Which mSATA SSD is the best compromise between longevity and price?

[Chikara]

I don't care much about performance because I'm going to use one for a multi-purpose lightweight server with ECC RAM.
But, I care about longevity because I want to minimize maintenance. Backup will be done by automatically generating remote ZFS snapshots everyday.
Trimming will be done once a week. Every week, filesystem errors will be automatically checked and reported via email.
Ideally, I want it to last 15~20 years under light usage. I will probably write substantially less than 20GB on an average day.

1. Samsung 860 EVO mSATA 250GB
Price // 71.86 USD
Storage // 3D TLC
Controller // Samsung MJX
Advertized TBW // 150TB
Warranty // 5 years

2. Revuahn X810 mSATA 256GB
Price // 68.25 USD
Storage // 2D MLC
Controller // SiliconMotion SM2246
Advertized TBW // 300TB
Warranty // 3 years

3. Phison mSATA SSD S9MS 128GB
Price // 48.88 USD
Storage // 3D MLC
Controller // Phison PS3111-S11
Advertized TBW // None
Warranty // 3 years

4. Deotera VIVA 300S LITE mSATA 128GB
Price // 39.67 USD
Storage // 3D TLC
Controller // SiliconMotion SM2258
Advertized TBW // None
Warranty // 3 years

Which one would be the best compromise between price and longevity?

Garbage collection algorithm is going to have major impacts on longevity. According to The ADATA Ultimate SU800 SSD Review, SM2258 executes garbage collection every minute. According to PS3111-S11 2.5’’ SATA SSD (SB260-Small) Specification and PS3111-S11 M.2 2280 TLC Specification, Phison PS3111-S11 seems to execute garbage collection when it is running out of space.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Based on rated TBW, the first two drives will last you longer than 20 years, if your "substantially less than 20GB" equals 15GB.

But anything running for that long might fail for other reasons. Electronics have been failing even before TBW metrics existed. Simply because of natural failure rates. Capacitors can leak, circuitry can oxidize.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I wouldn't count on a 15-20 year lifespan for any consumer segment hardware. Particularly storage. You may run into other trouble depending on what purpose you're using the server for.

Is there a reason it must be an mSATA drive? mSATA is getting more and more obscure, the 860 EVO is likely one of the last generations to have an mSATA version. Everything else is moving quickly towards M.2 (PCIe/SATA).

 

[Chikara]

Is there a reason it must be an mSATA drive? mSATA is getting more and more obscure, the 860 EVO is likely one of the last generations to have an mSATA version. Everything else is moving quickly towards M.2 (PCIe/SATA).

I want to use pcengines APU2D4 because it's the cheapest device that has ECC RAM and consumes little power. I want to build an affordable fanless ECC server.
Because mSATA SSDs will become extinct in a few years, it's better to buy one that will last long.

You may run into other trouble depending on what purpose you're using the server for.

System upgrades will be done once per week or two weeks. Other than system upgrades, logs will be logged, and I will keep a synchronized copy of a few text files and passwords on it. So, there will not be a lot of writes. Although I may add a few more lightweight things in the future, there won't be a lot of writes.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Amount of writes won't matter much in such a long period. Nothing is guaranteed to last that long. It probably will, but don't bank on it.

You probably have more options than one that supports mSATA. I see bunch of embedded Atoms that fit the criteria(the chips support ECC, motherboard is another matter). There's probably such boards on the AMD side as well.

 

[Chikara]

You probably have more options than one that supports mSATA. I see bunch of embedded Atoms that fit the criteria(the chips support ECC, motherboard is another matter). There's probably such boards on the AMD side as well.

I am not interested in mSATA. I am interested in building an affordable fanless ECC server with a durable SSD. It just happens that the only affordable fanless ECC board I could find supports only one mSATA slot.

Embedded ATOM motherboards that support ECC tend to be several times as expensive as AMD embedded motherboards that support ECC.
People reported that some expensive ATOM ECC motherboards fail quickly in a few months.
So, it seems that intel artifically raised prices for low-power ECC motherboards. Intel disables ECC in embedded celeron motherboards in order to sell expensive ATOM ECC motherboards. Expensive ATOM ECC motherboards have fancy features like IPMI that don't help with decreasing the odds of hardware failure. IPMI makes management convenient in a large server farm, but I don't run a large server farm.

Affordable ECC machines are AMD's niche.

My desktop has AMD FX-8300 CPU, and it fully supports multi-bit ECC according to linux kernel. If you want an affordable ECC desktop computer, wait for Ryzen V1000 to become cheaper. Or, you can buy Ryzen 3 2200G now.

Do you know any other affordable AMD ECC motherboards that consume little power? I couldn't find one.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Because mSATA SSDs will become extinct in a few years, it's better to buy one that will last long.

It may be better to buy some spares while you can. Or perhaps buy an mSATA to M.2 adaptor.

For anything requiring long term use, having spares on hand is better then having to risk the future availability of spare parts. Either what you need can't be sourced. Or you'll pay a pretty premium for old parts.

 

[IntelUser2000]

@Chikara The C series Atom boards are much more expensive but the E series are not and they also support ECC.

I haven't looked at it extensively but most E series boards seem to look like some form of expansion cards.

 

[Chikara]

@Chikara The C series Atom boards are much more expensive but the E series are not and they also support ECC.

I haven't looked at it extensively but most E series boards seem to look like some form of expansion cards.

Thanks for the information although E series boards don't look like particularly attractive options.

 

[Chikara]

Or perhaps buy an mSATA to M.2 adaptor.

I'll buy an M.2 to mSATA adaptor.