I know, I know, I've been posting a lot lately but I just have one more question for you guys. I just recently hooked up macbook to my plasma and have begun the process of ripping dvds straight to video_ts for the purpose of archiving and saving space in my small apartment.

However, recently I've been researching what storage solution to go with (external HD daisy-chained to another, etc, etc I'm guessing I'm going to need for right now at least 500gb. But I'm at a loss on whether I should just buy a 1tb WD drive or purchase this http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_info.php/products_id/1633 and just buy internals to place in the enclosure.

Gents, ladies, I'm way out of my league here and need your help. If I purchase the enclosure, a compitable Sata HD, and plug it in via USb to my macbook would it work? or is it more complicated then that? Also, if anyone has any other enclosure or external HD recommendations I'm completely open. I'm going to be archiving all weekend but my 160gb drive is going to fill up fast since I have 300 dvds.

Gents, ladies, I'm way out of my league here and need your help. If I purchase the enclosure, a compitable Sata HD, and plug it in via USb to my macbook would it work? or is it more complicated then that? Also, if anyone has any other enclosure or external HD recommendations I'm completely open. I'm going to be archiving all weekend but my 160gb drive is going to fill up fast since I have 300 dvds.

The enclosure and compatible drive should work fine. I've done that many times. If you want to get fancy, you can go with NAS (Network Attached Storage) so that the drives can be always on, and easily accessible from any computer. Something like the Buffalo Teraserver. But if you just need a bunch of local storage, your approach is fine.

Chris

Only problem is, that fwdepot model is not a self-contained enclosure, you can't directly connect it to your Macbook. You want something with firewire and/or USB, but all enclosures aren't made equal. We've had lots of threads discussing them.

Most of us prefer firewire, but USB will work fine for video_ts playback. Maybe consider something with a swappable drive tray, like this ICY DOCK:

http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/cremax/mb559/

and pick up a spare tray or two, so you can fill up additional drives as you need them.

I eventually want to access all of my stored dvd files across my home network so that I can watch said files in any room of the house. I keep reading about enclosures, NAS, streamers, and I'm just...well, overwhelmed. So here are some more questions :/


1) is there really a big difference between enclosures and externals? I mean I know that both have their own unique power supply but is it just the ease of swap one drive out and slapping another one in instead of acquiring a stack of externals? Do externals even include fans to maintain proper cooling?

2) I keep reading about NAS and streamers (Does this stand for Network Activated storage?) And would the buffalo Terastation be an example of this?

Again, I've been weeding through the threads here and via google search for three days but I find myself in completely new territory.

3) Finally, I've seen ICEY and a few other brands out there when it comes to the 4 bay storage towers. Which one is most popular and reliable among mac users (My network is composed primarily of macs and only two pc laptops.)

NAS = Network Attached Storage

In addition to Buffalo products, check out Infrant.

http://www.infrant.com/products/products_details.php?name=ReadyNAS%20NVPlus

http://www.infrant.com/products/products_details.php?name=Repertoire

My biggest concern with storing that much data is reliability. It is a real bummer to lose a 500GB drive with no backup.

As with most things in life, if you spend more money your life can be a lot easier. However, you must still spend wisely.

Personally, I went for an Infrant ReadyNAS NV. I have four 500GB drives in it. With the formatting overhead, that gives me about 1.4 terabytes of redundant storage. That means if one drive fails the data is still safe on the other drives. You can pop a new drive in and the ReadyNAS will restore to the new drive and you will be redundant again. Just hope that two drives don't fail!

Well,
I've thought about it and the cheap way (External) in the long run may not be the best idea since I want to have a reliable, back-up solution as well as media files to transmit anywhere in the house via a media extender. So I guess I'm going with the NAS from Infrant (649.00) model. My only question is what drives would you recommend for this unit and what model of the NAS should I purchase? Does it really matter? And Raid 5 is the preferred method here to store information, correct?

Hard to argue against purchasing an NV+

http://www.atacom.com/program/print_html_new.cgi?&Item_code=NASX_INFR_VP_DS

My only question is what drives would you recommend for this unit and what model of the NAS should I purchase? Does it really matter?

You're going to have many, many more questions.

If you decide to go the diskless route, it's best to go to their support forums and read up--they'll have a list of which drives are supported, and see what other users have. You shouldn't have any trouble finding 500GB drives from several manufacturers which are supported, and on sale for close to $100.

RAID 5 or X-RAID, you'll have to choose; go X-RAID if you're not going to buy 4 drives to start off with, that's what allows you to expand and add drives later.

A lot of people confuse backup with redundancy (protection from a drive failing.) There's still a need for both, even after you get a NAS. Good luck getting it set up and working on your network.

I too recommend Infrant's forums:

http://www.infrant.com/forum/

In general, you can get very good support there.

I have four seagate 500GB drives that I have had no problem with. I went with the default x-raid. I started with two drives, giving my almost 500GB of redundant storage. When I filled that up I added a third 500GB drive and an hour or so later I had almost 1TB of redundant storage. Now I have all four drives filled.

If I were starting over, I would probably go with at least 750GB drives.

I believe the next version of the Raidiator software (the ReadyNAS' OS) will support the new 1TB drives. You could put in 1 TB drives now, but you won't be able to use the entire drive. However, when the new OS comes out it will expand to make use of the full drive(es). However, since 1TB drives are not fully supported right now there are no 1TB drives listed as officially compatible.

I should point out that this is all just my understanding and that you should really verify everything for yourself before buying ! :-)

A USB, RAID and NAS capable 1T (2X500) drive for $350

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0972914&cs=04&c=us&l=en

RE: storage

Based on anecdotal customer reviews, the Ready NAS NV+ is one of the best NAS RAID systems out there, though performance issues have been raised under some circumstances and are being worked on by Infrant engineers. It is a hardware-based RAID system that is controlled by a CPU and I believe, the Linux OS.

To achieve the best performance with a networked-based storage system, you want to use it with gigabit ethernet. This means Category 5e or Category 6 cabling, gigabit switches connecting your computers to the network "backbone" that runs between different rooms in the home/office and gigabit-enabled Ethernet cards (with Jumbo frames support) installed in your computers, which only the last-generation G4 and G5 models, as well as the Intel-based Mac models support (though you can upgrade some older models with a gigabit Ethernet PCI card).

Alternatively, some people are using direct-connect (external) FireWire or eSATA cases with multiple drives installed, ranging between two and maybe eight drives, with four per-case being the norm (and most affordable). These enclosures are made by a variety of manufacturers. Some use easily accessible, removable trays while others use stationary, internal drive sleds in buttoned-up cases.

Most products are hardware-based RAID systems which are most reliable, offer better performance, and usually include a custom, RAID 5 option that combines the Speed of RAID 0 (striping) with the redundancy of RAID 1 (mirroring). However, RAID 5 capabilities varies from vendor to vendor. A few also offer less expensive software-based RAID systems, and most seem to support a JBOD option as well (in which the drives can be configured as "Just a Bunch of Drives) together in a case.

Also remember that Infrant was purchased by Netgear a few weeks ago and re-branded Infrant products should be appearing sometime in the next few months.

To steer you in a slightly different direction you could always go with the new Airport Extreme and hang USB2 HD's off of it, then your storage is available to anyone on the wireless network.

This way is probably less expensive than a RAID (no redundancy though)

Speed tests with the new AP Extreme were really poor.

Check out: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/GM8U2KIT0GB/

And put a couple of 1TB drives in it. Instant data redundancy and lots 'o storage.