SSD Drive size for Client/Server

[panteragstk]

What size ssd would you guys recommend for either a client or server? I'm using a 30gb for my client and I started using my emulators again so suddenly it isn't enough to store everything. Not a big deal, but up until now 30gb was more than enough. I've still got 6gb free so no issues, but the roms take up quite a bit of room on my "extra" hard drive in the client. Similar situation with the server. I am looking to get a 60gb drive, but think I may want to up that to 120gb just to avoid any issues. I think 120gb may be the minimum drive I'd get when buying a new drive.

What do you guys think?

[PLUCKYHD]

What size ssd would you guys recommend for either a client or server? I'm using a 30gb for my client and I started using my emulators again so suddenly it isn't enough to store everything. Not a big deal, but up until now 30gb was more than enough. I've still got 6gb free so no issues, but the roms take up quite a bit of room on my "extra" hard drive in the client. Similar situation with the server. I am looking to get a 60gb drive, but think I may want to up that to 120gb just to avoid any issues. I think 120gb may be the minimum drive I'd get when buying a new drive.

What do you guys think?

120gb min they have a good deal over at newegg on the vertex 2 (wouldn't waste your money on the vertex 3 yet). 250g if you can afford it. I just did mine this weekend be sure you clean install and don't just clone. I cloned originally and didn't see much performance because it wasn't aligned correctly. Fresh install and everything is zippier notice quite a bit of zippier on the extenders.

[evilpenguin]

I bet you could just buy a 32 GB flash or SDHC card and run the roms from there.

[MattHelm]

I use 15GB system size, so I am NO help. :D

[panteragstk]

I bet you could just buy a 32 GB flash or SDHC card and run the roms from there.

Good idea, I didn't think of that. I have a card reader built into the case too.

[Zuhkov]

I'd say 120GB minimum, but I'd be careful if you think there's a chance you might completely fill that space. You'll want to have a decent amount of free space to help out with wear-leveling and prevent performance degradation. The excellent Vertex 2 that Plucky is recommending can enter a state of severely reduced performance (that can only be fixed by a secure erase of the drive) if you manage to fill all the blocks and the spare area with largely incompressible data, which is a lot of what we deal with on our HTPC/DVR/Media Servers.

I was considering a 120GB SSD for my new server build until I realized that the system partition on my current server is already at 100GB. I'm pretty bad at controlling creep space-wise (an attempt at self-control through self-awareness), so I'm going with a 240GB SSD for my build.

I think EP has the right idea, though. Why do you need to store your ROMs on your OS drive/partition? I've spent a great deal of time renaming, organizing, and folderizing my ROMs and I keep them on a separate partition so that I can wipe and reinstall the OS of my HTPC at will and not worry about the ROMs. If you were to go that route, you could probably get a 120GB SSD (which seems to be the sweet spot price-wise at the moment) and a 1TB HDD (I'm partial to the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB for ~$60) and get the best of both worlds (sweet performance and lots of space) for a heck of a lot less than a 240GB SSD.

One final bit of advice on SSDs, get one from a good brand with a good controller. It makes a world of difference. Seriously. The 120GB Vertex 2 Plucky recommends would probably be my recommendation as well for best combination of price and performance. Regardless, I'd get something from Intel, Micron/Crucial (same company), or another brand that uses a Sandforce controller like that OCZ Vertex 2.

Out of curiousity, do you use any multi-platform frontend as the interface to your emulator experience? I've been using Hyperspin on my HTPC, but I'm curious what others are doing.

[Fuzzy]

I wouldn't use an SSD in a client, personally... it just never really accesses the drive enough to make it worth it. As for the ROM's, I'd just stick them on the server, and share them to the client if space is a concern (though if you put in a cheap old 120GB HDD, you will have plenty of space for the OS and ROMs).

[PLUCKYHD]

I wouldn't use an SSD in a client, personally... it just never really accesses the drive enough to make it worth it. As for the ROM's, I'd just stick them on the server, and share them to the client if space is a concern (though if you put in a cheap old 120GB HDD, you will have plenty of space for the OS and ROMs).

I have to disagree (never happened with us before). To me on the client I would want a ssd for increase boot/sleep times and increased performance all around.

[Skirge01]

I wouldn't use an SSD in a client, personally... it just never really accesses the drive enough to make it worth it. As for the ROM's, I'd just stick them on the server, and share them to the client if space is a concern (though if you put in a cheap old 120GB HDD, you will have plenty of space for the OS and ROMs).

I've done the same, but not all emulators work with UNC paths. Also, CHDs take up tons of space, so a 120GB won't cut it if you use those. There's actually a 520GB torrent out there for MESS. :eek:

[evilpenguin]

I have to disagree (never happened with us before). To me on the client I would want a ssd for increase boot/sleep times and increased performance all around.Also, SSD can make a silent client too, which in itself almost makes it worth it.

[panteragstk]

Trust me an ssd in the client helps quite a bit. I've used both and the performance difference is huge. Access time alone is worth it. I got a cheap kingston 30gb drive and it has been rock solid. I already have a spare drive in the client for the roms and it is an old drive (loud) and I'd like to go back to silent. The sd card idea should be perfect assuming the roms don't take up that much room. I'll have to look later today. I did have them on the server and the software I use doesn't like UNC paths. That is the only reason I had to move them to a local drive.

As for the server and my gaming rig I'll go 120gb or higher. My gaming rig only has a 160gb drive now (I've been lazy about installing my games) so I know that size will work for a boot drive. I'd have to get something huge to go ssd only on that rig. The server should be fine with 120gb as the OS partition is that big and hardly fills half.

[Fuzzy]

I've got an old laptop hardrive in my client, and it wakes from s3 sleep much faster than my tv turns on. Also, being a laptop drive, it too, is effectively silent.

[panteragstk]

I've got an old laptop hardrive in my client, and it wakes from s3 sleep much faster than my tv turns on. Also, being a laptop drive, it too, is effectively silent.

I don't let my client sleep so I can't test that. It isn't so much for startup then it is for fanart to pop onto the screen instantly. Sage just "feels" faster than it did with my mechanical drive. Everything happens instantly. My cheapo ssd's read/write isn't any faster than my caviar black 1tb drive, but the access time is almost nothing (0.1 last time I checked).

Having said all of that I built the client in my sig all at once. It never had a mechanical drive, but the old client (now my server) is the one I'm referencing.

[Fuzzy]

The only fanart I ever end up seeing is banners, which are pretty small. Perhaps that's why I've never had a speed problem.

[PLUCKYHD]

The only fanart I ever end up seeing is banners, which are pretty small. Perhaps that's why I've never had a speed problem.

I wouldn't say you have a problem it's more you just don't know what you are missing (which isn't a bad thing either as it saves money ;) )

[jorton]

I'm using a 120GB Vertex2 on Server and 60GB Vertex2 on my main Client. Not sure how much difference it makes on the Client with local fanart caching but it is really quiet and responsive.

I really only run Sagetv/Playon/MyMoviesCollecitonMgr/Showanalyzer on my server with the fanart stored/shared on the SSD. I did notice that the Showanalyzer logs take up a lot of space so I make sure to delete them every few weeks. I think at one point there was about 16GB of analyzer logs...

J

[Fuzzy]

I wouldn't say you have a problem it's more you just don't know what you are missing (which isn't a bad thing either as it saves money ;) )

Well, the fanart I use gets loaded faster than the repeat cycle on my remote, so any faster wouldn't gain anything...

[Savage1701]

If you run it on Vista or Win 7, an SSD will automatically align. Try and make sure your SATA ports/controller support TRIM, or that your drive has built in Garbage Collection, as most now do.

If you run on XP, you must manually align drive geometry to prolong flash life and enjoy speed-ups. I have tested aligned vs. non-aligned on XP, and it makes a huge difference. And, again, it will make the drive last far longer since it is one of the main things that can cut down on write amplification.

Vertex drives use SandForce controllers. They tend to be great for stuff like this, but don't toss out drives with (especially) Samsung or Toshiba controllers. Samsung controllers are awesome, as are some Toshiba controllers.

OCZ has great resources for aligning your drive if using XP and maximizing its overall life expectancy.

I'm with the others - I would go 120GB, but don't format a full 120GB partition to install the OS on. Leave some extra, unformatted flash, maybe 15GB worth at least. The SandForce controller will look to it for "fresh" cells and it will lengthen the drive's life expectancy and keep it speedy. Sort of a "poor man's overprovisioning".

[stevech]

I opt'd to use a 64GB SSD for the boot disk and put all data on local or network drives. Haven't used half the SSD yet.

[panteragstk]

If you run it on Vista or Win 7, an SSD will automatically align. Try and make sure your SATA ports/controller support TRIM, or that your drive has built in Garbage Collection, as most now do.

If you run on XP, you must manually align drive geometry to prolong flash life and enjoy speed-ups. I have tested aligned vs. non-aligned on XP, and it makes a huge difference. And, again, it will make the drive last far longer since it is one of the main things that can cut down on write amplification.

Vertex drives use SandForce controllers. They tend to be great for stuff like this, but don't toss out drives with (especially) Samsung or Toshiba controllers. Samsung controllers are awesome, as are some Toshiba controllers.

OCZ has great resources for aligning your drive if using XP and maximizing its overall life expectancy.

I'm with the others - I would go 120GB, but don't format a full 120GB partition to install the OS on. Leave some extra, unformatted flash, maybe 15GB worth at least. The SandForce controller will look to it for "fresh" cells and it will lengthen the drive's life expectancy and keep it speedy. Sort of a "poor man's overprovisioning".

The sandforce drives will automatically leave spare area. The 120gb drives are actually 128gb drives that leave an extra 8gb. The 240gb drives are 256gb drives.

So day before yesterday some moron decided to go across a median and take out a telephone pole and knock out my electricity. I have my htpc and server on a ups (each on their own) but for some reason my htpc will no longer boot. It thinks my ssd is corrupt. It can read it just fine, but it can't repair it and refuses to boot. WTF? Right after I fix EVERY issue I've ever had with sage v7 this happens. Not cool. So I copied all of the sage directory of the "corrupt" ssd so I can format and reinstall. Hopefully all of the experience with decoders and everything else will pay off and it will just work.

Anyone got any ideas to restore this back to working condition without a reinstall?

[panteragstk]

I opt'd to use a 64GB SSD for the boot disk and put all data on local or network drives. Haven't used half the SSD yet.

For my server I have only used 20gb of drive space, but it is xp. My HTPC only uses 25gb, so in theory a 60gb drive for both would work, but I'm all for preparing for the future so 120gb minimum for new drives.

[stevech]

Ah hindsight.

I clone the boot drive every month or so to a different drive so that target is immediately bootable.
I also drive image and SecondCopy Sage (and other) directories.

[evilpenguin]

For my server I have only used 20gb of drive space, but it is xp. My HTPC only uses 25gb, so in theory a 60gb drive for both would work, but I'm all for preparing for the future so 120gb minimum for new drives.You can keep a pretty trim system in Win 7 as well. Just did a backup of my C: drive i'm using only 14.8 GB right now and once its compressed and optimized the backup itself is only 5.7 GB :)

[Savage1701]

The sandforce drives will automatically leave spare area. The 120gb drives are actually 128gb drives that leave an extra 8gb. The 240gb drives are 256gb drives.

So day before yesterday some moron decided to go across a median and take out a telephone pole and knock out my electricity. I have my htpc and server on a ups (each on their own) but for some reason my htpc will no longer boot. It thinks my ssd is corrupt. It can read it just fine, but it can't repair it and refuses to boot. WTF? Right after I fix EVERY issue I've ever had with sage v7 this happens. Not cool. So I copied all of the sage directory of the "corrupt" ssd so I can format and reinstall. Hopefully all of the experience with decoders and everything else will pay off and it will just work.

Anyone got any ideas to restore this back to working condition without a reinstall?

Right, I was referring to leaving additional flash - overprovisioning - above and beyond the 8GB already reserved. I do this with mine. Enterprise-class drives, which is really what we are asking most of our 24x7x365 Sage Servers to be, would typically have overprovisioning of 37%. Sparing out 8GB is about 7% reserve.

I've had similar issues to your power failure messing up the SSD. I hate to say it, but as long as you can read from the SSD that's a really good sign the SSD is ok hardware-wise but, unfortunately, you may have to re-install.

One thing-did the power failure alter any BIOS settings or cause you MB to look to a secondary BIOS? For example, if your drive was set to AHCI and your MB defaulted back to SATA as IDE, that would stop it from booting. Or could it have gotten moved down the chain of boot devices? Just a couple things to check before a re-install. I've had power failure screw up my MB settings and then they just default back to factory settings, for example.

[panteragstk]

Ah hindsight.

I clone the boot drive every month or so to a different drive so that target is immediately bootable.
I also drive image and SecondCopy Sage (and other) directories.

Yeah, well I had gotten behind on my backups. The newest one was too old, but oh well. I guess quite a few files were corrupt, because there were quite a few files missing. Everything has been reinstalled now and is ok. I'm going to make an image later today.

[stevech]

SecondCopy automates my backups of critical data files, financial info, photos, in between imaging and cloning.

[panteragstk]

SecondCopy automates my backups of critical data files, financial info, photos, in between imaging and cloning.

Thanks, I needed that. I knew there was something that did that, but I couldn't remember.

[stevech]

SecondCopy is reliable and cheap.

[Zuhkov]

One just announced option worth considering:

60GB OCZ Agility 3

MSRP $135 for near Vertex 3 levels of performance (based on OCZ claims, haven't seen any reviews yet).

Is it overkill speed-wise? Probably, but you're not likely to be here unless you're pretty good at rationalization, so...