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Setup: RPi 4 with LAMP on IT sucks DK

My SD card is quite quick sure (it's a Class 10 too and all) but my question is this:

  • Would there be increased performance if I hosted my web-server files on a USB 3.0 HDD/SSD instead af my Class 10 SD-card on the Pi?

Anyone tried this yet?

EDIT: Another thought: If I want people to be able to upload and download larger than 1GB files wouldn't it be practical AND faster to be reading and writing these files to a DIR on the USB 3.0 SSD instead of the SD-card which is only 16GB all in all anyways and I do have 500/500 Mbit fiber line at my full disposal for the server?

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USB flash drives can reach up 33MBytes/s, but there seem to be some limitations in the NAND itself so it will come down to the type of stick you get. However, the sd-card bus speed can reach up to 20MB/s read on the raspberry pi. So, the better choice here is a high-class USB 2.0 USB flash drive.

On the other hand, the payment would be concerned. It cost much less to buy USB 2.0 USB flash drive instead of a UHS-3/Class 10 sd-card.

In conclusion, I see little benefit in booting from a USB flash stick, the price, and the speed. Source

If you compare SD-Card and USB 2.0, the USB 2.0 port is much faster. Obviously, USB 3.0 has a much much faster speed. The USB 3.0 is approximately 10 times faster than USB 2.0.

You may found that SSD drives are better for hosting BUT take a look at this link.

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  • Thx... I will take a look at it tonight.
    – IT Blacksmith
    Feb 2, 2020 at 17:33
  • I found your link very informative reading - I will mark your post as answer to my question because it's so extensive :-)
    – IT Blacksmith
    Feb 2, 2020 at 22:53
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The SDCard interface is extremely slow compared to a USB 2.0 hard disk on my RPI3Bs.

So a USB 3.0 SSD on a RPi4B is going to be even faster (USB 3.0 is faster, SSD is faster).

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  • I heard something about that the USB-controller and other controllers are one and the same and therefore one controller could have problems when dealing with both the high mbit/s on the LANinterface AND transfering files to the USB 3.0 external SSD. Is this a valid thought?
    – IT Blacksmith
    Feb 2, 2020 at 17:31
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    The USB 3.0 controller is on a PCIe v1 interface on a RPi4, so you won't have the overlapping with the ethernet problem (unlike older RPis).
    – Dougie
    Feb 2, 2020 at 18:52
  • GReat to know - thanks for clearing that up... it's been bugging me.
    – IT Blacksmith
    Feb 2, 2020 at 22:51

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