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I recommend an external USB case with an NVMe SSD inside.
This may not be as compact and not as cheap,
but they are much much much faster and probably longer-lasting
than any USB stick, because their flash controllers are more sophisticated and the parts of higher fidelity. A not-too-cheap NVMe will do fine,
as long as it’s TLC, not QLC flash.
And when used behind USB, an on-board DRAM cache is beneficial
if you deal with many small files.
A good metal case with 10 Gb/s USB is c USD 20
and the older Kioxia Exceria G2 with 500 GB and DRAM
can be had for 35 € on the Old Continent’s market.
Latin: the late revenge of the Romans to all Germans.
On 2025-02-18, Philip Webb <purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
250218 Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
I recommend an external USB case with an NVMe SSD inside.
This may not be as compact and not as cheap,
but they are much much much faster and probably longer-lasting
than any USB stick, because their flash controllers are more
sophisticated
and the parts of higher fidelity. A not-too-cheap NVMe will do fine,
as long as it’s TLC, not QLC flash.
Can you explain this -- TLC/QLC -- in more detail ?
Tri-Level Cells, Quad-Level Cells.
SLC (single-level cells)
Each "cell" consists of a capacitor (constructed as a FET with an isolated-gate). In the old days, the capacitor was either chared or
not: two levels. One bit per cell. Easy to make and reliable. If
you want more bits, layout more cells. That means larger dies, which
means more money.
MLC (two-level cells)
OK, let's also do four different charge levels! You get _two_ bits
per cell with the same area of silicon. Harder to do and not quite as reliable, so we'll add a few extra blocks of cells and make software
deal with blocks that don't work.
TLC (tri-level cells)
Hey, what if we do 8 different charge levels! Now you get 4 bits per
cell. Even harder to do, even less reliable...
QLC (quad-level cells)
[I think you see where this is going]
TLC (tri-level cells)
Hey, what if we do 8 different charge levels! Now you get 4 bits per
cell. Even harder to do, even less reliable...
QLC (quad-level cells)
[I think you see where this is going]
Yep, SLC > MLC > TLC > QLC in terms of performance, reliability, longevity and
price. The phenomenal decrease in price per GB/TB over time is just that. Phenomenal. For reasons Grant explained it comes with measured reduction in reliability and longevity.
Since they come with fast(er) DRAM cache which to
some extent masks the underlying NAND performance, with other things being equal it makes sense to choose one with faster/larger DRAM.
250218 Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
I recommend an external USB case with an NVMe SSD inside.
This may not be as compact and not as cheap,
but they are much much much faster and probably longer-lasting
than any USB stick, because their flash controllers are more sophisticated and the parts of higher fidelity. A not-too-cheap NVMe will do fine,
as long as it’s TLC, not QLC flash.
Can you explain this -- TLC/QLC -- in more detail ?
A good metal case with 10 Gb/s USB is c USD 20
and the older Kioxia Exceria G2 with 500 GB and DRAM
can be had for 35 € on the Old Continent’s market.
That looks very interesting, if CC sells it or someone reliable via I/net.
I use a USB 3 stick with 32 GB for daily back-ups
& USB 2 or 3's with 64 - 128 GB for longer-term archives ;
smaller sticks are necessary to live-system ISOs.
Am Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 02:10:35PM -0500 schrieb Philip Webb:
250218 Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
One thing I forgot to mention: AFAIK not all such enclosures support TRIM.
If you want to get one, check the conroller chip and whether it supports TRIM. In the USB world, the relevant feature is called UAS/UASP (USB
Attached SCSI).