[ale] semi OT - to SSD or not to SSD

[alan at alanlee.org]

Just to add, if you are more concerned about reliability you can get SLC NAND
devices which only store a single bit per logic cell verses 2 or 3.  It means
the capacity is effectively halved which usually translates into a price more
than twice an equivalent MLC device.  However the cell reliability and thus life
expectancy improves byseveral orders.
 
-Alan



On November 2, 2011 at 12:43 PM "Ted W." <ted at techmachine.net> wrote:

> On 10/27/2011 07:46 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > In another recent thread, the subject of SSD and flash memory
> > reliability came up, although that wasn't the title of the subject.  I
> > want to explore that a bit.  In the other thread, I said I have
> > personally seen failures in memory sticks, memory cards, a GPS that
> > suddenly refused to work and refused initially to take a firmware
> > update, and routers that occasionally flake out and need to have their
> > firmware refreshed.  I also pointed out this quote from the Kingston
> > website, which someone else linked to:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > So, my question to the group is this:
> >
> > If you don't have an SSD, do you want or intend to get one to replace a
> > primary HDD?
> >
> > If you get one, or if you have one, do you feel that your data on that
> > device is in more danger and is more fragile than it would be on a HDD?
> >
> > I might be inclined to get an SSD if I had the money.  However, at this
> > point, I have fairly serious misgivings about the long term reliability
> > of the technology.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Ron
> >
>
> A modern SSD will typically have wear levelling technology built in to
> it as well as redundant memory chips to improve overall lifespan. It's
> important to note, however, that SSD lifespan will not be effectively
> maximized unless the installed operating system (Linux of course)
> includes support for TRIM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM). My
> company had the unfortunate experience of pre-maturely deploying SSDs to
> our developers to speed up svn checkout and build times w/o first
> confirming if it was supported in RHEL 5 (it is not) and had to deal
> with replacing $200 drives every 6-8 months (RHEL 6 now has support, as
> does any Linux distribution using kernel => 2.6.33)
>
> I've recently made the switch to an SSD on all but one of my laptops
> (512GB SSDs are not practical, yet) and have been very happy with the
> results. Battery life has extended by about one to two hours on each
> device and I've yet to have one die on me (knock on wood). My only
> buying advice would be to stay away from the lower end brands and spend
> the extra money on an Intel or OCZ drive. I've got an Intel in my work
> laptop and an OCZ Agility3 in my personal laptop and haven't had a
> problem. I tried a Kingston at one point, however, and it failed within
> 12 months on the same machine as the one I now have the OCZ drive in.
>
> Alternatively, if you want to still use magnetic media but want a speed
> boost they have these hybrid drives now that combine a few GB of flash
> memory with a traditional platter in an attempt to bridge the gap
> between speed and price. I've not looked into them very much, however,
> and can't speak to their reliability or effectiveness.
>
> --
> Ted W.
> Registered GNU/Linux user #413569
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