New server - solid state drive or regular disk drive?

[khdilger]

The computer my server runs on is approaching 6 years old. I was considering replacing it and moving that PC to a simple client desktop. Should I go with a Solid state hard drive or a standard? The last computer was a Dell optiplex with sufficient CPU and ram speed. The new one will have sufficient stats as well just need to decide on the hard drive.

[dcrider]

If you can get an SSD, always go SSD.

[wjstarck]

SSD no question.

The early iterations had some issues but those are long gone.

[jordansparks]

An SSD on the server will make Open Dental run noticeably faster because it won't have to wait as long for data coming from the database.

[RickInHouston]

I built my own with SSD and SSD backup drive. I, stupidly, had my server in the utility room where it was quite humid. I barely replaced it in time. I copied all files to the new drive. I was going to make a backup copy and the damned drive died. Thank goodness the first copy was good! Moved it out of the utility room and it sings like a bird. Karen's replicator once again works for backups. They now have support for mysql.

[DoctorA]

If you are deploying a new server take a serious look at using RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks.

I put my operating system on RAID 1 and have a separate RAID 5 array for data.

I have also moved to using this configuration to set up the host machine and then mount the a virtual machine to act as the actual server.

SSD’s are great have come way down in price if you have the budget use them in an array but I would prioritize using a VM setup.

Also consider putting a redundant power supply in ( they are one of the most common things to fail )