/plushcap/analysis/algolia/algolia-engineering-when-solid-state-drives-are-not-that-solid

When Solid State Drives are not that solid

What's this blog post about?

A Linux kernel error caused a server issue in Algolia's search API, affecting some SSD drives. The problem was traced to the TRIM feature, which zeroes empty blocks on SSDs. Some of the affected drives misinterpreted the TRIM command and erased non-empty blocks, leading to file corruption. Disabling TRIM resolved the issue. Algolia advises caution when using any SSD mentioned negatively by the Linux kernel and highlights that even if TRIM is not explicitly enabled, it may still run in certain systems like Ubuntu 14.04.

Company
Algolia

Date published
March 2, 2023

Author(s)
Adam Surak

Word count
1768

Language
English

Hacker News points
None found.


By Matt Makai. 2021-2024.