[mushoss]

Why is most NUC builds I see using a 32 or 64gb msata. I understand the costs escalates for the larger drives but whats the sense in purchasing a small drive and later on having to purchase a larger one and losing the investment in the first one. I am assuming people are just using the msata for OS and maybe a few more programs. Is this the only use that the micro drive is intended for. Cant you download movies and music to it alongside the OS? Does the more data you put on it slow down the OS? Sorry if this sounds stupid. Someone please straighten me out on this.
I am thinking of purchasing a NUC I3 Haswell "Tall case" when it becomes available. It will be used as a HTPC with windows 8.1. At some point in time I would like to put a 2.5 HDD in it to take advantage of the internal sata3 connector it comes with. I got to thinking why not try and max out the msata with a larger drive to get by on until I put the HDD in. In effect utilizing the NUC to its fullest. I found this 240 gb msata for $164.99. http://www.amazon.com/MyDigitalSSD-Bulle...digitalssd
and this 60gb for $61.99.
http://www.amazon.com/MyDigitalSSD-Bulle...digitalssd
For $103.00 more dollars, you get 180 more gb.
All responses are welcomed.

[Camlann]

I bought a 60GB mSata Drive for the Haswell NUC because i'm going to install Windows 8.1 + XBMC. The Userdata Folder is redirected to a Server, and also all Movies are on that Server, that makes a bigger Drive useless for me.
In my current HTPC (5 years old) I purchased a 500GB Drive, and I'm currently using only ~35GB.

Having said that, I'm also considering buying a NUC with a bigger Drive to make use of the 2,5" Slot, but I will use this Machine as a HyperV Host, so i'm going to put in an 500GB SSD.

HtH

[joelbaby]

I got to thinking why not try and max out the msata with a larger drive

Pro Tip: SSDs are notoriously unreliable and can fail with zero warning. Do not put important unbacked-up data on them. They are fine for operating systems and applications which can easily be reinstalled.

HDD's do fail, but they usually do it slowly over time. Store movies on HDD.

Intel, Corsair and Samsung make good consumer SSDs.

I would spend the $103.00 extra on a 1-2Tb HDD (either internal SATA or external USB 3.0). Good thing about external USB3.0 drives, is they are easy to sell to friends when you need to upgrade to a bigger one. WD MyPassport is pretty good and does not need external power supply.

[browellm]

SSDs also perform badly right on the limit of their capacity.

[00b5]

Most people here are often using a NAS or other network type storage.

Very few store (or want to store) their media ON the internal drive.

Ignoring the NUC for a sec, even if you built a nice SFF mini-ITX XBMC machine, and wanted to have your media ON the actual machine, it'd be best to get a 2nd hdd that is very large to store it (1tb - 4tb) and install that inside the case with the rest.

This allows you to tweak/adjust/reinstall the entire OS/XMBC/etc and never have to mess with your media.

So the choice is often made to save $$$ and just get as big of a "boot" drive as needed. mSATA also has had a small premium over normal sized SSDs, so that is a factor as well.

Again, as suggested, that $103 would get you a large spinning hdd that would hold A LOT more movies/music/photos/etc.

[Dougie Fresh]

There is no performance advantage to having media (movies, etc.) on a SSD vs. a 5400RPM hard-drive. The price/performance ratio for media on an SSD is very bad compared to a HDD. If you have to wait, you'd be better off with a 60GB SSD and an external USB3 hard drive vs. a larger SSD. The only advantage is space so if that's your priority only then would it be worth it.

[nickr]

The idea of a small msata is to keep the os only. Media goes on your server/nas. 8G is sufficient.

[Crssi]

Also to consider: Bigger SSD, bigger temperature footprint.

[mushoss]

Great info. Thanks to everyone who responded. I now know to use the micro drive just for os. I am still on the fence as for as waiting on the tall case to install a internal hdd or go ahead with the smaller case with a external hdd.