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Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 11:53:17 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: Robert Huff <roberthuff@rcn.com>
Subject: Re: solid state drives?
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On Mon, 18 Aug 2014, Robert Huff wrote:

>    I have been tasked with converting several systems - some unix
> (incl. FreeBSD), some Windows, to SSDs.

Are these desktops or servers?

>    What I know about SSDs will fit on the head of a pin.
>    Can someone recommend a good primer and a trustworthy source for
> information on product specs and reliability?

Off-hand, I can't think of one.  I can offer my article on setting up 
SSDs for FreeBSD: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/ssd.html

Enable TRIM.  Enable AHCI if available.  Don't image drives with tools 
that copy every block, like dd, because the SSD will think every block 
that has been written is in use.  Some people like to leave 
unpartitioned space or an empty partition to add to the drive's built-in 
overprovisioning.

Internally, SSDs are RAID0, so a 256G drive can sometimes give faster 
writes than a 128G drive.

Don't get hung up on the maximum rated speed, which is mostly a pretend 
number you will never see.  Instead, realize that it's the essentially 
zero access times that make SSDs fast, and concentrate on reliable 
drives.  I've stuck mostly with Marvell controllers in SSDs from 
Plextor, Samsung, and Toshiba.  Other brands, including Intel, use 
Sandforce controllers.