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    SSD or Flash Drive, small home server

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • I
      itsignas
      last edited by

      Hello, i have question i need super quiet solution and so my hard drive is loud (2005 sata 1, 120gb) i just need to change it, don't tell anything, i need either SSD or flash drive, i found some cheap ssd's for 20 dollars. If there is better solution tell me. I just saw post's in 2011 that ssd's died, but in 2015 we have a lot more reliable. Im running e8400 passive cooled, 6gb of ram.

      Regards,
      Ignas

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      • I
        itsignas
        last edited by

        Or i can use ssd as main system, and write logs to some cheap flash drive would it work?

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        • N
          NOYB
          last edited by

          Or you could run entire system on USB flash drive.

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          • I
            itsignas
            last edited by

            Wouldn't it be slow for admin web interface? My system supports only USB 2.0

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            • N
              NOYB
              last edited by

              Try it and see. What do you have to lose.  I've been running flash drive for years on 2002 era notebook with USB 2.0 ports.  Just be sure to have a fast USB flash drive.  At a minimum one that supports ready store or whatever that old thing is that was supposed to speed up windows.  Better though is a 3.0 flash drive.

              It will be a little slower to install and boot (heavy IO activities).  But once booted up most everything is running in RAM anyway.

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              • I
                itsignas
                last edited by

                Okay, thanks dude! Any recommendations of flash drives? I have old 8gb but it's like 3-5mb/s, super slow.. :)

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                • ?
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  You can go either with a real SSD but please have a look on the tech. specs. that this drive is supporting than
                  also TRIM. Other storage options that might be working well for you can be;

                  • mSATA
                  • M.2 SSD
                  • DOM-SSD
                  • SATA-DOM
                  • SATA or IDE 2.5" SSD

                  It might be also pending on your existing hardware what you want to insert, but at this days it would be
                  the best to go with one of the most common SSDs or mSATAs, they are mostly all fine for some years.

                  You might be using DD (DiskDump) to copy your entire actual HDD over to the SSD, after this is done
                  you can activate TRIM support in pfSense and all want be fine.

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                  • I
                    itsignas
                    last edited by

                    I have DP35DP motherboard from intel it don't support M.2 either mSATA, so im left with ssd, but i don't know will pfsense kill it fast?

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                    • ?
                      Guest
                      last edited by

                      but i don't know will pfsense kill it fast?

                      Likes the most other things, you get what you pay for! Not even but mostly.
                      I am using a Samsung840 Pro 128 GB, it was easy and cheap to get because
                      the Samsung850 was coming out, but this one has some Firmware problems.

                      If you enable TRIM support in pfSense it will be the best as I see it, I am happy with mine
                      because it is really fast and quiet.

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                      • I
                        itsignas
                        last edited by

                        Yep, i have 850 EVO 250gb, in my main rig, will some dirty cheap ssd for like 20bucks, 16gb be ok? ;D

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                        • ?
                          Guest
                          last edited by

                          will some dirty cheap ssd for like 20bucks, 16gb be ok?

                          If you are really sure that they are supporting TRIM you could test it out,
                          if not I would be aware to use this than, because the data that will be wiped
                          will not be marked as for rewrite and than often the SSD will slow down after
                          a while and/or will dieing faster. It is not a must be more a can be.

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                          • I
                            itsignas
                            last edited by

                            What about this one?

                            http://www.ebay.com/itm/FASTDISK-SSD-16GB-SATAII-2-5-Solid-State-Drive-Flash-MLC-Storage-Device-/201385280443?hash=item2ee37f83bb:g:mn8AAOSwWnFV97Ws

                            Will 16gb be enough?

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                            • ?
                              Guest
                              last edited by

                              What about this one?

                              http://www.ebay.com/itm/FASTDISK-SSD-16GB-SATAII-2-5-Solid-State-Drive-Flash-MLC-Storage-Device-/201385280443?hash=item2ee37f83bb:g:mn8AAOSwWnFV97Ws

                              Is it supporting TRIM?

                              Will 16gb be enough?

                              How many and which packets?
                              What you all want to install on the disk?
                              Do you want to run Squid as a cache Proxy?

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                              • N
                                NOYB
                                last edited by

                                No.  3-5 mb/s is not fast enough.

                                I'm running an 8GB version of this and get about 20 MB/s on USB 2.0 port.

                                Lexar® JumpDrive® S75 USB 3.0 Flash Drive, 16GB
                                http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/605246/Lexar-JumpDrive-S75-USB-30-Flash/

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                                • I
                                  itsignas
                                  last edited by

                                  Im running nothing fancy basic installiation, no cache or something, maybe few packages.

                                  O the other hand flash drive will it be enough like 20mb/s, for some heavy packet logging, cause i have dedicated server box, server, 50 players, and web server.

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                                  • N
                                    NOYB
                                    last edited by

                                    Recommend also enabling /tmp & /var ramdisk with periodic backup a few times a day.  I have RRD set for 9 hours and DHCP set for 7 hours.

                                    Yeah I don't run any packages to speak of.  VPN client config wizard is only thing I really have need of.

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                                    • ?
                                      Guest
                                      last edited by

                                      Yeah I don't run any packages to speak of.  VPN client config wizard is only thing I really have need of.

                                      Then the NanoBSD version would perhaps the best way to walk on, but if the performance is not
                                      so great or more is needed the DOM-SSD or SATA-DOM is also a fast and tiny way to go, for sure
                                      not same cheap as with a USB pen drive but also as a small install.

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                                      • N
                                        NOYB
                                        last edited by

                                        I've always run the full install on USB flash drive.  Enable RAM disk and it doesn't hit the drive much.

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                                        • U
                                          uknownme123
                                          last edited by

                                          This question has been addressed in the past. Don't go with cheap SSD unless you are using SLC type, industrial grade. Find out the write cycle life of you SSD. I've had cheap SSD die on me using Windows7. When you install the full version of pfSense it writes to the drive constantly logging the graphs and other stuff (sorry I'm no expert).

                                          When you run the nano version (compact flash & usb) it is ran from RAM. Everything is loaded from the flash drive into ram at boot and after boot, the running OS exist in RAM. So the intense disk using features of pfSense are turned OFF in nano version. There is an option in pfSense where you can offload logging into a log server.

                                          If you go with a cheap SSD, you can always turn off logging, follow the guide here:
                                          https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=34381.0

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