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Mini PC with 32GB SSD - put Windows on SD card or USB drive?
Thirith
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Since my main PC is a noisy beast and not well suited to recording sessions, I've ordered a mini PC that should be well nigh noiseless. However, it's only got a 32GB SSD, which seems very little, even if it's only used for the operating system.
As the mini PC also has a card reader, I was wondering if it's feasible to use, say, a 128GB SD card as the main partition and run Windows from there. Or would a USB 3.0 drive be a better option? I will mainly need the PC to record podcasts using Audacity, so file access doesn't need to be more than reasonably fast.
As the mini PC also has a card reader, I was wondering if it's feasible to use, say, a 128GB SD card as the main partition and run Windows from there. Or would a USB 3.0 drive be a better option? I will mainly need the PC to record podcasts using Audacity, so file access doesn't need to be more than reasonably fast.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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It's way cheaper than an sd card.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
I wouldn't recommend trying to boot off of an SD card or a usb 3 anything if you can avoid it.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
It flat out might not work.
If the card reader needs drivers then it's not going to be a valid boot option (no way to load drivers if there's no OS running yet). USB3 support at the BIOS level is super spotty; it will probably only boot in USB2 mode. While USB3 speeds would be sufficient to run a system drive, USB2 transfer speeds are slow. I also don't know if windows will willingly install the bootloader on a removable drive.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
My computer isn't silent, but it's certainly not loud anymore.
Similarly, you can also get PSUs with either no fan, or with large fans that run at low RPM and are fairly silent. And you can get better/quieter case fans.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
However, I've not looked at them in detail; at present I'm still waiting for the PC to be delivered.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
The issue that Windows was never designed to be run that way, so it's really not great on that type of media.
According to the English docs, this PC has a 2.5" bay capable of taking a SATA SSD. It also comes with an M2.
Here's what I'd do:
When I get it, open it up. See if the M2 is upgradeable. I'd bet money that you could replace the 32GB M2 with an off-the-shelf M2 of your choice.
If the M2 is soldered in or some silly shit like that, then buy a 2.5" SSD and put that in.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
This looks very similar. I bet your PC is using the same case and possibly the same motherboard.
This suggests to me that it's capable of taking an off-the-shelf full-length standard M2 SSD:
But I would open yours up to make sure.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods