Sorry, I don't get excited about much tech lately, but between the Ceton Card and my new Intel 80gb SSD, I'm loving my media center setup again.  The computer boot time is ridiculously fast.  Opening up My Music or Pictures is nice to use now.  Extenders are much better.  Can't ask for much more.

 I just got an Intel 80gb SSD from Best Buy for $199 plus a $30 gift card.  It finally was in a usable price point.  Now I'm thinking about getting one for my Laptop.

 I have to agree.  I just upgraded my drives in my media server.  I got an OCZ Agility 2 60GB drive for the OS and a 2TB WD Black drive for storage.  I'm planning to be able to record up to four HD clear QAM and four HD CableCARD channels at once.

The SSD is definitely the single biggest performance boost I've ever seen in a computer part.  All perceivable aspects of that systems performance have been improved. It's too bad they cost so much for their size but they do serve well in a desktop as purely an OS drive.  This is particularly true with a media server that doesn't need additional programs installed on it.  My extender experience is greatly improved by quicker menu load times.  It would sometimes take 5-10 seconds for the scheduled recording to display and it's now instantaneous.  My wife noticed right away how much these simple things have improved.

Now I'll need to get one for my main rig.  Unfortunately I suppose I'll need something a bit bigger and thus more expensive.

 I'm thinking about doing the same thing.  My goal is to get 5 XBoxes connected to one HTPC.  I have the XBoxes but they're connected to 3 different servers.  I'd like to consolidate to one HTPC.  I think response will be unbearable without an SSD.

 So are you guys running JUST the OS off the SSD or are you recording to it too?

boxerboys

I too have just migrated to a new SSD-based system. So far I have similar experiences as the rest. Question: I currently record up to 4 HD at a time and could do more when I get my Ceton. I will be serving all my media off of iSCSI. I have the option to use a 160GB Raptor 10K SATA drive or a Seagate 500GB 7200 drive (all non-RAID) for my recorded TV volume (then moved off to WHS). Is the 10K speed going to give me anything on the recordings?

7200 RPM is probably plenty for 8 simultaneous HD recordings, but why only 500GB?

160GB Raptor is definately not worth it -- if you are actually recording 8 HD streams it will be full in under 3 hours.

willgill

 I'm thinking about doing the same thing.  My goal is to get 5 XBoxes connected to one HTPC.  I have the XBoxes but they're connected to 3 different servers.  I'd like to consolidate to one HTPC.  I think response will be unbearable without an SSD.

 So are you guys running JUST the OS off the SSD or are you recording to it too?

Just the OS.  SSDs large enough to use for a recording drive cost way too much.

If money was no object, a bunch of these in RAID would be sweet: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227515&cm_re=collossus-_-20-227-515-_-Product

 I'm just running a old 750gb drive as my secondary for recording shows.  All my recorded TV gets archived on my WHS so I didn't feel a need for anything special.  Even before the SSD, I have never really overloaded the Media PC.  I guess the test now is to record 4 shows and have my 4 extenders watching 4 different recorded shows.  All of the shows are on the WHS so the bottleneck will be there.  I have 4 drives in the server so I guess it depends if all the recordings are on one drive or not.

I do feel it's these little things that will help WMC crossover to a more main stream audience.  It's the little lags and hiccups that drive my wife and kids crazy.  Navigation is so fluid now.  It's on par to what people are expecting.

glugglug

7200 RPM is probably plenty for 8 simultaneous HD recordings, but why only 500GB?

160GB Raptor is definately not worth it -- if you are actually recording 8 HD streams it will be full in under 3 hours.

BTDT

Have you noticed any improvements in channel change times using an SSD as your OS drive? I don't know if it would factor into that aspect of performance, but have heard that channel changing can be a bit more sluggish with a CableCard setup.

 I would say that is the one area I saw no improvement.  I wouldn't say it was too bad.  The ATI DCT tuner changed channels quicker.  Maybe Ceton will improve that with future firmware updates.

I have a 40GB SSD with OS and swap file only.  All recording and media files are on the 7500RPM Caviar Black 1TB.  The extender UI is snappier, including channel change.  Configuration tasks are faster, and boot time is very fast.  I don't use the HTPC in Media Center locally much, because it is in the basement.  But I am very happy with the SSD OS drive, and the 40GB Intel X25-V was only $99 on Amazon with free shipping.

BTDT

Have you noticed any improvements in channel change times using an SSD as your OS drive?

Unless the SSD is the recording drive, you'll never get a chance to have a faster channel change, regardless of what tuner you are using.  Live TV is buffered to the recording folder, and the only two ways to get the live TV buffer on the SSD would be to set the SSD as the recording drive, or create a symbolic link to a folder on the SSD for the buffer only (leaving your recordings set to the HDD).

However, I can confirm that even setting the SSD as the recording drive, I wasn't able to notice an improvement with channel changing with the InfiniTV.  There might have been an improvement, but if there was it was negligible.  I have an X25-V.

When I built my HTPC a few months back it was suggested to me to use a SSD for my OS drive. Originally I had planned to use 2 older Raptor Drives I had laying around in Raid 0 for the OS. But I decided to go with the SSD (Corsair). 

All i can say is WOW. The SSD out boots my 2 Raptor X's in my Desktop in Raid 0. It boots so quick its amazing. I Enabled Trim support on it and I just Love it to death. I can't wait to add another SSD to my next Desktop build. I would totally recommend a SSD to anyone building a HTPC. Not only is it faster but Silent too.. Amazing how small they are also.  Totally worth the $.

Now i just need a new 2TB drive for storage as my 1TB is already 1/2 full....

newfiend~

I am wondering if anyone has setup a system with a SATA 3 (AHCI) SSD (solid State Drive) [connected to the Marvell 9128 controller] for the Operating System and used their existing SATA 2 (AHCI) Cavier Green 2 tb drives [connected to the Intel P55] for data storage on their HTPCs? If so, did you have to install 2 sets of SATA drivers before the OS install to enable AHCI? Any tips that you can suggest in much appreciated!