[PLUG] What's wrong with moving parts? [Was: Running Linux, from a USB key?]

[JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org>]

> Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 13:37:50 -0500
> From: Randall A Sindlinger<rsindlin+plug@seas.upenn.edu>
>
> Maybe I'm old-fashioned already.

I dunno about you, but I am...


> What's wrong with moving parts?

They wear out & break.  (You asked... :)


> I can understand the extraordinary benefits
> of no moving parts in a laptop or netbook.  But in a server?  Is this for a
> client on the San Andreas Fault?  Or are you running this in the back of a
> semi like on Knight Rider?

For a normal server, I agree.  I like the SSD in my Mini-9.

I'm talking about a dedicated backup server that lives *inside* a 
fire-resistant safe.  Power and Ethernet come in via a small hole that 
was pre-drilled by the manufacturer to allow lights or a dehumidifier, 
so it's "legit."  I ended up with that config partly because fewer parts 
to move & break just seemed like a Good Idea, and partly because the 
original machine is intended to be used embedded so it had the CF-Card 
option (so no moving parts at all).  Now it's partly habit, and partly 
the fact that having the OS *not* be on the drive was really handy when 
the drive died, and/or I had to replace it with a bigger one.


> Seriously, are solid state devices at the point of being able to compete
> with spinning disk for data transfer rates, capacity, and longevity beyond
> their hands-down superior anti-shock ruggedness?

Certainly not for capacity, or price/GB, I dunno about your other 
points.  But we're not even talking about a for-real SSD.  I'm talking 
about a quick/dirty/cheap/easy USB key "solution."

My $0.02,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug