Banana versus raspberry pi

[Pepsican]

(18-08-2017 13:27)IDM Wrote:  That is a good question. When i first posted I hadn't realised how many different versions there were (I am ore used to Raspberry pi's). I wan one with a SATA interface to avoid using the HDD via USB2.0. So for a cheap price the Banana Pi M2 Berry, or the slightly older Banana pi 1 or the pro version would work. I assume the M2 Berry version would be better as it had a quad core 1GHz processor.

I will look into the other boards you mention as I am unfamiliar with them.

I should probably add that I currently use an old Raspberry pi B, which performs ok but does take time to find music and when I copy new files it can take a very long time. I also have a Pi 3 which is faster at copying music but is still a bit slow. Hence the question

Regards,
Ian

A few notes:
- just because it has a SATA port, does not mean there is a separate controller available that separates your traffic on the SATA port from the rest of the traffic. Best example is the Raspberry Pi where there is one controller for both USB and network. Consequence: bottlenecks when there is high traffic on both USB and network. So, check whether a port has a separate controller or not and whether that will impact your usage case.

- more cores are nice, but not every application makes use of them. Sometimes a dual core with a high frequency is better than a quad core with a low frequency. most SOCs are Arm based so you can check their website to see which architecture is most current and supports what types of operations.

You can also go for a different set up. Most internet routers come with a USB port that you can attach your harddrive to. You'd then use the network port of your board to access the data. The added advantage is that the content of your harddrive are now available on your entire network, not just on your board.

A small (financial) step up would be to look for a cheap NAS device and couple your board to that over the network.