Re: Home Directory in SSD

Hi,

First of all, I apologize for starting an off-topic discussion.

i'm using an Intel 535 Series 120GB SSD. So I believe that it is 
reliable and good quality product.

I don't have any videos in any of my computers, all of them are moved to 
DVDs and I consider them as unnecessary. I have only work related 
documents, software, source code (in sync with my git server in a VPS) 
that I'm working on etc in my computers. And some other personal 
documents, pictures etc.

I have installed the entire OS in the SSD now. But considering the 
failure rate of all SSDs in common, I'm thinking of creating a partition 
for /home in the HDD and mount it during boot. But as I have already 
created /home in the SSD, I have to move that to the new partition in 
HDD now. I can leave /root in the SSD itself, as suggested by Matus 
UHLAR in the other email thread. This method will secure the user data 
on the fly, even though there is a compromise in performance (not a big 
deal).

I have a 1TB External HDD, which I'm using to take backup of all my data 
once in a month. As an alternative, I can keep the /home in the SSD 
itself and take regular backups once in a week. This method is okay, but 
I think I will avoid this method as there is still a risk of loosing the 
/home data if the SSD fails in between the backup period.

Thanks,
Jos Collin

On 02/07/2016 04:41 AM, Aleksandar Atanasov wrote:
> Backups are usually supposed to be done on a different storage device
> than the one that is actively used. I wouldn't include the "backup
> scenario" here unless Jos is doing backups of a storage device onto the
> storage device itself (if that is the case I would strongly recommend
> NOT to do that).
>
> As for the quality of SSDs - yes, it has improved greatly (example for
> some test of longevity:
> http://techreport.com/review/27436/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-two-freaking-petabytes).
> I have read however that SSDs are much more susceptible to power failure
> compared to HDDs leading to a higher data corruption in case a poor
> electrical grid is used to power the device up. However in terms of
> protecting your data from shocks (dropping the notebook onto the floor)
> SSDs are definitely much better. Because of the mechanics that are
> involved in HDDs, such drives are less suitable for the task of storing
> data on mobile devices.
>
> Needless to say both HDDs and SSDs are not meant for long term storage.
> That is way things like tape drives are still produced and widely
> popular among people who work with servers (in terms of longevity,
> capacity etc. tape storage blows both HDDs and SSDs away by a lot but
> the main issue there is definitely the steep price for the device that
> are used to read those).
>
> My suggestion, Jos, is to start looking at various tech reports with
> tests and detailed description of the scenarios those tests were
> performed for so that you can decide for yourself what to do. I'm
> backing up my data on a regular basis to an external drive (even have a
> tape drive here somewhere but there seems to be some problem with it (or
> with Linux using it :D)) and if it wasn't for the fact that my Vaio is
> more than 6 years old and has a SATA2 (yes...TWO) I would have changed
> my HDD for an SSD long ago. If your notebook is mostly stationary (as a
> desktop replacement) you can go with a SSD (for regularly used files) +
> HDD (for less regularly used files) combo. SSDs are relatively new but I
> do believe they will replace the HDDs in the near future because - let's
> face it - in terms of innovation the HDD-departament isn't doing that
> much except increasing the storage density which will also stop at one
> point.
>
> Regards,
> Alex
>
>
> On 02/06/2016 11:00 PM, Tom Dial wrote:
>> Doing regular backups takes pretty good care of device failure.
>> Depending on how it is done, it also can help recover from accidents
>> other than equipment failure, like deleting files in error.
>>
>> That said, I have read that for some time SSD reliability has been at
>> least on a par with HDDs.  And you also do not want to have to recover
>> data from a failed HDD.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>> On 02/06/2016 07:00 AM, Jos Collin wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have Debian/testing installed completely in my 120GB SSD. I have
>>> learned that if an SSD fails, it is difficult to recover data from them.
>>> An SSD often does not give much warning before it fails.
>>> Electronic components don’t begin to grind or buzz as they grow older.
>>> They work – and then they don’t.
>>>
>>> So do I have to consider this risk and move the /home and /root
>>> directories to an HDD as they contain the Personal Data of each user,
>>> and only keep the Operating System files in the SSD ? How do you people
>>> keep the /home and /root directories, when you install the OS in an SSD
>>> ? (I have an Ultrabay Caddy, in which I can connect the HDD also in my
>>> Thinkpad T61).
>>>
>>> Please advice.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Jos Collin
>>>
>>>