFS is the new cool kid on the street (BTRFS is also a choice) I don't miss ext2-3-4 that much atm


If the swap still scares you, and you have a cardreader: buy a 4GB SD card and prep that as SWAP = SSD will last longer

[ozitraveller]

I agree, it's not worth putting important data on an SSD. I have root on SSD and home on a normal mechanical HDD. Replacing the SSD at some point is no big deal.

[mrneilypops]

120GB SSD.
1TB 'bigpig' HDD.

Best of both worlds....
I have a 2 second boot to login using root on SSD...and loads of space for storage on the HDD 

[lwfitz]

Ive got a 120gb ssd and cant get anything under a 30 second boot. My bios doesnt come up for like 5 seconds 

[dizzie]

Ive got a 120gb ssd and cant get anything under a 30 second boot. My bios doesnt come up for like 5 seconds 

What??? My POS laptop with a 60gb SATA-old-shit boots in less then that... You are doing something wrong!! (*smirks* must be the FX-6300)

[lwfitz]

Ugh.... dizzie...... *edit edit edit*


Actually Im using a UEFI board that boots with legacy so the boot is a bit slower, then its a dualboot machine so it must stop at the grub screen and then to add insult to injury systemd causes the boot to
stall out for 5 min (I believe cuz of the NTFS drives) so I have to sit through a full boot...... That being said, I almost never reboot that machine so its not an issue anyway 

[dizzie]

Fine!

[sqlpython]

 I have a bunch of SSDs but I use them primarily for backup.
My 2 SSDs that I do use for an install has a recovery Porteus (stick) and One Centos that I boot via the Grub.
I do note using them over the years that as they become full transfers are then inferior to the Metal HDD.