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HDD Carousel solution

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I've run into a problem I just can't solve. I am a fairly knowledgeable tech that my family & friends rely on for just about everything. But I can't find a solution for this NAS problem. I have a very extensive collection of DVD's, which I have ripped (backed up) to a "Fleet" of hard drives. I'm talking about eleven (soon to be twelve) Terabyte HDD's. I currently have about six of the most recent ones in a NAS running Windows 7 with no extraordinary problems. The "problem" I would like to solve is two fold: (1) I would like to have ALL my movies available at ALL times. Of course, no MOBO supports that many HDD's, and I am out of PCI slots for SATA cards. (2) Keeping all those HDD's spinning 24/7 consumes (and wastes IMO) a lot of energy AND puts a large load on power supplies, cooling hardware etc. So, here's what I am looking for: Is there a NAS solution out there that would accommodate a large number of physical HDD's and only spin them up when a file on that particular drive is needed. It would be sort of a Carousel kind of solution. Any combination of Hardware & Software is OK (as long as I can afford it). Any ideas? Surely I'm not the only one these days with a need or want like this. Thanks for your help everyone. -Gary

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umm, i am assuming this is a home made NAS, get a mobo that has a pci-e x16 slot and has onboard graphics, get a good raid card (aka adaptec) you are probably looking at a 16 port (very expensive), get a case that has 10 external 5.25" bays and get three icydock 4in3 sata hot swap

motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

raid card:Adaptec 2252900-R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
now this isn't cheap, but quality

case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
just take out the internal hdd cage in the front

backpane: 3 x ICY DOCK MB674SPF-B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

now, you haven't given a max price so, i picked out what i would use
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Thanks, mindless728. Yeah, that solution *is* a bit expensive. A little too much for me I'm afraid. Since I really don't need RAID, per se' (just non-RAID JBOD), I was hoping for a cheaper, more software intensive solution. This is the third Forum I've asked this question on with pretty much the same replies. I'm guessing now that it just doesn't exist. My next move would be to re-code all my titles down to 2gb or so in HQ DivX. That way I can get 3-400 titles on a single terabyte HDD instead of the 135 or so now. Not what I really wanted but better than spending another $1500 or so on hardware. Thanks so much for your help! -Gary

Hi Gary,

Get two of these for 189.99 each. That will give you 10 external sata drive bays plus the internal bays you already have. That should give you some room to grow. This solution wont give you the option to turn on and off on demand when you need it but I would simply turn the bays off until you need them. That is the next to the best solution until something else comes along.

http://www.frys.com/product/5585430?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN...

Also, you should be able to get 250-275 dvds on a 1 terabyte hard drive. When you imaged your dvd's, did you remove the previews?

I use 1 click dvd copy pro or shrink 3.2. One can get it when the other can't and the quality is great.


PM me if you would like to talk more...

Well you could buy 6 Western Digital 2TB (Green) drives. That would solve the problem with the number of drives, at least until you exceed 12 TB of data anyways. Of course that doesn't fix the power problem. I found an external 8 bay from Drobo, but it's $1500 USD. Again a pretty expensive solution. It partially fixes the power requirement, as you could shut it off when needed.

Thanks guys! Appreciate the reply's. I think I'm just going to re-compile them all to a high quality DivX & reduce my storage requirements. When I ripped them, I just left EVERYTHING in place, menus & all. I'm one of those persons who enjoys going back & listening to the Director & Producer talk about how they made the movie & all. Hate to give that up.
Gary
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