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[jmone]

I can not believe I'm about to do this, but I'm over trying to find and track my (growing) 400-500 physical BD disc collection and MC does not have any way to track them (another story).  As an example the family got home after buying another copy of a BD disc as they could not find it (or be even sure we already had it).....

My existing "Main PC" is where I serve the MC Library from now and it is a great Lian Li case with 6 x HDD Hot Swap Bays that marries up nicely with the 6 x Intel Sata Ports (I also have 2 x additional Sata Ports that I can use for the OS SDD, and the BD Drive but a new SATA card may also be the go) on the existing ASUS P6T Mobo (with an i7-920).  I've ordered more Hitachi 4TB HDD expanding the existing drive pool (thanks to drive bender) to 16TB for now...and I'll get another 2 x 4TB HDD to take it to 24TB as my ripping fills it up.  FYI B&H have a special running on these drives for $259ea

I plan to rip "std" BD using MC as a Full Structure (with a library this size I'll forgo the HDD cost/space VS Time to work out what bits to keep and re-mux out).  I figure I'll get on average around 30 BD disks per TB so each disk will cost about $2.20 in HDD space.  While, I do not plan to then back these up to my WHS box (currently has 8TB in it) given the Physical Media will be my backup, I monitor my HDD with Hard Disk Sentinel which has saved me a couple of time already with failing HDD!  FYI - I already rip TV and Music BD's by Episode and Track to the drive pool and these I do backup given the time taken to do so.

So thanks to the 4TB HDD, you no longer need a Norco rack to hit 24TB, chances are your existing Mid Sized tower will do...just fill it with HDD!

[jmone]

....and if 24TB gets to small  I have a tiny 5 bay external e-sata unit which I originally purchased for my WHS that is sitting unused that would expand the drive pool to 44TB if needed.

[rjm]

Is there anything in 4TB drive technology that should make us cautious about buying early in their life cycle?

[jmone]

Good Q - over my "fleet" of 2TB HDD from WD it seems to be model dependant, eg
- The initial WD20EADS models are still error free and going strong (512K Sector model - oldest has been powered up for 978 days), but they were discontinued in favour of
- WD20EARS drive which have now all failed on me (first of the 4K sectors), and I also have some of the latest model
- WD20EARX drives which have not yet shown any issues (but could be to early to tell - oldest has only been powered up for 247 days)

From my experience with the WD20EARS failures it helps to have:
- Monitoring Tool (eg Hard Disc Sentinel) as you literally see the growth of issues with the HDD rather than a catastrophic failure.  It is also intersting that the HDD all started showing issues about the same time (not surprising really has they were purchased about the same time.  I remember reading about this phenomenon in a paper about the high change of data lose in RAID systems due to the simultaneous loss of multiple drives as they tended to be the same age, type, batch etc and hence a higher chance of concurrent failure).
- Enough Spare Room in Your Pool to remove a HDD if it starts showing issues (so you can then replace the drive)
- Backup of the Content if it all goes bad (I use WHS to backup what I would not want to re-rip from physical media).

[rjm]

Thanks.

Have not heard of Hard Disc Sentinel. Will check it out.

In the past if I needed to buy 2 identical size drives I always tried to buy different brands and/or models. Seems a logical way to reduce systemic risk from design or batch flaws. Have not checked to see if there are enough 4 TB drives on the market yet to follow this strategy.

[Sparks67]

Only 500 Blurays?

My Bluray collection just hit 1000 Blurays.  The best way in terms of cost is to use Sony BDP-CX7000ES 400 Disc Bluray Megachangers.  I own 3 of these changers, and last year was the best time to buy them. The cost had dropped to $199 (Sony Outlet store) to $700 US.   Each Changer has capability to hold up to 20 TB.  So, if you compare them to a Server, the cost for the server is too much for Bluray.  $2650 for 5 (4TB) drives.
You can still buy these changers on Ebay, but hard to find. 

I also own a server with 16 (2TB Hitachi), but is on Areca Raid 6.  It was primary designed to handle my DVD and CD collection.   I am upgrading to a new Asus Thunderbolt motherboard, so it allow me more space in the future.   

Actually, my Sever is small to this other forum.  The owner of the forum has (4) 4U Rackmounts with 24 Drives per Rackmount.  He started the collection in 2008, but now is over 100TB.   He has all Bluray movies too. 

[jmone]

The last time I looked at Disk Changers there was no way of integrating them with MC, has this changed?

Also the 4TB HDD are down to $260 so 5 Drives = $1,300 (not $2,650) but I agree it is still an expensive option but I've simply lost control of manually managing them all and what them in MC like the rest of the media.

Other option is I'll just connect to your Library Server! 

[rjm]

Just tested Hard Disk Sentinel. Appears to be quite useful. Thanks for the tip.

[jmone]

And for the $43.75 for the "Hard Disk Sentinel PROFESSIONAL Family license" not too badly priced.  Also the dev is really responsive on the forum and in analysing any of the reports you send it.

[Sparks67]

The last time I looked at Disk Changers there was no way of integrating them with MC, has this changed?

Also the 4TB HDD are down to $260 so 5 Drives = $1,300 (not $2,650) but I agree it is still an expensive option but I've simply lost control of manually managing them all and what them in MC like the rest of the media.

Other option is I'll just connect to your Library Server!  

I put in the request for that option to connect MC 18 to with Changers.  Cinemark and MyMovies uses RS232 serial port with USB2 hub.  It can be done though, but it has coded in.   There hex codes are available for the changers. I even remember a guy named Low Pro during it back in 2006 on Remote Control Central doing it back in 2005 with Sony DVD changers with the Pronto remotes.    I currently do it via Control4, and it works fine.  Control4 Dealers and Reps had no interest in developing a driver for J River, so I put the request for that in the feature request in MC 18.  Well, one Dealer from Control4 wants you to buy his 7K server for the driver.  Well, his definition of server is an HTPC with 8 drives and raid card. 

Nope, Here is the newegg price. $529.99   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145622
Ok, you are looking at the Deskstar 4TB, they don't have a warranty.  I tend to avoid them.  Typically, I use Enterprise drives only.   I got great deal on 16 (2TB) last year for only 119.99.

[jmone]

So the method I'm using is to:
1) Rip the Structure to the HDD Pool using the feature in AnyDVD HD (as you can use multiple drives, MC will let you only do one at a time)
2) Import and Tag up in MC

The Deskstars come with a 3year wty (I think the Ultrastars as 5years) but I've found that for me after a few years I tendend to buy newer high capacity drives anyway.

[Sparks67]

So the method I'm using is to:
1) Rip the Structure to the HDD Pool using the feature in AnyDVD HD (as you can use multiple drives, MC will let you only do one at a time)
2) Import and Tag up in MC

The Deskstars come with a 3year wty (I think the Ultrastars as 5years) but I've found that for me after a few years I tendend to buy newer high capacity drives anyway.

If I am ripping Bluray, it is Rip to ISO.  http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=45692

Well, there is some larger drives coming, but it is based on new technology.  I never had any failures based on the single platter drives.  These Multiple platter design seems to fail rather quick.  Anyway, here is the plans for the future.  http://storageeffect.media.seagate.com/2012/03/storage-effect/paving-the-way-for-big-hard-drive-capacity-gains/