Remove internal HDD?

[MV10]

I have a DragonTech ioBox -- a now-unsupported product based on the PCH A100 (I think mostly they changed the case and packaging). At first I messed around with installing apps but I found them sort of underwhelming, and these days the only thing I use it for is watching DVD ISOs selected by navigating through the basic file/folder menus. Most of my ISOs are stored on a separate NAS, although some are on a 2TB drive inside the device.

Since it performs adequately as a simple ISO player, in order to extend its life as long as possible, I want to remove the internal drive since it gets fairly hot. I believe I read that these PCH devices can run without any drive at all, is that accurate? Does it matter that mine has had a drive installed, or can I just remove the drive and power it up and off it goes?

I do have a spare 70GB SSD that I could install if it really needs a drive, but I'm not sure how to prep that drive for use (it used to be a Windows NTFS drive).

I greatly appreciate any advice the more experienced users can offer!

[MV10]

Let me ask this a different way -- can the Popcorn Hour boxes do this, and if the SSD route would work, how should the new drive be prepped? The ioBox is nearly identical to the PCH equipment so I'm pretty sure a PCH answer would apply...

[chris57]

You do not have to have an intenral HDD to browse your NAS shares.

The internal HDD with the NMT Apps are for serving content on the box to other devices and for downloading. Plus the content is direct. If you only have DVD ISO requirements and are not playing one to one bluray backups then you'll be fine. If you play bluray backups then the 100 series chips do not like peaks and may struggle, only direct from USB/HDD is guaranteed. Only when the 200 series chip players came out did their greater cpu power make worrying about bitrates a thing of the past..

[MV10]

Excellent answer, I really appreciate it.