NVMe: was Building a Linux Computer?

Tue May 29 08:37:56 MST 2018

BEWARE!  Some vendors will not support using their USB sticks as boot drives!

For example, Kingston DataTraveller sticks are EXPLICITLY NOT SUPPORTED (that is to say, warranty is voided) if you use them as a boot drive!!!!!  (I know because I asked them)

I've got about 20 of the Kingston stick  that ended up dying after being used as / - YMMV if you ONLY use it for /boot.  Now, if you reformat them they will work for a while, then die again, at least when used this way.

NOT recommended as /  MIGHT work as /boot.  

I think I've got a few cruzers that failed also, but I'd have to look.

Rusty

-----Original Message-----
From: PLUG-discuss [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces at lists.phxlinux.org] On Behalf Of Brian Cluff
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2018 12:16 AM
To: plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
Subject: Re: NVMe: was Building a Linux Computer?

I was thinking about one of those super low profile usb flash drives like:
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Low-Profile-Drive-SDCZ33-016G-B35/dp/B005FYNSZA
That is small enough that it won't get bumped and broken easily and you 
would have to go out of your way to pull it out of the system since 
there isn't much to grab hold of.

As for speed, the amount of data that is coming off of the USB drive is 
minimal, so even if it was a little slow it wouldn't really slow down 
the boot process much.
Besides, who cares about the boot time.  The real bonus will be programs 
starting instantly once you are up and running on and NVMe.

Brian Cluff

On 05/25/2018 10:04 PM, Steve Litt wrote:
> Knowing my luck I'd lose that USB drive (I assume you mean a thumb
> drive, not a USB connected spinner). Am I correct that /boot on the
> thumb drive would slow the boot process, but everything after early
> boot would take place at NVMe speed? I'm not particularly choosy about
> boot speed. Go make a cup of tea.
>
> Thanks,
>
> SteveT
>
> On Fri, 25 May 2018 12:57:45 -0700
> Brian Cluff <brian at snaptek.com> wrote:
>
>> You can always get a physically very small USB drive and put /boot
>> and the boot block on that.  Then everything else can go on the NVMe.
>>
>> Brian Cluff
>>
>> On 05/25/2018 12:17 PM, Steve Litt wrote:
>>> Maybe you can get a rip-roaring machine, but how so if that post
>>> 2005 computer can't boot of NVMe? What do you do, take the UEFI
>>> info and the /boot off another drive, and use the NVMe for / ? Or
>>> do you boot off another drive, and then carve up the (assumedly
>>> small) NVMe into /usr, /lib, /run ? Life gets a lot more
>>> complicated if the machine can't boot the NVMe.
>>>
>>> SteveT
>>>
>>> On Wed, 23 May 2018 01:16:21 -0700
>>> Eric Oyen <eric.oyen at icloud.com> wrote:
>>>   
>>>> well, the beauty about the "add-in" cards is that you can use any
>>>> PCI-e slot on just about any desktop that is newer than vintage
>>>> 2005. YYou will end up with a rip-roaring fast machine. :)
>>>>
>>>> -eric
>>>>
>>>> On May 22, 2018, at 2:43 PM, Carruth, Rusty wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>> Oohh!  Oohh!! Something I can answer :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> 1 - yes and no.  Yes, you can replace, but no, you (almost
>>>>> certainly) need to get a PCIe card which converts PCIe on the
>>>>> motherboard to NVMe on the ssd.  We have one of those at work, not
>>>>> too expensive as I recall.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2 - You should be able to.  Don't know if that's implemented or
>>>>> not.
>>>>>
>>>>> 3 - /dev/nvme0n1 as an example.  So, for SATA, its /dev/sd<x>  for
>>>>> nvme, you get a /dev/nvme0 and then you get /dev/nvme0n1 for the
>>>>> actual drive, as I remember.  I don't remember what the partitions
>>>>> turn up as, but I THINK they were /dev/nvme0n1p1 or something like
>>>>> that.  A second NVMe drive would be /dev/nvme0n2 I think.
>>>>>
>>>>> 4 - it should.  Now, you MIGHT need some updated stuff, for
>>>>> example smartctl  may or may not work with NVMe on your distro.
>>>>> And you'll probably need to download the nvme tool that gives you
>>>>> control sort of like hdparm.  Using an 'old' distribution might
>>>>> be a problem (for some value of 'old')
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: PLUG-discuss
>>>>> [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces at lists.phxlinux.org] On Behalf Of
>>>>> Steve Litt Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2018 2:30 PM To:
>>>>> plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org Subject: NVMe: was Building a
>>>>> Linux Computer?
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, 22 May 2018 13:57:29 -0700
>>>>> Brian Cluff <brian at snaptek.com> wrote:
>>>>>       
>>>>>> For me, I would get a system that can use a NVMe.  They are about
>>>>>> the same price as an SSD, but make and SSD look extremely slow.
>>>>> This is the first I've heard of NVMe. I just read
>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVM_Express , and now have some
>>>>> questions:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) Can I replace the spinning platter 2.5" hard disk in my 5 year
>>>>> old laptop with an NVMe device? My research tells me an NVMe must
>>>>> plug into a PCIe slot rather than a SATA slot.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) Do you fstrim NVMe-hosted partitions the same way you do for
>>>>> SSD?
>>>>>
>>>>> 3) When you install an NVMe card in a PCIe slot, what device name
>>>>> shows up? Is it sd-whatever, or something else?
>>>>>
>>>>> 4) If my desktop has a free PCIe slot, does that mean I can plug
>>>>> in an NVIe drive and use it?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> SteveT
>>>>>
>>>>> Steve Litt
>>>>> June 2018 featured book: Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
>>>>> http://www.troubleshooters.com/28
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss