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

[Ron Frazier]

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:

<quote on>

Flash storage devices are not infallible and can have their data damaged 
due to factors mentioned above. It is important to backup important 
information on multiple media or even print them on paper for long-term 
storage. Do not store important data solely on Flash storage devices.

<quote off>

Now, it was pointed out that memory sticks and SSD's are not exactly the 
same.  But, they are very similar technologies.  SSD's are all the rage 
now, and almost everybody in the technical community is going nuts over 
them, adopting them like crazy, and replacing boot drives everywhere.  
It is my feeling that these devices do not have the long term 
reliability that we've come to expect from HDD's.  And, of course, HDD's 
are not exceedingly reliable.  However, some HDD's can and do last 5 - 
10 years when properly maintained.  I am concerned that SSD's are are 
being adopted so rapidly, sometimes for mission critical applications.  
In a non mission critical situation, even if family photos and such are 
not mission critical, it's still very very emotionally wrenching when 
they're lost.  Now, I'm sure almost everyone reading this would agree 
that routine on site and off site backups are a good idea.  However, 
since we're all human, I'd bet some of you don't always do the backups 
as often as you should.  I know I'm guilty.  I'll also bet that most of 
our families and friends outside of this group hardly backup at all, if 
at all.

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

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
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Ron Frazier

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linuxdude AT c3energy.com