I want to buy an SSD for the specified reasons, and reliability and price are the most important for me. I want to do/learn C++ programming and get to know Linux in a deeper level. My budget would be 155 USD at most.
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1So, what are the specified reasons? You don't really specify. Pretty vague.– user1691Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 15:17
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See this answer Basically, any SSD will do, but stick to name brands like Kingston– Digital BoffinCommented Oct 20, 2017 at 18:44
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The Crucial BX300 is really cheap right now for some reason. It's a mid range instead of entry level SSD, meaning it has MLC and the like. I'm still a little paranoid about Kingston SSDs because of a switcheroo they did a while back.– timuzhtiCommented Oct 21, 2017 at 13:36
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Thanks for the pointer @Alpha3031, but right now this SSD can't be purchased in my country. It does seem a great deal though, so I will keep an eye on it.– user7171Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 13:40
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1 Answer
Main uses would be
- Linux OS
- Programming (C++)
- Virtual machines
while your requirements are
- reliability
- price
Assuming you want an internal SSD,
I would say that you would in theory want an SSD with SLC, however, they are more expensive.
For example a search on newegg.com for SLC in the range $100-200 resulted in 1 match
- WD Green M.2 2280 240GB Internal SSD ($147.96)
- disclaimer I do not use newegg but that was the only international product comparison search I knew that has "power search".
In practice, given your intended use, a MLC based SSD should suffice. A search for MLC in the same range resulted in numerous products. The linked Wikipedia article even states that
In February 2016, a study was published that showed little difference in practice between the reliability of SLC and MLC.
(referencing Bianca Schroeder and Arif Merchant (February 22, 2016). "Flash Reliability in Production: The Expected and the Unexpected". Conference on File and Storage Technologies. Usenix. Retrieved November 3, 2016.)
You also need to ensure that the SSD you purchase support
... the ATA_TRIM command for sustained long-term performance and wear-leveling.
The only thing that I am aware of when using SSD with Linux is to ensure that the file system you use for the SSD supports TRIM. See the referenced archlinux link on SSD.
Given your intended use I would say any SSD with SATA revision 3.0 ("SATA 3" or "SATA III") interface should perform well enough.
You could say the maximum for SATA revision 3.0 is 6Gb/s, and that the maximum for SATA revision 3.2 is 16Gb/s.
I personally run an external SSD with USB 3.0 (can transfer data at up to 5 Gbit/s that is 625 MB/s according to Wikipedia) from where amongst other things I run virtual machines (Windows 7, Linux). For your stated uses I doubt you will have any performance issues.
If you want to narrow down your search (MLC) in an effort to improve performance then I would recommend considering an SSD with NVMe interface if your motherboard supports it. The same search on newegg adding "PCI-Express 3.0 x4" narrows the search down to about 20.
I recommend searching for reviews or comparison videos for more specific examples. My favorite is NVMe SSD Review - Which Should You Buy? - 2017 Edition. Notice what he says in the beginning of the review; NVMe is for high-end machines; for mid-range computer see his "SATA SSD" review.
Good luck!
PS
Reading Digital Boffon's comment I remembered that I forgot to mention something about read-write operations -- which would have basically been the same tl;dr as the answer Boffon referenced
Yes, there's a limit, but you needn't worry about it. You simply won't be able to perform enough read/write operations before you run out of capacity.
My source however was "The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead This is the end, beautiful friend" by Geoff Gasior — 10:22 AM on March 12, 2015.
