|
Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
|
|
|
Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies. |
|
In Reply to: RE: I'm going to agree with Ryelands' argument below - idle HD(SSD) is not really "idle", ... posted by AbeCollins on July 11, 2014 at 17:16:57:
I don't have any powered up external drives. All my active drives are inside my PC case. I think it is a mistake to do otherwise. I do have an E-SATA header and cable that goes to a Blac-X box. The Blac-X provides a slot that accepts SATA data and power connectors and allows me to use "naked" SATA hard drives for external backup. This device is used once a month or so for off-site backups. I suppose that the idle SATA cable from my PC case to the Blac-X box is somewhat degrading my sound, but I doubt the sonic benefits are sufficient to justify grovelling in the dust on the floor while doing the requisite extensive listening tests. (Life is too short to spend time trying all possible tweaks. So I haven't tried testing the effect of tying bowlines, grannies and square knots in the window blind shades.)
Windows drives can be configured to flush or not flush the cache. I normally set them to do lazy writes, which means they may take some number of seconds before data gets written to the drive. For my E-SATA drive I have an add-on utility program that allows me to safely remove this drive, even though Windows thinks this drive is purely internal. Plus, the Blac-X box has some rather garish lights to indicate on-going I/O activity. Of course this paranoia is completely inapplicable for drives that are "read-only".
I looked at the SATA spec. The drivers are floating when no frames are being transmitted. I suspect that an idle SATA data cable causes most of its interference through the ground wires, so I am not sure how shielding is going to help. Also, there aren't going to be any data errors passed on, just dropped frames due to bad (32 bit) CRC's. I do have no doubt that an active SATA cable could radiate all kinds of noise that might affect other equipment (that shouldn't be sensitive to the interference).
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- RE: I'm going to agree with Ryelands' argument below - idle HD(SSD) is not really "idle", ... - Tony Lauck 07/11/1418:11:46 07/11/14 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
