[mythtvnz] CF card as system drive

[Barry Clearwater]

2009/11/19 Noel & Di <noel at igrin.co.nz>

> Aha! yes I await your report with great anticipation.
>
>
> Kenneth Dixon wrote:
> > I ordered a couple of these last week to do something similar
> > http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=436517
> > Silicon Power eSATA/USB SSD 8GB.
> > I was going to software RAID them to try and get some extra performance.
> > Seem to be good value at ~$55, claim 90MB/s read, but reviews suggest
> > closer to 60MB/s.
> > One peculiarity is that most esata ports don't provide power, so must
> > be powered by usb.
> > If you can wait till the weekend I will tell you how they perform.
> >
> > Ken
> >
> > 2009/11/18 Steve Hodge <stevehodge at gmail.com>:
> >
> >> On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 4:38 PM, Noel & Di <noel at igrin.co.nz> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Steve Hodge wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> According to pricespy 8G CF cards start around $40.
> >>>>
> >>>> Of course it may be that the original poster already has a CF card
> >>>> spare as well.
> >>>>
> >>> So the consensus is an 8GB card should be enough, and an SD class 6
> >>> (6MB/S) is fast enough for a system drive?
> >>> It is understood the boot up time is irrelevant because the machine
> runs
> >>> 24/7 anyway.
> >>>
> >> Speed shouldn't be a problem. Whether 8GB is enough depends on what
>  else
> >> you're installing. My system has a 10GB root partition which is 80%
> full,
> >> but I run Gentoo which chews up a couple of gig in package management.
> If
> >> you're using a distro with binary packages and only running Myth I think
> >> you'll be fine with 8GB.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Steve
> >>
>

Due to the nature of  SSD drives Block delete and erase mechanisms, they
tend to slow down with useage and unless they support the TRIM command,
which not all drives currently do, you are probably going to experience some
frustration. The cheaper drives like the Kingston 64Gb one don't.

The solution is to run TRIM about once every 2 weeks, which is supported in
the EXT4 file system, so as to keep the drive running at best speed. I don't
have a list of smaller 8 or 16Gb SSD drives that run it but according to APC
december 09 Magazine, Patriot Torqx, G.skill Falcon and Corsair X128 all
support TRIM whereas Intel X25-M and Kingston 128Gb V and 64Gb M don't.
Intel plans to support it in the future but will require a firmware upgrade
that appears to need a physical jumper set on the drive to perform :-)
Very cool technology nevertheless.

Barry Clearwater
Email: barryc at bcsystems.co.nz
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