I just read this article about a 32GB solid state flash hard drive from Samsung.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/09/...ve_obsoletism/
It sounds like a very cool product. However, I think the prices are a bit steep at the moment. http://www.dvnation.com/nand-flash-ssd.html
So I came to the idea of building a SATA RAID array using some hardware raid controller, and these:
SATA Compact Flash adapter
Can be had for $34.50ea directly from addonics
Here are some perceived advantages/disadvantages off the top of my head
Advantages:
Upgradeable/Replaceable cards
Might be done for less $/GB ?
Possible better performance than Samsung drive?
Disadvantages:
Probably no way to do in a laptop, desktop only
All the reliability of RAID 0 coupled with limited flash writes
Some things to consider:
What are currently the fastest available CF cards?
Which cards would be the best balance of speed/capacity/value to fill the array with?
How crazy do you want to go with the RAID? 2,4,6,8 channel?
What SATA RAID controllers are supported in Linux and what would they cost?
The end product should at least perform better than a single "moving parts" hard drive.
I think it would be a fun project, what do you think?
I'm probably not going to be building this any time soon due to fundage, but in the somewhat near future when I can scrounge together some bills I think I would like to try it.
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