Using SSD - experiences? Suggestions?

Hi

I have upgraded my ssd in my macbook (now 926 GB - instead of 256) and now have the 256 GB SSD which I thought I could use as the drive for my pogoplug (rootfs, swap(?), Music for LMS) instead of a 256 GB 2.5 HDD (power saving, access speed).

Do you have any experiences with SSD under debian on a pogoplug? What do I hve to look for? Partitioning? fstab options? TRIM? ...

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Rainer

@rkrug - I don't have any first hand experience ARM/SSD, more with flash drives and sd cards on ARM ... in any case :

Your device should recognise it as a SATA device, partitions can be created the same as a hard disc. Arch linux have an EXCELLENT help page on SSDs I recommend checking that out.

Partitions can be created with tools like fdisk or gparted gui on another linux box.

On my x86 machines I've used ext4 on SSD which seems to work OK. Debian has a help page for configuring SSD on Debian, also recommended reading.

My experiments with f2fs, I have to conclude that it's not yet mature enough. You're welcome to try it out, but not for anything that's "important" ! ... nice thing about f2fs is that overprovisioning is built into the filesystem.

In fstab you'll need to add a "discard" flag which from what I understand automagically gets trim up and running. You can also setup a manual trim for instance in the crontab. The Debian help page explains all this, plus options for telling the OS that it's not a rotational based device, and switching off settings which cause uncessary accesses to the SSD.

Overprovisioning is recommended between 7-28%. Enterprise use 28% as standard, from what I've read.

It's recommended not to do too much swapping on SSD as the memory cells "wear out". So there's a paramater you can tune called "swapiness", again Debian help guide goes into detail on this.

Power saving = no idea ... performance = set it up and benchmark it yourself.

I don't know the interface on pogoplug, assume it's SATA2, so that may be a bottleneck for perfomance on your pogo with an SSD. However it'll probably still be a lot faster than a hard drive.

Personally I'm not sure that a pogoplug is the best destination for a ex-Apple 256gb SSD - there are more applicable hardware platforms that would make better use of the SSD's performance. But it's your SSD at the end of the day !

Cheers

Don Charisma ... because anything is possible with Charisma

My blog - http://DonCharisma.org
Our commercial site - http://DonCharisma.com

@DonCharisma

Thanks for the useful info - I will go through the info (and the links) you provided.

I will see where the SSD ends - I might use it as an external HDD for my Mac after all?

Cheers,

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

I would have to concur, a 256GB SSD is kind of a waste on Pogoplug. I've tested a SSD and conventional 7200rpm 2.5 HD on my Pro booting off SATA and while there is a modest boost from the SSD, it's not enough to really make a difference. I do favor a small (~32GB) MSATA or M.2 SSD for a Plug which is used for GUI type high memory needs (w/ swap file) non-file sharing duties as this helps to overcome the RAM deficit. For your plans, best use of the SATA port is to connect a large fast conventional drive so that you maximize file sharing speed potential. And in your case I wouldn't worry about booting off of SATA, a Sandisk Ultra Fit 3.0 flash drive works really well and is pretty cheap on sale.

That is effectively what I am doing: A Transcend 32GB Flash Drive for booting / OS / swap and a 256GB 2.5" hdd for my music (running Logitech Media Server), as well as a 5TB HDD for backups (Time Machine from Mac, Duplicity from a Ubuntu computer as well as backup from the pogo plug using snapshot and cron).

Maybe move the swap to the 256GB hdd? I will have to do some tests.

You are referring to a SATA port - does the Pogoplug E02 (Pink) has a SATA port? If it has, I would use that one instead of the USB.

Thanks,

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

rkrug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You are referring to a SATA port - does the
> Pogoplug E02 (Pink) has a SATA port? If it has, I
> would use that one instead of the USB.

LOL, assumed you were talking about Oxnas (Pro / Classic) with built-in SATA port. If you are talking about Kirkwood E02 without SATA then the limitation is with the USB 2.0 interface so yes a large SSD is not necessarily the best use of that kind of device. I would look to update your boot flash drive as I have seen modest performance gains by booting off of a Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 drive. I realize that the Plugs have a USB 2.0 interface but the USB 3.0 flash drives seem to have better controllers and maximize the use of the USB 2.0 interface. And regarding swap file, I think rule of thumb is set it to max two times actual RAM size so for E02 you are looking at ~500MB.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2015 08:12AM by LeggoMyEggo.

Stupid me - obviously USB 2.0 is the bottleneck. Absolutely no need for an SSD. I will look into the Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 drives, but I guess I will leave it as it is at the moment.

Thanks for pointing out the USB 2.0,

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

rkrug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Stupid me - obviously USB 2.0 is the bottleneck.
> Absolutely no need for an SSD. I will look into
> the Sandisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 drives, but I guess
> I will leave it as it is at the moment.
>
> Thanks for pointing out the USB 2.0,
>
> Rainer

The exact name is Sandisk Cruzer Ultra Fit USB 3.0. It is fast. Not as fast as the Extreme version. But the Ultra Fit has a very small profile so it's great for tight space.

-bodhi
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You are referring to this one: http://www.sandisk.com/products/usb/drives/ultra-fit3/ - Correct?

This looks like a good option and it is rather cheap. I think I will order one (or two...).

Thanks a lot,

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

rkrug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You are referring to this one:
> http://www.sandisk.com/products/usb/drives/ultra-f
> it3/ - Correct?
>
> This looks like a good option and it is rather
> cheap. I think I will order one (or two...).
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
> Rainer

Yes, that's the one. This Cruzer Ultra Fit is very small. Pretty fast, I could get up to 130 MBs as advertised. The Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0 version is even faster, but its size is normal, not tiny like the Cruzer Ultra Fit.

-bodhi
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Thanks.

The Ultra Fit is really nice and small - but as the pogo plug is just sitting on the shelve, it does not make such a big difference for me.

Do you have any numbers how much faster the Extreme USB 3.0?

They are only 8 Euro difference in price (32GB version), and the physical size does not bother me that much. And I can do some over provisioning with it - I will think about it later.

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

I have both 16GB Ultra Fit 3.0 and 16GB Extreme 3.0 (if you watch the deal sites you can get good deals on both the Ultra Fit and the Extreme) and there is no difference that I can tell in performance when using on Pogoplug. The Extreme is longer in real life than it looks in the marketing photos so it ends up sticking out more than an old style wifi adapter. That extra length makes it a perfect lever to end up snapping the stick at the base. If we were talking use over USB 3.0 than the Extreme has the edge as it's got the best controller out there but over USB 2.0 it's not worth the added cost nor space it takes up behind or in front of the Plug. The Ultra Fit is perfect for the Plug installed right above the front LED as the Ultra Fit has a disk access light that lights up it's face and it takes up virtually no space at all. The only thing I can't speak of is long term reliability as I haven't read any reviews that give some insight into it.

rkrug,

> Do you have any numbers how much faster the
> Extreme USB 3.0?

I did not record the speeds and don't remember exactly, but was very impressed how fast it was (of course on a USB 3.0 port). Someone did and posted review at Amazon that claimed the measured Read speed close to the advertised number: 245MB/s (Write speed is slower).

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2015 04:51AM by bodhi.

As I am talking Pogoplug (and therefore USB 2.0) I will then go for the Ultra Fit.

Thanks everybody,

Rainert

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault

I took a picture of both with ruler so you can see the difference:

Ultra Fit vs Extreme Size Photo

Thanks - the Extreme is really quite long.

Rainer

===========================
Blog: https://rmkrug.wordpress.com/

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): Logitech media server

1 x Pogoplug E02 (pink): FTP server only (throw away configuration - quick to rebuild)

1 x GoFlex Net: running OpenMediaVault