• Re: SD cards and constant writes

    From Chris Elvidge@3:770/3 to Andy Burns on Monday, October 10, 2022 13:56:08
    On 10/10/2022 13:24, Andy Burns wrote:
    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it uses mySQL
    it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?



    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for
    /boot

    --
    Chris Elvidge
    England

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  • From Andy Burns@3:770/3 to All on Monday, October 10, 2022 13:24:36
    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it uses mySQL it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed to include
    wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

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  • From Vincent Coen@2:250/1 to Andy Burns on Monday, October 10, 2022 16:06:51
    Hello Andy!

    Monday October 10 2022 13:24, you wrote to All:

    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a
    beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it
    uses mySQL it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD
    card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed
    to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?


    I would NOT recommend any SD card for any system that has a reasonable amount of write / reads - it it best to use a usb attached hard drive or a GOOD SSD such as Samsung 850, 950, 960 or later series devices as they use strong controllers that can handle garbage collection via fstrim without needed to be idle.

    Vincent

    --- Mageia Linux v8 X64/Mbse v1.0.8/GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    * Origin: Air Applewood, The Linux Gateway to the UK & Eire (2:250/1)
  • From Andy Burns@3:770/3 to Chris Elvidge on Monday, October 10, 2022 15:59:30
    Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed to
    include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for /boot

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry forgot to mention that ...

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  • From A. Dumas@3:770/3 to Chris Elvidge on Monday, October 10, 2022 14:52:48
    Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> wrote:
    Just use the SD card for /boot

    No need; rpi 2, 3 and 4 can boot directly from usb. See https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#usb-mass-storage-boot

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  • From Kees Nuyt@3:770/3 to chris@mshome.net on Monday, October 10, 2022 16:57:43
    On Mon, 10 Oct 2022 13:56:08 +0100, Chris Elvidge
    <chris@mshome.net> wrote:

    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for /boot

    +1
    Works perfectly. (in my case with a low-power 2.5" USB harddrive
    instead of an SSD)
    --
    Kees Nuyt

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  • From Jim Jackson@3:770/3 to Andy Burns on Monday, October 10, 2022 15:27:41
    On 2022-10-10, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed to >>> include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for /boot

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry forgot to
    mention that ...


    What power can your PoE setup deliver. I have a pi3 and a 3inch USB
    connected harddrive powered by the old "standard" 5V 2A Pi power supply
    and there's no problem. A small SSD should take less power.

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  • From Adrian@3:770/3 to usenet@andyburns.uk on Monday, October 10, 2022 18:47:13
    In message <jqiqajFebl8U2@mid.individual.net>, Andy Burns
    <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes
    Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are
    supposed to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?
    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card
    for /boot

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry
    forgot to mention that ...



    I've been running a Pi2 and a Pi3 with Samsung 1TB SSDs attached (one on
    each) for over a year with no problems, both Pis are using the usual
    2.5A Pi power supply.


    Adrian
    --
    To Reply :
    replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
    Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
    Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

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  • From Jim Jackson@3:770/3 to Andy Burns on Monday, October 10, 2022 18:48:30
    On 2022-10-10, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    Jim Jackson wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry forgot to
    mention that ...

    What power can your PoE setup deliver.

    2.4A @ 5V

    I have a pi3 and a 3inch USB
    connected harddrive powered by the old "standard" 5V 2A Pi power supply
    and there's no problem. A small SSD should take less power.

    mine's a 3B, I've got various drives and enclosures knocking about, if only I knew which county the spare PoE extractor was in ...


    Sounds like it will work.

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  • From Andy Burns@3:770/3 to Jim Jackson on Monday, October 10, 2022 19:30:57
    Jim Jackson wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry forgot to
    mention that ...

    What power can your PoE setup deliver.

    2.4A @ 5V

    I have a pi3 and a 3inch USB
    connected harddrive powered by the old "standard" 5V 2A Pi power supply
    and there's no problem. A small SSD should take less power.

    mine's a 3B, I've got various drives and enclosures knocking about, if only I knew which county the spare PoE extractor was in ...

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  • From Theo@3:770/3 to Vincent Coen on Monday, October 10, 2022 21:56:21
    Vincent Coen <nospam.Vincent.Coen@f1.n250.z2.fidonet.org> wrote:
    Hello Andy!

    Monday October 10 2022 13:24, you wrote to All:

    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a
    beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it
    uses mySQL it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD
    card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed
    to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    I haven't seen the WD Purple cards before, but I'd be concerned that they're intended for streaming, ie large sequential writes. It's possible they
    manage that with a large flash block size, and that writing a database will cause a lot of write amplification.

    That should show up by having a low random write speed. Here's some
    benchmarks of the card, but no random write test: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/ex7dvo/quick_reminder_that_sd_cards_with_wearleveling/

    The WD statement is a bit confusing, but includes "We cannot recommend you
    use this product to install an operating system despite of its durability, reliability and performance."

    I would NOT recommend any SD card for any system that has a reasonable amount of write / reads - it it best to use a usb attached hard drive or a GOOD SSD such as Samsung 850, 950, 960 or later series devices as they use strong controllers that can handle garbage collection via fstrim without needed to be
    idle.

    +1. Proper SSD controllers are miles apart from SD cards. I don't think
    this one is going to change that.

    Theo

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  • From Martin Gregorie@3:770/3 to Theo on Monday, October 10, 2022 21:42:57
    On 10 Oct 2022 21:56:21 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote:

    Vincent Coen <nospam.Vincent.Coen@f1.n250.z2.fidonet.org> wrote:
    Hello Andy!

    Monday October 10 2022 13:24, you wrote to All:

    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a
    beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it
    uses mySQL it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD
    card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are
    supposed to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    I haven't seen the WD Purple cards before, but I'd be concerned that
    they're intended for streaming, ie large sequential writes. It's
    possible they manage that with a large flash block size, and that
    writing a database will cause a lot of write amplification.

    You've hit it in one:its designed for use in surveillance cameras and is
    in speed class 10 - this is the same class as SD cards intended for use in video cameras, so likely to use a large block size and intended toy
    sequential writes (and reads) rather than random access.

    That should show up by having a low random write speed. Here's some benchmarks of the card, but no random write test: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/ex7dvo/
    quick_reminder_that_sd_cards_with_wearleveling/

    No numbers are given on the WD spec sheet I found apart from:
    - capacities 32GB - 1TB,
    - warranty 3 years
    - operating temp -25C - 85C
    - storage temp -40C - 85C

    As others have already suggested, best to look at USB-connected spinning
    rust or SSD drives.


    --

    Martin | martin at
    Gregorie | gregorie dot org

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  • From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to Chris Elvidge on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 10:04:24
    On 10/10/2022 13:56, Chris Elvidge wrote:
    On 10/10/2022 13:24, Andy Burns wrote:
    I could do with re-instating a 24x7 server on a Pi instead of on a
    beefy server where it used to run, I keep worrying that because it
    uses mySQL it'll probably do more writes than are healthy for an SD card.

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed
    to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?



    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for /boot

    That is my instant kneejerk reaction, too.

    --
    "In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
    true: it is true because it is powerful."

    Lucas Bergkamp

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  • From NY@3:770/3 to Jim Jackson on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 10:40:03
    "Jim Jackson" <jj@franjam.org.uk> wrote in message news:slrntk8efd.6rs.jj@iridium.wf32df...
    On 2022-10-10, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are supposed
    to
    include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card for >>> /boot

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry
    forgot to
    mention that ...


    What power can your PoE setup deliver. I have a pi3 and a 3inch USB
    connected harddrive powered by the old "standard" 5V 2A Pi power supply
    and there's no problem. A small SSD should take less power.

    I found that a typical spinning USB HDD (2.5") made my Pi 3B+ run very hot
    if the drive was powered from the Pi from the RasPi PSU that was providing
    with the 3B+. Sometimes the HDD did not even start spinning. Instead I
    powered the HDD from an external powered USB bus.

    Sadly the same USB bus would not work when I upgraded to a Pi 4. There seems
    to be something in the Pi 4 which causes booting to hang at a very early
    stage if the USB bus is powered before or at the same time as the Pi (as
    would happen if the power came on after a power cut). (*) As soon as power
    was removed from USB bus (or the bus was unplugged from the Pi's USB) the Pi immediately began the boot process, and once it had begin, I could replug
    the USB bus. I had to change to an an external SATA drive in a powered
    caddy.

    To reduce power consumption (I think it's about 7 W, 24/7, for the powered caddy+drive) I'm thinking about changing to a USB-powered SSD, powered from
    the Pi.



    (*) Asking on forums, I found that other people had experienced the same
    thing with some USB hubs. One suggestion was that the Pi didn't like it if
    the hub applied power on the USB lead to the Pi before the Pi's own power
    came on, so I made up a special lead with the +5V line cut, but that made no difference in my case.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Martin Gregorie@3:770/3 to All on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 09:49:24
    On Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:40:03 +0100, NY wrote:

    "Jim Jackson" <jj@franjam.org.uk> wrote in message news:slrntk8efd.6rs.jj@iridium.wf32df...
    On 2022-10-10, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    Chris Elvidge wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Has anyone used the Western Digital Purple SD cards that are
    supposed to include wear levelling like a "proper" SSD?

    Use a USB attached SSD as your root (/) device. Just use the SD card
    for /boot

    Not sure the PoE can handle enough power for an external disc, sorry
    forgot to mention that ...


    What power can your PoE setup deliver. I have a pi3 and a 3inch USB
    connected harddrive powered by the old "standard" 5V 2A Pi power supply
    and there's no problem. A small SSD should take less power.

    I found that a typical spinning USB HDD (2.5") made my Pi 3B+ run very
    hot if the drive was powered from the Pi from the RasPi PSU that was providing with the 3B+. Sometimes the HDD did not even start spinning. Instead I powered the HDD from an external powered USB bus.

    Sadly the same USB bus would not work when I upgraded to a Pi 4. There
    seems to be something in the Pi 4 which causes booting to hang at a very early stage if the USB bus is powered before or at the same time as the
    Pi (as would happen if the power came on after a power cut). (*) As soon
    as power was removed from USB bus (or the bus was unplugged from the
    Pi's USB) the Pi immediately began the boot process, and once it had
    begin, I could replug the USB bus. I had to change to an an external
    SATA drive in a powered caddy.

    Has a bug been raised for this problem?


    --

    Martin | martin at
    Gregorie | gregorie dot org

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  • From Jan Panteltje@3:770/3 to me@privacy.invalid on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 11:00:42
    On a sunny day (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:40:03 +0100) it happened "NY" <me@privacy.invalid> wrote in <ti3dnc$131uu$1@dont-email.me>:

    I found that a typical spinning USB HDD (2.5") made my Pi 3B+ run very hot
    if the drive was powered from the Pi from the RasPi PSU that was providing >with the 3B+. Sometimes the HDD did not even start spinning. Instead I >powered the HDD from an external powered USB bus.

    Sadly the same USB bus would not work when I upgraded to a Pi 4. There seems >to be something in the Pi 4 which causes booting to hang at a very early >stage if the USB bus is powered before or at the same time as the Pi (as >would happen if the power came on after a power cut). (*) As soon as power >was removed from USB bus (or the bus was unplugged from the Pi's USB) the Pi >immediately began the boot process, and once it had begin, I could replug
    the USB bus. I had to change to an an external SATA drive in a powered
    caddy.

    To reduce power consumption (I think it's about 7 W, 24/7, for the powered >caddy+drive) I'm thinking about changing to a USB-powered SSD, powered from >the Pi.



    (*) Asking on forums, I found that other people had experienced the same >thing with some USB hubs. One suggestion was that the Pi didn't like it if >the hub applied power on the USB lead to the Pi before the Pi's own power >came on, so I made up a special lead with the +5V line cut, but that made no >difference in my case.

    I use 2 Pi4s with 3.5 TB USB Toshiba drives
    one recording security cams 24/7 and audio, the other one as webbrowser with Chrome and Firefox.
    The trick is to use USB hubs, am using 2 Sitecom USB hubs, those have their own power supply and
    supply the USB hardisks and some other USB stuff.

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  • From NY@3:770/3 to Martin Gregorie on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 21:00:44
    On 11/10/2022 10:49, Martin Gregorie wrote:
    On Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:40:03 +0100, NY wrote:

    Sadly the same USB bus would not work when I upgraded to a Pi 4. There
    seems to be something in the Pi 4 which causes booting to hang at a very
    early stage if the USB bus is powered before or at the same time as the
    Pi (as would happen if the power came on after a power cut). (*) As soon
    as power was removed from USB bus (or the bus was unplugged from the
    Pi's USB) the Pi immediately began the boot process, and once it had
    begin, I could replug the USB bus. I had to change to an an external
    SATA drive in a powered caddy.

    Has a bug been raised for this problem?

    I tried to raise this as a bug via the RasPi forum, but didn't get any responses or official interest. The only suggestion was the one to cut
    the +5V line of the USB cable to prevent the powered USB hub from
    back-powering the Pi, which was a plausible explanation of the problem
    but not one that turned out to be a fix.

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