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The 128GB SSD in my laptop is also miniscule. I guess joining a small SSD and a large SATA into a single package will get you what you want, and it should fit. Even a 4GB SSD drive would be plenty to run the OS. It'll be an expensive toy though. And you'll need a second sata controller.

Ok, here is a list of USB memory sticks that I'm thinking about:

Kingston DTU30G2 (can be found @ amazon.com or jimms.fi), price: 50€/$ [USB3.0 read @ 100mb/sec & write @ 70mb/sec]

Trabscebd JetFlash 700 (pixmania.com...), price >35€ [32GB model: USB3.0 read @ 70mb/sec & write @ 30mb/sec, lifetime warranty]

PQI U339 PRO, price: N/A [USB2.0 read @ 32mb/sec & write @ 20mb/sec, write procetion switch]

General/average USB2.0 power consumption:
READ: ~100mA
WRITE: ~100mA
STANDBY: <70mA
SUSPEND: <0.5mA

WD Green (2TB) power consuption & dB:
IDLE: 3.9W
READ/WRITE: 7.4W
DB IDLE: 25
READ/WRITE SPEED: ~110mb/sec (not 100% sure though that is correct..)

Questions that needs an answer:

• - Can I enable USB drive write protection in a startup script or do I need the physical write protection switch (kernel boot parameter, add 'ro' when used normally and boot read-write for updates? Or better use tmpfs or unionfs?)?
  - How aggressive suspend can I use?

I'm thinking of buying 2pcs of the same USB memory and use the other for backup (dd copy USB-1 => USB-2 after/before updates and system changes)

Edit: how darn cool would it be to gPXE boot B3 over WAN

Edit2: something that I did not think of at all, how does B3 try to boot if there is a HDD and USB memory installed? Does it only try to boot from HDD or does it try USB if MBR missing on HDD? This is not a super big issue as MBR could be installed on the HDD but need to be taken into consideration if planning on switching the HDD's

Edit3: forget USB with write protection switch. Some folders in / need rw access on boot, this could possible be done with tmpfs/aufs. The main problem with tmpfs/aufs is B3 512mb ram memory. I'm not sure but I estimate we would need >2gb ram. Need to have a look at how LiveCD distros handles this..

the write protect switch is phony anyway, it is only a flag the the OS may or may not decide to listen to. Anyway, I don't think USB disk are fast enough to run a B3 OS for normal operation. Normal use generally includes streaming stuff and using sql databases for squeezeserver et al. I know freenas runs of USB but that is a simple file server OS that is meant for machines with loads of memory.

Ubi wrote:the write protect switch is phony anyway, it is only a flag the the OS may or may not decide to listen to. Anyway, I don't think USB disk are fast enough to run a B3 OS for normal operation. Normal use generally includes streaming stuff and using sql databases for squeezeserver et al. I know freenas runs of USB but that is a simple file server OS that is meant for machines with loads of memory.

Actually the write protect switch on (some) USB memories "work like the should" but on SD-cards it's a different story. At least that is what I've been told.

Regarding speed, USB memory should be more than fast enough. All media is streamed from internal HDD and if sql is slow, I'll run it from the HDD (could mount /home & /usr/share on the HDD perhaps if there is nothing polling the HDD just for fun).

I've have tested running Ubuntu with Gnome from USB (with swapoff though..) and it was surprisingly fast. B3 doesn't have USB 3.0 (?) but if it had, it would be close to HDD speed