mymovies, whs, and unraid

[madpoet]

Ahhh, I know which ones you mean. No, mine is the firewire changer VGP-XL1B. I'll have to poke around. I know there used to be a script for WinXP but it doesn't work in Win7.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Ahhh, I know which ones you mean. No, mine is the firewire changer VGP-XL1B. I'll have to poke around. I know there used to be a script for WinXP but it doesn't work in Win7.

Yeah that's the one I got it was expensive when it first launched

[davephan]

I started with the free 3 drive Basic version to test it. I think that is the best place to start. Maybe you could use an older computer. I don't know how much CPU or memory is needed as a minimum. I put the unRAID server on a i-7 950 3.06 gig quad core with 4 gigs 1333 RAM that I already owned the computer as spare replacement hardware for the Windows XP SageTV computer. The system board is identical to my SageTV computer, and has connections for 10 sata and 2 IDE drives. My case is a full tower, which I could probably fit 20 drives with extra drive bay hardware. I think you could use a lot lower CPU and memory. Your system board has to be able to boot to a flash drive to use unRAID, which means newer system boards.

After trying the Basic 3 drive unRAID software, I bought two preconfigured 'Pro' 20 drive flash drives. The second flash drive is for a backup in case the first flash drive goes bad. The 'Pro' version can be setup with 1 parity drive, up to 20 data drives, plus a cache drive. I believe the cache drive is supposed to improve the write speed, which is slow compared to using RAID. I think P+Q parity will be available the next unRAID version, for no data loss with two drive failures. There's a 6 drive version too, but the price difference isn't very much between the two. There's a $10 discount on registration keys on the unRAID web site.

I thought about the Norco 4020. I think a couple guys on the forum have them. One of the reviews said that you couldn't get a playing card between the drives, so they are packed very tight. Maybe too tight. So, I don't know if the drives run hot in the Norco 4020 case. A couple other reviews did not like the drive connections. Maybe the Norco 4020 is still a good choice, but a pretty pricey case.

You can move unRAID to different hardware easily, which gives you the freedom to move it to different hardware. UnRAID runs on Linux, so you don't ever have to patch it, like you would with WHS. Many reviews say unRAID just works without maintenance hassles. The unRAID 20 drive Pro version could be built up to about 35 TB if you used all 2 TB drives. If you run up to a drive limit of your system board, you can add sata drive controllers for more drives. You can use different drive sizes, so you can use your old, smaller drives. There's a way for the unRAID server to e-mail you if drives go bad, but I haven't researched how to set that up yet.

UnRAID makes it easy to expand your storage as much as you need. I don't know if there is a limit in the SageTV database if you have too many items. Once I've ripped a DVD, I never want to rip it again. So, I don't care for backing up the DVD rips that way. If you expand the storage too much, you'll never have time to watch much of what you stored, but at least you don't have to delete as many files!


Dave

[madpoet]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Yeah that's the one I got it was expensive when it first launched

Good lord... I think I paid $150 shipped on Ebay I still can't find a mass rip script for it in Win7. MyMovies doesn't seem to support it because of the way it behaves. It only displays a disc in the drive when you are in WMC.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Good lord... I think I paid $150 shipped on Ebay I still can't find a mass rip script for it in Win7. MyMovies doesn't seem to support it because of the way it behaves. It only displays a disc in the drive when you are in WMC.

My movies does support all the movies loaded I am 99% unless something has changed in the current version.

[madpoet]

Huh... I searched their forums and it seemed like they didn't. I'm running Collection Manager on my Win7 device and the MM server on my WHS. When I put discs into the changer I never get prompted in Collection Manager to rip them. If I pull up a disc in WMC from the changer then all of a sudden CM sees it and asks if I want to rip.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Huh... I searched their forums and it seemed like they didn't. I'm running Collection Manager on my Win7 device and the MM server on my WHS. When I put discs into the changer I never get prompted in Collection Manager to rip them. If I pull up a disc in WMC from the changer then all of a sudden CM sees it and asks if I want to rip.

There is a setting in collection manager to configure the changer...can't remember where it is off the top of my head.

[madpoet]

Excellent, I'll see about finding that tonight. Thanks for the heads up!

[madpoet]

Ok... so I was able to rip the DVD in slot 1 of the changer but I've got no way to change to rip other slots without going in to MCE and advancing to the next one.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Ok... so I was able to rip the DVD in slot 1 of the changer but I've got no way to change to rip other slots without going in to MCE and advancing to the next one.

You may be right on that one not sure I now the WHS allows one to the next.

[madpoet]

Ah well At least I can store them and rip over time.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Ah well At least I can store them and rip over time.

What's your point level? I think it may be that as well. I will check tonight if I can multi rip from changer on my w7 machine.

[madpoet]

I'm maxed out I think (2500). If you figure it out, you are (even more) a god

[madpoet]

Plucky did you ever get a chance to check this?

[madpoet]

I'll ask one more time and then give it up Plucky Did you ever find a way to do this?

[Bone]

This is a pretty good deal, hot swappable but not raid.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-014-_-Product

use code EMCZYZN32

get for $350.