You all have been very

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August 8, 2011 at 7:04 am #5137
SpacemanSpiff2000

    You all have been very helpful so far and I appreciate it. You’ve offered some pre-made solutions, some OS and hardware suggestions, and explained some concepts I may use, etc.  I will consider it all.

    But I have a gap at this point that I want to fill by returning to the main priorities:

    [quote=SpacemanSpiff2000]

    P1) backup key files: Quicken/Office docs, scanned file cabinet backup, irreplaceable pictures/camcorder videos

    musts: redundant/fault tolerant, easy disaster recov; speed is secondary

    P2) serve entertainment to my HTPC

    P2-a) recorded content (recording off the DVR or direct from TV, so prob 1080i max)

    musts: plays well; fault tolerance is a nice to have (some are hard to re-obtain)

    P2-b) ripped DVDs and BluRays

    musts: plays well; fault tolerance is unnecessary

    [/quote]

    The area of help I’m looking for in this follow-up are things like:

    Would you setup different RAIDs for the above 3 functions? I’ll make this up: like a RAID5 for P1, a separate RAID3 for P2a, and a RAID0 for P2b? Because P1 simply cannot be risked, P2a needs to be faster but shouldn’t be lost, and P2b just needs to be fast? And I still mean all in the same box here.

    Would anyone actually do that or is that just crazy talk? If crazy=yes, then what? Would keeping you critical backups on the same fault-tolerant RAID as your networked BluRay content impede either function in some way? Or does it really not matter at all and they can be all in one?

    Also, I’ve read about some ripping methods but most are for movie-only. I’m looking for whole disc (so I don’t have to go find the discs to see extras I want). How might that affect my specs here?

    I’m trying to visualize an appropriate architecture at this stage, so I know what I’m shopping for.