HDD or SSD

I am using the same Kingston SSDNow S200 30 GB in my build and couldn't be happier. Y paid 30€ for it and have been running strong for several months now. I really doubt that the SSD will fail after a couple of years. The SSD in my main computer (a Samsung 830 Series) have been running for the last 4 years, and is still going. If the longevity of the SSD is a concern for you, you can always install the flash plug-in to reduce the amount of writes to the SSD. I cannot say how much of a performance boost an SSD will mean, but based on the results I've got with the other computers I use (which have SSD as boot drive), I would say that the SSD is always a good way to go. Finally, the SSDs are silent and more power efficient.

I'm also using a Samsung 840EVO on my laptop with 250GB and it's been running for an year now and I had no problems. Another thing that I like of the SSD is not about best performance but I like that they are not as much susceptible to vibrations as HDDs do. My case is very limited in space and I have now three 2.5" drives and if I update to an SSD, I could attach it with velcro or something like that to the wall of the case and have space for another 2,5" in the future that could be well attached... So maybe in my case, the price per GB would worth it instead of having a 500GB spinning and having only 2GBs full of 500...

Since the small case, I'm also concerned about temperature: when idling, the data drives are at 22ºC maximum and the OS one at 25ºC (it's 7200rpm) and I have one small fan for the data and a 120cm blowing inside directly to the MB and os drive. That's why an SSD would freshen the case in general...

If you check my build (below in my signature), you can see that my server is quite compact and there is not a lot of space. The SSD remains around 35 °C, which is far from being dangerous. Since you are using 2.5'' drives already, I would guess that the difference in temperature using a SSD will be really small. You usually go with the SSD for 1. Speed and 2. No noise.

n the other hand, I am no fan of having OS and data in the same drive. Although it is possible to do (and many people actually do it), I rather having all my data in a separated drive. If the OS gets damaged or corrupted, I can simply change the OS drive and restore the system from a back up, while the data drives remain intact. Therefore, I would not recommend using a mechanical drive for OS + data.

Yep I'm not fan neither to store data+OS in the same drive... In that case I would store not important data on the OS drive in case of failure... I'll go for the SSD, not for the speed or noise but in a future it would worth it. Thanks for the advice.

PS: I also checked your Optiplex, nice computer!

So finally I have received my Kingston SSDNow and I installed it in the box and cloned my system into it (after some issues with the BIOS not detecting my SSD). The important thing is that is working: it boots up, the webGUI seems okay and I have restored totally my previous system.

What I'm thinking now:
I've browsed through some posts in here regarding TRIM, garbage collection and all this stuff that SSDs need. I have edited /etc/fstab according to some people telling that it should contain a 'discard' parameter so TRIM is executed.
Do I need to tweak something else to improve the performance/lifespan of the SSD or something?

Any help will be appreciated!

Guillem

To be honest, TRIM never passed thru my head. The SSD was cheap and I keep regular backups of my system drive. If it gets screwed up, I simply change the SSD. I tweaked TRIM only on my Windows based computers, but never in a Linux one. However, now that you mention it, you might be right. I've never checked if the discard parameter is enabled in the fstab. Looks like I have homework to do!

Perhaps I am not the best one to give you advice on this matter. Maybe @ryecoaaron is more familiar with the topic.

Bad news. After installing the drive, it booted as I told you before. After a day working fine, I shut down the computer at night. The next day, I power it on but after seeing that the SMB share is not detected, I see that the SSD is not detected for the BIOS thus the boot process stops.
I have contacted the online shop where I bought it and I'm waiting for them to reply me if it could be a problem with a defective SSD or maybe (as in some forums I found) the SSD is not 100% compatible with my motherboard. Anyway, I have not heard many positive opinions around the cheapest and low capacities Kingston SSDs, so I'll move to a Sandisk SSD Plus 120GB or a Samsung 850 EVO SSD 120GB since there is a 840EVO in my personal laptop and I have not had any problem. They are aprox 20€ more expensive but I can't find anything better in the 30GB range. By the way, I learnt the lesson (as someone said in another post related to cheap SSDs):

Zitat

if you buy cheap, you buy two times

PS: the Kingston is driving me nuts: I tried in 3 different computers: my laptop, my sister's laptop and my mother's computer and the Kingston is detected in all of them without any problem, OMV boots without any hassle, so I think the Kingston is not toasted...

Thanks for your advice, and good luck @Eryan with your Kingston...

Well, it is sad to know that you had issues with the Kingston. I made the same experience with a Kingspec chinese SSD that died on me after a couple of weeks. It came from China, so forget the warranty. If the SSD is properly recognized in the other PCs, perhaps it is not the source of the problem. But, then again, if you can send it back, go ahead. Mine has been running for the last 6 months at least with no hazzle. I also got a 30 Gb SanDisk SSD for my sisters laptop and it works flawleslly in her EEE PC 1015pe. Just an option.

Out of curiosity, what mainboard are you using? How old is it?

I'm using an AsRock AM1b-ITX, bought an year ago... I don't think it was released much earlier...
I've found in forums that this particular SSD is not "a real" SATA3 drive and there is some emulation or something like that which makes it unrecognisable on newer MB. I think this SSD was released on 2010.

I could use some expert advise myself. There has been many threads on using the USB Flash drive or SSD for a boot drive.
I am currently building a media server and booting from a Sandisk Ultra 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive. I have also installed flash plugin.
Many experts have recommended against using a flash drive for boot owing to frequent failures. So I am asking:

1) I have a spare 64GB SSD which I could use. I could use the SSD and store the data for Plex, VirtualBox images and MySQL in the pool that I have created. Is it advisable? My concern is that storing this data in the pool will keep the disks churning all the time.
2) I have a spare 500GB SSHD 2.5-inch drive. I could partition it and use the extra space for storing databases for Plex, MySQL and VirtualBox images.

Please advise which is a better way. Thank you.