New Install to SSD embedded or full

[newpanama]

I am new to NAS4Free and I am trying to decide between an embedded or full install. My main use will be purely for file storage for my Mac and Windows machines, so I will likely use SMB and AFP. Only future use I can likely foresee would be some iSCSI if I needed it for my vsphere server. I currently don't plan on using ZFS, probably UFS or ext3. That said, my hardware is an HP Proliant Microserver N40L with 8GB RAM, a 64GB Samsung SSD for a boot drive, and a 3TB Western Digital Red drive for data. I like the convenience of the embedded firmware upgrades, but since I have the 64GB SSD to boot from I am wondering if this is a good or bad idea to maximize performance? Are there any configuration tweaks I can make to use that SSD to boost performance? Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[doglover]

Hi. I am new also but that seems to me like a real waste of an expensive 64 GB SSD as a dedicated boot drive to house like 200 MB of operating system that would boot fast enough off a cheap small hard drive or small usb key. Unless you plan on using the rest of the drive for data also?
Cheers, IMF

[shakky4711]

Hello,

I have setup embedded and full installs and could not feel any difference in speed from the OS itself. Possible the embedded could be faster in theory because it operates within a ramdisk, compared to the oldest ide harddisk found on the baseground, but when you look for bottlenecks from your system this question here is the wrong place

The usage from a 64GB SSD for an embedded install is a waste of ressources and a loss of a SATA connector and harddisk cage, you can use a USB stick. I recommend not to use the cheapest one, Transcend Jetflash 600 devices never let me down and are balanced with a 30 years warranty after registration.

Shakky

[fsbruva]

Ditto. A 64GB SSD is better utilized as a ZIL device or a cache disk.

[newpanama]

Thanks to all for the feedback, especially the recommendation on the transcend. I will be ordering one so I can get my system going ASAP.