Solid State Drives - A Good Idea?

Since solid state drives or SSD's have a finite number of read/write cycles, though it is hardly a consideration in casual day-to-day use, is an SSD a good idea with Logos software? It seems like Logos is constantly indexing, all the time shortening the life of an SSD drive.

I use Photoshop extensively and am equipped with two SSD's, one a terabyte and the other a 100 gigabyte drive. Photoshop is set to do all its temporary storage, caching and calculating on the 100 gig drive. Can I configure Logos to do the same for its indexing?

Gerry

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Doc B

is an SSD a good idea with Logos software?

Yes. No other single action/hardware-purchase you do will have more of an effect (of speeding up Logos).

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768643#Comment_768643

I can't imagine using Logos without a SSD even if the life of the SSD is shortened.

Bill Anderson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768650#Comment_768650

I have been running the same SSD in my desktop computer now for over 3+ years with no issues whatsoever. It has made a world of difference in Logos.

BKMitchell

s an SSD a good idea with Logos software?

No, it isn't a good idea at all, it's a GREAT idea![H]

Dave Hooton

It seems like Logos is constantly indexing, all the time shortening the life of an SSD drive.

It's very doubtful that Logos indexing will shorten the life of current SSD's. When installed an SSD will eschew many features of Windows that use the drive as a cache, but they may also offer to turn off System Restore. This is a good idea because it can swallow many gigabytes of storage and use many valuable write cycles. This is Windows' equivalent to Logos' indexing, and the choice was easy because I regularly backup the system (I've never had occasion to use Restore but the image backup has saved my laptop on two occasions when Windows would not boot!).

The main thing to do, especially if you anticipate heavy use, is to maintain at least 20% free space. That extra space will reduce the write cycles on individual NAND modules because SSD's use wear levelling algorithms to determine where your data will be stored (most SSD's have extra NAND for this purpose but it can be as little as 8%). It also has the effect of maintaining the performance (speed) of your drive as that degrades as it is filled and can become noticeable at around 60-70% full on some drives.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768744#Comment_768744

The other thing to consider here is to remember that both SSDs and HDDs have a limited life. That's why I try to make sure that I maintain good back ups. I try to do a mirror image backup each week with rotating drives so that if/when a drive fails I can be back up quickly.

Mark Barnes

Since solid state drives or SSD's have a finite number of read/write cycles, though it is hardly a consideration in casual day-to-day use, is an SSD a good idea with Logos software?

I really don't think this is an issue. You've got to write petabytes of data to cause serious problems to modern MLC SSD. TLC drives don't last quite that long, but still will take hundreds of terabytes of writes: http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead

I've had my own SSD since February 2013 (so two and a half years). I use the drive for Windows and have a big Logos library — I get resource updates several times a week. In those two and a half years, just under 150TB of data has been written to that SSD, but there are no reallocated sectors, no reserved blocks, no erase failures or correctorable or uncorrectable errors. I'm fully expecting that drive to last at least another two and a half years.

But I have had to replace two ordinary hard drives in the last couple of years, which seem to me to be much more prone to failure.

Can I configure Logos to do the same for its indexing?

No - but you could use symbolic links.

(‾◡◝)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768780#Comment_768780

I really don't think this is an issue. You've got to write petabytes of data to cause serious problems to modern MLC SSD. TLC drives don't last quite that long, but still will take hundreds of terabytes of writes: http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead

Here's another article stating the same basic conclusion based on actual, continuous-torture-test data. [EDIT: My link is an article referencing the same study that Mark Barnes linked to, above. Sorry for any confusion.]

And FWIW, although I have never reached the end of life for an SSD, it is my understanding that most, if not all, SSDs will display some sort of warning before they bite the dust. If nothing else, at least a SMART notification. In other words, it doesn't simply stop working without warning - you have time to do something about it before the end.

Gerald P. Swetsky

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768811#Comment_768811

Appreciate all the replies especially Mr. Hooten's. I take slight issue with Mr. Dunning, however, in comparing the life of an HDD to an SSD. I have never heard of life of a hard drive being dependent on the number of read/write cycles as opposed to breakdown due to mechanical wear.

I guess I'll just string along and try not to worry about who goes first, me or the drive. Thank you all.

Gerry

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768988#Comment_768988

I take slight issue with Mr. Dunning, however, in comparing the life of an HDD to an SSD. I have never heard of life of a hard drive being dependent on the number of read/write cycles as opposed to breakdown due to mechanical wear.

I don't think Bruce was saying that a traditional hard drive was dependent on read/write cycles, simply that both types of drive won't last forever, and the more you use them the more likely they are to fail.

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768811#Comment_768811

... I have never reached the end of life for an SSD ...

I've had two SSDs fail catastrophically before. The two just decided to call it a day, with no warning. Of all the uncountable hard disks I have used, only one decided to go down without any sign or warning.

The other 10 or so SSDs that I have used/installed have run without a hitch.

The moral of the story is an old one: prepare for the worst, and keep good backups.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/768991#Comment_768991

I take slight issue with Mr. Dunning, however, in comparing the life of an HDD to an SSD. I have never heard of life of a hard drive being dependent on the number of read/write cycles as opposed to breakdown due to mechanical wear.

I don't think Bruce was saying that a traditional hard drive was dependent on read/write cycles, simply that both types of drive won't last forever, and the more you use them the more likely they are to fail.

That's exactly what I was trying to say Mark. Thanks for clarifying it.

(‾◡◝)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/769133#Comment_769133

... The moral of the story is an old one: prepare for the worst, and keep good backups.

I've had them fail, too, but not because of reaching the end of their write cycles.

And if I might add to your "moral of the story" ... always use a good quality battery backup / line conditioner (esp in areas where the electrical service is dodgy). Even what appears to us to be the slightest flicker of the room lights can be Thor's Hammer to a computer.