SSD update worth it?

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

I was wondering if updating my hard disk from regular HDD 7200 rpm to SSD would have a big impact when it comes to running a full node. Will it sync much faster?

With 1TB SSD prices finally being more affordable, I could be able to run games and a full node on the disk without running out of space for a long time (if we stay on 1MB that is, otherwise I would need to give up and run pruned mode).

[LoyceV]

I was wondering if updating my hard disk from regular HDD 7200 rpm to SSD would have a big impact when it comes to running a full node. Will it sync much faster?

I assume you'll only need to fully sync once (which is very slow on a hdd), after that it's only 6 new blocks every minute. Even on a hdd that shouldn't take more than a few seconds per block.
I'm not sure what the requirements of a full node are. If your node is also serving data to other Bitcoin Core users, the ssd can increase your bandwidth usage.

From my desktop experience I would just say "yes" to any question related to replacing a hdd by a ssd, without any doubt.

[HappyNonce]

No, the hard disk speed should not matter for synchronization of your client. Faster processor and more RAM would help.

[jnano]

If you experience the caching problems I'm seeing, then definitely yes.
But others don't experience it, so maybe it's just a bug under specific circumstances.

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

I was wondering if updating my hard disk from regular HDD 7200 rpm to SSD would have a big impact when it comes to running a full node. Will it sync much faster?

With 1TB SSD prices finally being more affordable, I could be able to run games and a full node on the disk without running out of space for a long time (if we stay on 1MB that is, otherwise I would need to give up and run pruned mode).

If you want to run games on the full node (e.g. on the SSD) then yes, definitely buy an SSD. It's a night and day difference. For running a node alone I wouldn't bother with an SSD though.

[Thekool1s]

The only benefit you will get from ssd is higher transfer rates along with higher Reading rates, I don't see how an SSD will benefit you, unless you frequently look up transactions, addresses etc in blockhchain, other than that you shouldn't expect anything. But a SSD will surely boost up your booting and loading times. So if you want to game too, then yes a SSD is worth it.

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

The only benefit you will get from ssd is higher transfer rates along with higher Reading rates, I don't see how an SSD will benefit you, unless you frequently look up transactions, addresses etc in blockhchain, other than that you shouldn't expect anything. But a SSD will surely boost up your booting and loading times. So if you want to game too, then yes a SSD is worth it.

He did mention that he would like to use games, in which case an SSD is absolutely fantastic. The loading times might as well not exist with an SSD and it's a real pleasure to play on it.

[jnano]

The only benefit you will get from ssd is higher transfer rates along with higher Reading rates

The main benefit from SSDs in daily use is actually the much quicker seek times.
It would benefit Bitcoin Core, which seems to do a lot of scattered reads/writes during long syncs (at least for me it did, with v0.15.0.1).

[Kr8os]

I was a hardhead about swapping out my 2 TB HDD to a wimpy-sounding 500gb SSD, and believe me, it was worth it. If you do file transfers enough (in or out), you'll instantly notice the speed difference.

[venusbits]

There's no real point in doing so because your network fees is probably going to throttle the time it takes to download the blockchain 

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

I was a hardhead about swapping out my 2 TB HDD to a wimpy-sounding 500gb SSD, and believe me, it was worth it. If you do file transfers enough (in or out), you'll instantly notice the speed difference.

You notice it with loading times as well, and your OS boots significantly faster from an SSD. You can always keep using HDDs for storage (I'm using three HDDs for video files).

[trade.io]

Solid State Drives are always a sound investment due to the increased speed and reliability whatever the application.

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

Solid State Drives are always a sound investment due to the increased speed and reliability whatever the application.

Someone who only wants to store video and image files (for example) wouldn't really benefit a lot from SSDs, since you usually only have to copy or download them one single time. And viewing videos doesn't benefit from the increase in speed, so I wouldn't say that it's always a good investment. As with everything, it depends on the individual use cases.

[Spendulus]

I was wondering if updating my hard disk from regular HDD 7200 rpm to SSD would have a big impact when it comes to running a full node. Will it sync much faster?

With 1TB SSD prices finally being more affordable, I could be able to run games and a full node on the disk without running out of space for a long time (if we stay on 1MB that is, otherwise I would need to give up and run pruned mode).

I liked the difference that I saw on changing from HD to SSD.

[cellard]

I would say yes. Even if im not sure to what extent it would have an impact on running a bitcoin full node, it is definitely worth the money. Loading times are decreased by orders of magnitude. It's worth the time wasted each time you boot your computer waiting for your OS to start alone.

Also notice that there are a new time of SSD called m.2 that look like this:

http://www.dkoutletstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Samsung-950-PRO-Series-512GB-PCIe-NVMe-M2-Internal-SSD-MZ-V5P512BW-0-5.jpg

This ones are even faster, 3x times faster than normal SSD. If your MOBO supports it then go for it.

Solid State Drives are always a sound investment due to the increased speed and reliability whatever the application.

Someone who only wants to store video and image files (for example) wouldn't really benefit a lot from SSDs, since you usually only have to copy or download them one single time. And viewing videos doesn't benefit from the increase in speed, so I wouldn't say that it's always a good investment. As with everything, it depends on the individual use cases.

I would say it improves video viewing because you will not ear any noises that could happen during watching a movie, like your OS or drivers auto updating something etc. Decrease in noise is worth it too.

[digitx]

Yep, definitely worth it. The read times you save during verification after download are definitely worth it.

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

I would say yes. Even if im not sure to what extent it would have an impact on running a bitcoin full node, it is definitely worth the money. Loading times are decreased by orders of magnitude. It's worth the time wasted each time you boot your computer waiting for your OS to start alone.

Also notice that there are a new time of SSD called m.2 that look like this:

http://www.dkoutletstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Samsung-950-PRO-Series-512GB-PCIe-NVMe-M2-Internal-SSD-MZ-V5P512BW-0-5.jpg

This ones are even faster, 3x times faster than normal SSD. If your MOBO supports it then go for it.

Solid State Drives are always a sound investment due to the increased speed and reliability whatever the application.

Someone who only wants to store video and image files (for example) wouldn't really benefit a lot from SSDs, since you usually only have to copy or download them one single time. And viewing videos doesn't benefit from the increase in speed, so I wouldn't say that it's always a good investment. As with everything, it depends on the individual use cases.

I would say it improves video viewing because you will not ear any noises that could happen during watching a movie, like your OS or drivers auto updating something etc. Decrease in noise is worth it too.

That's an interesting point that I had not considered. I always use headphones because I live during the night and can't isolate sound to not wake up neighbours. But for people who use speakers a HDD could get annoying easily.

[Kr8os]

I was a hardhead about swapping out my 2 TB HDD to a wimpy-sounding 500gb SSD, and believe me, it was worth it. If you do file transfers enough (in or out), you'll instantly notice the speed difference.

You notice it with loading times as well, and your OS boots significantly faster from an SSD. You can always keep using HDDs for storage (I'm using three HDDs for video files).

Oh I definitely do. All my externals HDDs (and I do have several) work wonderfully for movie files or just to back up data in general.

[eching]

Definitely worth it. My computer feels so much faster thanks to the increased load time, but I do have backup HHDs just in case something goes wrong...and for additional backup storage. Always nice to have that extra space around. 

[BTCMILLIONAIRE]

Definitely worth it. My computer feels so much faster thanks to the increased load time, but I do have backup HHDs just in case something goes wrong...and for additional backup storage. Always nice to have that extra space around. 

You mean decreased load time. (Just nitpicking sorry lol)

But yeah, the SSD+HDD combo is undefeatable right now.