On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 02:56:11PM -0400, Daniel Barowy wrote: > On Tue, 20 Apr 2010, Marco Peereboom wrote: > >> What problem are you trying to solve? >> >> And no, TRIM isn't supported. >> > > My concern is the procedure we've been using to deploy OpenBSD machines. > We set up a base machine with a standard disk layout, utilities, admin > account, etc... and then make a copy of the entire disk using dd. We > save this on our SAN, and when we want a new machine, simply pull a disk > off the shelf, copy the image to the disk, boot, then customize. > > The problem is that we're copying the entire disk, so, as far as the disk > (i.e., SSDs) is aware, that disk is 100% full-- all blocks are marked as > used even if they're empty. If I understand correctly, how the > controller handles block reallocation in this scenario depends how it is > implemented in the disk's firmware, with some being better than others. > At present, we have Intel X25-E disks. > > So, if the above is correct, then I will need to either rethink our > deployment strategy (like, always leave some spae on the disk, untouched > by dd), or else try not to write so often (like, using a ramdisk). I > could also be overestimating the importance of all of this.
You are. The whole not write so often is really really really uninteresting. > > Thanks, > Dan