The great hard drive space crunch!

LazyLion

LazyLion

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OK, so I have six computers at home (including my laptop)... and then about five removable drives (including my MviX).

Total storage space is around 4.75 Terabytes.

But I am seriously running out of space! :(

The data is pretty well organized with little duplication (and this no effective backups either).

The data is composed mainly of VirtualCD's of all my games, Rips of my DVDs and CDs, and collections of other commonly downloaded media.

So....

1) I need to archive some of this stuff (although I hate to do that... I like it live).
2) I need to make effective backups before I lost another hard drive.

What are my options.. money is very tight... I really can't afford anything... but I have to do something.

I can use normal DVDs... but it is going to take hours and will seriously fragment the collections.

what are the cheapest Blu-ray or HD burners available now?

anyone got any other suggestions? Local online storage? Anybody got an archive server laying around that they don't need? :D
 
Seagate released 1.5Tb drives...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/10/seagate_1point5tb_hdd/

One terabyte hard drives still cramping your decadent data storage lifestyle? No more tears. Seagate is rolling out 1.5TB HDDs this August.

Seagate's 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 will use four platters to cram the scale-tipping new raw capacity into an eleventh generation of its flagship drive. The storage firm points out its the single largest hard drive capacity bump in the last 50 years.
Click to expand...

There's other methods of storage, but they'll cost you dearly...
 
If you don't have the cash I think you are going to have to go for DVD dual layer as your best and cheapest bet.

Then spend the cash on disks and a CD/DVD rack. Come up with a file inventory system of sorts too and back up each disk twice for extra peace of mind.


If you do have cash, a RAID array of about 10 1TB disks ought to sort you out longer term.

Seagate has also just released a new 1.5TB drive, but is only expected to start shipping later in the year.


On the Blu Ray and HD DVD. The format war has been fought and the winner is Blu Ray, but the price of the Burners is still fairly high and the media too, about R50 a disk I think?


Actually, how much can you afford to spend in total on this project?
 
ebe9 said:
If you don't have the cash I think you are going to have to go for DVD dual layer as your best and cheapest bet.

Then spend the cash on disks and a CD/DVD rack. Come up with a file inventory system of sorts too and back up each disk twice for extra peace of mind.


If you do have cash, a RAID array of about 10 1TB disks ought to sort you out longer term.

Seagate has also just released a new 1.5TB drive, but is only expected to start shipping later in the year.


On the Blu Ray and HD DVD. The format war has been fought and the winner is Blu Ray, but the price of the Burners is still fairly high and the media too, about R50 a disk I think?


Actually, how much can you afford to spend in total on this project?
Click to expand...

um, I think the question is... how much space do I have left on my credit cards that are not already maxed out? :D Probably a couple thou.
 
Scooby_Doo said:
get a tape drive and write millions of those, expensive i think but if you can afford that many PCs then yeah.
Click to expand...

only one of the PCs are cutting edge... two are newer entry level Celerons. The others are all cobbled together from leftover parts that I got on upgrades and repairs for other people. So, they are not all dream machines.
 
Garyvdh said:
um, I think the question is... how much space do I have left on my credit cards that are not already maxed out? :D Probably a couple thou.
Click to expand...

Then buy DVD's and back up that way. It will take time, but if you are using multiple PC's then you can watch content on one while backing up on another.

Potentially budget for a DVD burner in case yours dies under the strain.
 
backup to Bluray DVD's if u can afford it now (better for long run)
or burn to normal DVD's and number them - use Software to catalogue them all.

I have written a program myself, called BioVision - very cool App! It shows you Covers of the series/Movies/Games/etc, and also displays IMDB Downloaded info. it also looks cool and supports skins. if you have ISO's (Like you do) it even mounts the file for you into daemon tools!
 
I regularly burn my goodies to DVD. I then store them in DVD wallets. It's the only way to save space and to keep organised.
 
if you time it correctly you can get a 25 spindle of verbatim disks at makro for R80. So assume you can use 4gigs on each disk, you have around 100gigs of space for R80. Price per gig is 80c. You can get a 500gb seagate drive for around R900 if you dig, which works out to R1.80 per gig. Trouble with dvds is that they are write-once, whereas drives can be reused until they die. You are looking at close to R3k for a 1tb drive.

My suggestion would be to buy a single 500gig drive, use it until you run out of space again, and then buy another drive (prices should hopefully have decreased and it would be as affordable to buy a 750gb for instance).
 
Keeper said:
there's a difference between pirated movies and ripped movies?:confused:
Click to expand...

Used it to discern between the two types of illegally copied movies : the pirated versions usually are taken in the theatre self, and the ripped ones are done directly from the DVD.

Seen a couple of pirated jobbies - sound was poor quality, ppl could be seen getting up and walk across (their silhouettes), popcorn muncher, and blurry picture. Illegal/badly ripped ones have artifacts and pixellation all over them.

Home ripped ones you can control the quality at least to some extend (if you do it self). IMHO it is not illegal as long as you have bought the original and use the ripped version for your viewing pleasure, thereby saving wear and tear on the original. But IANAL :)
 
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The_Librarian said:
I don't believe that... but, however...
that I do believe... :p :D
Click to expand...

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "Stiffy Disk"

Keeper said:
there's a difference between pirated movies and ripped movies?:confused:
Click to expand...

um... yes... a pirated movie would a copy of a movie that you downloaded for which you do not own an original. A ripped movie would be a copy of a movie that you "ripped" from your own legally bought DVD. The first would be illegal, the second is perfectly legal.
 
Keeper said:
...I have written a program myself, called BioVision - very cool App! It shows you Covers of the series/Movies/Games/etc, and also displays IMDB Downloaded info. it also looks cool and supports skins. if you have ISO's (Like you do) it even mounts the file for you into daemon tools!
Click to expand...

So where can we see this master piece?
 
zamicro said:
Where do you buy your dual layer discs? Cheapest I could get is like R15/disc while single layer discs cost less than R2/disc.
Click to expand...

Ja... time I have enough of... Cash I don't have much of.

I never did understand why people buy Dual layer discs or RW discs? :confused:
 
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