Lots and lots of SATA Drives(and DVDRW)

[Ish]

I'm chewing through hard drive space like a monkey at the moment. A combination of the discovery of bittorrent and the current work project taking up gig's and gig's of room (which might make it sound exciting - trust me its not - data warehousing).

I've got an ABit IC7-MAX3 motherboard that has (that I can see) two SATA ports on it. Both of which are now full (with a total of 450Gb of hard drive space) after I just fitted a new 200Gb drive.

My question is this.... its only a matter of time, and probably not that long, till I've filled up this new drive. Can you then start with SATA splitter cables? Is there such a thing?

Really I need to build a dedicated server rather than keep using my development machine like this - but funds are tight at the moment.

[Super Stu]

Sorry, entirely off topic, but might a dvdrw (~?60) lessen the burden for non mission critical stuff which doesn't really need to reside on the hdds there (I'm thinking the torrent stuff here)?

[Ish]

Its on topic really - a possible solution to my storage needs

I've just looked and I could free up 60Gb by burning 'non-essential' stuff to DVD.

Any dvdrw recommendations? And what about software for burniing to them? Nero? Or can you get freebie stuff (for freebie I don't mean nicked!). Does that built in XP thing do it? (its what I've been using for burning to CD)

Man I sound like such a PC noob. But this would be my first venture into the world of DVD burning....

[Super Stu]

I can't recommend dvdr enough. I just offloaded another 40gig over the weekend; with only 80g and 40g drives, reasonable management means I never run out of room.

I'll be biased and recommend the latest Pioneer (think the A/108 is the current top model) for around 60 sheets (oem). IIRC, it burns at 8x on appropriate media, which is about 7.5mins for a 4.5gig disc. I'll also be biased and recommend you only used media with Ritek's G04 dye (G05 for 8x burning) as I've never had a burn error and in fact have stopped verifying data to check each disc has burnt correctly. I've just ordered in another 50 now, they're ~?9.50 for a cake of 25 from the likes of www.blankdiscshop.co.uk

If you get a retail drive, you'll more than likely get Nero with it. It does all sorts, but I only ever use it for straight data writing. I never really did like XP's built in burning, didn't appear to have the same feature set as the likes of Nero etc.

There are, of course, dvd9 (dual layer) drives and discs creeping into the market. IMHO, I would wait until the technology establishes itself. I'm never keen on jumping onto the bandwagon, I think I'd rather wait for Pioneer to come out with a drive first. Also note that a single (I think it was verbatim, who are a bit more expensive for some reason) dual layer dvdr I saw on some online retailer for ?10. May have been a dvdrw (I'm hoping) which would make more sense, as cdrws cost a mint when first out too.

Slightly biased opinion, but generally applicable to all I'm sure. Hope that helps!

[$c8t@]

generally applicable to all I'm sure. Hope that helps!

agree with everything above...

the 8x pioneer is the A07/107, the A08/108 is gonna support 16x dvd-/+r and 4x dual layer burning on +r media...

if you are considering a dual layer burner (although media is like the proverbial "rockin horse S**t") NEC do one at about ?58 INC VAT, which imo is a bargain.. (model:2150 i believe)

$c8t@

[Super Stu]

Ah, 108 is the new dual layer model is it?

Think I'll hang about and wait for that one, once the media is reasonable (not seen any dual layer discs by Ritek yet).

[Ish]

Superb. Thanks guys. Just ordered myself a Pioneer 107 and a pack of 25 Ritek discs.

And uninstalled some games in the meantime

[GordonJ]

How about external firewire/usb drives?

[Super Stu]

I still think dvd media is more cost effective and versitile.

</tuppence>

[newmiyamoto]

Ah, 108 is the new dual layer model is it?

Think I'll hang about and wait for that one, once the media is reasonable (not seen any dual layer discs by Ritek yet).

?6.99 at svp/blankdiscshop

@ the other guy : There is no concrete evidence to suggest that that 108 will be 16x as even the 12x speeds are currently available in plus format and with pioneer (one of the main -r advocates) not wanting to cough up the dosh for dev. costs we won't be seeing one any time soon.


Back in the day the motto was always backup as HD are suseptable(definite sp) to breakdowns, then there was that magical time when HD were more reliable then write once media (start of the dvd-r days) now we are back to the point where backups are essential, but just like everyone else i am too lazy to spend the vast amount of time it would take me to backup up my current setup (1.72TB) so i just remedy my situation with more hd's

This board is gonna be a dream come true : http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=P...emium&langs=11

8 SATA ports on board!

[Firsty]

Get some Firewire hard drives. They're pretty big.

[Super Stu]

Approx cost per gb

IDE: ?0.82
sata (raptor): ?2.00
usb2.0: ?1.12
firewire: ?0.83
dvd-r: ?0.08

Sources - OCuk, Blankdiscshop.co.uk

I cba to say anymore on the subject.

[$c8t@]

@ the other guy : There is no concrete evidence to suggest that that 108 will be 16x as even the 12x speeds are currently available in plus format and with pioneer (one of the main -r advocates) not wanting to cough up the dosh for dev. costs we won't be seeing one any time soon.

i got that information from pioneers press release page... surley they know what they are manufacturing better than most...

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/press/release/detail/0,,2076_4313_124180730,00.html

secondly i was merely pointing out the A08 isnt out yet so he didnt go looking high and low for something thats still in "the works"... and according to that, we will see it soon, august

$c8t@

[newmiyamoto]

I realised that was your point (a valid point) I was just curious about the specs.

And now that i've got linkage, I must say pioneer are not resting on there laurels. August really isnt that far away...

[Super Stu]

?6.99 at svp/blankdiscshop

Which works out at ?0.78/gb, completely unreasonable for optical media.

tbh, hdds are cheap, but I'm not convinced they're worth the extra expense of operating a PC with all the extra power and physical space requirements, unless you have applications which require the data online 24/7.

I've got CDRs burnt with the original Phillips 1x recorder (was an external thing the size of a VCR). I don't think reliability is the issue it is made out to be.

Horses for courses gents - personally I think it would be folly to recommend hdds as backup unless you have an inordinate amount of data and/or need it live 24/7.