<p>Thanks to flooding in Thailand and bozo planning by all 3 major hard drive makers, SSDs may be our only viable storage option other than tape.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Oct 27, 2011 7:47 PM, "Ron Frazier" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com">atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi all,<br>
<br>
In another recent thread, the subject of SSD and flash memory<br>
reliability came up, although that wasn't the title of the subject. I<br>
want to explore that a bit. In the other thread, I said I have<br>
personally seen failures in memory sticks, memory cards, a GPS that<br>
suddenly refused to work and refused initially to take a firmware<br>
update, and routers that occasionally flake out and need to have their<br>
firmware refreshed. I also pointed out this quote from the Kingston<br>
website, which someone else linked to:<br>
<br>
<quote on><br>
<br>
Flash storage devices are not infallible and can have their data damaged<br>
due to factors mentioned above. It is important to backup important<br>
information on multiple media or even print them on paper for long-term<br>
storage. Do not store important data solely on Flash storage devices.<br>
<br>
<quote off><br>
<br>
Now, it was pointed out that memory sticks and SSD's are not exactly the<br>
same. But, they are very similar technologies. SSD's are all the rage<br>
now, and almost everybody in the technical community is going nuts over<br>
them, adopting them like crazy, and replacing boot drives everywhere.<br>
It is my feeling that these devices do not have the long term<br>
reliability that we've come to expect from HDD's. And, of course, HDD's<br>
are not exceedingly reliable. However, some HDD's can and do last 5 -<br>
10 years when properly maintained. I am concerned that SSD's are are<br>
being adopted so rapidly, sometimes for mission critical applications.<br>
In a non mission critical situation, even if family photos and such are<br>
not mission critical, it's still very very emotionally wrenching when<br>
they're lost. Now, I'm sure almost everyone reading this would agree<br>
that routine on site and off site backups are a good idea. However,<br>
since we're all human, I'd bet some of you don't always do the backups<br>
as often as you should. I know I'm guilty. I'll also bet that most of<br>
our families and friends outside of this group hardly backup at all, if<br>
at all.<br>
<br>
So, my question to the group is this:<br>
<br>
If you don't have an SSD, do you want or intend to get one to replace a<br>
primary HDD?<br>
<br>
If you get one, or if you have one, do you feel that your data on that<br>
device is in more danger and is more fragile than it would be on a HDD?<br>
<br>
I might be inclined to get an SSD if I had the money. However, at this<br>
point, I have fairly serious misgivings about the long term reliability<br>
of the technology.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
<br>
<a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://c3energy.com" target="_blank">c3energy.com</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br>
</blockquote></div>