Minimum SSD requirement for ROCK

Roon Software Discussion ROCK
1

Hi,

I own a NUC5i3 with 16GB of RAM and my fast m.2 Intel 535 360gb SSD just “passed away”.

In order to survive the time without a fast SSD, I dusted off and installed my very old (probably part of first gen SSDs) Intel 40GB SSD to run ROCK - and it works perfectly. The official specs of the SSD are as follows:

  • Model: Intel X25-V G2 40GB, SATA (SSDSA2MP040G2C1)
  • Interface: SATA 3Gb/s
  • Read: 170MB/s
  • Write: 35MB/s
  • IOPS 4K read/​Write: 25k/​2.5k
  • Flash memory: 2D-NAND MLC
  • Controller: Intel PC29AS21BA0
  • Cache: 32MB

Now my question is:
Do you recommend me to buy a more modern SSD? Or are there any read and write minimum requirements for a smooth Roon experience?

I am mainly using Tidal for streaming music, while occasionally picking some lossless music files (2.000 albums) stored on my NAS.

2

My first thought is, if it were me, I would at least get something that meets what is recommended in the Rock KB.
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Optimized_Core_Kit

I guess it depends on your library size (current and future). How much DSP you are going to use and how well it is working as you have it now.

3

sure, I know that KB article, but then, it is hard to find SSDs recommended in the kb that have lower specs than the ones recommended.

And this is why I am asking what the real minimum requirement is…

4

In that case your’re good, as they will meet the minimum SSD spec for ROCK.

5

yeah i know. I just ordered a fast 128GB 2.5" SSD anyway for 50€ and will switch back to my RoonServer, Kodi, Win10 Setup.

Although I like the idea and the simplicity of ROCK a lot, I just cannot justify running such a “powerhouse” 24/7 for just this service.

So, I will use the NUC as a media player for Kodi, Netflix and Roon :slight_smile:

6

Sounds like a good plan.

7

ROCK uses a bit over 4gb on your SSD for the OS and RoonServer. The rest is dedicated to your Roon database and settings.

I prefer 64GB since we’ve rarely seen databases grow past 30GB, and 64GB SSDs were readily available. Now it seems 128GB is the “smallest”.

Your tiny (40GB) SSD is big enough for all but a handful of Roon installs out there.

8

Hi Danny,

thanks for the clarification.

However, I was less worrieD about size than read and write speed. I mean, the drive I am talking about has the following “official” stats:
Read: 170MB/s
Write: 35MB/s

When would I notice this “old-school” performance: during (initial) library scraping only or also during operating the app on a remote device?

9

The SSD is used often at run-time, but that SSD is still much faster than a spinning disk so you should be ok. Obviously, things could be faster, but that SSD’s performance won’t destroy your experience.

Import time is mostly writing, but at runtime, you will get more reads from the SSD.

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