[Discuss] ssd's in linux

[dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Fri, Nov 08, 2013 at 06:15:32AM -0500, Stephen Adler wrote:
> Guys,
> 
> I'm thinking of upgrading my linux system by adding an SSD drive to
> use as my system disk. Has anyone done this? Any pros and cons
> regarings using SSD's? I'm more intrested in the cons. I'm worried
> about the life expectancy since there is a limited number of writes
> one can do to the NAND memory. Do I need to setup a raid array to
> ensure the SSD contents are correct?
> 

Here's the method I'm considering using on my house desktop -- not a server.

1 SSD and a pair of mirrored HDs.

The SSD will have /boot and two partitions for caching with
flashcache.

The RAID will have a second /boot, /, /home, and swap. / and
/home will be cached on the SSD. Every so often I will copy
/boot over from the SSD to the RAID.

The SSD acts as a giant, nonvolatile cache for the RAID; I
expect to normally have my entire working set available through
it. Meanwhile, I generally get the storage capacity and
reliability of the RAID mirror.

I've run an experiment along these lines and it seems promising.

-dsr-