The TrueNAS OS is 800mb originally designed to run off a 16gb USB stick and holds nothing valuable. You back up a 500kb config file elsewhere. I'm going the premium route with an SSD but you can run it off whatever you want. You can't get an HDD for $20 anymore, and USBs aren't robust enough to handle all the writes so the SSD is actually the best route here. If the USB/SSD/HD/computer fails then you simply load the OS onto another drive, boot it up, restore the 500kb config file and you're good to go. Re-loading/installing TrueNA is 10min process and not anything like Windows.I just read a report that said the average life of an SSD is only 18 months before errors start accumulating. The trouble is that we don't notice the isolated errors until they matter. I just copied some files off of an SSD for my son to give a buddy. He hadn't had any problems with it, but it was full of errors.
It has me rethinking the whole idea of SSDs. Sure, they are fast. But I am quickly realizing that there might be a hefty price to pay that I didn't know about.
I store data on HDDs and Windows OS on SSDs under the same principal on all my desktops. For me the speed is well worth and I simply replace the SSD if anything every happens, which I've never had to. I'm spoiled and can't use any device without SSDs anymore!
Agree that valuable data shouldn't be stored on the same drive as your OS and software on a single SSD (or HDD for that matter). But folks on laptops don't have a choice and that's when I recommend backuping up regularly to an external HDD.
Last edited: