System backup, Is it time to switch to SSD??

[JJ_BPK]

My desk-top is a 4ghz home brew I5 quad system. I use a 500GB drive for all the data, both system & apps. I have a 250GB I mirror to.

I use:

• ccleaner to purge scrap data, several times a week, w/7x over write
• MYDEFRAG to reorg data, monthly, including free space
• xxclone to mirror, monthly

The image is boot-able. If one fails, I just switch cables and go. This has happened twice in the last 10 yrs.

There is a total of data store of 200GB.

One drive is 5 YO, the other 8YO and I'm starting to think I need coverage.

I'm thinking about getting a 500GB drive and a front load 5.25 inch drive bay slot hot-plug for the drive. Like a CD/DVD drive bay OR an external USB 3 plugged drive. This would allow me to put the back-up copy in the safe.

The SSD appeals to me for technology and portability, but I am concerned about durability.

Anyone want to opine??

[(1VB)compforce]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

My desk-top is a 4ghz home brew I5 quad system. I use a 500GB drive for all the data, both system & apps. I have a 250GB I mirror to.

I use:

• ccleaner to purge scrap data, several times a week, w/7x over write
• MYDEFRAG to reorg data, monthly, including free space
• xxclone to mirror, monthly

The image is boot-able. If one fails, I just switch cables and go. This has happened twice in the last 10 yrs.

There is a total of data store of 200GB.

One drive is 5 YO, the other 8YO and I'm starting to think I need coverage.

I'm thinking about getting a 500GB drive and a front load 5.25 inch drive bay slot hot-plug for the drive. Like a CD/DVD drive bay OR an external USB 3 plugged drive. This would allow me to put the back-up copy in the safe.

The SSD appeals to me for technology and portability, but I am concerned about durability.

Anyone want to opine??

SSD has literally 100X the speed and durability is better than the drives you're used to by at least a factor of 3 due to the lack of moving parts. They're pricy but worth it.

Here's a pretty good explanation of the comparison: http://www.storagereview.com/ssd_vs_hdd

To clarify my statements above, 100X speed refers to IOPs (Input Output Operations per second) which on a 15K 300G SAS (server HDD) is about 140 IOPs, a quality SSD will get between 15,000 and 20,000 IOPs.

Durability is measured on Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) which is measured based on operational hours. In other words, if it isn't actually doing something, the time doesn't count. Although MBTF is showing in the article as 2M vs 1.5M hours (a 33% increase), because it takes less time to do things, the drive doesn't work as long to do the same tasks, meaning that the 2M hours is a much greater real increase than the 33% that you see in the statistic.

[DIYPatriot]

JJ - I spoke to one of the guys on my team and he worked directly with this technology during some of his research time at MIT and later at Fuji as a consultant. His opinion is to stay away from SSD for anything that you value (family movies, etc). If using SSD as it was initially intended, then go for it. After all, he said that durability/longevity is a problem b/c SSD does have a shelf life on how many times you can access it/write to it. Seeing how it's a pretty big deal to be able to access one's data, that would be a show-stopper for me.

Another teammate of mine just converted his entire NAS (at home) to SSD. Out of the gate, he experienced optimal results - it's fast as lightning and performance was off the charts. Two months into the process, he experienced failure. In his words, "I got what I paid for. I tried to go cheap and I paid for it in the end." Luckily, he mirrored to his old tried and true Western Digital drive so not all hope was lost. He's in the process of buying newer and better known SSD's from Samsung. I'll keep you posted as he toys around with the tech.

As for me, I've never had any failures with my storage (at home) and I don't like fixing what isn't broken, so I won't experiment with any of it any time soon. 1) I spend spare money on ammo and cigars 2) My wife loves amazon.com - enough said. However, I'm in contact weekly with my guys and I will report back to this thread as time transpires.

If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask, feel free to reach out to me and I'll do whatever I can to assist.

[The Reaper]

I run a Samsung SSD for my OS, and a regular hard drive for all of my data and programs.

I do not use drive maintanance or defragging software on the SSD for the reasons you noted.

I had a RAID 0 set-up on a previous computer and it crashed. I learned my lesson and run a WD backup hard drive.

TR

[Javadrinker]

I have a Raid 5 server setup; because I know how and could ; had more than one SSD fail and have had the WD backup fail. Now everything, all data from all pcs in the house is stored on the server, and all the printers are also available to everyone.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Javadrinker

I have a Raid 5 server setup; because I know how and could ; had more than one SSD fail and have had the WD backup fail. Now everything, all data from all pcs in the house is stored on the server, and all the printers are also available to everyone.

Thanks for all the info...

I could probably get a RAID up & running, I had 30yrs in the business, BUT I just don't need that level., or expense.

I will continue with my current non-SSD set-up. The traditional disk is very modest in price, so I could do two mirror copies for the price of one comparable SSD.

I was hoping to do the next set-up as plug-n-play, so I can "quickly" store the back-up in my safe while away.

I was hoping the SSD technology had matured to the point that it was useful. After all it's the same chip sets used in bazillions of phones, cameras, & thumb drives.

[MR2]

I used to be a SCSI kinda guy... Beowulf server, etc.

Now using SSDs for OS and SATA3 HDDs for programs/data on the PCs.

Have a WHS (Windows Home Server 2011) with eight SATA3s for storage on an old System Board. The software takes all the drives and creates a pool. The OS sees just one drive. All data (you select) is mirrored so that every data bit is located twice on two different physical drives.

Currently 18.5TB capacity; 7.25TB in data + 7.25TB mirror leaving 4TB space to add 2TB of mirrored data.

GB network with a gaming router to facilitate data transfer.

Have four 3TB and two 2TB USB3 external drives that I do rotational copies on and are stored offsite.

I use Black Friday to upgrade drives for capacity and replace router.

PS, the OS allows for remote access to data as well.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by MR2

I used to be a SCSI kinda guy... Beowulf server, etc.

Now using SSDs for OS and SATA3 HDDs for programs/data on the PCs.

25+TB,,, awesome..

My system is a small fellow, comparatively.

I have three major system failures in the last 20yrs.

At one time I had three drives in rotation. I even had an IBM battery system with great low & hi voltage filters. It would last about an hour on the batteries, when I ran SETI 24/7 for 5 yrs. It was to much for my 486 and died.

Another time the primary hard drive just died. it was over 6yrs old.

About 6 yrs ago I took a mobo hit and it fried 2 out of 3 drives. At first I thought it has a data read/write error, but after tear down I found the CPU smoked along with several mobo chip sets. No idea why. Did manage to re-coup one of the fried drives, just lost track 0. The other was fine. The one that was #2 backup was damages beyond repair, and it was not an active drive, but was on the same primary SATA port.



Been safe for a while, but continue to worry.

[Javadrinker]

Originally Posted by MR2

I used to be a SCSI kinda guy... Beowulf server, etc.

Now using SSDs for OS and SATA3 HDDs for programs/data on the PCs.

Have a WHS (Windows Home Server 2011) with eight SATA3s for storage on an old System Board. The software takes all the drives and creates a pool. The OS sees just one drive. All data (you select) is mirrored so that every data bit is located twice on two different physical drives.

Currently 18.5TB capacity; 7.25TB in data + 7.25TB mirror leaving 4TB space to add 2TB of mirrored data.

GB network with a gaming router to facilitate data transfer.

Have four 3TB and two 2TB USB3 external drives that I do rotational copies on and are stored offsite.

I use Black Friday to upgrade drives for capacity and replace router.

PS, the OS allows for remote access to data as well.

that is awesome!