[NTLUG:Discuss] SSD on Linux Desktop

[Patrick R. Michaud]

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 04:52:47PM -0500, Stuart Johnston wrote:
> On 04/13/2012 04:32 PM, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> >My desktop system (Kubuntu) uses its SSD for both the /home
> >and root partitions (including /usr, /tmp, and /var).  It's
> >generally powered on 24x7, and I do a fair bit of heavy disk
> >activity such as compiling (Parrot, Perl 6, etc) using the SSD,
> >meaning lots of writes and temporary files.  I've also done
> >many fresh OS installs to the SSD, which also involves a lot
> >of disk writing.
> 
> What are you thoughts on journaling?  I went with EXT4 to get trim
> support and many recommend disabling the journal.  From what I've
> read, compiling is very journal heavy but then I don't do much of
> that.

I'm using Kubuntu's default of ext3 with journaling enabled.
There's probably a very good argument for disabling the
journaling, as fsck on a SSD partition is blazingly fast
anyway.   So perhaps I should do at least that.  So far
the convenience, consistency, and increased reliability from
sticking with Kubuntu's defaults for all of my systems 
outweighs my concerns about excessive writes to the SSD.

Perhaps my approach is a bit reckless and pound-foolish,
but so far it's worked out well for me.

Pm