Running server off flash drive

Hi guys
I have a small query in relation to setting up a home server.
I have a Dell Fx170 server and intend to use it with Ubuntu Server .
It only has a 1gb internal ssd .

I was wondering could I install Ubuntu Server 12.04 to a USB flash drive and run it off that ?
I have read that flash drives have a limited number of writes and they get corrupted once that is reached so i am unsure if they are suitable .
Is anyone here running a server off a flash drive ?

Many thanks

Quote from thatfellow

1GB will be a bit tight for ubuntu server 12.04.. My ubuntu server 12.04 takes up the guts of 2GB with very few extras installed..

Thanks for the reply thatfellow.
On closer inspection the ssd is only 512mb so that is definitely too small for an installation.
4gb ssd is the largest internal ssd available for the 170 ,and they are fairly expensive .

I will give the usb flash drive a go ,or else a small laptop hard drive in an external case.

Quote

A tip is to not put a swap on the USB because that would increase the number or writes, and back up your configurations.

Could I put the swap partition on the 512mb sd ,is that feasible ?

Is this the best way to back up the server ?
http://linuxsat-support.com/li…-server-5-easy-steps.html

Many thanks guys

Quote

1GB will be a bit tight for ubuntu server 12.04.. My ubuntu server 12.04 takes up the guts of 2GB with very few extras installed..
You might get away with the 1GB SSD with Ubuntu Server 10.04, just try it out m8, It costs nothing but time...

On closer inspection the ssd is only 512mb so its definitely too small for an installation.
I think a 4Gb ssd is the largest possible for the Fx170 but they are expensive,they look almost like a small stick of Ram.

Quote

Many are running servers on Raspberry Pi - most would be using an SD card for this, which would have similar drawbacks Yes indeed there would be a shelf life, but flash drives are inexpensive. A tip is to not put a swap on the USB because that would increase the number or writes, and back up your configurations.

Could I put the swap partition on the internal ssd and install ubuntu on the flash drive,not sure if that is feasible.
I havent read of many people having their SD card corrupted when running a server with Raspbery Pi so perhaps the number of writes isnt high ,I believe most of the OS is run in Ram anyway .

With regard to making backups of the server ,is this the best way of doing it ,with Acronis True Image
http://linuxsat-support.com/li…-server-5-easy-steps.html

Many thanks guys

Quote

1GB will be a bit tight for ubuntu server 12.04.. My ubuntu server 12.04 takes up the guts of 2GB with very few extras installed..

On closer inspection the ssd is only 512mb so its definitely too small for an installation.
I think 4Gb is the largest SSD you can get for the unit,they look like a small stick of ram ,but they are expensive.

Quote

A tip is to not put a swap on the USB because that would increase the number or writes, and back up your configurations.

Could I put the swap partition on the 512mb SSD and use the usb drive for the rest of the OS ,is that feasible ?
Alternatively I could use an old 20gb laptop hdd I have here and put it in an external hard drive case but a flash drive would be neater.
I havent read of anyone having corrupted sd cards from using the Raspberry Pi ,most of the operations in ubuntu are read operations and the OS is running in ram so write operations are minimised.
I guess I have nothing to lose by trying a flash drive anyway .

Is the Acronis true Image backup method posted by thatfellow the best way for making backups ?

Quote from musogeek

That would be possible. Unless you have next to no RAM, and assuming you are not running much else apart from the server, then you probably will not need a swap. You could also run a cron job that clears the memory cache periodically to assist with maximising the available RAM.

I have 1gb of Ram (667Mhz) and am solely running the server with Oscam and Webmin .
I was using an old Dm500T as a server but came across the Fx170 and thought it would be more reliable as the 500 tended to lock up every so often .

My server USB flash drive on the Fx170 ,has developed an error so so it looks like it has had too many writes .
It was going strong for over a year which is pretty good.

I made a number of backups using Acronis True Image over the last year but I cant get the server to boot on a new flash drive.
http://linuxsat-support.com/showthread.php?t=15980
I wrote the backup to the new flash drive using Acronis and it writes the data correctly but its not booting into ubuntu at all.
It just goes to "waiting for dmi pool data" and then reboots .

I'm not sure do I need to modify the grub as the flash drive is different or does Acronis automatically do this ?

I also tried boot repair disk to try and reload the grub file but this just goes to a black screen when loading for some reason.

Does anyone have any ideas as to whats the issue ,I saw someone on another forum say they had similar issues develop from Ubuntu 12.04 on (thats what I have) ,before that Acronis backups worked fine.

Many thanks

After alot of huff and puff,and a fair amount of foul language, I finally managed to restore my backups using True Image 2013 .
I installed it on my pc and it restored the backups (made using True Image 2011) correctly.

True Image 2011 and 2012 did not work ,the restored backups wouldnt boot .

Hopefully this may be of use to others.