SSD for Windows 2000?

[Operandi]

Alright so I'm working on a pretty old (early 2000s) analog video surveillance system that’s been running 24/7 on the original hardware aside from a motherboard recap since the day it was put into service, unsurprisingly the HD is starting to go after 8+ years of constant spinning (bad sectors, SMART warnings).

This was a pretty high-end system when it was new and its still pretty capable (16 cameras, really good motion detection, ect.) and really only limited by the low res nature of analog cameras so I think its worth fixing up and upping the capacity.

I would like to go with a large SATA HD and small SSD for the OS and software. The issue is I think I'm stuck with 2000 (or maybe XP??) due to proprietary capture card drivers. Are there any SSDs out there that will work with 2000 due to its lack of TRIM and how to deal with SSDs in general?

 

[Insomniator]

What is the point of an SSD in this case...?

Also it looks like Windows 2000 likes SSDs! http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ssd-hdd-sata,6719.html

 

[Anteaus]

If it's going to continue surveillance you might as well just stay with pure HDD. Once it's running its running. Also, your old SATA interface will likely bottleneck whatever you put in there, whether it be HDD or SSD. 0.02

 

[Operandi]

SSD would only be for the enhanced reliability factor (no moving parts). Its not really a need but I like having separate drives for OS, programs and another drive for data storage and given the high prices of HDs a SSD just seemed like a good idea.

 

[Coup27]

What is the point of an SSD in this case...?

As above. Once the OS is loaded thats it. You have to have a HDD for the video recording so its not like you can move entirely to solid state. Apart from a reduced boot up which'll happen a couple of times a year there really isn't any point moving to an SSD in this scenario.

Though to answer one of your questions, if you were using an SSD in an environment without TRIM support, you would be best off with an SSD which does as much "on-the-fly" GC as possible, these candiates would be any Intel drive, SF-2281 or the OCZ Octane. Not having TRIM in this case wouldn't really matter either though because once Windows is loaded it just sits there.

 

[Anteaus]

SSD would only be for the enhanced reliability factor (no moving parts). Its not really a need but I like having separate drives for OS, programs and another drive for data storage and given the high prices of HDs a SSD just seemed like a good idea.

The price per GB for a HD is far lower than an SSD, so if price was a factor a HDD system drive is still the better deal. I don't buy the whole "no moving parts therefore more reliable" thing, but I can see the logic. Realistically though, assuming that whatever you buy isn't DOA, a decent HDD will be just as reliable as a SSD in this application. Given that the system is primarily for video recording, coupled with the fact that you're running older software and unlikely going to use it for anything else, a SSD is a fun idea but in practice it's like putting shiny wheels on an older car.


Either way you go, good luck! You certainly won't lose anything going with SSD so if you really want to I say go for it. It's just hard to justify from a performance stand point.

 

[Operandi]

I don't buy the whole "no moving parts therefore more reliable" thing, but I can see the logic.

Why not? Anything with moving parts is going to experience wear, a SSD as long as the firmware is solid (Intel & Samsung) and the drive isn’t getting excessive writes day in and day out it should last damn near forever.

Your right a HD for the OS and programs would still be a better deal but that’s very dependent on whoever is in charge of maintaining this system keeps good backups. As far as I can tell the company that built the software is no longer around so if the OS drive were to go down they would be in pretty rough spot trying to get up and going again.

 

[Anteaus]

Why not? Anything with moving parts is going to experience wear, a SSD as long as the firmware is solid (Intel & Samsung) and the drive isn’t getting excessive writes day in and day out it should last damn near forever.

But we really aren't talking about forever. This computer will likely be replaced one way or another in the next 1-5 years. Any SSD you buy today will be vintage in 6-12 months in regards to tech. A good HDD will give you the same service life that a SSD will get you, assuming you aren't powering it on and off constantly. Anyways, I'm not trying ot be anti-SSD because they are amazing devices. I just mean that in this particular application it's vanity.

You just got almost a decade of use out of your previous HDD. Whatever you buy, theres always the chance it will brick unexpectedly.

 

[ChippyUK]

Geesh, you guys act like a 64gb SSD costs an arm and a leg which it doesn't these days.

It's only an OS install plus a few apps so it should be fine and be far more responsive. Go for it if you can justify the spend to yourself

 

[Anteaus]

lol true

 

[Operandi]

Any SSD you buy today will be vintage in 6-12 months in regards to tech. A good HDD will give you the same service life that a SSD will get you, assuming you aren't powering it on and off constantly.

A good hard drive will probably last several years but anything with moving parts is just that much more likely to fail and there isn't really any way to predict when, its just a game of odds. SSDs biggest advantage is the inherently more reliable nature of "sold state".

Anyway, it sounds like 2000 should be ok, so I'll probably go with a 40GB Intel drive.

 

[Blain]

Since reliability is a concern here...
Do you have the system protected behind a quality AVR type UPS?
After all, SSD's aren't in danger of parts physically wearing out, but they are just as susceptible to electronic fluctuation as any other component.

 

[God Mode]

I'd look for a cheap 16-32gb slc ssd for those criterias.

 

[exdeath]

Since reliability is a concern here...
Do you have the system protected behind a quality AVR type UPS?
After all, SSD's are in danger of parts physically wearing out, but they are just as susceptible to electronic fluctuation as any other component.

This. Power management is crucial for SSD reliability. All you need is some unstable bad power or an outage for a flash program cycle to be interrupted or CRC failure for the controller to mistake it for a critical error and panic lock and the drive disappear.

 

[iluvdeal]

Why not upgrade the whole shebang? Image/video quality should be of utmost importance in a surveillance system. Since you have low rez analog cams now, I'd upgrade those before anything else. Then you can post stuff like this to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5uIH0VTg_o

 

[Cerb]

I would like to go with a large SATA HD and small SSD for the OS and software. The issue is I think I'm stuck with 2000 (or maybe XP??) due to proprietary capture card drivers. Are there any SSDs out there that will work with 2000 due to its lack of TRIM and how to deal with SSDs in general?

I would go with just HDD, but any good SSD aught to do. If the cameras are recording to the HDD, you don't need anything special from the SSD. It will mostly be a read-only device.

Trim was only a big deal because many users wanted speed over quality, and it was used as a salve for half-assed GC. For your uses, even those drives that 'need' it should still last practically forever without it.

 

[jacktesterson]

Just buy a cheap 32GB Drive, lots for Windows 2000 OS and Apps needed.

Personally, I dont think its needed at all.

I've still got hard drives from the 90s that work fine in old rigs

 

[kmmatney]

I have an Intel 40GB hard drive running in a Windows 2000 system and it works great. It's been running for a few years now without any problems.

 

[imagoon]

FYI most of those Camera systems use the HD0's serial number as an lock key. At least the 6 major brands I had did. Swapping the HDD often required a security key to be reissued if they didn't require it to be sent back for "authorized service" to get it in the first place.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I don't see why you want an SSD. Reliability through the lack of moving parts seems like a non-issue. Currently more people have problems with weird SSD behavior/failure than they do with hard drive failure. For mission critical operations where reliability is key, I'd rather go for a RAID 5 setup of quality hard drives than an SSD.

The real reason to get an SSD is speed, and if an 8+ year old hard drive was fast enough, then an SSD is absolute overkill.

 

[Davegod]

Why not? Anything with moving parts is going to experience wear, a SSD as long as the firmware is solid (Intel & Samsung) and the drive isn’t getting excessive writes day in and day out it should last damn near forever.

I think most people are assuming that the point of the system is recording the video onto the HDD.

If that is the case then if the HDD goes down it is irrelevant whether the SSD is still working as you're still not recording the video. Using the SSD for OS would also not lighten the wear on the HDDs either, extremely trivial compared to the constant video recordings. By having two drives you're actually significantly reducing reliability because you're vulnerable to 2 drives instead of just one.

On the other hand, if you're cycling the recording drives (e.g. swapping them out each day and therefore need a separate OS drive), or if the primary purpose is for live on-screen viewing, then yes the OS drive reliability is all-important. The issue then becomes whether an SSD or a HDD is more reliable in the given scenario i.e. very long uptime with minimal reads/writes.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Just get a 3TB HDD and call it a day.

 

[C1]

Use an enterprise drive for the OS or a known reliable green drive. In my case, the WDs which are not active spin down. I think mess'n with an SSD in your case, although possible, is more trouble than it's worth.

 

[bryanW1995]

Just get a 3TB HDD and call it a day.

3tb hdd's are just about the least reliable drives known to man. At least, that's what I hear. A 40gb intel x25m g2 would be ideal for the OP's needs.

 

[Minerva]

Doesn't get much cheaper than this!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147132

These are good for small notebooks/netbooks too.