Backup Solutions: Which to choose?

Money isnt a huge issue, but its nice to save here and there. what do you all recommend? While ive been using handbrake for quite a while, it has its drawbacks.

My encoding method of choice is: h264, bitrate around 1500 (puts most movies under 1.5GB's

Option A
buy 1.5TB, cost 400
use current DVDs as backups
no encoding nightmare, quality issues, etc...can re-encode for iphone
whenever/whatever
total cost:
400$, no time.
only con: 320 dvds MAX, would need additional storage soon

if HD fails:
120 dvds x 10min/dvd = 1200min = 20hrs restore w/1machine
= 10hrs restore w/2 machine

Option B
buy 750 GB, cost 160 (build own)
buy 2 x 100 cakebox, cost 40
buy enclosure, cost 45$
compress all movies onto 750
backups on DVDRs, 3per
total cost:
280$, plus 700hrs/30days encode time
@1.4/dvd, store 500 Movies

if HD fails:
120 dvds x 10min/dvd = 1200min = 20hrs restore w/1machine
= 10hrs restore w/2 machine

CONS: no re-encodes for iphone usage, it is what it is. TIME

Option C
buy 750 x 2, cost 320$
buy adapter, cost 25$ (sata/ata to usb)
buy enclosure, cost 45$
encode all dvds <1.5GBs
backup encodes on 750 int.
total cost:
390$, plus 700hrs encoding (30 days straight)
@1.4/dvd, store 500 Movies

if HD fails:
restore from current HD backup. minimal time spent.

CONS: no re-encodes for iphone usage, it is what it is. TIME.




None of the above prices/methods are really negotiable, ive thought long and hard, need usb/firewire for external's, and so on...

comments?

I'd personally get as many HDD's as I could and put them in enclosures without re-encoding them..That way you can encode them as you need/want them.

I was in the same boat. Here is what I did to fix it. it has been a little costly in the short run, but if you spread it out over time, it isn't as expensive. and I don't have to worry about remebering what external HDD I have the content on.

Server 01
Dell Poweredge 4400 w/ 2x 1ghz Zeon Processors
3x 5port SATA Raid 3 Cards
12x 250gb Maxtor HDD's
Serves Music/Music Videos/Audiobooks, and DVD rips and iTMS
Total Usable Storage for Server 01: 3tb

Server 02
Dell Poweredge 6400 w 4x 1ghz Zeon Processors
2x 5 Port SATA Raid 3 Cards
8x 320gb Maxtor HDD's
Serves Television Shows from DVD Rips and iTMS
Total Usable Storage for Server 02: 2.5tb

Both servers run Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and have the storage arrays formatted in XFS

Once the servers os was configured I set up the shares using SAMBA two shares for each category, one in READ ONLY for the appletv and one with READ Write for my family user accounts.

Everything that I purchase from iTMS or download from Websites gets burned to a DVD or CD disk, Labeled and Filed away. Then it gets transfered to the Server for access by the various other computers in the house.

The total cost of everything I have done on the server end is as follows
Server 01: 199.99 (EBAY)
Server 02: 120.00 (EBAY)
12x 250gb HDD's: 1440.00
8x 320gb HDD's: 712.00
Controller cards: 200.00
Total Cost: 2672.00

In the near future I will be converting the 250gb HDD's to 500gb HDD's as the price of 500gb drives has come down below 150.00

Hope it helps.
Joel

DriverJC said:

I was in the same boat. Here is what I did to fix it. it has been a little costly in the short run, but if you spread it out over time, it isn't as expensive. and I don't have to worry about remebering what external HDD I have the content on.

Server 01
Dell Poweredge 4400 w/ 2x 1ghz Zeon Processors
3x 5port SATA Raid 3 Cards
12x 250gb Maxtor HDD's
Serves Music/Music Videos/Audiobooks, and DVD rips and iTMS
Total Usable Storage for Server 01: 3tb

Server 02
Dell Poweredge 6400 w 4x 1ghz Zeon Processors
2x 5 Port SATA Raid 3 Cards
8x 320gb Maxtor HDD's
Serves Television Shows from DVD Rips and iTMS
Total Usable Storage for Server 02: 2.5tb

Both servers run Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and have the storage arrays formatted in XFS

Once the servers os was configured I set up the shares using SAMBA two shares for each category, one in READ ONLY for the appletv and one with READ Write for my family user accounts.

Everything that I purchase from iTMS or download from Websites gets burned to a DVD or CD disk, Labeled and Filed away. Then it gets transfered to the Server for access by the various other computers in the house.

The total cost of everything I have done on the server end is as follows
Server 01: 199.99 (EBAY)
Server 02: 120.00 (EBAY)
12x 250gb HDD's: 1440.00
8x 320gb HDD's: 712.00
Controller cards: 200.00
Total Cost: 2672.00

In the near future I will be converting the 250gb HDD's to 500gb HDD's as the price of 500gb drives has come down below 150.00

Hope it helps.
Joel

Click to expand...

what do you do that needs that much space? you must have a huge music library. Im actually curious not trying to be a ****

At present I have in my iTunes Library
38,371 Songs
15,971 Audiobook Tracks (Split up into 45 Artist and 187 Actual Books)
194 Movies
3016 TV Episodes

I also have
381 Movies in Encoded in Xvid,DivX, and WMV (I am currently re-ripping these from the DVD's into h.264 in order to standardize them and play them on the Apple TV)
1320 TV Episodes in Various Formats (xvid, divx, mpg,wmv)
and 12gb of Pictures of my family and friends.

One of the Main reasons that I switched from Windows to MAC was the fact that my iTunes Library running on a Windows Computer took over three minutes to load. on the MAC Pro I have it takes about 1:20 to load and the MACBOOK PRO I have takes about 1:30. Much faster.

I am about halfway done ripping my DVD collection and am starting to worry that I'm going to run out of space before I'm done. lol

Joel