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Lumifer comments on Open thread for December 9 - 16, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: NancyLebovitz 09 December 2013 04:35PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 19 December 2013 04:41:46PM 2 points [-]

The advantages for an SSD are speed, not reliability.

I would expect an SSD to be MUCH more reliable than a hard drive.

SSDs are solid-state devices with no moving parts. Hard drives are mechanical devices with platters rapidly rotating at microscopic tolerances.

So now that I've declared my prior let's see if there's data... :-)

"From the data I've seen, client SSD annual failure rates under warranty tend to be around 1.5%, while HDDs are near 5%," Chien said. (where Chien is "an SSD and storage analyst with IHS's Electronics & Media division") Source

Comment author: ephion 19 December 2013 05:06:53PM 1 point [-]

Reliability for SSDs is better than for HDD. However, they aren't so much more reliable that it alters best practices for important data keeping -- at least two backups, and one off site.

Comment author: Lumifer 19 December 2013 05:24:11PM *  4 points [-]

they aren't so much more reliable that it alters best practices for important data keeping

Oh, certainly.

Safety of your data involves considerably more than the reliability of your storage devices. SSDs won't help you if your laptop gets stolen or if, say, your power supply goes berserk and fries everything within reach.