(OT) Questions About SSDs for a Laptop

[Ed]

Some additional interesting links:
https://wiki.debian.org/SSDOptimization
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/ssd

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 12:33 PM, Jon Kettenhofen <subs at kexsof.com> wrote:
> IMO, get the SSD but also install the hard drive, if the laptop allows it
> (otherwise try iCloud? :-) ), that will act as a backup.  Separately,
> neither may be more reliable than the other but you will be safer.
> And faster.
> So back up frequently.
>
> For even faster *desktop* performance, shell out the big bucks for a PCI-E
> board mounted SSD.  At 16x, PCI-E is reputed to handle more bandwidth than
> SATA or SCSI.  I've seen Windows XP boot (completely) in 10 seconds with
> instant access to just about everything except the internet (which varies
> with ISP connection . . . )
>
> Smaller PCI-E drives (256GB) are now available for a reasonable price, that
> being around $1/GB, but the fastest - OZC Revo - are still pricey.
>
> Not to be a wet blanket, but nearly all drives fail.
> After I read the descriptions of the engineering used to give storage drives
> more room (i.e. more gigabytes and terrabytes) my faith was a little shaken.
> An article in Tom's Hardware hit home (2011) but still holds some credence
> and that is that if you look at the reviews of SSD's at newegg dot com, then
> you will realize that perhaps no storage technology is perfect.  More to the
> point, YMMV.  Although sellers do their best to weed out fake reviews, some
> of them do make it through and the purpose of those fake reviews can be
> either to support or disprespect the product or manufacturer.
>
> Recently,
> Some publications have revealed that many brands of SSDs will fail if the
> power is abruptly removed, as in a plug or battery removal while the
> unit is running, or the computer has a catastrophic failure like a fatal
> motherboard burnout.   The story is that so far only certain Intel SSD's can
> consistently survive this scenario.
>
> Nevermind.
> Most of us will probably never see that happen.  Storage technology is
> complicated with much error-correction circuitry in place and in constant
> use.  To see an example, check the output of the SMART technology built into
> any of your drives that are directly connected to your IDE/ATA and SATA
> (whatever you have) busses.  There is/are some good apps in Linux to show
> you this. The bottom line is that every disk access is checked and
> error-corrected because (read and write) errors happen all the time.  They
> just usually get fixed in the process.
>
> Some interesting, if perhaps scary, links:
> http://www.extremetech.com/computing/173887-ssd-stress-testing-finds-intel-might-be-the-only-reliable-drive-manufacturer
> (Jan. 3, 2014)
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4202/the-intel-ssd-510-review/3 (Mar. 2, 2011)
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923.html
> (July 28, 2011)
>
> Insight into manufacturing technology:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD
>
>
>
>
> On 09/02/2014 01:23 PM, Mark Phillips wrote:
>>
>> I am looking at a new Linux laptop, and I have the option of a mSata SSD
>> drive or a conventional drive. I am considering a 1 TB Samsung 840 EVO
>> mSata SSD for the OS and all my partitions.
>>
>> 1. Are there any reasons not to use a SSD for the full disk, as opposed
>> to just for the OS? Other than saving money, as a small SSD would cost a
>> lot less!
>>
>> 2. I have seen recommendations on the net to backup the drive to a
>> spinning drive. The laptop has a couple of bays, so I could put a back
>> up drive in one of the bays. Does this make sense, or have SSDs matured
>> enough that they will last like a spinning drive?
>>
>> 3. Anything else I should be aware of when moving to the world of SSDs?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
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