On 15/03/18 13:11, David Christensen wrote:
On 03/14/18 00:28, Richard Hector wrote:
On 14/03/18 15:35, David Christensen wrote:
On 03/13/18 17:00, Richard Hector wrote:
Apologies for the diversion - does anyone know if there are USB flash
drives that _are_ built for full-time use, as a system disk?
I've got some old thin clients that could do with storage upgrades that
are a bit easier to come by than the weird (PATA?) flash modules they
come with. Obviously I could just hook up an external USB ssd, but I'd
like to keep the small form factor if I can - then they can go inside
the case.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=disk+on+module&t=ffsb&ia=web
http://www.memorydepot.com/ssd_diskonmodule.html
Interesting, thanks - it appears that I could replace the existing
module after all - and possibly add a SATA one, depending on which way
round they are. I'm not entirely sure about the power situation though -
there seem to be multiple ways of getting power through the data port;
are they all backwards compatible? Does my system need to support it
explicitly, or will any old sata port work?
I see there are USB DOMs as well, but most/many of them want an internal
header rather than a type A socket, which is all I have. And some of
them say they're USB 3, backward compatible with USB 2 ... I'm not sure
which of my ports are what standard; some of them may even be 1 ...
Almost none of these seem to be available locally in New Zealand though,
so I'd have to import something, which is a bit more of a hassle.
There are many disk-on-module form (DOM) factors -- some are generic/
standard form factors and others are vendor/ model specific. If your
thin clients already have PATA DOM's, look up the make/ model and
purchase compatible replacement/ upgrade parts.
I have never seen a USB 1 port. Most pre-USB 2.0 stuff is USB 1.1.
Fair call - I should have said 1.x or something. :-)
I ran SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 16 GB flash drives as poor-man's SSD
system drives for several years, connected to motherboard type A USB
3.0, 2.0, and 1.1 ports. I booted the Debian Installer on CD and
installed to the USB drive just like any other drive. Reads were
noticeably faster than HDD's, but moderate to heavy writes caused GUI
desktops to become choppy. I still keep two for diagnostic and rescue
use -- one with Debian i386 and the other with Debian amd64. I bought
them from Amazon, but some retailers might carry them.
Ordinary usb flash drives are easy enough to get, and cheap. I should
probably just try those (planning on 2 in raid). I'm not using them for
anything GUI; the one I have running atm is an openvpn endpoint. There
are many Sandisk and other options - I guess my main consideration is
something slim enough that I can fit two in adjacent ports.