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    USB vs HDD

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    • J
      justinm001
      last edited by

      Hey all,
      switching some systems from untangle to Pfsense and still a bit confused about if we should run USB vs HDD.  Is there a pros/cons list im unable to find?  We're going to use it as standard firewall/router and want WAN redundancy. Also will be running on Dell R610 with 24GB memory, I know its overkill but we have a ton of servers and these are just spares.

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      • C
        cyberlocc
        last edited by

        @justinm001:

        Hey all,
        switching some systems from untangle to Pfsense and still a bit confused about if we should run USB vs HDD.  Is there a pros/cons list im unable to find?  We're going to use it as standard firewall/router and want WAN redundancy. Also will be running on Dell R610 with 24GB memory, I know its overkill but we have a ton of servers and these are just spares.

        Well as of 2.4 embedded is no longer supported and 2.4 RC is out now, so USB isn't an option really.

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        • J
          justinm001
          last edited by

          Is that just because the RC for embedded isn't built yet or they're mot releasing any embedded versions?

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          • C
            cyberlocc
            last edited by

            @justinm001:

            Is that just because the RC for embedded isn't built yet or they're mot releasing any embedded versions?

            There will not be any emedded version from now forward, I think it has to do with the fact the embedded is only 32bit possible? Anyway they did away with more than that should probably let you know.

            So going forward it's full install only, though you likely could install on a USB and run everything in ram. I am fairly certain you can.

            It is also 64bit only, as well as requires AES-Ni ( that may be 2.5, actually but never less important.)

            If you want to run from USB and move everything to ram (Var/Log ECT) i think that can be done, you will have slower bootup, and everything will be in ram so all Var and Logs lost if power outage, and you will need quite a bit of ram, a HDD is cheaper than more ram, especially if using ECC.

            Edit: You should be good with 24gbs of ram didn't see that, you could full install on a USB and then run all in ram, just again if power goes out you lose all, though the previous embedded was the same way. And boot time will be longer.

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            • B
              belt9
              last edited by

              SSD is best, I would personally say USB next and finally HDD.

              Never use USB if you need to write a lot to disk.

              With all that RAM I would say using USB is totally fine, just use a RAM Disk.

              Check out the installs and upgrades subforum, there's a sticky about ZFS, that's how you should use USB installs.

              USB install is even more viable now with 2.4 than with the old embedded installs due to ZFS support and improved RAM disk implementation.

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