MXLinux 17.1 and SSD Optimization

[devva231]

I was conflicted on where to place this post...Hardware or Older versions. A coin toss decided. So I'm doing Google research on SSD+Linux, was lead into optimization, then found these links:

https://wiki.debian.org/SSDOptimization
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke ... re.c#n3775
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke ... re.c#n4519
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=790520

I will be having MXLinux 17.1 installed (alone) on a Crucial 500GB MX500 2.5" SSD. Does the above foretell any problems coming my way, and if so, what should I tell my computer tech to do as mitigations? Any advice regarding this is appreciated, but I will not be using another version of MXLinux, so keep that in mind.

[JayM]

There's nothing you need to do to optimize a modern SSD in MX Linux beyond running fstrim as a weekly anacron job. I don't know about MX-17 but 18 and 19 already have that weekly cron job preconfigured. You can look in /etc/cron/weekly and see if there's a file called fstrim-mx there to find out in MX-17 is also preset to trim SSDs weekly. Any other attempts to "optimize" the SSD will probably just lead to premature wear and failure, as will trimming it more often. Your last link to Debian bugs is from 2015 and SSDs have come a long way since then, having firmware that already optimizes the drives for the best compromise between performance and longevity. The only other thing I can add is that if you have enough RAM to get by without a swap partition do so, or if you need to swap it would be better to put that partition on an HDD if you can. That being said I have an SSD and did an auto-install which created a 2GB swap, but with my CPU and 12GB of RAM I don't think my system has ever actually swapped. Also I never hibernate (or even suspend for that matter), I either leave the computer running or shut it down at the end of the day depending on whether or not I have some tasks still running.

[chrispop99]

The MX Linux Wiki article on Trim states that it applies from MX-14.

Chris

[BitJam]

I agree with all of the above. I verified the fs-trim script is in MX-17. I have that same drive. I've been using it for over 2 years with over 6,000 hours of operation and over 25 terabytes written. No problems. No errors. The only special thing I do is run the fs-trim script weekly. The drive has a 5 year warranty and an endurance rating of 180 terabytes written which is 98 gigabytes per day for 5 years. Unless you are doing something very unusual, you won't come close to this. It's like doing 10 or 20 installs per day every day for 5 years.

Please ignore urban legends about the fragility of ssd drives and how to extend their life. The one exception is to leave some of the drive, say 25%, unused.

[chrispop99]

For completeness, I should also add that all and any SSDs on your machine will be Trimmed, not just the boot drive.

Chris