USB Flash Drive vs. Cheap SSD

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Stugots

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I'm in the process of moving my pfSense firewall to new hardware and I'm trying to make it consume a little less power. I'm considering buying a cheap ~120gb SSD, but I'm wondering if simply using a USB flash drive will work just as good.

I'm not so worried about the performance, but I am concerned about wearing out a USB flash drive and having 'drive' failures frequently.

Is this a valid concern, and should I just invest the $40ish on a cheap SSD?
 
Before plunking money down on a cheap SSD or a usb device, you will want to look at actual power ratings as they can vary greatly between devices.

I am only saying that because you say you are trying to make your system use less power.

I would opt for a SSD over a usb device. I really doubt the usb device will go into a power save mode like it most likely would with an SSD that is sitting idle.
 
TBW is actually slightly lower on the UV400 but it comes with the same 3y warranty and as others have mentioned doesn't use the crappy and dated Sandforce SF-2281 controller.
 
I've had my Dockstar booted off a USB flash drive, with swap enabled, for over 2 years at a time without any capacity loss. I put a larger thumbdrive in it when I updated the kernel. No issues after about a year. I think the constant plugging, unplugging and shoving into pockets is what hurts thumbdrives more often than regular reads/writes in a system. I still wouldn't cheap out on the brand, though.
 
I'd personally take Marvell over Silicon Motion, Phison or jMicron any day of the week but it's just me.... ;-)
 
cyclone3d said:
Before plunking money down on a cheap SSD or a usb device, you will want to look at actual power ratings as they can vary greatly between devices.

I am only saying that because you say you are trying to make your system use less power.

I would opt for a SSD over a usb device. I really doubt the usb device will go into a power save mode like it most likely would with an SSD that is sitting idle.
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power rating is a good point but i would go with cheap SSD because even the best usb drives are still like Gen 1 SSDs. If size is an issue sure get the usb drive.

I have the mushkin 240GB Ventura Ultra and it is awesome as a flash drive but SSDs even cheap ones smash it.
 
Thank you everyone for your input. I've decided on just getting a cheap SSD over using a USB flash drive.
 
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