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Tiny drive for mini ITX computer

M

mazeroth

Golden Member
I'm going to build an Atom PC that will connect to my WHS to access all my music files. It will be used for my whole house audio system. I would like to use Win7 (unless you guys think otherwise) and was wondering the least amount of space I would need and which cheap drive you would use for it? I'm thinking a tiny SSD of some sort so the computer felt snappy as it is a weak processor.

Thanks in advance.
 
I am interpreting the OP as looking for a logically tiny, but pragmatic disk. Not a physically tiny drive.
 
alyarb said:
I am interpreting the OP as looking for a logically tiny, but pragmatic disk. Not a physically tiny drive.
Click to expand...

Umm, when he said mini-itx that pretty much implies small.
3.5 inch goes anywhere from 1 meg to 3 terabytes. But of course I dont think he wants 3.5 inchers.

Obviously he would want the most capacity available unless he said he wanted a bargain.
I'd go with above suggested 1.8 inch drives. They are a standard and if you are getting a mini-itx case it should have a bay or two for that size.
 
Do you already have the ITX motherboard and a tiny case? If not, check out those nettops. I have a Foxconn NT-510 and even with a normal 2.5" drive in it, it is smaller than any ITX setup. Heck, it is about the size of a broadband router at 7.48" x 5.31" x 0.98". Eat your heart out, "mini" ITX.

Other companies make them too. You can get complete Acer systems like that, and Asus, Zotac, AOpen, Jetway and Giada all make barebones along with Foxconn. Heck, I think Lenovo even makes them and markets them as thin clients.
 
mazeroth said:
The mini itx case I have has an internal 3.5" bay. What I'm asking is what drive should I get to only put an OS on it and nothing more? I will be accessing all the music from the WHS I'm building. I was thinking an 8GB SSD for ~$40. Will this suffice with a minimal install of Win7?

Here's my case:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0355153
Click to expand...


No, you will need more space than that. Even if you could squeeze win7 x86 on there you would kill the little bit of nand left over due to repeated writes. Get at 30GB drive and you will be all set.
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...uct/B001NPCTB4
This will cost you under $80 and give you all the room you will ever need.
 
I'm an idiot. I knew Win7 took more than 8 GB to install. I've been doing a lot of research on my WHS and the first version of WHS only needed a few gigs. So yes, a 30GB SSD does make sense.
 
mazeroth said:
I'm an idiot. I knew Win7 took more than 8 GB to install. I've been doing a lot of research on my WHS and the first version of WHS only needed a few gigs. So yes, a 30GB SSD does make sense.
Click to expand...

I had a 30 gig drive for win 7 and after formatting & install, there was little left. I had to kill the hibernation file and move the swap file to my 1TB drive. All I was able to squeeze on was a stripped down Office install and some tiny utilities.
 
shortylickens said:
I had a 30 gig drive for win 7 and after formatting & install, there was little left. I had to kill the hibernation file and move the swap file to my 1TB drive. All I was able to squeeze on was a stripped down Office install and some tiny utilities.
Click to expand...

You must have been using the x64 Windows 7. The x86 version will leave more than ample room even with hibernation still present. Use a variable page file of 400MB-2GB. All this will eat up about half a 30GB drive.
 
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