[mythtv-users] Opinions on Solid State Drives for Myth ???

[Brian Wood]

On Tuesday, July 27, 2010 11:15:35 am Another Sillyname wrote:
> On 27 July 2010 18:11, Robert Longbottom <RobertCL at iname.com> wrote:
> > On 27/07/2010 17:51, Joseph Fry wrote:
> >> I'm seeing 40GB SSDs for around $100.
> >> 
> >> 40GB is enough for an OS and Myth itself (not video storage).
> >> ...
> >> 
> >> So far I can't see anything that would justify using an SSD, but perhaps
> >> someone else can.
> > 
> > I doubt you'll find a good justification, mythtv simply won't see much,
> > if any, benefit running on an SSD.  There are other, cheaper, ways to
> > achieve all of the advantages that an SSD might offer.  Namely silent
> > operation and low power use/heat generation.  So, sorry, can't give you
> > an excuse to buy one.
> > 
> > I'd have thought just buying a cheap USB stick and using that would be
> > just as good as using as SSD and much cheaper....
> > 
> > I run the Mythbuntu liveCD from a USB stick to turn my work laptop into a
> > secondard frontend and it boots in <30s to the desktop, then I just have
> > to run the frontend.
> > 
> > If it "wears out" the USB stick, I'll just get another one, it was only
> > £10.

> + 1 for Roberts suggestion and if you want to get really funky put
> parted magic on the same stick and you have a complete repair kit
> wherever you go.

You mean like my FSF Membership Card/Boot drive?

I have a couple of Compact Flash to SATA adapters, but I don't have a 40GB (or larger) CF card or Microdrive. I'm booting 
my frontend from a Hitachi 4GB Microdrive with one of these adapters and it works fine, but no better than a 2.5" HDD. I 
did it mainly to gain more space for rotating drives in the case. The Microdrives seem faster than CF cards.

I have wondered if the SSDs are actually better in any way than USB sticks (maybe better wear leveling or caching 
algorithm?) I also wonder if the Linux SATA drivers might be better than the stack that drives the USB sticks. 
Transferring large files to and from a USB stick on my desktop seems extremely slow, and uses a lot of CPU for some reason, 
but that's another issue.


Just about anything made these days will boot from a USB device, so the question would be if using a SATA device is better 
in any way than a USB drive.