I did a search but couldn't find any info as to if the rpm speed of a hard drive made any difference with the Empeg/Rio. What I mean is with the cashe system that the Empeg/Rio has, will I the average user see a difference in things like boot time and song access times? (I know that with workstations this makes a huge difference.)

Thanks

I can't find the post anymore, but I could swear I read something a year or two ago posted by the empeg guys that explicitly stated that rotational speed made little if any difference.

I don't believe that you'll see any difference in boot times, as the vast majority of the boot process is done from flash ram, and not the hard drive at all.

Are you having a problem with song access times? The only time you should see any delay is when you change songs; any other time, the empeg player software should be anticipating what it needs to load and do it just before it needs it. I can't say that I've ever had to wait any more than a fraction of a second even when selecting new stuff, though.

I did a search but couldn't find any info as to if the rpm speed of a hard drive made any difference with the Empeg/Rio.

The answer to this question is in the text of the drive upgrade guide.

Ah, yes:

Disk drive access speed isn't a factor, since the player uses an aggressive caching algorithm that leaves the disks spun down most of the time. Any modern laptop hard disk should be fast enough, and you will not notice any speed increase by purchasing a faster disk drive. In fact, if choosing between a fast drive and a slower drive, the slower drive is probably the better choice because it will most likely be cheaper and produce less heat.

That's why I could never find it in a search on the BBS. It wasn't there.

Now it is.

No my Rio has been nearly perfect, with the exception of the screen blinking now and then usually in the Now & Next info screen, but no song access is much better than any mp3 player I've ever put together and any CD player that I've ever seen. Just didn’t want to spend money for a better feature that is basically useless in the Rio.

Been searching for an answer to this both in the FAQ and on the board... A friend wants to add another HD to his Mk II and he is wondering if he can mix HD rotational speeds? He won't be mixing HD brands, just speeds... No probs?

- Jon

There shouldn't be any problem.

I would recommend the slowest speed. Less heat, less noise, less power, usually cheaper and it doesn't matter with the empeg anyway...

The only real place that a faster drive will make a measureable difference is in database rebuild times. For everything else, slower is usually better (less power / heat consumption).

-ml

For everything else, slower is usually better (less power / heat consumption).

Hard drives consume heat? Cool!

-jk