Would MX-17 be easier on SSD than Windows?

[danielson]

With all these stories about read/write to SSD that slowly wear it out.
Was wondering if there would be a difference if using MX-17 as opposed to Windows?

[Richard]

Sounds like a great search line. Google for:
"Would MX-17 be easier on SSD than Windows?"

[Adrian]

I don't think you need to worry about SSD wear anymore unless you use it in a data center, for normal use the wear is irrelevant, the choice of OS even more so.

[chrispop99]

Because Linux has more configurability options than Windows, there are things you can do to reduce read/writes, but as Adrian says modern SSD's don't need it. Misconfiguration can also reduce a drive's life, so unless you are sure that you know what you are doing, better leave it alone.

Do bear in mind that whilst a mechanical drive may give some warning of failure, and even after failure may allow data recovery, SSD's die quickly, and don't normally allow for any data recovery from a dead drive. It is extremely important to back up valued data, and even more so if using an SSD.

On my main machine, I have a separate data disk, and put 'swap' there. I have also run laptops with a minimum of 4GB RAM, with no swap at all, and they ran fine. You can also reduce the amount of times the system uses swap, by reducing a value called 'swappiness'. (I do this on all my Linux machines, regardless of HDD type.) You can also disable time-stamping, which reduces write actions whenever a file is read.

I will just repeat, and say you don't need to do any of these things; drives made in recent years will generally outlast the rest of the system.

More information than you probably need is in the link below, which is written for Linux Mint, but has general applicability:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/ssd

Chris

[cyrilus31]

Many tests have been carried out and can be found on the web (I have only references in French). If I follow the trend I will have written 20 TB in 5 years, but a SSD can stand far much more (in normal condition and if no major issue occurs it's more than 100TBW)

[penguin]

With all these stories about read/write to SSD that slowly wear it out.
Was wondering if there would be a difference if using MX-17 as opposed to Windows?

For years we have used HDD. What is your problem? Technology is what it is. Still I have on work HDD produced on 2003. Sometimes an electronic piece is a faith. Everything can die in moment, without giving you a kiss.Technology grants/swear for Terabytes and Terabytes before a SSD dies, but has many that said: my new SSD has died after one week. Logically you have a life to write all Terabytes that producers said, but ....

Technical do not worry for SSD wear, practically make regular backups of your data.

[danielson]

Thank you guys for the good feedback!
Can never be reminded enough of regular data backup plan, that's for sure!

[entropyfoe]

Yes, as written above, the endurance (Tera bytes written) used to be a concern, but has been largely shown to be a non-concern. See this final segment from Techreport
https://techreport.com/review/27909/the ... e-all-dead, and read back to the earlier entries if your are interested. It put my fears to rest.

I put swap on the SSD, set swappiness to 1 and don't worry. My wife's Win 7 machine writes 10GB / day, and at that rate, the endurance will be longer than the Windows 7 will last (EOL in 2 years).

There is a difference, SSD retain data better when powered on. Rotating drives retain data better when powered off.
So that's my back-up strategy. Data lives on my SSDs, a 250 for OS and programs, a 1TB SSD for the data. But both get backed up (imaged or copied) onto the rotating drive for back-up.
And that drive is powered off 99% of the time, not wearing the bearings, no risk of crypto-lockers sec.

[asqwerth]

How are you backing up the 1TB SSD to the HDD? Manually or are you automating it via some software?

[entropyfoe]

I had two bad experiences with lucky backup, so now I do it manually.
On Win 7 I use the free synchback, which works great. I wish I could find a reliable program for MX linux as good as syncback.

For MX linux, I just copy and paste, skipping duplicate files.
My main systems have the switched internal drives, but I also have external eSATA or USB drives. This results in multiple copies, in a bank safety deposit box and at my Son's house.

Many copies.