Posted by George Hester on 09/03/05 19:19

"anthonyberet" <nospam@me.invalid> wrote in message
news:3nu0bsF3a0c9U1@individual.net...
> Loco Jones wrote:
> > Not exactly "news" (the subject has been broached before), but just an
> > observation on the transient nature of recordable media - cassettes were
> > once touted as the answer to degradable vinyl, until it was learned that
> > tape demagnetization/stretching posed a problem, as did faulty transport
> > mechanisms, and then compact discs were promoted as the "indestructible
> > alternative" (until that proved to be wishful thinking as well), and
now,
> > consumers are being led to believe that "new media" (DVD/DVD+/-R) can
> > withstand even the slightest abuse. Heh - it can't - big surprise.
> >
> > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1854081,00.asp
> >
> > These days, even owning the "original" doesn't mean much. Renting, for a
> > limited time, is the best any consumer can hope for. Enjoy it while you
> > can! You'll be buying it, in another format, soon enough.
>
> I have recently come to a decision about archiving - I find that the
> business of burning stuff from HD to CDR (or even DVDR) is unnacceptably
> fraught. Firstly, I don't really want to do it, and only do so when a
> drive starts getting filled. It takes a long time to organise what to
> put on which CDR. Then they have storage problems as discussed. Then I
> can't find the file that I know I have because it is very hard to keep a
> catalogue of 100's of CDs up to date - even using cataloging software,
> can't take away the repetion of putting the next disc in the drive to be
> read, reading it, and then replacing it with the next. Then there is the
> difficulty of keeping them all numbered correctly.
>
> - And despite all this, I don't get a decent searchable database which
> can just find a file and then run it or use it - if I want to burn
> compilations I am rummaging about trying to sort out which disc for what.
>
> And finally, The price of CDs in terms of capacity is now higher than HDs.
>
> Lately I have taken to keeping my OS on one drive, and having a
> dedicated drive for collected files. When the dedicated drive fills up,
> I just replace it.
>
> Of course, I now have the embryo of the same problems with CDs - five
> full HDs are piled to my left right now.
>
> I want to build a home network file server - I need about 1Tb I reckon.
> I am just looking into motherboards which would be suitable now - or
> perhaps I will go with a rendundant RAID system. I am surprised there
> isn't more information about this - even professionally-made files
> servers are mostly way too small for me.
>
> If anyone knows any good sites which discuss the options, from a
> home-builder point of view, please let me know.

Anothony this is how I attacked the issue. As for CDRs what you do is name
them like Keep1, Keep2, Keep3 and so on. Then after it has been written to
you go to it in the command prompt and type:

dir /s > C:\Keep1.txt

Then you put all those in a folder call it CDRs and you can search within
for a file that you can close to remember. Trouble is as time goes by and
you start accumulating a lot of CDRs our memory gets weak and really the
CDRs become worthless. Too much of a hassle.

So then you make your Network and w/r to odds you can have at most three
harddrives per machine. But that's OK all you want are file servers. I
have two PIIs 1 Dual PII a PI and another PIII. The total cost of all these
machines but one of the PIIs has been less than $200. I get them at eBay
for under $100 incl shipping. And they are just fine as Harddrive holders.
Then I get a router pretty cheap. I actually had to buy another 8 port
router because I used up all the ports on the other one. But that's OK
because you can get those cheap too at eBay or get a switch. After awhle it
becomes a matter of AC plugs and the fuse box in your house.

--
George Hester
_________________________________

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