If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
How close are SSDs to onboard memory?
I have always wanted my OS on a chip where if it gets infected you
could just start over without a new install. With that in mind, could an SSD drive be designed so it plugs into the mobo? I assume memory is still much faster than SSD, but it would be nice if everything was self contained. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
How close are SSDs to onboard memory?
Seymore4Head wrote:
I have always wanted my OS on a chip where if it gets infected you could just start over without a new install. With that in mind, could an SSD drive be designed so it plugs into the mobo? I assume memory is still much faster than SSD, but it would be nice if everything was self contained. If you want that sort of control, there is SteadyState. This is an example of an idea, as it is no longer available or kept up to date. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SteadyState Public libraries use a similar scheme to protect their computers from hacking. You can't save anything on the hard drive, and all memory of the session is wiped out when the next user logs into the computer. Changes that accumulate are effectively kept separate from the drive image. If you want storage on such machines, you plug in a portable drive to keep the user data. Commercial software to replace SteadyState exists, and is used by Internet cafes and by your public library. ******* Other than that, logically there is no difference between an SSD and a Hard drive. They're storage devices. They support read/write. ******* And yes, there are form factors consisting of an SSD, which fasten to the motherboard with one screw. Some of the newest motherboards have a slot for stuff like this. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...comparison.jpg You can certainly solder such hardware right to the motherboard, but that does not improve the maintenance aspects. If the storage needs to be replaced, or sent out for data recovery, soldering is a barrier to maintenance. Having a removable module helps. Paul |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
How close are SSDs to onboard memory?
Seymore4Head wrote:
I have always wanted my OS on a chip where if it gets infected you could just start over without a new install. With that in mind, could an SSD drive be designed so it plugs into the mobo? I assume memory is still much faster than SSD, but it would be nice if everything was self contained. So why not clone your OS partition to another drive and then disable that drive's controller in the BIOS (which you password protect)? Or start doing image backups on either an internal drive that is never assigned a drive letter and requires a password to access the hidden partition (eg., Acronis Secure Zone) or to external storage media that is disconnected from the computer until whenever you want to restore that "base" image. Considering your request is to immediately switch back to a "base" version of the OS then cloning and disabling the device (in Windows Device Management or in the BIOS) looks close to your goal. Just remember that when you clone that you are cloning to a different physical drive so the bootup may report a missing OS because it is pointing at the old drive instead of your cloned drive. If you don't want to get into figuring out how to fix the physical device ID in the boot config then just clone back to the old drive. At one time, there was a proposal to add a fixed set of HDDs to the mobo. This would use the 1-inch miniature HDDs that were soldered on the motherboard. I don't recall anyone selling a mobo like this. Users wanted the flexibility and cost effectiveness of attachable drives along with repairability if an HDD fails. Oh, and SSDs fail, too, so there would still be the problem of repairing your mobo when an SSD failed that was soldered onto the mobo. There are mSATA SSDs that can plug into a mini-PCIe slot. See http://www.atpinc.com.cn/images/itx_board_mSATA.jpg. The mSATA SSD would be plug into the mSATA port and lay parallel to the mobo. There's even SSDs that themselves use the mSATA port(s), like the one at http://content.hwigroup.net/images/p...2x_msata.jpg.I haven't bothered looking into these. Seems the mobo must support the SATA protocol from a mini-PCIe slot to the SATA host controller. Gigabyte had one come out back in 2011 based on the Z68 chipset (http://www.gigabyte.com/press-center...aspx?nid=1017). Using a slot means the mSATA SSD can be replaced when it fails or when the user wants more capacity. There are lots of mSATA SSDs you can buy; see http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=-1&isNodeId=1. You'll also need a mobo with an mSATA port. I only found 1 currently listed at Newegg. Although Newegg doesn't carry all computer hardware, it bodes that mSATA isn't yet popular with consumers (outside of notebooks). Since the normal intent is to use the mSATA SSD as the primary storage medium but your intent differs, you'll still need cloning software, another SSD drive to use as your primary drive, and disable the mSATA port in the BIOS when you want to isolate it your protected "base" image to clone back to the primary SSD. The cloning software would have to be on bootable media so the infected OS is quiescent on the primary SSD to prevent your protected mSATA SSD from getting corrupted. Maybe you could just enable the mSATA SSD in the BIOS and boot from that so the infected OS is quiescent on the now-data drive for your primary SSD. Just make sure if you re-enable the mSATA SSD in BIOS that you don't accidentally boot from the infected primary SSD. Of course, you could just unplug the mSATA SSD after you got its image the way you want as a "base" image. When you plug it back in, make sure to boot from it and not from an infected device. A 256GB mSATA SSD costs about $160 while a 256GB SATA SSD is about $40 cheaper. Unless the case is tiny with no drive bays, most users would opt for the cheaper but larger SSDs since they do have drive bays. Sorry, I've not owned an mSATA-capable mobo so I don't know what BIOS options are available. I would expect the BIOS would have an option to disable the mSATA port although unplugging the mSATA SSD would also work. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
How close are SSDs to onboard memory?
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:29:13 -0400, Seymore4Head
wrote: I have always wanted my OS on a chip where if it gets infected you could just start over without a new install. With that in mind, could an SSD drive be designed so it plugs into the mobo? I assume memory is still much faster than SSD, but it would be nice if everything was self contained. I do that. ...Yeah, I plug it in to my SSD. It's in a world where it's plug-in. Why, then, shouldn't I? Takes me 30 seconds to plug it in and 60 sec to plug it out. I do it with Ghosting imagery, writing to SSDs, which is a lot more complicated than thinking about plug-ins, but that's just the way it is. Otherwise it's the same. - Service Fee Rates: $75 hrly for correct answers $20 hrly for maybe answers Dumb looks are still free |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
How close are SSDs to onboard memory?
In the last episode of ,
Seymore4Head said: I have always wanted my OS on a chip where if it gets infected you could just start over without a new install. "Start over" to what? Modern versions of Windows have a "Restore my computer" that takes you back to a fresh install, but I don't think that's what you want. With that in mind, could an SSD drive be designed so it plugs into the mobo? I assume memory is still much faster than SSD, but it would be nice if everything was self contained. RAM is an order of magnitude faster than a SSD, and SSDs can easily plug into the motherboard (SATA or PCIe are typical interfaces) But I think what you're asking is something different, you don't necessarily want to start over from scratch, but from a known/configured state, is that correct? Depending on your needs, a ChromeBook might be a better fit than a full computer? There are also Linux based bootable USB sticks that will revert to their state after every reboot. -- "The day they discover yoga mats are carcinogenic will be the happiest day in my life" -- Tim Minchin |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Motherboard with Onboard Flash Memory ? | Albert | Asus Motherboards | 4 | July 7th 07 02:33 PM |
Motherboard with Onboard Flash Memory? | Albert | Homebuilt PC's | 1 | July 6th 07 11:46 PM |
Onboard video automatically slows memory? | Baz Metcalfe | Homebuilt PC's | 4 | December 21st 04 08:42 PM |
Onboard Memory Controller | rstlne | AMD x86-64 Processors | 2 | June 30th 04 07:08 AM |
P4C800 Deluxe Memory: How close is close? | [email protected] | Asus Motherboards | 8 | February 26th 04 02:14 PM |