Upgrading 4200 storage
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I recently had to replace my 3100 which is EOL with a 4200 and am perhaps too worried about making sure that the 4200 lasts longer.
After booting the 4200 I realized through ongoing emails with Netgate TAC support that monitoring the builtin storage (16GB eMMC) isn’t possible, so was thinking about installing an m.2 nvme (maybe this one)) since it would at least be replaceable and is fairly cheap. Not sure what the process would be though? Or maybe I’m just worrying about nothing and wouldn’t gain anything by the upgrade?
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@wgstarks, at this point Netgate doesn't have any official documentation available to cover this task. This youtuber addresses it step by step. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9fWxhI-ws
FWIW, this is the M.2 NVMe SSD I went with: https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/980-pro-w-heatsink-pcie-4-0-nvme-ssd-1tb-mz-v8p1t0cw/ You will also need a mounting screw and an M2.5 4-5mm long does nicely.
--Larry
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@LarryFahnoe
Thanks for the info. Do you really think the heatsink is needed? Just asking because I have no idea and can use the advice. -
@wgstarks Originally I ordered the non-heatsink version. Then while I was getting ready to do the installation, I happened to go back to the Samsung product page and noticed in the description "Must be installed with a heatsink (sold separately)." which then prompted more research. In a nutshell, it seems like motherboards commonly provide a heatsink for NVMe devices, hence the many NVMe SSDs sold without heatsinks. These are high performance devices, thus potentially more heat. Heat is one of the primary enemies of chip longevity, so I decided to take Samsung at their word and return what I'd purchased and order the heatsink version. At the time, 3rd party heatsinks were about $10 on Amazon, and the Samsung price for the heatsink version was $10 more, so it seemed like a no brainer. After all, we're buying this storage to avoid the potential problem of a worn out eMMC, so pay a bit more for more insurance? Flip side is that the 4200 is fairly open so lots of space for convection and it isn't going to push I/O like would be seen in a Playstation which is apparently the market segment that Samsung is targeting... It looks like prices have gone up again though.
--Larry
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@LarryFahnoe
Perfect. Thanks again.
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Yup, we've never used drives with heatsinks and never seen an issue.
The m-keyed slot nearest the Ethernet ports is preferred.
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When do you think the 4200 MAX will be available?
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@stephenw10
Can you tell me what m.2 drives Netgate uses if that’s not restricted info? I know I saw a few comments that the Samsung 980’s run hot but no telling what the use case was. -
I don't think a drive for the 4200 has been decided on yet. I've tested it with the drive we use in the 6100-max and 8200 which reports as:
Geom name: nda0 Providers: 1. Name: nda0 Mediasize: 120034123776 (112G) Sectorsize: 512 Mode: r2w2e4 descr: M.2 (P80) 3TE6 lunid: 010000000000000000000036ba0299d8 ident: YCA12203170170456 rotationrate: 0 fwsectors: 0 fwheads: 0
