I was doing a little bit of research on the subject of astrophotography on Youtube, when I saw something in the sidebar that caught my eye, so I took a gander. It was an "off the wall" subject that I found rather interesting, so I thought I would share:

I like his creative thinking, probably not going to be much use now SSD's have come right down in price but ...

For the most part I agree, Data, up till you get to the redundancy part. I'm actually thinking of picking up a multi-port USB hub (I found one on Amazon for around 8 quid, US) and 5 64GB "nub drives" (like this one), which amounts to a 256GB raid drive with parity. If I were to go with the price for that drive (I'm probably not, as I'm sure I can find something cheaper) that would be just over $100USD for 256GB with parity (redundancy FTW!). For a pair of 256GB SSD's (for redundancy), I'm looking at roughly $500USD (I can get 240GB drives for ~200 each, but I'm trying to compare apples to apples here). When looking at it this way, there is a HUGE cost savings involved, but it's not exactly a ton of space, and the solution is a little on the "nerdy" side, but...

BTW, if I were to double up on space (512GB with parity), the price for the flash drives jumps to $178, while the SSD version goes to ~$750. Just sayin'...

I guess it depends on your priority, speed or redundancy, the limiting factor here will be the USB bus which, as we know, is way way behind SATA or M.2.

USB2 = 30MB/s roughly in reality.

SATA 3 = 550MB/s

M.2 = orbit  As Freddy could tell you 

Yep it's a UFO 

QuoteFor a pair of 256GB SSD's (for redundancy), I'm looking at roughly $500USD

Are you sure Dave ? Seem a lot or am I missing something ?

http://www.ebuyer.com/695890-samsung-850-evo-250gb-2-5inch-ssd-mz-75e250bw?gclid=CP72sq-x9coCFSPnwgodPcQDlA#fo_c=951&fo_k=c0478dbf1b9ed3d18203b59f8f25cfbf&fo_s=gplauk?mkwid=slHGNTp51_dc&pcrid=51482419619&pkw=&pmt=

Actually I do have something to note. I use an external USB drive for storage, it's just plugged in the back of the PC on a USB 3 port.

It works well but there is the odd occasion when Windows seems to lose it. Not very often but it has happened.

Or two of these, a bit cheaper than the Samsung, not quite as fast but I doubt you could notice it in windows.

http://www.ebuyer.com/727919-crucial-bx200-240gb-2-5inch-ssd-ct240bx200ssd1

I noticed the same prices, mates, but as I said, I was comparing apples to apples, so needed to use a 256GB drive, and while I didn't go "shopping" on different sites, I did pick the lowest priced 256GB drive I could see on NewEgg. Plus, many computers have only so many SATA ports, where USB ports can (in theory) be expanded rather easily (I think the limit is 256 ports per actual on-board bus{?}).

So you are not worried about the much slower USB bus speed ?

Also you are increasing the chance of drive failure when using all them flash drives.

I have to say, it doesn't sound perfect to me mate.

Have you got any PCIe slots spare ? for something like this (its a PCIe SATA card if you can't click the link)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCIE-SATA-eSATA-CONTROLLER-CARD/dp/B00560ZOGO

  Before the SSD's I tried the raid arrays a few times, I can't recall any increase in boot or running speeds from that experience I don't think I'd bother with them again.  Damn I'm still looking at those 5820's.
  I wish you luck Dave, let us know how you make out.  I'm seeing much lower numbers from newegg that you, 116 for a Samsung 256 Gb
39 for a Kingston 120 Gb.
Carl2