Baddabing's Xlobby Home Theater

[rembetis]

You can find it here.

Excellent! For some reason I thought that thread pertained to an earlier incarnation and not the one he was currently using.

[BaddaBing]

Added HTPC build info. See link in first post of thread for full story or just click here for build details only: http://www.xlobby.com/files//badabing/htpc/index.htm

[Marbles_00]

BaddaBing,

As usual...YOU ARE THE BEST, DUDE!

Excellent read. I'm still deciding on parts for a future HTPC and your article is just what I needed....something that's just Pratical.

Thanks so much for that.

[cmhardwick]

BaddaBing. Great information
Another question, what case, equipment, did you use for your media server? I know you listed the memory, etc.

Thanks again for ALWAYS having great skins and posts!

[BaddaBing]

The hardware is nothing special. Just an old motherboard and some memory I had left over. Just search for rack mount server cases and you will find plenty of 10 drive cases in the $250.00 price range. The hot swap-able drive bays run about $50.00 each. Don't buy the cheap drive bays - they fail too often. The main differentiator in my media server is the OS. I'm running Lime Technology unRAID.

Why? Because RAID was designed for UPTIME - not data security. Even with RAID you still need to back up your data. If 2 drives in a RAID array die (and it will happen) then the entire array is gone.

Don't think 2 drives will die at once? Consider this - you are buying all the disks at the same time therefore all the disk will reach end of life at the same time. Making multiple failures a real possibility.

With unRAID if multiple drives die the most you lose is the data on the drives that die. Everything else is totally recoverable. If a single drive dies then you lose nothing (as long as you replace the drive before another one dies)

With unRAID you only spin up two drives at a time - the target disk and the parity disk=LESS HEAT+ LOWER ENERGY COST+ LONGER DISK LIFE

unRAID allows you to use disks of different size - as long as the parity disk is the largest. (throw in a 750 GB for the parity drive and you can then add any size drive at any time)

You can expand your unRAID array at any time - or - add a larger drive - copy data over from the smallest drive in the array - then remove the small drive and replace it with a larger - repeat!

unRAID is HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than any decent RAID card and allows you to run up to twelve disks. (11 + 1 parity)

unRAID supports both PATA and SATA drives

I understand that this looks like a paid advert - but no - I don't have any association with or financial arrangements with them - its just good shit.

check out the unRAID website here: http://lime-technology.com

and check out what they say about it on AVS here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=627605
and here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8585066

The biggest complaint you will see regarding unRAID is that it is a one man operation and that he sometimes disappears from the unRAID forum for days at a time (does that sound familiar?) - or people will have a hard time setting it up if they don't use the recommended hardware but he has never ripped anyone off.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - TWO THUMBS UP
(just my opinion - YMMV)

[cmhardwick]

Thanks! I've already been looking at unRaid and it sounds great!

One more question, do you compress your dvd rips at all? I assume you use something like DVD Shrink to extract ONLY the movie without all the menus.

oh boy, yet another project hehehe Won't the wife be thrilled!

[BaddaBing]

No, I don't compress the movies. Yes, I do delete everything except the movie itself. I use a freeware tool called DVDFab Decrypter. It has the option of ripping just the movie and it is an active product with current support unlike DVD Shrink which has been dead for about a year. You may need to search for a bit to find the free version. The paid version also allows you to compress movies to Ipod and Sony PS

[2Tek]

BaddaBing. I a few questions relating to you media server.

1-If unRAID is your OS on your media server. Why and How are you using Windows Server 2003 R2?

2-If UnRaid is the File system for the disk arrays what is the promise SX8300 card being used as JOBD? Why would you not have used promise SATAII150 SX8 card instead?

I would like to set up a server with 6 Terabytes or more with one volume called Movies and have all my titles stored there. Can this be done with a similar setup to yours?

[abobader]

I would like to set up a server with 6 Terabytes or more with one volume called Movies and have all my titles stored there. Can this be done with a similar setup to yours?

I have 2 media servers, one with 5TB, second with 7TB, as you going to build storage server with 6TB), I have suggestion tho:

Use top hardware raid 6, like 3ware or areca, I myself, use areca controllers, and I love it:

http://www.topmicrousa.com/areca-arc-1231ml.html
and
http://www.topmicrousa.com/areca-arc-1261ml.html

Sure it cost matters, but if you value your data and time, that the way to go, well for me at least.

My best.

[BaddaBing]

2tek - Sorry about the conflicting info - when I update the post I sometimes miss making all the changes. Windows Server and RAID card was data was left over from original setup. UnRAID is now the OS, Windows Server 2003 CD now just sitting on shelf.

[2Tek]

Abobader thank you for your recommendation. A few people have recommended 3ware

3ware 9650SE-8LPML
3ware 9550SX-12MI

I am doing some research and looking for reviews on the card you mentioned. I am still not sure which way to go.

I am interested in the unRAID solution. It seems a lot of people have went this route that have multiple Terabyte solutions at a medium to low price point.

Originally I was going with a Dual Xeon server connected to a SATA Storage subsystem.

Like these:

Norco DS-1220 3U
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816133001

DAT Optic RM12-S2P
http://www.datoptic.com/cgi-bin/web.cgi ... detail=yes


I do have dual Xeon's, the main board, and memory waiting for a hard drive array. If I did more reading I could of saved the money and purchased a low cost Intel or Athlon CPU. Then used the bulk of the money for more drives. I just happen to stumble on all of this while testing Xlobby as a Front-End. I liked BaddaBing's Skin and I started reading on how to configure Xlobby, followed his setup, and links....lol. Here we are...lol

I am not even sure if what I have will work with unRaid because the site has low end specs. However after you read the unRAID forums people are using current hardware with this OS but none are using such High- End Processors I am guessing because Linux does not require huge system resources.


BaddaBing. Thank your for your response. I guess if you can tell me how are your drives connected. How is your controller card configured. It will help if I decided to follow your route. Thanks.

[BaddaBing]

2TEK, that is the beauty of UnRAID - low end requirement specs. Unless you are building a server to support a building full of workstations all that horsepower is just overkill. All you need to run an UnRAID based media server is some RAM and a decent NIC card. UnRAID DOES NOT REQUIRE A RAID CARD. It works with cheap ATA and SATA cards. You can build an entire UnRAID server (minus drives) for less than the cost of a RAID 6 card. If you want more info I suggest you go to http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/ All the documentation is on line and there is a forum as well.

[sharp_1]

Baddabing:

What format is your music database saved in? WMA, MP3, FLAC....

Thanks!!!

[BaddaBing]

MP3 @ 320 kb/s

[sharp_1]

MP3 @ 320 kb/s

Thank you!!!