SD or SSD on a Raspi4 - thats the question: pros and cons

[dhubs]

g day dear experts on this linux-board,

well i am musing bout a certain topic: should i replace the SD card with a more durable storage medium?

This has been a wish since i use single-board computer.
note: ive used raspi 2 and 3 for years. now - with the rpi4 we have more options:
Well since the Raspberry Pi 4 comes with more features we can use them to suite some cool needs.

Some musings: Using the Raspberry Pi 4's USB 3.0 port, we can save and load the data faster with an SSD without worrying about the lifespan of the SD card.

background and use case: i run a raspi as a Apache-webserver and besides that as a NAS.

Switching from an SD card to an SSD on the Raspberry Pi 4: Here are some thoughts that come to mind about the possible switch:

Disadvantage:
-using a SSD many lead to a increased power consumption; so I may need
- a different power supply

more pros and cons:
well - hmm it not really a money issue, more a I hate waste kind of thing. So - the question is: I dont want the SDD unless it is really really needed?
but on the other handside - well I also do not want to the hassle with some mb (or even worse GB) lost data and replace the SD card.
That said - i cannot say clear how often they fail - but i have had a look at the internet: it seems like they fail quite very often.

conclusio: well the question is: is a SSD a nice to have or is it a good thing - and necessary to have!?

what do you recommend?

 

[dos2unix]

Doesn't the raspberry Pi 4 have a SATA port? That will be quite a bit faster.
USB 3.0 supports up to 5 Gbps, and SATA III supports up to 6Gbps. But in real life
the SSD will be about 30% faster. It isn't just the transfer speeds you need to know, but read and write speeds as well.

The other thing is size. The largest SD card I can find is about 1.5TB, the largest SSD is over 8TB.

 

[dhubs]

good evening dear dos2linux,

many thanks for the quick reply and for your ideas.

Doesn't the raspberry Pi 4 have a SATA port? That will be quite a bit faster.

yes - the Pi4 has a SATA port.

well yes: i think this will be a lot faster!

USB 3.0 supports up to 5 Gbps, and SATA III supports up to 6Gbps. But in real life

the SSD will be about 30% faster. It isn't just the transfer speeds you need to know, but read and write speeds as well.

this sounds very good. Transfer speed and write speed increasing - that sounds great

The other thing is size. The largest SD card I can find is about 1.5TB, the largest SSD is over 8TB.

good food for thoughs. Well i think i could choose a mid size SSD.


well an SSD, which is also faster than an SD card.This allows me to boot the Raspberry Pi faster,
So i thik with the SSD i have the "more stable" solution;

many thanks for all you ideas.

i am glad to be part of this great forum

greetings

 

[KGIII]

Hmm... I'd look up the various speeds as applicable to the Pi specifically.

I dimly recall that SATA runs on the USB bus line and is thus limited to USB speeds, sort of like the Ethernet connection.

I could be conflating a couple of things, however. This may also not apply to the more recent versions.

That's why I'd look them up to confirm their speeds. I'm sure it's published somewhere and a search engine will find it.

 

[dhubs]

good evening dear KGill

many thanks for stepping up the plate. Great to hear form you

Hmm... I'd look up the various speeds as applicable to the Pi specificall

thank you.

I dimly recall that SATA runs on the USB bus line and is thus limited to USB speeds, sort of like the Ethernet connection.

I could be conflating a couple of things, however. This may also not apply to the more recent versions.

thank you! ...

That's why I'd look them up to confirm their speeds. I'm sure it's published somewhere and a search engine will find it.

i will have a look at the docs and some specs!

Thank you for the hints.
btw: i am glad to be part of this great forum - its awesome and very very helpful.

thank you so much!

 

[dos2unix]

The Pi4, has a real SATA interface, not USB.

Raspberry Pi OS now has SATA support built-in | Jeff Geerling

www.jeffgeerling.com

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Gains Native SATA Support

20% SATA Speed Boost

www.tomshardware.com

 

[dhubs]

many thanks dear dos2unix

thanks for steppin up the plate and for setting us straight!

 

[Trenix25]

I once considered buying an SSD for my laptop, before it died, but decided not to after reading the reviews. It seems they can wear out so quickly. Those MicroSD cards can be cheap enough. You can connect a USB hard drive you know. As you said though, you might need a better power supply to run it. Amazon sells a nice SD card writer for a pretty cheap price. I have one. I can use an SD card or a MicroSD card. Make sure you don't get the wrong one that allows the card to get stuck inside of it. You needed a normal computer just to write to the card to begin with so you should be able to make a copy of your data on your current MicroSD card. Otherwise you can make a backup onto a decent USB flash drive. I have heard that a PI-4 won't boot from the USB3 port.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[dhubs]

good day dear Matthew
many thanks for the reply with all the great and important considérations. very very good thoughts.

btw: as once said: i am so glad to be part of this great forum

thank you so much!!

 

[KGIII]

The Pi4, has a real SATA interface, not USB.

Heh... I figured Jeff would know. I get a kick out of his videos, especially when his dad is involved.

Anyhow, it's good that you can now use SATA more easily/effectively. That SBC has come quite a long way in the years it has been out. It has also inspired quite a lot - like projects and clones.

 

[KGIII]

It seems they can wear out so quickly.

This is no longer true. The MTBF is quite impressive and we have a whole lot of data to back that up.

I believe it's BackBlaze that publishes real world data that's free and easy to access. Even inexpensive SSDs can last quite a while.

I'd avoid the really generic drives. You'll crack 'em open only to find they contain a thumbdrive inside, or something like that. But, for example, you can get TeamGroup at a discount and I've had no problem with their drives - including thumbdrives.

If you insist on name brands like Seagate, Western Digital, or Kingston, then those prices have dropped considerably over the years - well into the point where I'd personally consider them very affordable.

(I was an early SSD adopter. I used to be an early adopter of many computer-things. This is less true today.)

 

[Brickwizard]

I know little of raspberries , what i can do is give you a theoretical guide to the average speed of storage connections

SD Cards 10-30 Mbs
USB2 480Mbs
SATA2 3Gbs
USB3 5 GBS
SATA3 6GBS
PCIe 3x4 lanes [normal for NVMe] 16 GBS
PCIe 4x4 ---------dito------------------ 32GBS

These are connection speeds, the speed of the non-volatile SS drive will vary with make/model

 

[Trenix25]

I've noticed anywhere from about 5 MB per second to 100 MB per second on USB flash drives.

Signed,

Matthew Campbell

 

[dhubs]

hello dear @KGIII, hello @Brickwizard , hello @Trenix25

many thanks for the replies and for sharing your ideas and experience. Glad to hear from you.
You give alot of your knowledge - i am happy.

btw: this a great forum - a great place.



Brickwizard, you write: ", what i can do is give you a theoretical guide to the average speed of storage connections"

SD Cards 10-30 Mbs
USB2 480Mbs
SATA2 3Gbs
USB3 5 GBS
SATA3 6GBS
PCIe 3x4 lanes [normal for NVMe] 16 GBS
PCIe 4x4 ---------dito------------------ 32GBS

many thanks for the sharing - you really provide alot!


thank you for the KGILL

I'd avoid the really generic drives. You'll crack 'em open only to find they contain a thumbdrive inside, or something like that. But, for example, you can get TeamGroup at a discount and I've had no problem with their drives - including thumbdrives.

thank you - great to hear that.

If you insist on name brands like Seagate, Western Digital, or Kingston, then those prices have dropped considerably over the years - well into the point where I'd personally consider them very affordable.

...good to know that

You say: "I was an early SSD adopter. I used to be an early adopter of many computer-things. This is less true today."

i have used SSD not so much - but i am willing to do now!!

thanks also for your reply - dear Matthew

I've noticed anywhere from about 5 MB per second to 100 MB per second on USB flash drives.

thank you! - this is very speedy

have a great day.