Storage: HTPC or NAS?

Talk about setting up your home network.
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dandys

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Storage: HTPC or NAS?

#1

Post by dandys » Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:05 pm

hi,

I would like to set up network storage for my home to store recorded TV and other videos from my library. Some of the videos are irreplacable and I would like to have some kind of backup setup (RAID 1 I was thinking) and I leave my HTPC on all of the time. I have 3 basic ideas

1. install 2 hard drives into HTPC and be able to access them from any computer on network
2. buy 2 external hard drives and plug them into HTPC always
3. buy a 2-disk NAS and leave that on all the time and get the HTPC to record to it

which method would allow me to access (preferably stream) the videos remotely? which method is safest? any other things to consider?

if this is the wrong forum sorry I'm new

Bryan

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#2

Post by Bryan » Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:19 am

dandys wrote:Some of the videos are irreplacable and I would like to have some kind of backup setup (RAID 1 I was thinking)
Whichever one you go for, RAID is not a backup. If anything is important at all, store it in multiple places - an external drive, an online backup solution (Crashplan, Mozy, etc), something.

Personally, I use Windows Home Server for home videos, movies, pictures, and anything important. This is backed up to an external drive as well as Crashplan. My Media Center machine has a recording drive, which isn't backed up because I'm not worried about shows. One, I don't want more drives than needed in the HTPC since it's front and center, both for noise and space. I also don't want external drives plugged into the HTPC, because we have a young child and that'd be disastrous. Media Center can archive recordings but as far as I'm aware it cannot record directly to NAS. The Media Center can access anything on the server.

Either route would let you stream to anything in the house, remote would depend on what you need.

dandys

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#3

Post by dandys » Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:45 am

in that case, would you recommend perhaps one new drive in the HTPC and one external drive for backup stored somewhere else?

I am curious about the remote streaming, or at least transfer, capabilities if you know anything about it. The HTPC is upgraded to Windows 7 Pro so I guess it can do remote desktop and transfer that way (max 2 GB file size) but for some reason it feels like there must be a better way

.Nico

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#4

Post by .Nico » Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:08 am


Bryan

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#5

Post by Bryan » Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:33 pm

dandys wrote:in that case, would you recommend perhaps one new drive in the HTPC and one external drive for backup stored somewhere else?

I am curious about the remote streaming, or at least transfer, capabilities if you know anything about it. The HTPC is upgraded to Windows 7 Pro so I guess it can do remote desktop and transfer that way (max 2 GB file size) but for some reason it feels like there must be a better way
You'll at least want one drive in the HTPC (preferably an SSD for the OS and a large HDD) so you can record shows. There's nothing wrong with storing important data on this machine, you just need it backed up. Depending on how much data you're talking about, a single drive in the HTPC may be enough, and 4TB drives are available. An external drive somewhere else is fine. However, you need to determine for yourself how irreplaceable these videos are. If it's just a hassle to re-record or re-rip things, an external drive is fine. If these are priceless home videos no one else has, your external drive backup is only good until a fire or tornado levels your home, or even a lightning strike fries half your electronics when the drive is plugged in.

I'd first determine if you have the space, money, and desire to run more than one machine. If so, I like a separate NAS/home server better, just so one box isn't the all-important machine.

Define what you mean by 'remote streaming'. If you mean other machines in your home, that's not a problem, there's no need to involve RDP at all. A simple Windows file share is all you need. For streaming recorded shows over the Internet, I've never needed that, but searching around here should cover it.

shoffert

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#6

Post by shoffert » Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:26 pm

Find a friend/family member (preferably not next door) who also wants to back up. Then put crash plan on each machine and back up to each other. Crashplan encrypts the backup on the receiving machine, so you don't have to worry about your friend posting the irreplaceable videos of your honeymoon on youtube.

You'll have to consider how much storage each of you need and have hard drives to support it.

That's the cheapest solution. The only challenge I've had is making sure both machines coordinate a time when they don't sleep... but crashplan will send you emails when one isn't backing up. So you won't obliviously go a long time without a good backup.

If you want more security, find a couple friends. I only use one family member on the other side of town. Then I have another machine in my house I also backup to. That way, if I booger up one of my machines it's a much quicker recovery.

If you have no friends or family (at least ones savvy enough to do this with), your other options are paying for a cloud backup service or keeping an external hard drive offsite somewhere (desk drawer at work), and refresh it every week, or as often as you need.

blueiedgod

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#7

Post by blueiedgod » Tue Jun 18, 2013 5:02 pm

I have had good luck with these Iomega NASes
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822186337

Just wait for it to go on sale. I bought 2 of them for $70 each. I filled them with 3Tb drives that I took out of Black Friday's Seagate externals for $90.

Once you flash it with the new Lenovo firmware it will run iSCSI. I could not have been happier. It barely uses any power, and is faster than the file server we have. It writes at 30-45 Mb/s and reads at about 60-70 Mb/s, but I think those will depend on level of RAID you choose.

The only "mod" I made is placed a fan in the front (removed front panel). The hard drives were getting uncomfortably warm with the included cooling colution.

shortcut3d

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#8

Post by shortcut3d » Sun Jul 28, 2013 3:16 am

Windows Media Center can record to network storage using iSCSI. You will need a reliable NIC, Switch and NAS for recording. I'm currently using an Intel NUC, InfiniTV6 ETH and Synology DS1813+. Recordings have not been an issue.

jerryt

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#9

Post by jerryt » Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:27 am

shortcut3d wrote:Windows Media Center can record to network storage using iSCSI.
Is there a "How To" somewhere?

dandys

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#10

Post by dandys » Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:16 pm

In regards to using iSCI though, my concern is having two machines working 24/7.

I have a recording schedule that often runs at odd hours and could be recording as much as 24 hours a day.

Has anyone come to a definitive answer as to which levels of sleep WMC recording allows?

For example,

- Will WMC wake up from hibernation to record?
- Will WMC wake up from sleep to record?
- Will WMC go back to sleep/hibernation after recording finishes?

I have searched for answers to these questions a lot but haven't gotten a really clear answer. Does anyone know?

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CyberSimian

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#11

Post by CyberSimian » Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:50 am

dandys wrote:- Will WMC wake up from hibernation to record?
- Will WMC wake up from sleep to record?
- Will WMC go back to sleep/hibernation after recording finishes?
The answer is "yes" to all three questions.

For most of 2012 I used sleep with my HTPC, but for some reason as yet undiagnosed, since the beginning of 2013 I have experienced random recording failures on all tuners (two different brands of tuner card). These failures present symptoms different from the classic "lost signal" failure. However, I find that these failures do not occur if I use hibernation instead of sleep.

Hibernation is not as convenient as sleep: the power-up/power-down times are longer, and you cannot use the remote control to wake the system from hibernation (you have to press the power button on the system unit).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

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