Where is the best place to store my 500+ movie collection?

[ethan_9219]

Hi,

Let me say firstly i'm pretty sure this is not the place to ask this question, so if anybody might be able to tell me where i will definitely repost in the appropriate area.
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At the moment all my movies are on DVDs sitting on the shelves. However, i am wanting to build an HTPC to have all my movies in one spot.

So, i'm guessing i will need about 4 or 5 terabytes (assuming i rip only the movie, with subtitles, and no compression) with the option to upgrade the space in the future.

I don't think i can really turn my old PC into a server or NAS or anything as it and the HTPC will be at complete opposite ends of the house.

I'm guessing there's no way to build a 5tb External Hard Drive or anything like that?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as, frankly, i'm at a complete loss.

Regards,
Ethan

[magician2009]

[QUOTE=ethan_9219;271849]Hi,

Let me say firstly i'm pretty sure this is not the place to ask this question, so if anybody might be able to tell me where i will definitely repost in the appropriate area.
-------

At the moment all my movies are on DVDs sitting on the shelves. However, i am wanting to build an HTPC to have all my movies in one spot.

So, i'm guessing i will need about 4 or 5 terabytes (assuming i rip only the movie, with subtitles, and no compression) with the option to upgrade the space in the future.

I don't think i can really turn my old PC into a server or NAS or anything as it and the HTPC will be at complete opposite ends of the house.


There are several home based nas devices that are resonable. I have used the netgear nas100 with (3) 1.5tb drives. It worked decent however I have found that if you have several devices pulling for them they get picky. I ended up adding (6) 1.5 tb drives to my esx server and installing freenas. I have my drives in a raid 0/1 config with 4.8TB usable.

What format are you taking you movies to? 500 movies to 5tb seems like alot.

[bond007taz]

get a NAS and use DVDfab to back up your movies to the NAS - i use the thecus n5200 and I have about 5 xbmc boxes around the house to view the movies

[SlaveUnit]

I also use DVDfab to make iso files from my DVDs. I run a 10TB (12 drives) array with software called unRAID. Its a very flexible system. The os runs linux and the app from a thumb drive. Easy to add new drives of any size and type. Its not free but in my opinion well worth it

http://lime-technology.com/

[KidKiwi]

I 2nd unRAID.

[BlackBox]

How fast is the NAS, wired, n-draft?

Thanks for results

Blackbox

[dandirk]

Ok sorry to say this but to give you a good answer more info is needed. Due to the fact there are a zillion options for you.

What is you budget?

Be more specific with what you want (we know 5TB). Do you want redundancy, if so how much? Ease of use? Cheap? Expandability? Separate server or can you add a box like thing next to your PC? Do you want to build or want to buy?

Other then the options mentioned you could look into an external enclosure that you plug into your PC...

http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/sata-...enclosures.htm

[Hitcher]

I'd personally use AutoMKV to convert them to a much smaller file size while keeping the quality.

[alessio2]

Don't forget it will took some time too!
If you make 10 conversions every week (in average) it will take you a whole year for all movies you have on DVD

[ethan_9219]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the quick replies so far. All your advice is valuable.

Ok, so to clarify things and give a bit more info and details;

I am planning on ripping my movies with DVDFab HD Decrypter with no compression. And i have just calculated the size of each movie at about 7GB, which i know is probably above the average, but i want to be sure i have enough space for subsequent rips for a while.

To be clear, i am ripping only the main movie, and no menus or special features. So, knowing this would it be best for me to rip with DVDFab to a folder containing VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders, or straight to ISO format?

So, with that 7GB per movie figure, i estimated that my 586 movies would equal about 4.1TB. Which will leave me with a little space before needing to add more space.

As for price, i'm not really sure as i've got no idea what any of all this would cost. So, for now, let's say i don't really have a budget, until i learn more and here some more opinions.

How much do 1TB drives cost? are 1.5TB drives available?

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So, hopefully, i have now provided a little more info.

As for data protection, i would want to know my movies are safe, but i'm not sure if i could afford it. What sorts of protection are available and what RAID configurations?

I wouldn't be at all opposed to a box-like thing next to my PC or an external enclosure plugged into the PC, so long as it wasn't very loud. The problem is that my lounge room is very small, so any unnecessary noise is easily heard.

Thanks again everyone