[mythtv-users] Australian components

[Craig Sanders]

On Wed, Jan 07, 2009 at 12:59:09PM +0900, Phil Wild wrote:
> ssd storage has a limited number of write times prior to failure. Not
> sure how this would be impacted in a PVR type environment with
> frequent overwriting of large areas of the disk (continual
> timeshifting).
> 
> I am sure this will be overcome at some stage though....

it has already been overcome for all practical purposes. several years
ago. the underlying hardware has many times (100s or 1000s) the inherent
write lifetime as older tech flash ram, and the drives themselves have
wear-levelling built-in, plus there are several filesystems around that
also have wear-levelling.

the expected write lifetime of modern SSDs is several years of
*continuous* (i.e. non-stop thrash thrash thrash) writing.

lifespan for normal write patterns would be far higher. with normal
usage patterns, SSDs will last *at least* as long as current HDDs (in my
experience, 1-2 years.  3 years tops)


and an SSD used only as a boot drive with hardly any writing would last
until long after every component in the machine was years obsolete and
the entire machine could be replaced with something better, faster,
and using less power for $20 (i.e. effectively forever).

a 4 or 8GB SSD would be better as a boot drive than 30GB, but going to
that size pretty much means using CF and an IDE adaptor. much cheaper
than an SSD, but most CF available today is older and much slower tech
than the new SSDs.

in short: it's not worth worrying about the lifespan of SSDs any more.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>