On 24/03/2020 20:38, NY wrote:
> Is it OK to use SSD-type storage for swap space, or should it be a
> spinning disk because of the large number of reads and writes that swap
> space causes?

Its fine using a proper SSD for swap, as they have sophisticated
controllers which minimize writing and perform proper wear leveling.

For other storage it depends how good the controller is. On SD cards and
the tiny USB thumb drives, it isn't very good and will reduce the
devices lifetime. From experience the larger USB bar drives are
somewhere in between SD cards and SSDs, i.e. between awful performance
and lifetime for the cheaper ones, up to damn near an SSD for ones such
as the Samsung USB 3.1 bar drives.

 > My 32 GB "system drive" (which I presume includes swap space) in my PI
 > 3B+ is working fine after about 18 months of usage.

It all depends on how much the device is used, if you are swapping
constantly, any non SSD storage is going to stressed, and system
performance is going to suffer. If it only swaps very rarely, such as
when opening a large web page, its not going to make a huge difference
to the drives lifetime.

The best strategy is to make sure you don't swap in the first place. If
after removing any unnecessary software, if the 1GB Pi proves
insufficient, at least the Pi 4 has 2GB and 4GB options.

> I use my Pi, among
> other things, as a video recorder (lower power than a Windows 7 PC
> running Windows Media Centre or NextPVR) and I use a spinning disk for
> the recordings, but that's mainly because I need a bit more space than
> 32 GB: especially if I need to go several days without being able to
> copy the recordings off it and edit them before writing to my Windows
> "server" PC.

If you can't stretch to a proper SSD large enough for the system drive
and the video storage, I'd carry on as you are using the conventional HD
for video.

---druck

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05