[ale] semi OT - to SSD or not to SSD

[Jim Kinney]

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.
On Oct 27, 2011 7:47 PM, "Ron Frazier" <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> In another recent thread, the subject of SSD and flash memory
> reliability came up, although that wasn't the title of the subject.  I
> want to explore that a bit.  In the other thread, I said I have
> personally seen failures in memory sticks, memory cards, a GPS that
> suddenly refused to work and refused initially to take a firmware
> update, and routers that occasionally flake out and need to have their
> firmware refreshed.  I also pointed out this quote from the Kingston
> website, which someone else linked to:
>
> <quote on>
>
> Flash storage devices are not infallible and can have their data damaged
> due to factors mentioned above. It is important to backup important
> information on multiple media or even print them on paper for long-term
> storage. Do not store important data solely on Flash storage devices.
>
> <quote off>
>
> Now, it was pointed out that memory sticks and SSD's are not exactly the
> same.  But, they are very similar technologies.  SSD's are all the rage
> now, and almost everybody in the technical community is going nuts over
> them, adopting them like crazy, and replacing boot drives everywhere.
> It is my feeling that these devices do not have the long term
> reliability that we've come to expect from HDD's.  And, of course, HDD's
> are not exceedingly reliable.  However, some HDD's can and do last 5 -
> 10 years when properly maintained.  I am concerned that SSD's are are
> being adopted so rapidly, sometimes for mission critical applications.
> In a non mission critical situation, even if family photos and such are
> not mission critical, it's still very very emotionally wrenching when
> they're lost.  Now, I'm sure almost everyone reading this would agree
> that routine on site and off site backups are a good idea.  However,
> since we're all human, I'd bet some of you don't always do the backups
> as often as you should.  I know I'm guilty.  I'll also bet that most of
> our families and friends outside of this group hardly backup at all, if
> at all.
>
> So, my question to the group is this:
>
> If you don't have an SSD, do you want or intend to get one to replace a
> primary HDD?
>
> If you get one, or if you have one, do you feel that your data on that
> device is in more danger and is more fragile than it would be on a HDD?
>
> I might be inclined to get an SSD if I had the money.  However, at this
> point, I have fairly serious misgivings about the long term reliability
> of the technology.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
> --
>
> (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
>
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