Monkey_Demon
Explorer
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2016
- Messages
- 85
Hello,
I'm building a NAS drive with a Supermicro X11SSH-F motherboard and trying to decide what to use as the boot device, and I'm asking you for advice.
The board can boot off of any one of several possible devices, but the two most likely options are a USB flash drive or a M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x2 drive. Here are the prime candidates, along with comments:
Also, if I were to get the SSD, is there any productive way to use the extra storage (e.g. partition the device and use most of it for Docker containers)? What would you recommend?
Thanks!
I'm building a NAS drive with a Supermicro X11SSH-F motherboard and trying to decide what to use as the boot device, and I'm asking you for advice.
The board can boot off of any one of several possible devices, but the two most likely options are a USB flash drive or a M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x2 drive. Here are the prime candidates, along with comments:
- USB: a 16GB SLC flash drive. The MX-Technology 16GB USB 3.0 MX-ES Series SLC Flash Drive - MXUB3SES-16G (currently $52.61 on Amazon) is a good example. Less expensive, less obtrusive than the M.2. SLC technology should make it last longer than the more common MLC technology, but I'm still nervous about using a flash drive.
- M.2: These do not seem to be available in small sizes. Also, reviews on some of the less expensive ones report high failure rates, excess heat, and other problems. Right now the top candidate is a Corsair Force Series MP500 120GB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen. 3 x4 SSD selling on Amazon for $65.99. I have more confidence in an SSD than a flash drive. This particular drive is overkill: the MB is x2, but the drive is x4; and I don't need 128 GB for a boot drive. Still, for the small price increment over the USB, it may be worthwhile.
Also, if I were to get the SSD, is there any productive way to use the extra storage (e.g. partition the device and use most of it for Docker containers)? What would you recommend?
Thanks!