Home Digital Archive

[Rob Compton]

Home Digital Archive

I’ve been thinking about the amount of storage space my extensive DVD collection takes up, and wondering if there is a better way. In fact, wider than that, mine, like most households must have loads of



- DVD’s and videos

- Still pictures, both digital and in old Boots photo envelopes with the negatives still there

- Music and other audio, both digital and LP’s, tapes of old radio shows etc

- Paper documents, files, important papers etc



I’m wondering whether it would be possible to create a Home Digital Archive, based on a series of large capacity hard drives. I’d need to do a considerable amount of scanning, digitising etc – over a period of time – and there would be a need for excellent software to store, index and retrieve files. A “google-like� search engine would be great. Obviously there would need to be more than one copy of this archive, with at least one copy stored in a separate location in case of disaster.



Another question is that of how and where the retrieved files could be viewed/listened to? Clearly it would be helpful for that to be as flexible as possible eg living room TV, study PC and so on.



My thinking is that, although I treasure all this stuff, to a computer it’s just data, really. Has anyone done anything like this? Are there any commercial systems around, suitable for home use? Or could I build up something myself? What sort of costs could be involved? Any other comments, thoughts or advice?



Many thanks in advance.

Rob

[Fellwanderer]

I'm sure many of us have had similar thoughts and I'm a bit surprised no-one has come back on it yet.



Could take a very long time to transfer a DVD collection!

[Rob Compton]

Thanks Fell



Agreed about the transfer times, although what would be great would be the ability to copy over a lot of data quickly from a DVD to hard drive - a high speed transfer facility.



Any more thoughts anyone?



Rob

[Brief Encounter]

I've thought of it before. It would need to have an absolutely massive capacity though. I think we'll be reaching for our DVDs a while longer. Even DVD hard drive recorders have limited storage.

[Moor Larkin]

name='Rob Compton' date='19 June 2010 - 09:40 AM' timestamp='1276936809' post='441643'] Has anyone done anything like this? Are there any commercial systems around, suitable for home use?

I thought it was called Google..............



Communicate, show & share

BloggerShare your life online with a blog – it’s fast, easy, and free

CalendarOrganise your schedule and share events with friends

DocsCreate and share your online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets

GroupsCreate mailing lists and discussion groups

GmailFast, searchable email with less spam

PicasaFind, edit and share your photos

SitesCreate websites and secure group wikis

SketchUpBuild 3D models quickly and easily

TalkIM and call your friends through your computer

TranslateView web pages in other languages

YouTubeWatch, upload and share videos

http://www.google.co.uk/options/

[Steve Crook]

name='Moor Larkin' date='20 June 2010 - 09:15 PM' timestamp='1277064936' post='442239']

I thought it was called Google..............



Communicate, show & share

BloggerShare your life online with a blog – it’s fast, easy, and free

CalendarOrganise your schedule and share events with friends

DocsCreate and share your online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets

GroupsCreate mailing lists and discussion groups

GmailFast, searchable email with less spam

PicasaFind, edit and share your photos

SitesCreate websites and secure group wikis

SketchUpBuild 3D models quickly and easily

TalkIM and call your friends through your computer

TranslateView web pages in other languages

YouTubeWatch, upload and share videos

http://www.google.co.uk/options/

You can use somebody else's online storage, like the Google one. There are a few companies offering similar services. But then you have to rely on the speed and the reliability of your internet connection. Is it fast and reliable enough to play videos online, even in busy periods?



Or you can get some local storage. Don't go for anything like large disk arrays, they're already out of date and are prone to failure if they've got any moving parts. Go for solid state storage. They're already offering 1TB storage units like this one





http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002KPW5JM/papas-21



that you just plug into your USB port



1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. That should be enough to store a few films on



But even with solid state storage you soon meet the reliability problem. They are a lot more reliable than DVD players or any other storage medium with any moving parts. But do you want to put all your eggs into one basket with just one mass storage device. It is safer to use a few of them in different units, even as they offer more and more capacity in each unit



Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

name='Steve Crook' date='20 June 2010 - 09:59 PM' timestamp='1277067585' post='442254']



1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. That should be enough to store a few films on



But even with solid state storage you soon meet the reliability problem. They are a lot more reliable than DVD players or any other storage medium with any moving parts. But do you want to put all your eggs into one basket with just one mass storage device. It is safer to use a few of them in different units, even as they offer more and more capacity in each unit



Steve

Looking at the films on my PC, 1.5 gigabytes seems about average given that some are low resolution while some are 4gig. I've got one of those spare hard-drives and it certainly wouldn't hold half my current collection and my suspicion is that I'd probably need a new one (or even two) every year if I didn't copy films onto dvd and delete them from it. But there would be plenty of rare files that I'd want to save twice, on separate storage devices, just to be sure. Though I'd be unlikely to throw away my dvds immediately - what if, for example, you wanted to lend some or you were going away and wanted to take some with you - silly to have to re-copy everything. How sure of your digital storage device would you have to be before you disposed of the physical copy?

[sippog]

The question is: what are you trying to accomplish?



If it's a secure backup, then using a hard drive isn't it. Even a large capacity solid-state - if such a thing exists (the WD Drives aren't solid state, at least not as I understand the term, and I have two) wouldn't be 100% reliable. I'd trust a well looked after, commercial DVD copy over a HD any day.



On the other hand, if you want easy access to your film library, then it's a great idea. The catch is, just like mp3's, you'd need to convert your films to a more "storage friendly" format like avi, mpeg, matrovska or divx (to name a few). This is time intensive but simply ripping a 4 or 6 gig DVD will chew up your storage in no time.



I use a couple of ITB disks as film libraries and can fit around a 1000 films/tv programmes on each. I play them back using a media player hooked up to my tv set and most of the time the quality to my (admittedly unfussy) eye is, at its best, the same as DVD. It helps that a lot of my films are old - not the latest Blu-ray, HD offerings.



Average file size - around 300 to 500 meg, up to about 1 gig - for a feature length film.

[Timmy_Lea]

I've got lots of movies & tv shows backed up on one of these - http://www.externalharddrives.org.uk...al-hard-drive/



& play it back on my telly via one of these - http://www.trustedreviews.com/multim...edia-Player/p1

[GoggleboxUK]

I think you're making the whole thing seem much more difficult than it really is.



Most PC towers can easily be changed and it's very simple to buy a tower with space for multiple drives, mine has seven slots and isn't any bigger than your average.



Use a DVD ripper (there are loads of really good free ones) and save all your films as avi files at around 700mb each. Save the bonus material you want to keep as seperate avi files within the same folder as the movie.



Scan your photos, negatives, documents and save those as jpg files.



Searching for content is very easy if you label files correctly. Films can be saved such as Star Wars 1977 SciFi meaning Windows search will find it under title, date or genre search. More information can be saved in the File Info section via Windows if needed.



Use a separate HDD for each kind of media, link your PC to your TV and you're totally digital. If you want to be safe you can clone each finished drive with Norton Ghost and keep the duplicates in a cupboard.



Protect your PC with a surge protector at the mains and you should be as safe from dataloss as you are from leaving the house and returning to find it has burnt down.

[GoggleboxUK]

name='CaptainWaggett' date='21 June 2010 - 07:18 AM' timestamp='1277101119' post='442326']I'd be unlikely to throw away my dvds immediately - what if, for example, you wanted to lend some or you were going away and wanted to take some with you - silly to have to re-copy everything. How sure of your digital storage device would you have to be before you disposed of the physical copy?

Flash drives are great for lending content. I have 4 8Gb memory sticks which are perfect if someone wants to 'borrow' a film or software, I just transfer it to a flash drive then let them copy onto their system. If they want to play a film as a DVD they can burn it to disc.



If you're going on holiday there are many decent portable media players around that will take a flash card, you could even take one of those tiny DVD players with a USB slot.



I understand your thinking but once you've gone completely digital there's a whole new world of digital answers to problems.



Of course, if the poles reverse in 2012, none of us will be watching anything.

[Steve Crook]

name='GoggleboxUK' date='04 July 2010 - 08:41 PM' timestamp='1278272488' post='447797']

Of course, if the poles reverse in 2012, none of us will be watching anything.

You'll just have to turn your TV set upside down



Steve

[GoggleboxUK]

name='Steve Crook' date='04 July 2010 - 08:48 PM' timestamp='1278272919' post='447802']

You'll just have to turn your TV set upside down



Steve

In that case all it will show is Neighbours and Home & Away.

[sanndevil]

Back on topic, there's a few proprietary systems in the marketplace for streaming movie collections either to hotel rooms or rich private individuals or corporations. All are many tens of thousands but it can be done on the 'cheap' (it's all relative) - as this bloke here proved

http://louwrentius.blogspot.com/2009...-based-on.html

I'm guessing he is streaming using something like Media Server.



Cost of something like that? Let me guess. 1TB disks can be got for £70. So £70 * 20 = £1400. Plus CPU + RAM + Case + Power + Mboard = less than £1800.

[Rob Compton]

Many thanks all for their contributions to this thread - much food for thought



rgds

Rob

[Bernardo]

I digitalised all my slide, cine and analogue camcorder tapes and some key VHS tapes. I store them as jpeg and .mpg files on a 1T hard disk on a server set up. It took ages, glad I did the personal stuff but going into the VHS I gave up as I doubted any advantage in what I was achieving other than playing with my other hobby of tinkering/building desktop PCs that do tricks.

[Timmy_Lea]

I have just discovered thumbgen, nice little piece of free software that generates thumbnails and moviesheets for your media player.

[channelfilms]

I built a Media Centre, small quiet PC running Windows 7, with 2Tb storage and gigabyte network card (my house is networked)..

I encoded all my DVDs/BRs/CDs onto there, can stream them to any room in the house via another windows PC or xbox 360.

It works great, but has a few annoyances which you have to ignore, but other then that, we're happy with the solution..



There are also new devices and mediacentres out now, that offer HDMI over IP, where you can output say, a Blueray player and stream HD content of a network to another device that converts it back into a HDMI cable to plug into your TV.



definately a space saver, I got rid of 3 tall bookshelves full of DVDs and boxsets...

[Bernardo]

I have a home NAS with 2TB hardrive expandable to 3xhardDisc Drives. These network with the TVs and the laptop plus two PCs. That plus the Freesat I-Player access on 901 lets me play to my hearts content. I trim the raw video files, burn DVDs for the classics, catalogue and keep files on the HDs under genre with spreadsheet file index. Some mini series I convert to DIVX and store on data DVDs, I also use DIVX for titles I may or may not want to keep. I have so much fun with all this plus the 'normal' DVDs I have limited time to view. And yes I am very sad person but (to paraphrase Dick Emery)......I like it.