ASRock c2550d4i - USB Flash drive or Marvell SSD for OS?

[MurphyZoo]

I currently have a FreeNAS system built around an ASRock c2550d4i motherboard.
I have 6x4TB drives (RaidZ2) plugged into the Intel SATA ports.
My OS install is currently on 2 USB flash drives plugged into the rear USB ports running zfs mirrored.

After updating another system, I now have an Intel 64GB SSD available. I could use this for the FreeNAS OS drive, but would have to plug it into one of the Marvel ports. After searching around quite a bit, the Marvel ports don't seem to be recommended for the data drives.

Would you recommend that I stick with my current mirrored USB flash drive setup or switch to the SSD on a Marvel port?

Thank you.

 

[nojohnny101]

i would stick with what you have. I personally would prefer a mirrored setup to a single drive any day. Then again, if you properly backup your confit file then losing the OS drive only equates to downtime.

 

[MurphyZoo]

If I could scrounge up a similar sized SSD as the one I have (I might have a cheap option to do this), would it then be worth it? The main concern I have here is the Marvell SATA controllers. Would it be better to have the OS drives on the Marvell controllers or on USB?

Thanks

 

[BigDave]

If I could scrounge up a similar sized SSD as the one I have (I might have a cheap option to do this), would it then be worth it? The main concern I have here is the Marvell SATA controllers. Would it be better to have the OS drives on the Marvell controllers or on USB? Thanks

If you have the configuration database on your boot device, I would go
with the SSD (single drive) on the M-controller and would not look back.
Use caution however, that the almost constant writing to the config. file
may wear out the SSD quickly if the flash chips and the firmware are of
poor quality.

 

[nojohnny101]

I think the more appropriate question is "SSD mirrored or USB mirrored". Then of course that is an easy answer, the SSD is always a better option. Some on here might even argue that a single SSD is more reliable than mirrored USB but that is more a matter of opinion.

I wouldn't mind so much about the Marvell controller. It is either going to work or not. The SATA ports on my Marvell controller on my board (same one you are asking about) work just fine. Although obviously ASRock is aware of the Marvells lower reliability than intels and so recommended using the former before the latter. Not to say they are bad, many are using them just fine with that board, just that they clearly are not as reliable as the Intel controller.

Hope this helps

 

[MurphyZoo]

Thanks. That's definitely helpful.
I'll get my hands on a second SSD and will install FreeNAS on it. I'll backup the config from the USB flash drives and restore the config to the SSDs to see if they'll book ok. I'll probably make sure I have the latest firmware / BIOS for all my devices first.

I am assuming from reading the information here that this should be a safe option and shouldn't mess up my data drives.

Thanks again.

 

[nojohnny101]

@MurphyZoo sounds like a plan.

Just to make sure you are clear. After you get the mirrored SSDs up and running, you should run a script to back up your config file every night if there are changes. Ideally the config file would be saved to one of your datasets.