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There are a couple of benefits to "rolling your own" external drive.
It is frequently the case that the prefab drive in a case type of
packages don't have adequate cooling. While the compact DIY enclosures
for 2.5" drives usually don't have fans inside, good ones are made of
aluminum, which has good heat dissipation. Bigger enclosures sometimes
have fans. Western Digital had problems a few years ago with their
packaged drive in a case (my book, passbook, whatever it's called).
The drives would fry themselves to death. Then you have to fret with
RMAing the thing. If you open the case, you void the warranty, and I
don't think they had a 5 year warranty. If you choose carefully, you
can get a bare HDD with a 5 year warranty. Then you can switch it in
and out of cases as you see fit. You can also upgrade it to a larger
drive if you choose, and not worry about voiding the warranty.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
On 10/24/2011 1:21 PM, Greg Clifton wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAJKW_Y52mOEi2p6GVUT-PdsGvFg318_NfjtT4MxKRY-AiLx_-A@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">Courtney,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regarding booting from CD (live CD) forgetaboutit. As previously
mentioned, it will be slow to boot and execute and you will have no
swap or permanent storage (no suspend to disc). Further, a lost, broken
or scratched disc would stop you dead. Much better to run from tumb
drive or external 2.5" drive if you prefer. Depending on the age your
notebook it should have USB 2.0 but if older, my be USB 1.0. If you
have USB 1.0, little will be gained by either a SSD or the Seagate
Hybrid drive previously mentioned because you will be I/O bound by the
bottleneck of the 1.0 USB bandwidth. Even with USB 2.0, I'm not sure
you would gain much from a SSD over USB. You can buy nice 500GB to 1TB
external 2.5" drives for $100 or less these days and that will give you
plenty of room to play with various distros, etc. Furthermore, 2.5"
drives are inherently more robust than 3.5" drives (smaller platters
flutter less). If you should choose the route of "rolling your own"
with an enclosure which you install your own drive into, get one of the
G-Shock type drives so that it will auto park if the drive happens to
get knocked off the desktop while in operation. You might recall that
IBM had a great commercial touting that technology a few years ago
before they sold their notebook business to Lenovo.<br>
Regards,</div>
<div>Greg Clifton<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Courtney
Thomas <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:courtneycthomas@bellsouth.net">courtneycthomas@bellsouth.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Ron,<br>
<br>
Thanks for the extensive replies.<br>
<br>
What would be the downside of using live CDs for various OSes and an<br>
external HD for data ?<br>
<br>
Appreciatively,<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Courtney<br>
</font>
<div>
<div class="h5"><br>
On 10/24/2011 10:53 AM, Ron Frazier wrote:<br>
> Courtney,<br>
><br>
> Here's my opinion of the pros and cons of HDD versus Flash (memory<br>
> stick). I don't know anything about (old style) ZIP drives, but I
think<br>
> they're pretty much obsolete. I'm not sure if that's what you
meant.<br>
><br>
> HDD Pros:<br>
><br>
> lots of storage<br>
> cheap price<br>
> could possibly convert to using the drive internally
in the<br>
> laptop<br>
> could use the drive later to backup your PC<br>
> more likely to be able to dual boot / multi boot<br>
><br>
> HDD Cons:<br>
><br>
> subject to mechanical damage (don't smack or drop it)<br>
> usually requires 2 USB ports<br>
> heavier<br>
> more bulky<br>
> requires more power (reduces battery run time)<br>
> slower (caveat - as mentioned in my other post, the
USB speed<br>
> may be the limiting factor)<br>
><br>
> Flash (memory stick) Pros:<br>
><br>
> small<br>
> light<br>
> requires only one USB port<br>
> draws less power (increases battery run time)<br>
> does not require an enclosure<br>
> faster (subject to limits of USB speed)<br>
><br>
> Flash (memory stick) Cons:<br>
><br>
> less storage space<br>
> more money per GB<br>
> harder to dual boot / multi boot (because of smaller
storage<br>
> capacity)<br>
> easier to lose or misplace<br>
> long term longevity is questionable (in my opinion)<br>
> subject to electronic damage (static)<br>
> (Have you ever walked across a carpet in the
winter,<br>
> touched a doorknob, and gotten a spark on your finger?)<br>
> (If you ever do something that sparks to the
memory<br>
> stick, even if you don't know it, it will probably destroy it.)<br>
> (I would say the memory stick is less likely to
incur<br>
> damage while traveling than the HDD.)<br>
><br>
><br>
> Regarding CD's, if you install your OS to the external HDD, you
can boot<br>
> directly from it if your PC has the capability to boot from USB.
You<br>
> don't need a CD. Also, another option is to put multiple operating<br>
> systems on your internal HDD. This is what I do. All my PC's can
dual<br>
> boot between Linux and Windows. You could potentially boot between<br>
> multiple versions of Linux as well.<br>
><br>
> Sincerely,<br>
><br>
> Ron<br>
><br>
><br>
> On 10/24/2011 3:40 AM, Courtney Thomas wrote:<br>
>> Ron,<br>
>><br>
>> Thank you for all the important concerns unconsidered by me at
this<br>
>> point, but it sounds like... I might be better advised to use
live CD<br>
>> distros with a portable HD (rather than zip drives) for
reliability and<br>
>> space.<br>
>><br>
>> If true, what am I giving up if going that route ? Speed ?<br>
>><br>
>> Gratefully,<br>
>><br>
>> Courtney<br>
>><br>
>> On 10/23/2011 12:37 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:<br>
>><br>
>>> Courtney,<br>
>>><br>
>>> What I'm discussing relates to using a memory stick for
your purpose.<br>
>>> Most of it won't apply if using a HDD for storage. I will
freely admit<br>
>>> to not being an expert in booting from a flash memory
stick. However,<br>
>>> here are some things to think about. You probably want a
high speed<br>
>>> memory stick. They have different class numbers. Higher
is better, and<br>
>>> they don't always say on the label. I don't have the
numbers<br>
>>> memorized. Get something of high quality. Pony up a few
extra dollars<br>
>>> for something with a 5 year warranty, rather than a 1
year. (That would<br>
>>> apply to a HDD too.) The device should have built in wear
leveling, and<br>
>>> should have SLC memory circuits which have greater
longevity. This is<br>
>>> also not usually on the label. Flash memory cells can
only be written a<br>
>>> certain number of times before they degrade. When I was
teaching at a<br>
>>> technical college, I always told the students not to rely
on a memory<br>
>>> stick for permanent storage. They can flake out
sometimes. The other<br>
>>> thread I had posted about my relative wanting to recover
photos is an<br>
>>> example. Obviously, storing an OS on the thing is a more
permanent<br>
>>> application, and you don't want any bits suddenly going
missing. I<br>
>>> would back up the entire memory stick from one to another
periodically,<br>
>>> which would get the OS as well as all your data. (This
also would apply<br>
>>> to a HDD.)<br>
>>><br>
>>> Here are a few items the Linux gurus here (I'm not one)
may wish to<br>
>>> address. You may not want a swap partition or file, since
a swap area<br>
>>> will pound the memory stick very hard if the system get's
low on<br>
>>> resources. There are pros and cons either way. Without
swap, if you<br>
>>> boot a PC with low RAM, and run too many things, the OS
may crash.<br>
>>> Also, you may wish to disable write caching to reduce the
likelihood of<br>
>>> damaging the OS if the memory stick is removed without
safely ejecting<br>
>>> it. The USB port may automatically disable write caching,
I don't know<br>
>>> about that.<br>
>>><br>
>>> In the past, I've heard of people running Linux on a
memory stick and<br>
>>> burning out the stick within a few months. That was a
while back, so<br>
>>> I'm not sure how the modern technology affects these
issues. Makers of<br>
>>> memory sticks, and SSD's, now say cell wear is not a
problem. That may<br>
>>> or may not be true, but I'm not totally convinced. While
I would like<br>
>>> to have an SSD, I'm not yet convinced that they can last 5
- 15 years,<br>
>>> the way a properly maintained and not mechanically damaged
HDD can.<br>
>>><br>
>>> Sincerely,<br>
>>><br>
>>> Ron<br>
>>><br>
>>> On 10/23/2011 11:42 AM, D. Marshall Lemcoe Jr. wrote:<br>
>>><br>
>>>> There are some very fine 32GB and 64GB in the sub-$100
price range and<br>
>>>> anything will suit a live-key. if you're going to be
traveling, the<br>
>>>> USB flash drive will be your better bet because there
is no chance of<br>
>>>> it breaking like a regular HDD might.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> As for the distribution, I would recommend something
that doesn't take<br>
>>>> a lot of setup and configuration to use, like Ubuntu
or Fedora.<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Jim Kinney<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:jim.kinney@gmail.com">jim.kinney@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>>> With the cost of removable media what it is, it's
feasable to have several<br>
>>>>> distros on a 250GB drive all sharing a /home and
selectable at boot from<br>
>>>>> grub.<br>
>>>>> Or carry a selection of live CD/DVD media and a
thumb drive for storage.<br>
>>>>> This is easier unless the laptop has no cd drive.
Older laptops may not be<br>
>>>>> able to boot from usb.<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>> On Oct 23, 2011 9:41 AM, "Richard Faulkner"<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:rfaulkner@34thprs.org">rfaulkner@34thprs.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>><br>
>>>>>> What is the most important feature of the OS?
Security? Media support?<br>
>>>>>> Something basic or something w/everything not
nailed down?<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----<br>
>>>>>> From: Richard
Bronosky<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Richard@Bronosky.com"><Richard@Bronosky.com></a><br>
>>>>>> Reply-to: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ale@ale.org">ale@ale.org</a>><br>
>>>>>> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ale@ale.org">ale@ale.org</a>><br>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [ale] Linux alternative
recommendation ?<br>
>>>>>> Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:02:53 -0400<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>> How much storage do you need? Could a flash
drive work? 32G or 64G?<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>> On Oct 23, 2011 8:27 AM, "Courtney Thomas"<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:courtneycthomas@bellsouth.net">courtneycthomas@bellsouth.net</a>><br>
>>>>>> wrote:<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>> I'd like to carry a portable Linux USB HD
installation for traveling<br>
>>>>>> with my laptop and would appreciate
suggestions, not only for which<br>
>>>>>> Linux flavor but also which drive.<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>> Thanks,<br>
>>>>>> C.Thomas<br>
>>>>>><br>
>>>>>><br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com
</pre>
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