[geeks] Disks: recommendations?

[Mouse]

>> So far, I've avoided SSDs.  [...]
> On pretty much any decent modern SSD, wear leveling really isn't an
> issue any more, anything not bargain-basement third tier is typically
> now rated for multiple full device writes per DAY for longer than the
> entire rated service life of the drive.

What _is_ "the entire rated service life of the drive"?  I would be
surprised if it were not far shorter than the time I want to keep my
data.

> Then again, the shelf life of spinning rust isn't infinite either.
> Anyone here NOT had a stuck drive that had to be sharply snap-spun to
> unstick it before it would spin up, after sitting for a while?

Fair point - but stuck drives typically can be made to start another
time or two, enough to get one last read of their data.  Do SSDs fail
similarly, or do they just cross a line and go from "working fine" to
"completely dead" when their firmware decides it's had enough?  I would
hope they'd instead flip from "working fine" to "read-only", but I have
little faith such hopes would be realized.

> Possibly the gripping hand is that while their prices have come down
> a LOT, SSDs are still not yet really price-competitive with spinning
> rust.

I was recently quoted a factor of approximately 2.3x for SSD as
compared to spinning rust ($300 vs $132, for the same nominal drive
size).  For what that's worth.

> Ultimately, neither will outlast stone tablets.  ;)

Probably not.  But the storage density is somewhat higher.

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