The Original Linux Fan via Dng said on Mon, 16 Jan 2023 13:24:24 -0800

>SSD's may be much faster, but they don't have
>the lifetime.  So, many of us consider SSD's to be
>throw-away devices, that need the fewest writes,
>and regular backup.

I wouldn't be too sure of your preceding paragraph. My old computer's
SSD lasted 4 years and then I retired the computer, so I assume it's
still working. My current computer's NVMe is 13 months old and still
working just fine. My rule of thumb is I expect spinning rust (or NVMe
or SSD) to last 3 years: Anything beyond that is an unexpected goodie.

I think an SSD or NVMe stands an excellent chance of lasting 5 years if
you handle it like I do:

1) Use no more than 15% of the SSD/NVMe.

2) Put /usr and /var, etc, on the SSD/NVMe, but not /home or other data

3) Use fstrim on the root directory after every software update and at
least once a week.

#1 sounds wasteful, but today 1TB SSD/NVMe are less than a hundred
bucks.

#2 Where you start wearing out your SSD/NVMe is with frequent
rewriting, which happens primarily on /home and other user data
directories.

If the computer is done on the cheap (Raspberry Pi, small SSD), it's
probably going to be for a few specific tasks, so my 40GB /usr becomes
more like 15GB.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm