Any SSD fans out there?

[=MGN=RedEagle]

I LOVE the SSD's in my server. They are very reliable and much faster.



I went to deck out a friends older computer with some SSD's and I saw these new PCIe SSD's.

Anyone here use them? Would you recommend them?


This friend's computer is a HP HPE-372f with a MS-7613 motherboard.

One PCI Express x16 slot
Three PCI Express x1 slots
One PCI Express x1 minicard socket

The PCI Express x16 is used by a graphics card. Can I add a PCIe in the PCI Express x1 slot?

Any issues with making that PCIe drive the only drive of the PC?

 

[TLDR]

Well, if you buy a Mac, PCIe-SSDs are your only option, so I can tell you, if your EFI (aka BIOS) supports this, it works as good or as bad as any other SSD would.

I myself do not yet buy this "SSDs are more reliable" story because they are quite new so nobody has long-term experiences as we have with classic HDDs, on the other hand, no SSD has died yet to me, although one has become very very slow (Samsung 830 Pro after about 2 years).

I guess, it goes without saying that you should NEVER trust your data to only one drive, so if you go SSD in your computer, you should have a backup solution on hand as well.

From the top of my head, the minicard socket should be your way to go.

 

[xenfans]

SSD fan here.

 

[whynot]

Any issues with making that PCIe drive the only drive of the PC?

There are no issues with my SSDs. They are the only drives in my PCs. (500, 500, 512 GB)
I cannot see that why should PCIes cause any problems?

 

[=MGN=RedEagle]

Well, if you buy a Mac, PCIe-SSDs are your only option, so I can tell you, if your EFI (aka BIOS) supports this, it works as good or as bad as any other SSD would.

I myself do not yet buy this "SSDs are more reliable" story because they are quite new so nobody has long-term experiences as we have with classic HDDs, on the other hand, no SSD has died yet to me, although one has become very very slow (Samsung 830 Pro after about 2 years).

I guess, it goes without saying that you should NEVER trust your data to only one drive, so if you go SSD in your computer, you should have a backup solution on hand as well.

From the top of my head, the minicard socket should be your way to go.

Very helpful reply, thanks! I love SSD's. I used to break a hard drive every 2-3 months on my server before using them. I find they work really well for me and I, like you, have never broken one. They used to be unreliable but now they are much better.

This SSD would work in the PCI Express minicard socket right?

Would the MS-7613 be able to take on the full potential of such an SSD? With only Sata 2 compatibility it would only run normal SSD's at half-speed so I am thinking PCIe might be a way to get the full speed of an SSD... am I right?

SSD fan here.

Love em. My forum seems to run a lot of demanding MySQL stuff so it's a real life-saver.

There are no issues with my SSDs. They are the only drives in my PCs. (500, 500, 512 GB)
I cannot see that why should PCIes cause any problems?

Cool thx. I dislike the fact that PCIe SSD's would take up some of my expandability but if they get around the SATA 2 limit I think it's worth it. Idk if that is the case though.

 

[TLDR]

I used to break a hard drive every 2-3 months on my server before using them

Okay, mine lived a good bit longer. There are some that didn't last one year (older WDs and newer Seagates since the Samsung HDD acquisition), but server drives never failed to me.

This SSD would work in the PCI Express minicard socket right?

This one is an M.2 socket which is the successor to PCIe minicard. So you would need an adapter, but those exist for what I googled quickly.

Would the MS-7613 be able to take on the full potential of such an SSD? With only Sata 2 compatibility it would only run normal SSD's at half-speed so I am thinking PCIe might be a way to get the full speed of an SSD... am I right?

SATA is not related to PCIe, since your PCIe ports (even the mini one) is PCIe in fact, you have no limitations to suffer.

I dislike the fact that PCIe SSD's would take up some of my expandability

In fact, if you go for PCIe minicard, you do not give up any of your expandability. Ok, technically you do, but you use a port which is hardly useful for anything different than a SSD. Look, this is the minicard port:

You can still use the three PCI-E-x1-ports around this white port.

Edit:
Here is a nice list of connections used for SSDs. You are interested in M.2 (since that is what manufactures release nowadays) and PCI-E-Mini (since that is the white port on your board)
http://www.funkykit.com/articles/mini-ssd-performance-comparison-msata-vs-m-2-vs-pci-express-mini/

 

[ManagerJosh]

Okay, mine lived a good bit longer. There are some that didn't last one year (older WDs and newer Seagates since the Samsung HDD acquisition), but server drives never failed to me.

This one is an M.2 socket which is the successor to PCIe minicard. So you would need an adapter, but those exist for what I googled quickly.

SATA is not related to PCIe, since your PCIe ports (even the mini one) is PCIe in fact, you have no limitations to suffer.

In fact, if you go for PCIe minicard, you do not give up any of your expandability. Ok, technically you do, but you use a port which is hardly useful for anything different than a SSD. Look, this is the minicard port:

View attachment 152327

You can still use the three PCI-E-x1-ports around this white port.

Edit:
Here is a nice list of connections used for SSDs. You are interested in M.2 (since that is what manufactures release nowadays) and PCI-E-Mini (since that is the white port on your board)
http://www.funkykit.com/articles/mini-ssd-performance-comparison-msata-vs-m-2-vs-pci-express-mini/

Just to be clear, it's those three small black connector ports to the left of the white port.

 

[motowebmaster]

That is all that is in my PC now:

• Samsung V-NAND 950 Pro 256Gig, modern versions are larger
• Samsung EVO 1TB

My external drive is a different brand, but it uses a USB 3.0 interface and is speedy enough.

 

[TLDR]

Just to be clear, it's those three small black connector ports to the left of the white port.

This does not make sense because the support document says 3x PCI-E 1x and 1x PCI-E Mini Card.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02014355

 

[imno007]

I myself do not yet buy this "SSDs are more reliable" story because they are quite new so nobody has long-term experiences as we have with classic HDDs, on the other hand, no SSD has died yet to me, although one has become very very slow (Samsung 830 Pro after about 2 years).

How much storage space is left on that Samsung drive? Just curious, because they do slow down very noticeably if there's not a certain amount of free space available on the drive. I believe Samsung usually recommends something like 10%, and their Magician software should include an option to change this. Not sure if they have a preset "Over Provisioning" amount set or if you have to set that amount yourself. But I've seen more than one article advising that you should leave at least 25% clear.

 

[TLDR]

It was a 256 GB drive with easily 50+% free. Plus, out of the 256 GB, we only partitioned 220-ish GB. We nuked it and replaced it with a newer model.

My theory is that Windows' hybrid standby mode killed the SSD slowly. The machine was always sent to standby which eventually turned into hibernation. But that's just a theory.

 

[xenfans]

People shouldn't forget that you are not required to just have an SSD or HDD solution.

Use the tools available to you for the reasons you need them.

If you need to store a TB of data, don't get an SSD.
If you need to store a TB of data you frequently read and have performance issues because your 7200rpm HDD is the bottleneck, use an SSD.

You can simply use the SSD for the OS and apps and another one for caching and frequently visited files, and a HDD for your onsite backup, and storing of data like attachments.

There are enough tools out there for *nix systems to keep an eye on instant, hour, weekly, daily, monthly io performance for both the hardware, the software and the network.

 

[TPerry]

I still spec my Dr's office clinic servers out with good old 15k SAS drives - it's a little cheaper since we get 8x900GB setups and still get great performance for what we need them for.
If I could get away with it in my desktop PC (which is a Mac) I would also use the SAS drives. We've had to many SSD failures in the clinic desktops recently.

 

[ManagerJosh]

This does not make sense because the support document says 3x PCI-E 1x and 1x PCI-E Mini Card.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02014355

I can't tell if that's a PCI-E mini card slot or not - it looked proprietary based on angle and of the photo posted earlier.

It could very well be.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

My theory is that Windows' hybrid standby mode killed the SSD slowly.

Is that W10 or does that include W7 as well?

 

[=MGN=RedEagle]

I have learned a ton reading this. My PC motherboard just died...

I think I will get a new one with an M.2 slot.

 

[TLDR]

Is that W10 or does that include W7 as well?

Windows 8. 8.0, that is. The new SSD seems to feel good in its new environment under Windows 10 (upgrade from 8.1).

 

[IlPerazzi]

My MacBook, naturally, has them. I migrated my primary, high-end spec, Windows HDs to ssd drives not to long ago and they've worked out great. The NAS that I use across locations, however, still is running hdds.