Personal preference, but I would leave the programs on the Windows drive.I never really thought of that. I My thinking was to have everything on 1 drive and my music files on the other
Is there any reason in particular? Only upside I can see is it makes things a bit easier. Downside is less throughput/higher latency when a program needs to access it's own files along with system files.Personal preference, but I would leave the programs on the Windows drive.
Windows & Programs run faster.Is there any reason in particular? Only upside I can see is it makes things a bit easier. Downside is less throughput/higher latency when a program needs to access it's own files along with system files.
I never suggested a hard drive. I suggested 2 NVMe drives. one for windows, and another for data and programs. A SATA SSD will be fine for the music storage, as the bit rates are trivial.Windows & Programs run faster.
Data files - FLAC or Word, tend to be single loading so a fast SSD may have a marginal impact but keeping your data on a seperate disk can be advantageous.
If your Programs files are on a SATA HD you have, rotation spin speed dependant, a fixed IOPS (input outputs or sector reads) per second.
Dependant on sector size, you have a set read/write cycle.
And SATA is single threaded.
NVMe M.2 are about 10,000 times faster and are mutli-threaded - they can read all your file requests without your first request being satisfied - your are really only limited your motherboard NVMe interface.
I left the industry just as NVMe M.2 was coming out and handled by the storage team, but I think the figures speak for themselves.
I'd agree - but SATA HDs keeps the cost down.I never suggested a hard drive. I suggested 2 NVMe drives. one for windows, and another for data and programs. A SATA SSD will be fine for the music storage, as the bit rates are trivial.
For static storage I agree. It's significantly cheaper.I'd agree - but SATA HDs keeps the cost down.
Yes that is what I do. It makes things a lot easier to backup and even move the Windows installation to another computer.I never really thought of that. I My thinking was to have everything on 1 drive and my music files on the other
I am a tad disabled, so for ease of use I ripped all my 800+ CD's and store them on a 2 tb SSD (Intel i5, win 10) it runs Audirvana, and is working fine Anyway am ordering a new win 11 in the next week or so, so what are the must haves. I have said to my PC guy it must have 2 SSD's, 1 for music files only2//4 TB, and the other has to have everything else (windows, document's, pictures, etc
Similar to me. I use a Mac Mini desktop since Microsoft brought out the ludicrous Windows 8.Yes that is what I do. It makes things a lot easier to backup and even move the Windows installation to another computer.
I would choose a computer (laptop/desktop) that has an M.2 NVMe slot for the Windows installation as this is a lot faster than a SATA interface which is suitable for the music/data store.
I am currently working with a tiny desktop computer that fits in the palm of my hand. Inside is an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU with 32GB memory. Because I dual boot Windows/Linux I stuffed a 2TB SSD into the M.2 NVME slot and installed a slower 4TB SSD into the SATA slot. All that power in such a small box. I have a nice big screen for my weak eyes and an old clicky IBM keyboard that I've had since new. Backup is to high capacity external HDDs.
For anyone who knows what they are doing in most cases WiFi will meet their requirements.Similar to me. I use a Mac Mini desktop since Microsoft brought out the ludicrous Windows 8.
I two ProLiant Micro Windows 10 and hard wired 1G network.
I bet all this info is too much for some though.
Personally for the OP keep it simple with a basic PC and a streaming service unless you have rare music.
Have a look into refurbished PCs with an upgraded SSD for Windows and Program Files.
Make sure it's Windows 11 Home or Pro and some unknown names, outside the corporate, are Lenovo who I think bought out IBM's desktop business - they are built like tanks.
I get them for all my clients on the side and you are looking at up to £300 - make sure it's got ethernet, wifi and the correct video output.
Processor/RAM spec is again personal and each Intel processor (not sure about AMD) - i3, i5 etc have different vintages.
I've got Windows 11 running as a VM on my Mac M1 - and it's free!
I know people prefer hard wired but for my needs - including 2160p - wireless works fine.
That's another argument though.
Audio files as so small, and computer memory is so large by comparison, that what really happens is that the file is loaded into RAM and played from there. So there is no difference in performance or quality by splitting the files onto different drives or partitions.I personally do not have much PC experience now (not that I did before), so just relying on suggestions as to what suits audio, without paying silly money
My current machine has 32Gb RAM and a 2tb SSD, The reason behind using 2 SSD drives is as you have mentionedAudio files as so small, and computer memory is so large by comparison, that what really happens is that the file is loaded into RAM and played from there. So there is no difference in performance or quality by splitting the files onto different drives or partitions.
However there *is* a difference in convenience - if for some reason you need to rebuild the operating system, if it's on a separate drive you know that nothing will get trashed if it gets wiped and restored. In addition, it makes backup strategies easier, as it just comes down to 'make a copy of what's on this drive', and people here have covered those things.
So, best advice for audio, assuming you want to keep it all in one box, is to get a machine with sensible amounts of ram (16Gb at present is the sweet spot) and space for at least two drives. Stick with SSDs, you don't sound like you need so much storage that the price of SSDs becomes a major issue.
Assuming you are running to a USB DAC, then that's basically it! It's pretty simple these days.