Re: [gentoo-user] What are common SSDs does and don'ts.

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Mar 22, 2025 at 11:51 AM Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Howdy,
>
> As most know from other threads, I have a couple external m.2 NVME SSD
> drives thingys.  As of today, I now have a Crucial 480GB and 1TB and a
> Samsung 1TB drive.  I also have a Samsung 1TB m.2 in my main rig for the
> OS.  I read some things ages ago about these things when they first came
> out and people were still learning about what to do and not do with
> them.  At the time there was a lot of confusion as they were new and
> people were testing options.  I figure by now, it is fairly well known
> what not to do with these things and what should be done to make them
> perform well and last longer.  So, I have questions but also feel free
> to share other info as well that would be good to know.  I plan to make
> a cheat sheet out of the info.
>
> First, for mount options.  Should I have any mount options included in
> fstab for the OS m.2 in my main rig?  Also, for the external USB mounted
> ones, should I put mount options somewhere for those?  If so, since
> there is no fstab entries, where would I put those options?  Some I use
> the automount tool built into KDE.
>
> Now to add more questions.  I'm sure running shred, dd, wipe and other
> similar commands would shorten the life of one of these things.  Is
> there other things I should avoid doing that is common on spinning rust
> drives?  Are there any other don'ts I should be aware of?
>
> Are there things I should do on occasion that will make them perform
> better, last longer or both?  Keep in mind, some may only be mounted
> with USB.  That may limit some options.  So far, the m.2 enclosure I use
> allows SMART to get info at least.  Oh, what info does SMART give that I
> should keep a eye on for failures or problems?  I also installed a
> package that includes the nvme command.  I'm not real sure what to do
> with that thing, yet.  o_o
>
> Now that I have a few of these things, I don't want to do something that
> lets the smoke out.  O_O  Oh, links to good info would also be OK.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Dale

Hi Dale,
   I suspect you're going to get as many responses as there are people
to respond. I personally treat them exactly like spinning rust. I've never
cared to try to adjust my computer life to do anything different. I've had
them in laptops and PCs for 8-10 years and none have ever failed.

   I'd rather do backups once a month to a rotating set of backup devices
vs being 'careful' which, in my life, has never really proved to solve
any of my computer problems.

   I hope whatever you do works for you.

   One website for these devices that I look at when purchasing is this:

https://ssd.userbenchmark.com

If you click on a drive you're interested in you get tested values from
other folks which is an interesting data point.

Cheers,
Mark