Storage ideas?

[Fieldy]

Currently I have an old mac book, quite simply, I can't afford a new one.

The old 120g hard drive is full, but the rest of the computer is superb.

I have lots of music so simply:-

What is the easiest way of storing my music to free up my laptop? I quite fancy a network based hard drive but no nothing about them? Is it simply plug into home hub, set as home drive for my music in iTunes, then my laptop will use that from now on? (leaving my software etc in the mac hard drive of course).

What would/have you done?

Where did you buy the solution from?

Thanks all, it's a real issue and can't spend £1299 on a new mac.

[HardRockCamaro]

I use a Synology NAS.
I point iTunes to a folder on that and the music is stored there.

However, if you start iTunes or attempt to play a song when that drive is unavailable to you, iTunes will reset its library location to your hard drive without telling you so you'll have to know to change it back to point at the NAS...

[Fieldy]

I have an external hard drive and know if I start iTunes without it plugged in I have that issue. But, I feel if it's connected to my network which is always on that will resolve the problem.

Where did you get that hard drive from Andy?

[Andy]

i'm interested by this thread.

I currently have a 1TB Seagate deskdrive, with USB connection I use for backups. I would like to shift my music and photos to this via the wifi. Is that what you're trying to achieve as well Fieldy?

[Fieldy]

No, I'm trying to buy a dedicated hard drive, a new one.

But, I have seen the things you are looking for. Unfortunately for me my current hard drive is only 320g so I may as well buy a new one.

[Rob]

Burn all my mp3's to DVDR DL.  30 pence for 8.5 GB each disc.

[HardRockCamaro]

Mine is a 4 bay NAS drive with hybrid RAID (to allow upgrading a single hard drive at a time without having to copy data off onto another drive temporarily etc).  It was £245 excluding the drives, in Tottenham Court Rd.

They do a 2 bay version (£160 I think?) and even a 1 bay version (£120 I think?), but the functionality is the same.  The only difference is the 1 bay version obviously loses all your data if your drive dies, the 2 bay doesn't if you set it to RAID 1 mirroring, and the 4 bay one aside from obviously larger capacity lets you upgrade the disks 1 by 1 with no hassle.

They seem expensive but are well worth the money.  The feature set is amazing.  It is a DNLA server so all the videos I put on there are instantly available to my Samsung SmartTV over the wireless.  It also has a built in file downloader which can also do torrents.  It has an associated app for the iPhone that lets me find a torrent and then send it to the Synology to download the torrent file and auto kick off the download.  By the time I get home form work the torrent is ready and waiting for me, if its a movie I just flick on the tv and select the NAS as a source and watch it.  Simples!

It also acts as Apple TimeCapsule for wireless backups from multiple Macs.

The model numbers start with DS followed by a number that indicates the number of drives (1,2,4 etc) followed by the model year (eg 10,11,12) followed by a J if it is the "cut down" version.  By cut down it has a slower processor and less ram.  Mine is a model year 2010 and is a cut down one.  It still only uses 50% of the ram and the cpu mostly idles but spikes up to 30-40% when doing heavy stuff.  A newer J model would likely have a faster processor than the non cut down version from a year or two ago so I say get a J version, it's plenty.

Software support in terms of OS upgrades is for a in 5 years so my 2010 model is fine until 2015 at least.

[Incursus]

I've also been looking into this sort of thing as I'm getting a tablet for everyday use...yes dammit I know I was one of the ones who said why would anyone want one of those! When the iPad was first released.  I stand corrected, though I still consider it a luxury I wanted something between my phone and PC for casual use interwebing etc.

Any way I guess I have far less music than some of you guys and decided it will all fit on an SD card and/or my 50gb free storage on Box.com.  Also when/if Google music ever makes it over the pond you can store up to 20,000 of your own tracks. Photos will also be backed up on the Cloud.

I've also set up my desktop as a kind of media server (connected to the telly the old fashion way) for my movies with a VNC set-up for the phone and tablet, when I get it.  
Might still go for a NAS just to get everything in one neat and tidy place, but this will do me for now.

[Fieldy]

Quoting: Rob

Burn all my mp3's to DVDR DL. 30 pence for 8.5 GB each disc.

I want access constantly to them, the backing up isn't an issue as it's just music, I for one am not too fussed if one day I lose it. I simply use it all the time....

Sounds good Andy, although just as complicated (I got confused about 1/3 of the way through!).

I have seen some online that say No HDD. So what is it?!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002U42XD6/ref=asc_df_B002U42XD67301166?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=hydra0b-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002U42XD6&hvpos=none&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1504448921252824841&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002U42XD6/ref=asc_df_B002U42XD67301166?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=hydra0b-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002U42XD6&hvpos=none&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1504448921252824841&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=

I think I might go for the £120 ish one. So, I simply buy one, plug it into my router and set it as my home folder for my i-Tunes?

[FUBAR]

I've been looking at NAS Storage as well recently because I want to digitise a lot of my old DVDs etc.

I'm not sure of other companies products do this as well but for the newer Buffalo Linkstations you can get a free app for ipads etc that allows them to access all the music movies etc stored on the NAS as well.

They are also DLNA certified like andy was saying above so your TV can just access the files directly without having to have your computer on.

i'm looking at something like this: (if i can afford it)
http://www.ebuyer.com/261332-buffalo-linkstation-pro-quad-8tb-nas-drive-4x-2tb-ls-qv8-0tl-r5-eu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ebuyer.com/261332-buffalo-linkstation-pro-quad-8tb-nas-drive-4x-2tb-ls-qv8-0tl-r5-eu

My question is can these be setup in RAID1 with the drives in pairs so that, in the example above it would end up with a 4TB capacity?  or would you just end up with 4 copies of everything and a 2TB capacity?

FYI I have a lot of films...
How much data space does a normal eg 2hour film use? if recorded from DVD and Bluray?

[Fieldy]

Well, I think I am going to buy mine from Maplins as I will get the after sales back up should I have any issues....

That looks a beast Ryan, you'll have to hide yourself away from existence for a week burning your films onto that!

[Fieldy]

Reviews of the Maplins sold product claims by alot of people to be rubbish with Mac - So am considering this one?

http://www.ebuyer.com/291389-buffalo-linkstation-live-v2-1tb-1x-1tb-nas-drive-ls-x1-0tl-eu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ebuyer.com/291389-buffalo-linkstation-live-v2-1tb-1x-1tb-nas-drive-ls-x1-0tl-eu

[Incursus]

Hmm thats more my kind of budget

[Incursus]

Quoting: FUBAR

How much data space does a normal eg 2hour film use? if recorded from DVD and Bluray?

Depends on the quality I've been ripping DVD's and they take just over a 1Gb.

I'm sure Blueray would be far higher though.

Out of interest which software are you guys using to rip? I found a free one http://handbrake.fr/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Handbrake but I don't mind paying if someone can recommend a better one for PC.

[Andy]

Quoting: Incursus

Out of interest which software are you guys using to rip? I found a free one Handbrake but I don't mind paying if someone can recommend a better one for PC.

Use handbrake here. Once you sus out the settings and set it up correctly, jobs a good'un.

The only thing I found a pain with it, was getting the videos into my iTunes library, and then getting my Apple TV to pick up the information.

Has anyone heard of this device a mate was going on about, something like Pogoplug? His is a funky pink thing, but he accesses drives from a website at home. I was thinking of getting one if you're able to stream from them. Anyone had any experience?

Edit:

Found it in black now...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cloud-POGOP03-Pogoplug-Pro/dp/B004I5OCSY/ref=pd_cp_computers_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cloud-POGOP03-Pogoplug-Pro/dp/B004I5OCSY/ref=pd_cp_computers_1

[Incursus]

Quoting: Andy

Use handbrake here. Once you sus out the settings and set it up correctly, jobs a good'un.

Indeed.  Mostly very good though I've had a couple of DVD's where it wouldn't work unless I skipped to the 2nd chapter, normally a minute or 2 into the film.. not figured that one out yet.

What do you use for decrypting the DVD's?

Quoting: Andy

The only thing I found a pain with it, was getting the videos into my iTunes library, and then getting my Apple TV to pick up the information.

Not had an issue with Windows 8 or Android, though figuring out the best aspect ratio settings & Anamorphic Encoding for the phone took a few attempts.  Windows media player didn't seem to care it just worked whatever I did.

[Incursus]

Quoting: Andy

I was thinking of getting one if you're able to stream from them. Anyone had any experience?

Looks interesting though so bad reviews on access speed and streaming

[Andy]

Yeah, sort of wondering if it'll have the same issue over local Wifi network, and whether it would stream my iTunes library over Apple TV so I don't have to have a computer running... hmm

[Roadkill]

I've got a little USB plug-in hard drive I use for backing up . . . . unfortunately it's got too small to store a second back-up without deleting the first.

My Music, documents and pictures are just over 56gb - haven't got any films on there or anything . . . .

Probably go for this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

It's simple.   Like me.

[Incursus]

Quoting: Roadkill

Probably go for this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

It's simple. Like me.

Yup and then in theory if you attached that drive to one of these

Quoting: Andy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cloud-POGOP03-Pogoplug-Pro/dp/B004I5OCSY/ref=pd_cp_computers_1

, you can access all your files remotely....if you wanted/needed to...tis and extra £50 though

[Incursus]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/pogoplug_Peripheral_review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.trustedreviews.com/pogoplug_Peripheral_review

Probably just stick with using my old desktop PC as a server for now, though I do need a new HDD enclosure for my backup drive as mine went pop

Edit: And 50gb of free Box.com cloud storage

[Fieldy]

Quoting: Roadkill

Probably go for this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-241-SE&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

I want to access the files through my iPad, iPhone and Mac simultanesly though so a wired Drive is no good for me personally....

[Roadkill]

Yeah, that's way beyond me.

[Andy]

That Pogoplug thing no good for you then? Apparently you can hook on a hub, and then your storage abilities are only limited to just how many drives you can hook on to it.

I see where you're coming from though, I'm just having a move around in my house and I'd like a central sever type set up, where all my itunes library and photo library is stored, then just be able to remote access from my phone or MBP (no iPad yet). That Pogoplug I think does it, but not to AppleTV.

[Incursus]

Quoting: Andy

That Pogoplug thing no good for you then?

Yeah I think it will do what I need and takes up considerable less space than using my old PC and would mean I don't need to keep the PC on, but I'm moving house soon and I wont get my tablet till at least June.
I'll reassess the situation then, a decent USB HDD will be going on my birthday list though, partly as a potential prelude to the pogoplug thing but also as extra external storage for the tablet and general backing up.

Quoting: Andy

where all my itunes library and photo library is stored, then just be able to remote access from my phone or MBP (no iPad yet).

Can you not stream media from iCloud?  
Started uploading my pics to Google Photos/Picasa, almost original size and certainly big enough for my devices and general browsing.
Just need Google Music to hit the UK and then my only issue is streaming movies.