Home server project underway....tedious.

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
well i dont mind swapping out the discs from a standard player,
Im just trying to make the process as close as possible to just "insert dvd and push button" as possible. I have 6 machines with DVD drives here, so it would be ncie to work a stack on each machine that running a script to just make an iso out of the main movie and store to a common location.

Just use DVDdecrypter or image burn to do it.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
well i dont mind swapping out the discs from a standard player,

You say this now, but a few hundred DVDs later, you'll feel differently.

I've personally ripped a hundred or so DVDs on a similar file server project, and I just didn't feel like it was worth the effort. You can buy a Sony 400-disc changer for like $250-$300 now.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
well i dont mind swapping out the discs from a standard player,

You say this now, but a few hundred DVDs later, you'll feel differently.

I've personally ripped a hundred or so DVDs on a similar file server project, and I just didn't feel like it was worth the effort. You can buy a Sony 400-disc changer for like $250-$300 now.

If you have more than 1 TV or PC in your house though, that changer doesn't do you any good. That's the whole point of a central home server. Put everything audio/video wise on the server and be able to access it from any location within your house. I've had a central server for about 10years now and simply couldn't live without one. Everyone can access everything in any room in the house... me, wife, kids whatever.

 

[rsd]

One thing I don't get from many people now building media server, why use WHS???

There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS). I understand parity/raid is not backup etc etc, but I don't get people ripping a bunch of discs then having to buy double the amount of hd's to back them up.

There are much better solutions out there, using software or hardware.

I've myself went from an old 1TB Raid 5 box to an Unraid server and I'm loving it, and provides parity protection as well as many other features.

EDIT: But I would add that both my buddy and I recently built Unraid servers (mine 6tb, his 4.5tb). I'm connecting to it mainly from Media Center while he is using a Popcorn hour and everything works great for both of us. Love being able to pull up Movies, TV Shows, Music all from my remote 🙂

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: rsd
One thing I don't get from many people now building media server, why use WHS???

There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS). I understand parity/raid is not backup etc etc, but I don't get people ripping a bunch of discs then having to buy double the amount of hd's to back them up.

There are much better solutions out there, using software or hardware.

I've myself went from an old 1TB Raid 5 box to an Unraid server and I'm loving it, and provides parity protection as well as many other features.

EDIT: But I would add that both my buddy and I recently built Unraid servers (mine 6tb, his 4.5tb). I'm connecting to it mainly from Media Center while he is using a Popcorn hour and everything works great for both of us. Love being able to pull up Movies, TV Shows, Music all from my remote 🙂

This argument has been had ad nauseum since WHS has been release. WHS does it's job and does it well. You can add HDDs in RAID5 configuration too and get the best of both worlds. Or you can use the built in HDD duplication (RAID1 in essence) but only choose to back up those directories you so-choose. (In my instance right now I back up music and photos as those are pretty much irreplaceable and/or would require TONS of work) .

The nightly backups are a godsend and the restores are about as easy as it gets. I also like the ability to dynamically add and shuffle HDDs around.

 

[rsd]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: rsd
One thing I don't get from many people now building media server, why use WHS???

There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS). I understand parity/raid is not backup etc etc, but I don't get people ripping a bunch of discs then having to buy double the amount of hd's to back them up.

There are much better solutions out there, using software or hardware.

I've myself went from an old 1TB Raid 5 box to an Unraid server and I'm loving it, and provides parity protection as well as many other features.

EDIT: But I would add that both my buddy and I recently built Unraid servers (mine 6tb, his 4.5tb). I'm connecting to it mainly from Media Center while he is using a Popcorn hour and everything works great for both of us. Love being able to pull up Movies, TV Shows, Music all from my remote 🙂

This argument has been had ad nauseum since WHS has been release. WHS does it's job and does it well. You can add HDDs in RAID5 configuration too and get the best of both worlds. Or you can use the built in HDD duplication (RAID1 in essence) but only choose to back up those directories you so-choose. (In my instance right now I back up music and photos as those are pretty much irreplaceable and/or would require TONS of work) .

The nightly backups are a godsend and the restores are about as easy as it gets. I also like the ability to dynamically add and shuffle HDDs around.

I'm not knocking WHS (completely). I just don't get the popularity of it, other than the nice GUI interface when other applications might be more appropriate for the job. I guess I was thinking of the OP and how he was going to rip 500+ DVDs, and how that is a tedious process. It doesn't make much sense to me to do that, to only leave your data without any protection or to have to buy 2x your number of hard drives.

I agree that if you are basically using WHS as a front-end and have a hardware Raid 5 setup underneath the hood, that is one thing. But it sounded like it was not the case for the OP.

There are plenty of apps that have nice backup/restore features (e.g. True Image), but I do understand its nice to have everything in one place/app. I just feel that there may be better solutions if you want a parity protected file server than WHS at a cost-effective price..

 

[rsd]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
Might I ask what youre using to rip all those DVD's? Im getting ready to do the same thing and was wondering if there is anythnig that is 1 push button or almost automatic. Ive got around 300 DVDs to set up to iso

Once upon a time, I saw a script that used DVD Decrypter and the Sony 200-disc Firewire changer. Unfortunately, acquiring the latter these days is almost impossible.

Ripping problems are why I'm still holding off on doing stuff like this - the last thing on earth I want is for a drive to fail and me being stuck spending a month of weekends re-ripping discs. OTOH, I've tossed around doing something like this for my HD-DVDs - I only have ten of them, so re-ripping wouldn't be horrible.

(Popcorn Hour doesn't handle EVO in hardware, though, so that's another annoyance. *sigh*)

The VGX-XL1B? I am getting rid of the 2 I have. This home server is replacing the whole VGX-XL1 system.

Sony VGX & 2 Disc Changers

I find it outdated and to large for what it can do. Everything is going digital, so I decided to make the switch myself.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: sdifox
I am too lazy to rip. There is no way in hell I am going to rip 1200 dvds. I'll just stand up, grab the disc and put it in the player.

Ironically I am too lazy to stand up, grab a disc and put it in the changer.

🙂

Im getting there...

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

WHS is not the end all nor probably the best solution available. I got the unit for very cheap and that might come back to bite me if the drives fail. I put a lot of confidence in WD though.

I just like the veritality of digital media as you mentioned. All the different types, all in one place.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

I mentioned changers and their inability to play in multiple locations. I would assume MANY households in america have 2 TVs on at once if not more. Wife, husband, kids all want to watch something different. Whether it be a movie, a TV, cartoons, streaming video whatever. It happens ALL THE TIME in my house.

 

[rsd]

Originally posted by: Mike

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

WHS is not the end all nor probably the best solution available. I got the unit for very cheap and that might come back to bite me if the drives fail. I put a lot of confidence in WD though.

I just like the veritality of digital media as you mentioned. All the different types, all in one place.

Fair points. I'll point out that Unraid is quite cheap as well. No special hardware is required other than a USB flash drive and the license cost is ~$120 for one or $160 for 2. My friend built his (excluding hard drives) for $300 (includes case, mb, cpu, 750w psu, etc and can hold up to 6 hard drives).

 

[DarkTXKnight]

Actually for my backend server I was leaning towards using unraid as the big file server.
The changer cant be used all around the house, and I want something that I can basically use to call up any DVD\DVR\MP3 from whatever TV we're watching. I have either an htpc or xbox connected to 5 TV's and would like to be able to pulll the same content from any of them in a similar manner wihtout having to teach the wife 5 different ways to do it (or she'll never use it)


What I was wanting to know is if there was a way to script dvddecrypter or fairuse,ript it 4 me etc. in order to just insert disc, click rip, let it do its thing and rinse and repeat. That way I can build the collection to one source as I have time .

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

I mentioned changers and their inability to play in multiple locations. I would assume MANY households in america have 2 TVs on at once if not more. Wife, husband, kids all want to watch something different. Whether it be a movie, a TV, cartoons, streaming video whatever. It happens ALL THE TIME in my house.

Same case here, there are 4 people (soon to be 5) and everyone has a TV in their room, there are 2 TVs elsewhere in the house. One source is the best option so everyone can get in on the action.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: Mike

Originally posted by: rsd

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: rsd
There is no built in parity protection, and from your post it didn't sound like you were doing a backup (which is really the only redundancy feature of WHS).

You are incorrect. WHS has duplication on the cluster level (IIRC), in addition to backups. Efficiency is basically somewhere between RAID 1 and RAID 5, depending on what you put on it.

As for changers, you're right, it won't do multiple locations. How often are you watching multiple DVDs at a time? I feel like this is basically a non-issue for the vast majority of households.

So it really isn't Raid 5 (unless you use a Raid 5 card and add that array). You simply can pick and choose which data is duplicated.


I didn't mention changers, so I'm not sure if you got me confused with someone else 🙂. But I'll add that is that obviously with changers you are limited to DVDs. Many people now have data in a variety of formats (Blu Ray Isos, MKVs, MP4, avi etc etc). Obviously that does not affect everyone, but I imagine DVDs changers will be come less relevant over time.

WHS is not the end all nor probably the best solution available. I got the unit for very cheap and that might come back to bite me if the drives fail. I put a lot of confidence in WD though.

I just like the veritality of digital media as you mentioned. All the different types, all in one place.

Fair points. I'll point out that Unraid is quite cheap as well. No special hardware is required other than a USB flash drive and the license cost is ~$120 for one or $160 for 2. My friend built his (excluding hard drives) for $300 (includes case, mb, cpu, 750w psu, etc and can hold up to 6 hard drives).

I bought the media server for $125 that came with 500gb. Spent another $300 on 3TB of storage. I've invested $425 so far, and while my internal bays are full, I can add 2 USB external drives and 1 eSata external drive. The expansion is just about limitless. Again, not the best option out there I am sure, but it makes it easy IMO.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
Actually for my backend server I was leaning towards using unraid as the big file server.
The changer cant be used all around the house, and I want something that I can basically use to call up any DVD\DVR\MP3 from whatever TV we're watching. I have either an htpc or xbox connected to 5 TV's and would like to be able to pulll the same content from any of them in a similar manner wihtout having to teach the wife 5 different ways to do it (or she'll never use it)


What I was wanting to know is if there was a way to script dvddecrypter or fairuse,ript it 4 me etc. in order to just insert disc, click rip, let it do its thing and rinse and repeat. That way I can build the collection to one source as I have time .

You can rip a DVD directly to the server but it takes 10 times as long per DVD to do so.