Diadem installation question

[Jcheese]

Hello to all....

I am not real familiar with Computer tasks so my question may be a simple NO.  I am wondering if I could install Diadem 2012 on remote hard drive and then connect that to my computer and run the program from the spare hard drive.  And if I could would it speed up my dataprocessing?

[ADobson]

It depends on the interface the external hard drive uses. If your main computer drive is fairly modern and uses SATA II or III then it is unlikely you can speed up your dataprocessing by using this external drive, as it would in all likelihood use USB and this does not match the throughput you can achieve using SATA. Also bear in mind that USB also uses some CPU cycles to deliver its data and this would degrade your potential benefits. Interfaces that come close to achieving good transfer rates are USB 3.0, 1394b, eSATA or Thunderbolt.

Also bear in mind that even though you install Diadem to the external hard drive you will still have dependancies to the main computer drive. Diadem is not a portable applicationin the sense that you can install it to an external drive and put that drive into a wholly different computer and expect it to work.

Hope this helps.

[Otmar]

The best way to increase performance of DIAdem is by adding an SSD (Solid State Disk) to your computer (that requires some moderately advanced technical skills and a reinstall of the operating system) as it's main hard drive. Running the computers operating system (OS) and programs from an SSD will speed up the load times of the OS and any software considerably. If the SSD is large enough, you can also put your data onto these drives, which makes a considerable difference when loading large data files.

Also, make sure your computer has sufficient memory (for windows 7 and later I would recommend at least 4 GB of RAM) and at least a dual core processor (modern computers have at least dual cores, some have quad cores or even more).

DIAdem's minimum system requirements are:

CPU	x86 compatible processor, 1.6 GHz or more
Amount of memory	1 GB or more
Hard disk memory	Depending on the operating system, up to 2,8 GB free storage space, of which at least 1,8 GB on the system partition
Video resolution	At least 1024x768
Operating System	Windows XP Pro 32-bit Service Pack 3 or later

My personal recommendation for a PC to run DIAdem is (DIAdem will run just fine on lesser hardware, this is a good compromise of speed/performance/cost though):

CPU	x86 compatible dual core or better, AMD or Intel
Amount of memory	4 or 8 GB of RAM (more is better, after 8 GB changes will be barely noticeable unless you do image or video processing with the PC
Hard disk memory	SSD for OS and program installations, 128 GB or more
Video resolution	1440x900 or higher
Operating System	Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1 or newer

Another important factor for speeding up processing times is the location where your test data is stored. Network drives are significantly slower than local hard drives when it comes to loading data (due to network bandwidth and latency issues) - local hard drives are better. External USB 2.0 hard disks are slow (bandwidth on USB 2.0 is restricted), USB 3.0 or eSATA (if available on the host PC) connected drives are usually significantly faster since they offer more bandwidth. Connecting a USB 3.0 drive to a USB 2.0 port on the PC will reduce available bandwidth, so both sides (HDD and PC) need to support the same interface standard.

As you can see, this is not straightforward, but component choices have a significant effect on performance. Desktop PCs are easier to upgrade, since they usually have more user serviceable parts. Notebooks and Laptops have less ability for upgrades, although they can usually take an SSD drive vs. a standard platter based hard disk and some offer USB 3.0 or eSATA ports to connect external hard drives that provide better performance over USB 2.0 drives. RAM may also be upgraded on Notebooks and Laptops, often at significanly higher cost vs desktop PCs though. Processors are usually not upgradable on portable computing equipment.

Installing DIAdem on an external hard drive will very likely result in slower performance and I would not recommend that.

I am happy to provide guidance if you can share some of your computer specs (or simply a make and model) with me, feel free to email me directly at:  otmar DOT foehner AT ni DOT com    if you do not want to share your computer specs here in the forum. Your IT department may also be able to help with performance issues, feel free to share my above mentioned recommendations with them.

I hope this provided some useful information, I may have raised more questions than I answered here ...

       Otmar