SSD or not SSD - that is the question. (2 Viewers)

[Lehmden]

Hi.
It is possible to run a Win7 Live System from every USB Stick. To install a full working version of Win7 on USB Stick you need a special stick which can unset the "Removable Media Flag" in firmware as Windows refuses to install on removable media at all. I don't know what type of USB Stick actually is able to do so.

I believe a full working Windows installation on an e.g. 32 GB USB Stick would be a great thing (repair of broken Windows installations and so on) so I can't exactly understand why Microsoft did not allow this...

About Performance. USB 3.0 should be able to speed up things enough. But I agree, in normal circumstances a SSD is the preferred solution ofc.

 

[elsmandino]

I have managed to find this, which seems to list USB sticks that would work and the actual programthat allows the USB stick to be considered a fix drive by Windows:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...Lightning-4GB-Change-Removable-Bit...-SUCCESS!

As you say, given USB 2.0 and depending on the read speeds of the USB stick, Windows would probably be really slow to load up but once it was loaded into RAM, wouldn't it run just as quickly?

 

[jonm]

I'd be inclined to save yourself the hassle and just pony up for a SSD drive. They wouldn't exist if it was easy/viable to use a USB drive.

 

[jonm]

Some good offers on SSD drives in the UK at the moment, e.g.

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials...A-III+Solid+State+Hard+Drive+?productId=45660

 

[elsmandino]

Hello,

Had my new SSD in my server for a couple of weeks now and is working well.

Further to my earlier posts, I think I am going to sell the Revo and either build or buy something faster.

Which route do you think would be the best for a small (mini-itx) client that will be acting as a MP client.

The AMD-E450 motherboards are looking good or my other option would be perhaps a tiny Sandybridge motherboard with a low spec CPU (e.g. G620). My gut feeling would be to perhaps building something myself based upon AMD for the much better graphics, though these things are going pretty cheap now:

http://www.ebuyer.com/345626-msi-wind-box-dc100-nettop-dc100-010xeu

What do you think?

 

[elsmandino]

BTW - completely agree with the comments about USB sticks. I should stop being a cheapskate and get a proper SSD

 

[Sh4nn0w]

Best change I made on my HTPC, actually took the one out of my desktop to do it - then bought a bigger one for that So much more responsive.

 

[elsmandino]

Interesting - I see you have an E7300 in your client and a G620 in your server. Which one did you take from your desktop?

Are you using the G620 in a MP only server or is that PC acting as both a server and client?

 

[Sh4nn0w]

Actually I meant I took the SSD from my desktop and put it in the HTPC.

The G620 is a server only, all HDDs in there are mechnical. I have lots of other stuff installed on there in addition to the MP server, but its pretty much an overkill for the server, its just it was only £45 when I was moving the server to an itx box, so I thought why not; works well for transcoding and ripping as well, much better than the Pentium E2180 I had before. HTPC's running fine with the E7300.

I did try running MP client + MP TV Server off the server box, but definatley seems smoother to me having a dedicated.client (probably becuase of all the other stuff installed and running in the background.)

Ended up upgrading the server before the HTPC; that's my next job; now if only the wife would stop spending...

 

[jonm]

For a client I'd recommend one if the Gigabyte AMD boards with built-in CPU and graphics, dead easy to put together a system, just clip in some RAM, plug in a hard disk and screw it into a little case with a brick-type PSU. Lots of choice on the mini-itx.com site, for instance.