Install OS to SD Card

ldoodle

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
172
Hi,

My current home NAS motherboard died. The config was RAID 1 for Windows and all data disks in HBA mode for use with Storage Spaces.

I'm soon to be getting an HP ML110 G7 motherboard which has integrated SD Card slot and internal USB port, so just wondered if I could install Windows to that and use all data disks purely for data. Was looking at the SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB if SD.

My NAS is literally for data storage, and I chose Windows Storage Spaces because I like that SSDs can be used for both read and write caching. I don't have to use Windows again if something else can be installed to SD Card/USB and provides the same or better caching than Storage Spaces.

My only real requirement is that I can use it as the back-end for HDHomeRun's DVR Service.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Can you, yes. Should you, no. It will be slow. Better to use the internal USB with and SSD or a 2.5” spinner if you can’t give up a SATA port (with the caveat that the board is capable of booting from USB for the OS you plan on using.)
 
Considering a 120GB SSD can now be had for the same price or less than a good 128GB SD card...

Even a top end USB3.0 stick will run faster than a SD card. But most likely the internal port and SD card slot will be USB2.0?
 
A barebones read intensive hypervisor that allows log reallocation is the only thing I would consider installing on a SD card (such as ESXI).
If you're looking for a Storage OS that runs on a flash drive or SD card you should checkout unraid.
 
Don't do it, it will be slow as a dog. We now live in the world of $30 256gb SSDs, do that. Or even a $20 128gb one just for boot stuff. Quick search on Amazon shows several $20 options.
 
Yeah I'm going to bin that idea!

I'm going to give FreeNAS a go, which is ZFS which is what I had (although with OpenIndiana) before Windows Storage Spaces. I remember a bit about a ZFS best practice for RAID-Z2 being not less than 6 disks and not more than 10 disks. My build is a bit 'awkward' because it uses 3x 5-bay hot swap caddies so it's 15 disks. Will zpools suffer sufficiently with/even allow different sized vdevs, i.e. one RAID-Z2 with 8 disks and another with 7 disks. Alternatively I could do 7 and 7 with the 15th a spare - can ZFS now have 'global' spares rather than vdev-based spares (I remember it being the latter)?

Literally no space to add a 16th drive.

PS: Those 15 disks are 2TB each - since getting a few streaming services I no longer need massive storage (for films). So protection/availability is priority number 1. Doesn't have to be Z2.

PPS: Forgot about 3 way mirrors, so might go with 5X 3-way mirrors so all disks used.
 
Last edited:
The first rule of data storage is...don't have any data to store unless you have to.

A lot of folks here just seem to want to build a 40TB storage setup and then want the need to fill it with crap that they will feel psychologically responsible for for the rest of their lives.

Get a pet or a girl/boyfriend or kids. They will give more back over time if properly looked after.

;):cool:
 
The first rule of data storage is...don't have any data to store unless you have to.

A lot of folks here just seem to want to build a 40TB storage setup and then want the need to fill it with crap that they will feel psychologically responsible for for the rest of their lives.

Get a pet or a girl/boyfriend or kids. They will give more back over time if properly looked after.

;):cool:

Data hoarding addiction is real my friend.
 
you can do it, but the reliability of the SD card will degrade over time. If you like to tinker with images, then an SD card setup might be the way to go. Load an image, crater it, clone from your original image onto a new SD card, and carry on. But for something long term? dont waste your time.
 
Yeah I'm going to bin that idea!

I'm going to give FreeNAS a go...

Now FreeNAS I think can run fine off a USB stick (been a while since I screwed with it) so SD might work for that as well. I don't think it writes much to the boot disk ever, and once loaded it's all in memory. Just don't do Windows that way :)
 
Back
Top