Storing of movies on hard drive..

[jpkishere]

So I got my MCE machine up and running and have gotten some movies that I ripped to IMG format, etc. Well at 4gb+ per movie my 200gb's won't last long.

Any one have any discussions on what format I could rip them to that still gives a good viewing and retains Dolby info? Also, something that I could burn to DVD format later if necessary..

 

[IVB]

No, it certainly won't. I've got about 1.5TB allocated for DVDs.

I don't use DIVX, but i've read good things about it on avsforum. IIRC, it rips to roughly 900MB/DVD. I've now given you everything I know about the topic, but google or an avs search might hook you up.

 

[jpkishere]

No, it certainly won't. I've got about 1.5TB allocated for DVDs.

1.5gbs? Yeah, my MCE pc only has room for 2 HDs and since they are mirrored I only get 1 drives worth of data.

Not sure when 1.5 tb drives will be out, so I gotta figure something out..

Below is a good referenice (at least so far) of how to do it.

Convert DVDs

I am running it right now to see what happens.. Will post back w/ results.

 

[Mike]

Well they have 750GB drives out now. I'll guess between 9 and 18 months we will have 1.5TB drives. I know they have that perpendicular recording technology which maybe will help them expedite storage into the larger models.

Another thing to keep in mind: The drives dont need to be in that PC. They can be on the network, or in an external enclosure. You just need the player to know to look in various locations. I read instructions for My Movies on how to share this across multiple MCE machines so you can put movies on multiple computers.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Not a TB, but it's a cheap 300 gig:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4187703

 

[jpkishere]

Out of curiousity does anyone know of a cheap solution to backup 1.5tb's or 750gb, etc..

It seems backup solutions have certainly lagged behind..

 

[Mike]

I think the most reasonable solution is to actually do RAID 5 (granted not a real backup). All of the high volume backup systems are much more expensive. DLT or other tape based backups get expensive for the equipment and the tapes.

For the cost of an additional drive you get protection from the failure of a drive. Then again in this case, you have your original DVD's as well so it is a little easier (granted I would not want to go through a rip process).

 

[mustangcoupe]

Not a TB, but it's a cheap 300 gig:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4187703

I dont know about everyone else but I have had bad lusk with Maxtor and Western Digital... The seem to only last a year or two, just for data and then a hard crash drive making noise ect.... Anyone else or am I weeding them out for you? on the otherhand I have had a few segate for quite a few years.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I myself like Seagate.

I will never purchase another Western Digital drive again. Pure garbage!

 

[jpkishere]

I dont know about everyone else but I have had bad lusk with Maxtor and Western Digital... The seem to only last a year or two, just for data and then a hard crash drive making noise ect.... Anyone else or am I weeding them out for you? on the otherhand I have had a few segate for quite a few years.

Maxtor had a string of bad drives - we repaced over 100 of them at work, because it was a known issue..

Western Digital, not a lot of problems, same with Seagate..

All drives more or less fail, just a matter of when.. We have some drives that have been functioning in systems that have been on 24x7 for over 6 years without issue.

 

[electron]

I now treat hard drives as disposable media, and concentrate more on backup solutions. I have had problems with all manufactures.

The warranty only means you will get a replacement drive (usually a refurb) if yours fails, and sure doesn't guarantee that the drive is of better quality.

 

[jpkishere]

I now treat hard drives as disposable media, and concentrate more on backup solutions. I have had problems with all manufactures.

So what are you using to backup items? Everything seems wickedly expensive to back up data now .. It almost seems that market has just forgotten about consumer based backups - and backing up 300gb to 4.7gb dvd's just doesn't cut it..

 

[DavidL]

I copy all that is important, but not movies (size), to another drive for redundancy.
For movies, my RAID setups have a hot swap drive and RAID 5. So, two drives have to croak for a data loss.

 

[electron]

I have nightly backups going to dvd, ftp, other servers, remote servers and a USB HD. As for my movie ISO files, I do not back those up, since I have the original discs (and would be really costly).

 

[SkyBolt]

I myself like Seagate.

I will never purchase another Western Digital drive again. Pure garbage!

Absolutly! WD=COMPLETE GARBAGE - that's why they have the best warrenty.

As far as backup goes for get it. Its a whole lo easier to use mirrored drives on a seperate controller card. Then rip to DivX and you too can be happy.

I have 1.5 TB of storage space and very little quality loss with DivX. Seagate baracuda all the way. JMO.