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External Storage or File Server?

X

Xan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 15, 2001
Messages
1,156
I want to backup all my DVDs (almost 80) and all my CDs to either an external HD like this or build myself a file server.

If I was to go the file server route, I'd get a 3ware SATA RAID card and run RAID 5 using 4 250 GB WD250JB HDs.

I'm not sure which route is the best way to go. I want my family to be able to access the movies and music w/o any issues.

I do want to make sure that the work put into "archiving" all the DVD/CDs isn't in vein so I am fond of the RAID 5 idea.

I'd like to get your thoughts and opinions....
 
For the cost of an extra box these days I would go the server route.

You don't need anything very high end at all.
 
i agree but the costs of RAID 5 w/ 4 drives and a SATA RAID card costs as much as the 1TB External HD costs....
 
An internal RAID 5 array is expandable, upgradable, redundant, faster, and a good thing to learn how to work with at some point. A file server also allows access to that data from multiple clients; external drives have to be either moved from machine to machine or shared from one of those clients.
 
and external HDDs suffer a depressingly higher rate of failure from user misuse,
they should really start selling laptop HDDs in those things,
but the huge storage size is the "sell" :rolleyes:

Id take Snugglebear's advice
as a matter of fact I have :p
 
At work I am using a Adaptec 2100S SCSI RAID adapter w/ 3 Seagate X15-36LP 15k rpm HDs... these babies rock!

I'll have to give the RAID 5 a serious look...For CPU/RAM how important are these in a file server?

also would it be better to get 5 HD's:

1 HD - Windows XP Pro
4 HD - RAID 5 (file storage)

edit: I'm looking at the 3ware 8506-4LP for my SATA RAID needs... good card? Worth the $340? Also since this IS a 64bit card, what Mobo should I get for this? Or would a 32bit PCI slot get worn out w/ all the data flying across the bus?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...116-022&catalog=410&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0
 
with Hardware RAID the larger the number of drives the better the efficiency, capacity is: the number of drives minus one (if they are all the same size, and matched drives are recommended)

exactly what kind of throughput do you have to handle?
 
throughput to handle...I'm not sure. I'm going to be ripping all of my DVD collection, which presently is 80 DVDs, and all my CD's which is presently 407.

I just want to make sure that unless some act of god I wont have to rerip all this stuff again, which is why I want RAID 5 - redundancy.

I'd like for my wife to be able to get on her computer and watch a DVD movie through the network w/o ever getting a DVD out of the closet :)

Thats my goal.

Now I'm not sure if storing the DVDs in full uncompressed format (.VOB files) or if I should look at sometype of encoding (divx).

edit: here is some pricing from newegg.com based on Western Digital "JD" HDs - 7200rpm, 8MB cache, SATA

120GB x 4 = 480GB/$436.00
160GB x 4 = 640GB/$520.00
200GB x 4 = 800GB/$672.00
250GB x 4 = 1000GB/$928.00

hmmmm...how much storage do I *really* need?
 
I'd go with the fileserver route, since it will be seperated from your main machine. Keeps the files available if your machine is off for upgrades/mainantence.
The DVD's in it's native VOB format can vary from 3gigs to 7gigs per movie (the largest I've seen so far is 7gigs which was Minority Report).
Compressing them to divx is a great idea, but takes a bit longer per movie.
I currently use my P3 450 as a fileserver that holds a bunch of movies and TV shows in divx format that everyone in the house can view from.
I've had 4 machines watching films from the server with no problems, no stuttering or anything.

Also, if you are going to rip a DVD, rip it to a local drive first then copy it to the fileserver, rips quicker that way.
 
More than anything you're going to get stuck waiting on the network. Since most of your hits are reads the RAID array should perform quite well, even given that it's ATA. What you need to do is sit down and think about how many concurrent users will be demanding media from the box, then figure out how much bandwith that will eat up. You may need to consider gigE, at least from the server to a switch that will break off to 100MBit lines. As far as memory goes, load the box up with it (512MB or more, depending on load estimate). Processor utilization in file servers is pathetically low, you could do fine with a P2.
 
Originally posted by Snugglebear
More than anything you're going to get stuck waiting on the network. Since most of your hits are reads the RAID array should perform quite well, even given that it's ATA. What you need to do is sit down and think about how many concurrent users will be demanding media from the box, then figure out how much bandwith that will eat up. You may need to consider gigE, at least from the server to a switch that will break off to 100MBit lines. As far as memory goes, load the box up with it (512MB or more, depending on load estimate). Processor utilization in file servers is pathetically low, you could do fine with a P2.
Click to expand...

Gigabit, at bare minimum from the server to the switch, is needed else the speed of the array becomes moot: even software RAID 5 would get you 12MB/s.

Even Amazon has Gigabit NICs, switches and cabling. Sign up for their CC and you can get $30 off your first Amazon.com purchase with the CC. (I discovered they had a bug where you could sign up for their CC over and over and get $30 each time, but I think they finally caught on and fixed it... but not too late for me to make good use of it... it got me 3 Gigabit NICs, cabling, assorted software and other stuff... too bad they fixed it just before I tried to buy a Gigabit switch). I think they have 5 port switches for around $80 or so and NICs for < $30.
 
I've got 7 machines hooked up to the network (soon to 8 as soon as I load up Linix).
In the evenings there are usually 3 users watching something from the server, I've had no problems and we are running 10/100.
These are only 700meg Divx files, not large VOB's.
I'll slap a few VOBs on the machine and see how it serves those.
 
gigE isn't a requirement yet. 100MBit carries a lot of traffic, even when dealing with VOBs. I've had experiences similar to the above where multiple users can be sustained quite happily with 100MBit lines. It's only when you add twice that number or start doing other things with the server that you'll run your head into the wall.
 
Originally posted by Snugglebear
An internal RAID 5 array is expandable, upgradable, redundant, faster, and a good thing to learn how to work with at some point. A file server also allows access to that data from multiple clients; external drives have to be either moved from machine to machine or shared from one of those clients.
Click to expand...

take this mans advice
 
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