I have tried downloading the entire blockchain to an external hard drive. However, it is basically at a standstill with 25% or more of the blockchain still needing to be synchronized. Is this delay because I am hosting it on an external hard drive? (
Western Digital External Hard Drive)
I remember,
this post of achow101 it was during the time I was also searching for a different set to host my node and my old hdd wasn't able to sync in this life so I was looking for alternatives, the SSD prices put me off, especially since I knew I would have to buy from the starts a bigger one but right now I would go for one without thinking twice.
As for the server version, yeah, most people go with that, Hetzerand DigitalOcean had 20% of the nodes at one point, I saw quite a number recommending them as it gets rid of a machine running 24/7 in the house and offers more stability. As for the price, that depends on what budget people are willing to pay for a node, for some 10$ is too much, for some 50$ a month doesn't matter.