mini-ITX with USB stick instead of HDD

Jabberwok2011-03-16 20:31:23

Do it yourself

Jabberwok, 2011-03-16 20:31:23

We want to build a mini-ITX computer and save as much as possible. I wonder if it is possible to use an ordinary USB flash drive instead of an HDD?

Question two: will the system boot from a USB flash drive? How to install Windows on a flash drive?

Add. question: are there adapters in which you can plug a USB flash drive and SATA so that the motherboard thinks it is a regular HDD?

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8 answer(s)

Artyom, 2011-03-16
@jabberwok

Read here .
But there are pitfalls, the resource of read-write cycles is limited and the flash drive may die very quickly.

Vlad Zhivotnev, 2011-03-16
@inkvizitor68sl

All motherboards with Atom can boot from USB flash drives (not all in a row, but in general there are no problems finding such flash drives).
There are no problems with Linux - you just need to mount with noatime. How long does it work ... If you take out / tmp separately, then 5 years without problems (under normal conditions).

sisaenkov, 2011-03-16
@sisaenkov

You will get tired of waiting for the system to boot from a USB flash drive.
A good high-speed flash drive will be even more expensive than a 500 GB HDD.
Better take hard.

sl_bug, 2011-03-16
@sl_bug

CF-flash with sata adapter

Jazzist, 2011-03-16
@Jazzist

Likewise, I want. But people are afraid that performance is critically low. A better solution is to use network boot and NFS.
We want to build a mini-ITX computer and save as much as possible. I wonder if it is possible to use an ordinary USB flash drive instead of an HDD?
Yes. But save more by doing "network download".
Question two: will the system boot from a USB flash drive? How to install Windows on a flash drive?
Will. Googled.
Add. question: are there adapters in which you can plug a USB flash drive and SATA so that the motherboard thinks it is a regular HDD?
All fresh mothers work comfortably with flash drives, including being able to boot from them, etc. From the point of view of all fresh operating systems, media on flash drives differ slightly from hard drives, and there will be no special changes in operation, except perhaps some brakes.

Alexander, 2011-03-17
@ncix

What tasks will this computer perform?

Puma Thailand, 2011-03-16
@opium

you can put it on usb, everything is put in the same way as on a regular screw, the current flash drive will die pretty quickly.

amc, 2011-03-17
@amc

Hardy:
Price, RUB Name
1092 160Gb WD Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS SATA-II 7200rpm 8Mb1125
250Gb WD Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS SATA-II 7200rpm 8Mb
1140 320Gb WD Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS SATA-II 7200rpm 8Mb
1173 500Gb WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX SATA 6 Gb / s USB2.0
Jet Flash Retail
_
_
_ with the following parameters: Read 32 MByte/s, Write 12 MByte/s (8GB); Read 32 MByte/s, Write 18 MByte/s (16~32GB)
Sorry, but it seems to me that you are saving in the wrong place, for the time that you will wait until something is downloaded or recorded. Moreover, with several simultaneous read / write tasks on flash, the speed drops to zero altogether, and this is exactly what happens when the OS starts and programs are loaded.
Well, not to mention the cost of the USB -> SATA adapter (you still need to find it), all the savings will be nullified.
How much is the budget, and how does ncix ask correctly - what tasks for the computer?