For boot I would think they would work for darn near forever since they will be getting little in the way of writes.  For / on the other hand, especially if you put some home and tmp directories on them, there are enough writes to kill them quickly. Brian Cluff On 05/29/2018 08:37 AM, Carruth, Rusty wrote: > 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@lists.phxlinux.org] On Behalf Of Brian Cluff > Sent: Monday, May 28, 2018 12:16 AM > To: plug-discuss@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 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 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 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@lists.phxlinux.org] On Behalf Of >>>>>> Steve Litt Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2018 2:30 PM To: >>>>>> plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org Subject: NVMe: was Building a >>>>>> Linux Computer? >>>>>> >>>>>> On Tue, 22 May 2018 13:57:29 -0700 >>>>>> Brian Cluff 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@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@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@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@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@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@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@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@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@lists.phxlinux.org To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss