As long as you aren't doing a lot of viewing, then erasing, then transferring, then viewing, and then more erasing, an SSD could be OK, but the real issue could be Garbage Collection or TRIM because these processes may not be performed often enough before you make a big transfer after deleting and you hit the wall of no more room, and I wonder how one can access the firmware to invoke GC or TRIM or even a full re-fresh--NOT the destructive re-writing to allow all cells to receive data-- if one is using the SSD as an external for Dish DVR's. Further, using and SSD closer and closer to the limits of its capacity, especially after some erases, creates more problems with SSD's not being able to accept the transfer of new recordings, unlike HDD's. Also, SSD's, like HDD's, also perform wear-leveling, which--while overall a wise function--can exacerbate the above mentioned drawbacks/considerations of how well sutied and SSD is for a particular situation, while this presents no potential problems for an HDD.
However, if one were to use the SSD only more for the intentions of KEEPING the recordings after viewing, like a permanent collection, the SSD could be a decent choice.
Another However, is the quality of the SSD being used because the connectors that allow the electrical flow to the memory cells can, essentially, rot over time with no longer good connections to the cells even if the SSD is in otherwise good order (Yes, there is HDD rot, but it often takes a lot longer and the low cost of HDD's make HDD rot not really an issue because the HDD is more likely to fail before HDD rot; I've had HDD's last almost 10 years in TiVo DVR's). In general, one is better off getting Samsung's higher end SSD's for a variety of reasons in almost ANY use situation, but they are among the most expensive consumer SSD's out there and are a great deal more expensive than an HDD of the same capacity, and better yet, an HDD can get you MORE capacity at a lower price per TB. And BTW, HDD's often give you clues/notice of its coming failure, while SSD's just DIE at any moment with no apparent warning, hence you have the opportunity to save the data before the HDD completely fails: in this case transfer the recordings back to the DVR before its too late.
You'll notice I did not spend time discussing the over-talked about write and rewrite degradation itself, only how it relates to Garbage Collection and TRIM. For me, the big considerations are not necessarily about the old "write and re-write wear" business.
So, while I do have two SSD's for the specific purpose of SECONDARY (the primaries are HDD) back-up for my music (the transfer time is SO MUCH faster with over 10,000 titles using SSD's, and the somewhat SLOW process of building the library for a separate purpose using different software is A LOT faster with SSD, I would personally still choose to use and HDD for archiving/transferring Dish recordings. HDD's still have greater advantages over the SSD as of today. However, the future of SSD looks really great. and since I already have spent money on SSD's for a very specific situation, that too demonstrates my own support of using SSD's in the right situations.
HDD for me for now with Dish recording transfers, and a lightly used HDD can last OVER 10 years by my own experience. I would not be that optimistic about SSD's today, but in the future, quite likely.
