[Kelemvor]

I have an RPi on back order but want to get the other stuff I need while I wait.

I know the minimum specs are a class 4, 2 gig SD card. I'm assuming a class 6 or even a class 10 would give for better performance. Is that right?
Does a larger card (8 gigs, 16 gigs, etc) make any difference at all or is it just wasted space?

I will be only using this for RaspBMC and streaming media over my network.

Also, I've seen some people post about using an SD card in conjunction with a USB Flash drive. Can anyone tell me how this works and what the flash drive is for? Not sure if part of RaspBMC gets installed on the flash drive or if the flash drive is just for storing the video files or what.

Thanks!

[SFX Group]

Good questions, i was going to use a super fast SD card only (32Gb) and format to FAT32, it appears most are using openELEC, however question here is which version of XBMC do i use once i have openELEC installed, or is there a complete "one off hit" i can load on to a SD card with XBMC already on it?

If so is there a backup tool i can use for XBMC when i move to a newer version then just restore my settings back to XBMC?

[xbs08]

Larger cards are usualy faster, so a large class 10 is better even if you dont use the extra space.
I'm using a class 10 Samsung card and it's pretty responsive and fast in OpenELEC.
You can also use the CPU governor feature i.e. dynamic OC which overclocks the RPi when needed.

You can install OpenELEC, Raspbmc, Xbian, etc on a pen drive but you still need a SD card for booting the Pi.
OC + OV can corrupt the SD card, that doesn't seem to happen when using a pen drive (or HDD).
I didn't saw any speed increase when using a pen drive vs. Class 10 SD card.

OpenELEC, Raspbmc, Xbian are minimal OS + XBMC.
You can update OpenELEC by placing the new files in a share folder (.update) and reboot the Pi.
Raspbmc has a addon for updating and switching between builds.
You're settings, library, addons, etc are kept between updates.
You can also make a backup of 'your' xbmc (setting, library, addons, etc) and restore it.

Usefull links:
http://openelec.tv/
http://youresuchageek.blogspot.fr/2012/0...ec-on.html
http://forum.stmlabs.com/index.php

[charlie0440]

Someone on IRC told me that anything over a class 4 (might have been class 6) is wasted on a pi and you will not see the benefits due to the SD controller. They also said the USB controller was much faster so it was better to save your money and buy a small SD card for the OS and whack in a large thumb drive for movies.

I can't remember who the source was or whether this is 100% true. Seems the quote above about class 10 = faster, is not neccessarily true, read here

Edit: Some more links if anyone is interested:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewto...=26&t=9134
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewto...f=2&t=4076