Switching to SSD for decreasing power cosumption

[Marko Polo]

Does this have sense?
I have problems which I believe are connected with insufficient power supply in my USB3 port. However I didn't found decent way to check it (to check whether it's power-related or not).

 

[yk101]

Does this have sense?
I have problems which I believe are connected with insufficient power supply in my USB3 port. However I didn't found decent way to check it (to check whether it's power-related or not).

I use USB3 SSD without any issues. An easy way to check if your issue is power related would be connecting a power supply to the disk enclosure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Marko Polo]

An easy way to check if your issue is power related would be connecting a power supply to the disk enclosure.

There is no enclosure by my hand right now.

I use USB3 SSD without any issues.

I suppose switching to SSD will solve my problems too.

 

[RMerlin]

I do not recommend using an SSD on the router, due to lack of Trim support, unless you never really do any writes to it.

 

[Marko Polo]

I do not recommend using an SSD on the router, due to lack of Trim support, unless you never really do any writes to it.

As I got from TRIM description, lack of TRIM incurs only shorter lifetime of SSD. I suppose, I agree to that price. Setting up additional power supply is a real pain in the butt for me.

 

[RMerlin]

As I got from TRIM description, lack of TRIM incurs only shorter lifetime of SSD. I suppose, I agree to that price. Setting up additional power supply is a real pain in the butt for me.

No, lack of trim implies drop in performance once the SSD runs out of unallocated flash cell space, and need to do multiple read/erase/program operations to write new data to disk.

It might not be that noticeable on a router where the bottleneck would be the USB port and the CPU however. Just something to keep in mind if you eventually move the SSD back to a computer - you might want to do a secure erase then to regain full performance.

 

[Marko Polo]

and need to do multiple read/erase/program operations to write new data to disk.

That is usually have shortened lifetime as a consequence. Okay, thanks for clarification.

 

[Gedeon30]

A 3.5 enclosure with independent power supply and a classic HDD could be a good solution. Those usually spin down after a bunch of minutes. And even the firmware has a feature to force that spin down.

 

[Marko Polo]

A 3.5 enclosure with independent power supply and a classic HDD could be a good solution.

That's what I want to avoid.

 

[Gedeon30]

That's what I want to avoid.

I totally understand your point about power consumption just genuinely curious about the numbers you've made to take that decision.

 

[Marko Polo]

I totally understand your point about power consumption just genuinely curious about the numbers you've made to take that decision.

However I didn't found decent way to check it (to check whether it's power-related or not).

 

[Marko Polo]

Measuring of SSD power consumption is a task that has no simple solution, as they say and requires sophisticated appliances.

 

[Gedeon30]

You can try using ext2 or ext4 without journaling. Ext4 "by default" is a bit too stressing for disks which lots of writing operations.

 

[Marko Polo]

You can try using ext2 or ext4 without journaling. Ext4 "by default" is a bit too stressing for disks which lots of writing operations.

Will try.

 

[sfx2000]

I do not recommend using an SSD on the router, due to lack of Trim support, unless you never really do any writes to it.

Many of the low-end USB to SATA enclosures don't support TRIM either - some do, granted, but many don't.

Running a bus-powered drive on any Router/AP is not advised - better to have external power to the drive.

(same reason why Pi folks do not recommend bus powering RPi's from a Router/AP - power might not always be enough, or consistent enough to prevent corruption)

 

[sfx2000]

You can try using ext2 or ext4 without journaling. Ext4 "by default" is a bit too stressing for disks which lots of writing operations.

If Bus powering, probably want to have the journal on, not disabled, so it makes recovery of the drive a bit easier if power is interrupted and splats the file system...

 

[TonyH]

Does this have sense?
I have problems which I believe are connected with insufficient power supply in my USB3 port. However I didn't found decent way to check it (to check whether it's power-related or not).

If that is the case how about modifying USB3 port for higher current rating like USB charge port on laptops.

There is no enclosure by my hand right now.


I suppose switching to SSD will solve my problems too.

Well for the price of SSD, it may cost less to get an enclosure with self-contained PSU.

 

[sfx2000]

Measuring of SSD power consumption is a task that has no simple solution, as they say and requires sophisticated appliances.

There's a couple of tools out there that look at specific power usage on the bus...

Centec has a good one - about 15 bucks on the Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DAR4ITE/?tag=snbforums-20

Might be useful for pass-through on devices attached - the device I linked works with USB3/2/1.1 - there are others for USB-C

 

[ColinTaylor]

That is usually have shortened lifetime as a consequence. Okay, thanks for clarification.

Even when the OS doesn't have TRIM support the drive might have some form of Active Garbage Collection. There was also a discussion about fstrim and discard here.

 

[cmkelley]

I do not recommend using an SSD on the router, due to lack of Trim support, unless you never really do any writes to it.

Haven't you also said (more than once) that you don't recommend using any router as a fileserver?