Data storage / availability on local lan

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salival

29 posts

Geek

#74404 29-Dec-2010 10:01

Hi Guys,

Recently built a low end htpc and got told by the regulars that it was out of spec for an htpc (hd rips stuttering) so I upgraded it over christmas to the following:

intel e6600 2.4ghz duo
gigabyte p35-ds3r motherboard
saphire hd5450 passive card
scythe ninja infinity heatsink/fan
2x1gb adata ddr2 sticks (in dual channel)

now, the performance is amazing, plays everything I want no issue at all.. but i've been wondering, do you guys store your media (movies/mp3s/tv) on your htpc and access it over your network from your main pc if need be, or keep your media in your main pc?

I have a gigabit lan here and 2x1tb WD faex drives.

Cheers

PANiCnz

989 posts

Ultimate Geek

#422423 29-Dec-2010 17:30

I personally access all my media over the network, I have a FreeNAS box built using an Atom D510, 4GB DDR2 and 4 x 1.5TB drives using ZFS. Performance is very solid over a gigabit network and ZFS has some snazzy features that make it very worthwhile.

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek

#422462 29-Dec-2010 20:14

I subscribe to the Moore's Law theory in that drive space is improving at an exponential rate. On that basis I simply upgrade my drive every 8 - 12 months as my data grows and sell my old drive on Trade Me. I have done this 3 times now:

250GB - 500GB
500GB - 1TB
1TB - 2TB

For me, this works well, and I currently have a single 2TB drive in my system which I estimate I will upgrade to a 4TB in another year.

Selling the old drive seems to soften the blow, and because I usually buy performance drives (previos and current drives are WD Caviar Black) I get good prices for them.

My HTPC - Case Antec Fusion Remote, MOBO Intel DH67BLB3, CPU Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5 GHz, RAM 8GB DDR3 1333, HDD 120Gig Corsair Force Series 3 SSD system | WD Caviar Black 2TB data, Tuners Black Gold BGT3595 dual DVB-S/S2, dual DVB-T, Video nVIDIA GeForce GT 520, 1024MB, Sound Intel® High Definition Audio (onboard), OS Windows 7 x64

salival

29 posts

Geek

#422603 30-Dec-2010 11:46

PANiCnz: I personally access all my media over the network, I have a FreeNAS box built using an Atom D510, 4GB DDR2 and 4 x 1.5TB drives using ZFS. Performance is very solid over a gigabit network and ZFS has some snazzy features that make it very worthwhile.

Hi,

So you're using freenas in raid 5 then I take it?

I added the second 1tb drive yesterday and it got me thinking.. I have alot of hours in my movie and tv collection renaming them to be "how I want".. I have 0 data redundancy at the moment.. I should really look at doing a raid 5.

Only thing is I want to do it in windows 7 that my htpc is using.. I dont want another box running since my girlfriend is anal about power usage (Yet she leaves every door/window open in the house and has the heat pump on)

Cheers

PANiCnz

989 posts

Ultimate Geek

#422652 30-Dec-2010 15:57

salival: So you're using freenas in raid 5 then I take it?

Nope, like I said in my first post using ZFS, Google it. Just like RAID5 but better, RAID is not a back up solution though, if your genuinely concerned about losing data then you should develop a proper backup solution.