Using SSD as USB 3.0 external drive, what about trim?

[Peroxyde]

Hi,

I would like to hook up a 64GB USB drive to my router (Linksys E4200 v1) to use as shared storage for media files. I thought of an USB key, but it costs the same price than an SSD, I prefer to opt for the SSD as I have a spare 3.5" USB 3.0 external enclosure. As this SSD is driven without an OS, I am confused about the trim operation.

Q1. Does an SSD need an OS to operate correctly?

Q2. In the scenario above (SSD in USB drive connected to router), would the SSD last reasonably a long time, at least longer than an USB key?

Q3. Do I still need to do over provisioning? Or any thing extra to increase its life time?

Q4. Any SSD 64GB or 128 GB in particular to recommend? I think of Crucial M4. But if you think of any model more suitable (or to avoid!) I would appreciate to hear from you.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Cerb]

As this SSD is driven without an OS, I am onfused about the trim operation.

Not that it matters much, but your assumption here is incorrect. It likely runs Vxworks OotB (hardly 'no OS'), but is also flashable to multiple Linux distros, based on Open-WRT. TRIM is pretty much pointless for file sharing. Your network interface and router's CPU will be the limiting factor for write speeds.

Q1. Does an SSD need an OS to operate correctly?

No.

Q2. In the scenario above (SSD in USB drive connected to router), would the SSD last reasonably a long time, at least longer than an USB key?

Yes. USB sticks still tend to have high WA and lower-quality flash. That said, make sure to get a good quality SSD. Also, there are faster/better USB thumb drives, but in terms of their flash's longevity: ??? I have killed a couple USB sticks (they went read-only, like they're supposed to, even), so I'd personally be wary as well. An internal SSD+bridge is kind of overkill for that purpose, but it removes needing to worry about it.

Q3. Do I still need to do over provisioning? Or any thing extra to increase its life time?

What do you mean, "still"? Your USB sticks are over-provisioned from the factory, and so are SSDs, usually as (2^30)/(10^9). There are SSDs that allow you to manually add more, but that's rarely even useful, much less necessary.

Q4. Any SSD 64GB or 128 GB in particular to recommend? I think of Crucial M4. But if you think of any model more suitable (or to avoid!) I would appreciate to hear from you.

There are more that are cheap to avoid than good ones to recommend (SF-1xxx-based, most JMicron-based, Sandisk-based, etc.), so if you're looking at an M4, that's a pretty good one.

All that said, why aren't you just getting a HDD? They generally cost around the same.

 

[Peroxyde]

All that said, why aren't you just getting a HDD? They generally cost around the same.

Thank you very much for all your advices. And indeed you are right, it is overkill to use an SSD as external USB drive. Although I wonder, on some sales, an SSD could be less expensive than a good USB key.

I am just curious to know if an SSD can work reliably as external USB drive. I already have a Samba server in a desktop, I don't need big storage. This SSD allow me to play a little bit with the router's NAS capabilities. By end November 2012, LinuxMint 14 will be released, I will rebuild my desktop and use that SSD as boot drive.