SOLVED 9.3 USB vs SSD vs SATA DOM?

[AlainD]

They haven't increased so drastically. The workload has changed slightly because of the switch from UFS to ZFS and the workload type is "random writes" from the appearance of the USB, which is often measured to be 1-3 MB/sec.

Server performance isn't affected because FreeNAS boots up and is loaded into RAM drives, so the performance of the boot device is inconsequential except when actually needing to write or read from the USB stick directly. Off the top of my head that would only be on bootup, boot device scrubbing and OS updates to 9.3.

Thanks for the info.

 

[diedrichg]

Server performance isn't affected because FreeNAS boots up and is loaded into RAM drives, so the performance of the boot device is inconsequential except when actually needing to write or read from the USB stick directly. Off the top of my head that would only be on bootup, boot device scrubbing and OS updates to 9.3.

THANK YOU! Finally an answer to quash the notion that we will need a fast OS storage medium with 9.3.

 

[rogerh]

Mind you some have said that Mysterious Badness may happen if USB HDDs are used with ZFS. So are we sure that mirrored USB sticks are a reliable idea?

 

[solarisguy]

Mind you some have said that Mysterious Badness may happen if USB HDDs are used with ZFS. So are we sure that mirrored USB sticks are a reliable idea?

That is due to USB HDDs having USB-SATA bridge...

 

[jgreco]

And being crap and hiding SMART and (...)

So, anyways, hi all you lusers, some of us have been booting FreeNAS off redundant datastores since FreeNAS 8. Welcome to the modern era. USB frelling sucks.

 

[anodos]

And being crap and hiding SMART and (...)

So, anyways, hi all you lusers, some of us have been booting FreeNAS off redundant datastores since FreeNAS 8. Welcome to the modern era. USB frelling sucks.

Any chance we'll be able to boot off floppy disks in the future. I have this old DX2 computer that I want to repurpose....

 

[jgreco]

Sure, you can create a mirror out of two floppy disks... for good measure make 'em USB!

 

[Ericloewe]

Sure, you can create a mirror out of two floppy disks... for good measure make 'em USB!

That inspired me to think about the longest chain I could come up with:

SD -> SD-to-CF adapter -> CF/IDE adapter -> IDE/SATA adapter -> SATA USB bridge -> PCI-e USB controller -> Thunderbolt

 

[anodos]

That inspired me to think about the longest chain I could come up with:

SD -> SD-to-CF adapter -> CF/IDE adapter -> IDE/SATA adapter -> SATA USB bridge -> PCI-e USB controller -> Thunderbolt

If monster makes all of those cables, then your chain probably would cost more than your NAS.

 

[Z300M]

What about one of these:

What's the significance of the "for POS Machines"? Anything?

Edit: I pasted a link, but I don't see it. The description is:
"Kingspec Industrial Disk on Module SATA DOM 7Pins 8GB SLC 1CH for POS Machines"

 

[jgreco]

POS = Point of Sale. Cash registers. You know those frakking things that are always crashing when a clerk is trying to check you out, and they curse and maybe reboot it? Why? 'Cuz it's pieced together out of the crappiest hardware and kludges known to man.

 

[Ericloewe]

If monster makes all of those cables, then your chain probably would cost more than your NAS.

Monster's price for a typical 1m cable (let's say it costs two bucks to make) is ~100 bucks.

The SD/CF, IDE/SATA, SATA USB bridge and USB controller are probably around 5 bucks each wholesale (with Monster-style exteriors), so let's say 200 bucks each. That's 800 bucks.
The CF/IDE adapter is a piece of plastic and metal that costs 10 cents if you order from a random Chinese factory, so let's say 50 bucks.
The Thunderbolt cable would probably cost 100 bucks. 950.
Two thunderbolt controllers, 10 bucks straight from Intel (each), should add a good 300 bucks each (the second one is 50% off!). 1250.
Add an SD card that fell of the back of a truck in Shenzhen and may or may not be one of those that is actually a 128MB card with hacked firmware that accepts all reads and reports a fake capacity, overwriting old stuff - 20 bucks, for good measure.

POS = Point of Sale. Cash registers. You know those frakking things that are always crashing when a clerk is trying to check you out, and they curse and maybe reboot it? Why? 'Cuz it's pieced together out of the crappiest hardware and kludges known to man.

I always considered the acronym very appropriate.

 

[Z300M]

POS = Point of Sale. Cash registers. You know those frakking things that are always crashing when a clerk is trying to check you out, and they curse and maybe reboot it? Why? 'Cuz it's pieced together out of the crappiest hardware and kludges known to man.

I know what POS means. But is the unreliability the result of the SATADOM module? These KingSpec units seem to be about all that I see on eBay.

 

[ikkenjij36]

Is it possible to put latest release to an ssd and keep my pool from an other zfs nas?
So start over on my ssd with freenas and keep my data safe to migrate to freenas?

 

[Jailer]

I know what POS means. But is the unreliability the result of the SATADOM module? These KingSpec units seem to be about all that I see on eBay.

I got my SATA DOM from newegg. Not the cheapest but they are in stock. I got the 16GB but it's currently out of stock. The 32 and 64 are in stock though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816139090

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816139091

 

[mjws00]

heh full hijack in progress.

 

[anodos]

POS = Point of Sale. Cash registers. You know those frakking things that are always crashing when a clerk is trying to check you out, and they curse and maybe reboot it? Why? 'Cuz it's pieced together out of the crappiest hardware and kludges known to man.

Heh, when I was in college I worked at Target. Their choice of POS vendors was "RealPOS", which apparently was an apt description. For those thinking I'm joking see here: http://www.ncr.com/products/gm/pos-terminals It all seemed like someone was trolling some execs and it got out of hand.

 

[diedrichg]

I got my SATA DOM from newegg. Not the cheapest but they are in stock. I got the 16GB but it's currently out of stock. The 32 and 64 are in stock though.

Some manager at Newegg is sitting in front of their inventory spreadsheet saying WTF?!, we've had these SATA DOM things sitting in our warehouse for six months and nobody has touched them - and now we are out!? What the...!?

 

[Ericloewe]

I got my SATA DOM from newegg. Not the cheapest but they are in stock. I got the 16GB but it's currently out of stock. The 32 and 64 are in stock though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816139090

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816139091

Expensive, huh? Makes me wonder if it's worth not running SATA cables to an SSD that can be tucked away pretty much anywhere...

 

[Jailer]

Expensive, huh? Makes me wonder if it's worth not running SATA cables to an SSD that can be tucked away pretty much anywhere...

Yup. Honestly I went with mine over a regular SSD just for the novelty of trying one out.