SSD recommendation for my VM NAS

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Aug 28, 2021
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I need to upgrade my proxmox boot drive on my do everything NAS box. When I did it, I scrounged up a 500gb WD SSD I had laying around. I currently have three VMs, and 500gb doesn't cut it.

I figure I'll mirror them this time. They need to be sata SSDs...and I'm thinking 2tb this time.

Any recommendations?
 
Really only one recommendation left for a (new) SATA SSD, these days: Samsung 870 Evo.
 
Really only one recommendation left for a (new) SATA SSD, these days: Samsung 870 Evo.
I've sort of come to that conclusion now myself...

It is the only one with any cache and more than 1000TBW. Expensive SOB.

Makes me want to relook at trying to wedge nvme's in somehow.
 
Really only one recommendation left for a (new) SATA SSD, these days: Samsung 870 Evo.

The Crucial MX500 is also suitable if one insists on buying new, and usually cost less. The TBW is a bit lower and the DRAM cache is a bit smaller, however, but I doubt it's anything that'd be noticeable for the stated usage.

If willing to go used the Intel Enterprise SATA SSDs (e.g., the S3500) are typically reasonably priced and are tanks.
 
If willing to go used the Intel Enterprise SATA SSDs (e.g., the S3500) are typically reasonably priced and are tanks.
Exactly. I'd buy a used Intel Enterprise over a new 870 EVO any day. An S4500 or S4600 series 1.92 TB from a reputable eBay seller is my pick depending on write performance needed.
 
Well, that sucked...spent several hours with one of those PCIe to nvme adapter thingies...verdict...my mobo won't bifurcate.

So honest question...what's wrong with just a couple of team group or something like that mirrored. Sure, they don't have any cache, but the major user of the system is truenas which just sits there and chugs.

Heck, for the price of one of those expensive ones, I could do striped mirrors.
 
Have you seen the type that have a PCIe switch which handles its own bifurcation? These don't require motherboard support. See here.

Broadcom 9400 cards from ebay are probably cheaper (still $70-100+, though), not found from a questionable source and will breakout into 2 or 4 U.2 ports. Plug in a pair of used 1.92TB U.2 Samsung PM983s or 1.5TB U.2 Intel Optane 905ps... giggity.

So honest question...what's wrong with just a couple of team group or something like that mirrored. Sure, they don't have any cache, but the major user of the system is truenas which just sits there and chugs.

Heck, for the price of one of those expensive ones, I could do striped mirrors.
If overall performance (er, what little SATA can provide, anyway) is not important, a pair of those will probably work in a RAID1 config, but without RAM, random R/W will likely suffer. The challenge when you get to the lower end, TeamGroup included, is that the internals of the two drives may not match. You're in commodity off-the-shelf NAND/Controller SSD-rebadging territory, where the company is choosing different flash or controllers, or entire solutions based on the cost to them in order to maintain a pricepoint without notifying anyone or changing the packaging, so you can't guarantee that the performance or even total bit size of each drive is identical...which may lead to some RAID issues depending on how you set it up. Here's a recent example.
 
Alright, so I'm going to try one of those PCIe x8 to 4xM.2 with the switch. If it works, then i'll just get a couple of nvmes...

I only need gen3, but those seem like they don't exist much anymore, so may just spring for what seems to be the gold standard on here these days, the 850x black
 
Alright, so I'm going to try one of those PCIe x8 to 4xM.2 with the switch. If it works, then i'll just get a couple of nvmes...

I only need gen3, but those seem like they don't exist much anymore, so may just spring for what seems to be the gold standard on here these days, the 850x black
Since you're using PCIe maybe consider a U.2 adapter and slap two of these bad boys in it.
 
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Since you're using PCIe maybe consider a U.2 adapter and slap two of these bad boys in it.
Interesting idea...I've never used u.2.

One limitation I do have is I need to cram my coral someplace. Currently I use just an nvme to pcie.

Mobo has one nvme slot, which I think actually shares with a 2x u.2.

Then I have a spare pcie slot.

Goal is to essentially use the five nvme slots for 2x2tb nvme, coral, 128gb nvme for a slog.
 
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Well, that was super frustrating...

I got one of those pcie to m.2 with the pex switch integrated in it...finally arrived yesterday.

Put a spare nvme in it that I had lying around and plugged it in....nothing. Try a few different slots and still nothing.


At least in this process I did learn that I could use a regular pcie to m.2 and get an nvme to work. The built in m.2 slot only recognizes a few nvme drives whereas when using an adapter it will take anything. I guess I'm tempted to just tempt fate and go with a single with my proxmox boot drives. All the important stuff is stored on the SAS drives anyway, so it would be more of an annoyance than anything if it dies.
 
Ugg, even more frustrationg on my saga...

Every 11-13 days the system locks up. I'm not totally sure why. Good ol' chatgpt helped me with some ideas. Traced the lockups to the NIC. But why? Latest theory is the NIC was only running at gen2....why, because the nvme I had in the adapter seems to be screwing things up. I take the nvme out and I get back to gen3. Unfortunately, that means I'll need to get a bigger SSD to transfer the files over and then wait two weeks to see if the problem is solved.
 
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