Best hard drive configuration for running a full node

[RoadStress]

Discuss various hard drive configuration that would be the best for storing the blockchain while running as a full node? Pros and cons of SSD vs disk drives like failure rate, speed, access time, backup.

[fenghush]

Since the blockchain data is across all synced nodes I don't see how disk redundancy and backup for the blockchain is important. Fast read/write is what's important IMHO, you can always recover the blockchain data despite the time it takes. SSD makes most sense, but even RAID0 on sata2 wouldn't be a bad choice.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Even a single SSD should be fine.  If you are using the disk for OS as well you may want to go RAID 1 to improve uptime but it isn't absolutely necessary.  Unless you are absolutely cash strapped I would always pick an SSD over spinning magnetic disks for an application like this.  Having a second drive (slow HDD is fine) to make periodic backups of the blockchain is a good idea.   Backups of the blockchain (not to be confused w/ wallet) don't need to be very frequent.  Even once a month means cutting your resync time by 99% in the event of blockchain corruption.

As for longevity, yes SSDs do a have finite number of writes but modern ones are well optimized with wear leveling circuitry and additional "hidden" storage space to take over failed cells.   The longevity of modern SSD is just short of 1 PB.   http://www.zdnet.com/article/ssd-endurance-death-by-petabyte/  Since the blockchain is mostly appends with very few updates it really is a non-issue. 

[Lincoln6Echo]

Crosspost because my inital question remained unanswerd and it fits the subject:

SSD would use less power and be more resistant to damage than old HDD. They are also much faster than HDD and is useful for syncing and relaying of blocks.

Well, on paper a ssd is way faster than hdd but a BananaPi with SATA 1 Interface and an 10 MBit upload connection won't use nearly the max. read/write performance of the ssd. But an ssd would be useful when supplying many different parts of the blockchain to many different nodes at the same time, right?

[Reynaldo]

Crosspost because my inital question remained unanswerd and it fits the subject:

SSD would use less power and be more resistant to damage than old HDD. They are also much faster than HDD and is useful for syncing and relaying of blocks.

Well, on paper a ssd is way faster than hdd but a BananaPi with SATA 1 Interface and an 10 MBit upload connection won't use nearly the max. read/write performance of the ssd. But an ssd would be useful when supplying many different parts of the blockchain to many different nodes at the same time, right?

I would add to this: Btrfs on the SSD more info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Btrfs

its still on development but i would try it. If you use a raspberry pi always move the /tmp /var /etc/ to usb or the external HDD

[vm1990]

i dont think it matters to much iv run nodes on all sorts from class10 micro sd card all the way upto the mother of all RAM disks. i preffer the RAMdisk but that is a serious cost. most of the time i simply use a sata III harddrive there cheap and fast enough get a good one it will last a few years