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    SOLVED: USB M.2 SSD for use with SWAP

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • JonathanLeeJ
      JonathanLee
      last edited by JonathanLee

      Does anyone have any recommendations for a SSD to use specifically with usb A port by way of a m.2 to usb adapter? I have the adapter I just want a m.2 that has DRAM on it.

      I am thinking this is the best as it doesn’t need to be faster because usb limitations, it has dram so it would be great to use as a swap.

      Transcend 512GB MTS430S M.2 2242 SATA3 SSD

      Does anyone else have any recommendations?

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      • JonathanLeeJ
        JonathanLee
        last edited by

        I would really like one that has a huge dram and has very limited SSD storage

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          You might check an Intel Optane drive since they are specifically intended to buffer drive writes. They are NVMe. The performance will be pretty bad via USB.

          JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • JonathanLeeJ
            JonathanLee
            last edited by

            Transcend 128GB SATA III 6GB/s MTS830S M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - TS128GMTS830S

            This one has dram with 90,000k on it. This should be great for the resource update issues.

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            • JonathanLeeJ
              JonathanLee @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 thanks for the reply, it came with a Trendnet, so I am going to get one that works best with usb, I found a good one and it has a pretty nice DRAM3 that is independent per the website

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              • JonathanLeeJ
                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                last edited by JonathanLee

                @stephenw10 wow I am going to get this, amazing !! Perfect exactly what I am looking for. The Intel Optane H10 16GB ram plus 256GB SSD M.2 I bet the swap use never even hits the SSD with this guy running. Amazon made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  @JonathanLee said in SOLVED: USB M.2 SSD for use with SWAP:

                  The Intel Optane H10

                  Hmm, I've never tried one of those. I have run the smaller 16GB SSD style in an NVMe slot directly. Bare in mind the USB connection is going to limit the performance to something far lower than those specs.

                  JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • JonathanLeeJ
                    JonathanLee @stephenw10
                    last edited by JonathanLee

                    @stephenw10 yes it will limit it, again it will be essentially usb ram for 16 gbs that is more than I need and it won’t kill the drive because it’s ram. I now wonder about just using it with the m.2 slot if I set the swap on the drive that way if it would use the on board memory. Still this is cool.

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      It won't work in the m.2 slot in the 2100 because that doesn't support NVMe.

                      JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • JonathanLeeJ
                        JonathanLee @stephenw10
                        last edited by JonathanLee

                        @stephenw10 ok so it will have to be with my usb adapter it will work that way. It will be faster over my HDD that is running over usb for swap currently. This is exactly what I need it has a huge ram that can be accessed when needed without destroying the drive with over use. Plus it could still store dump files if needed

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          It will be interesting to see how that goes. I'm not sure how that dual function device will present in an adapter like that. 🤔

                          JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • JonathanLeeJ
                            JonathanLee @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10 I am asking about it on FreeBSD forum its radio silence, I did find a post where they got an Intel Optane to function and work so it has the drivers. Intel I am hoping has it all managed on the m.2 card so as long as it can see the drive I should be able to utilize the onboard memory by way of Intel's onboard code. "praying"

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Best case I imagine is that it just appears like a normal NVMe drive and the RAM cache is all handled on-board. No drivers needed.

                              JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JonathanLeeJ
                                JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10

                                c621d4c9-4f8b-4ec3-bd41-2a387f19d214-image.png

                                Can I use the mini usb port with an adapter to get the 5.0Gbps speeds for a usb drive?

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  The console port? Nope that is only connected to the serial converter IC. AFAIK you can only use the one external USB A port.

                                  The m.2 slot has USB connectivity but I'm not sure what speeds are available. You're already using that slot anyway though.

                                  The miniPCIe slot does not have USB. It has PCIe of course so it might be possible to run an NVMe drive in an adapter there even if it cant boot from it. Not something I've tried.

                                  JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • JonathanLeeJ
                                    JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                    last edited by JonathanLee

                                    @stephenw10 thanks, I didn’t think about using an adapter, I am not using the AP on that slot right now. Something like this?? M Key? I will have to remove the compex card from it.

                                    Mini PCIE to M.2 M Key Adapter, Support 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SSD M.2 NGFF Nvme M Key Converter Adapter

                                    This has 90 on it

                                    xiwai 90 Degree Angled PCI-E 4.0 NVME M-Key M.2 22x30mm to 22x80mm High Storage Extension SSD Converter Board Upgrade Expansion Adapter Compatible with 2230 to 2280 SSD Handheld ROG Ally Gaming

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                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      To be clear I have no idea if that would work! 😉 If I had such an adapter I would try it out of curiosity.

                                      JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • JonathanLeeJ
                                        JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                        last edited by JonathanLee

                                        @stephenw10 there is some posts about SSD not working in that slot for 1100 but they are using minipcie drives, is it only usb2.0 speed on the mpcie or faster? Thanks for the reply. I am excited but it would have to have a cable because it would be to long in a 2100. It’s one lane, would it only top out at Single Direction: 2.5 Gbps/200MBps
                                        Dual Direction: 5 Gbps/400MBps

                                        That is where the 5gbps usb0 is at I am thinking on start up logs

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                                        • JonathanLeeJ
                                          JonathanLee @stephenw10
                                          last edited by JonathanLee

                                          @stephenw10

                                          Sintech M.2 (NGFF) nVME SSD to Mini PCIe Adapter with 20cm Cable

                                          I am going to try it with the Intel Optane for swap. It should make use of the usb0 bus technically that is what it is. As long as the drive is connected and has power it should see it. Maybe not boot from it but be able to gpart it and activate it. I have the m key drive so maybe I can get access to 5gbps

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            All SSDs I've seen that fit the mPCIe format are mSATA it that socket is not wired for mSATA. It's PCIe only. So theoretically an NVMe drive in that format would be seen on the PCIe bus. As would an m.2 drive in a PCI adapter. Theoretically!

                                            In reality I've never seen an NVMe drive in aarch64 and have no way to test it. But I'd expect it to work.

                                            JonathanLeeJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
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