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<blockquote data-quote="CyberSimian" data-source="post: 1197354" data-attributes="member: 141969">An interesting question.&nbsp; Some points:(1) At <a href="http://www.TheGreenButton.tv" target="_blank">www.TheGreenButton.tv</a>, there was a WMC user who decided to use a USB memory stick as his live-TV buffer.&nbsp; He tried at least two memory sticks, but each one lasted only a month or two before it started to develop errors.&nbsp; He decided that a USB memory stick was a bad choice for the live TV buffer.(2) At forums.lenovo.com, there has been some discussion recently about the relatively poor performance of M.2 PCI-Express SSDs when installed in laptops; see page 2 of this thread:<a href="https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Y700-Brand-New-Dual-Boot-Windows-7-amp-Windows-10/td-p/3427918/page/2" target="_blank">https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Y700-Brand-New-Dual-Boot-Windows-7-amp-Windows-10/td-p/3427918/page/2</a>Apparently, SSDs can produce a lot of heat, and in the confines of a laptop case with its poor cooling, thermal throttling can significantly reduce the speed of the SSD, if the SSD has the appropriate firmware installed.(3) I conclude from this that SSDs and USB memory sticks can suffer significant reduction in useful life if they are allowed to overheat for extended periods of time.&nbsp; Laptops avoid this by using SSD firmware that limits performance.&nbsp; If the SSD that you are thinking of using does not have such firmware, you might need to take extra steps to ensure that it does not overheat (such as a heatsink, or an additonal fan, or both).In normal operation, Windows is constantly reading from and writing to the OS disk, but I suspect that the &quot;duty cycle&quot; is still quite low.&nbsp; When you use an SSD for live TV, the duty cycle must be approaching 100%, so there is no time for the SSD to shed the heat produced, and hence there is a risk of the SSD overheating.(4) I will be building a new HTPC soon, with an SSD for the OS disk; but the live TV buffer will be placed on a RAM disk!-- from CyberSimian in the UK</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CyberSimian, post: 1197354, member: 141969"] An interesting question. Some points: (1) At [URL="http://www.TheGreenButton.tv"]www.TheGreenButton.tv[/URL], there was a WMC user who decided to use a USB memory stick as his live-TV buffer. He tried at least two memory sticks, but each one lasted only a month or two before it started to develop errors. He decided that a USB memory stick was a bad choice for the live TV buffer. (2) At forums.lenovo.com, there has been some discussion recently about the relatively poor performance of M.2 PCI-Express SSDs when installed in laptops; see page 2 of this thread: [URL]https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z-series/Y700-Brand-New-Dual-Boot-Windows-7-amp-Windows-10/td-p/3427918/page/2[/URL] Apparently, SSDs can produce a lot of heat, and in the confines of a laptop case with its poor cooling, thermal throttling can significantly reduce the speed of the SSD, [i]if the SSD has the appropriate firmware installed[/i]. (3) I conclude from this that SSDs and USB memory sticks can suffer significant reduction in useful life if they are allowed to overheat for extended periods of time. Laptops avoid this by using SSD firmware that limits performance. If the SSD that you are thinking of using does not have such firmware, you might need to take extra steps to ensure that it does not overheat (such as a heatsink, or an additonal fan, or both). In normal operation, Windows is constantly reading from and writing to the OS disk, but I suspect that the "duty cycle" is still quite low. When you use an SSD for live TV, the duty cycle must be approaching 100%, so there is no time for the SSD to shed the heat produced, and hence there is a risk of the SSD overheating. (4) I will be building a new HTPC soon, with an SSD for the OS disk; but the live TV buffer will be placed on a RAM disk! -- from CyberSimian in the UK [/QUOTE]

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