CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

CIR Engineering · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:59 pm Post subject:

You don't need to tag the files as anything for the DUNE to use ISO files. DUNE knows that an ISO file is a disc and will open it using the DVD or BD engine built in.

What operating system do you have on your PC?

You probably shouldn't have (or need to use) WD's software at all. You may need to destroy the file system on your HD and start over. Did you set your partition table to GPT or MBR? Windows XP can't use GPT, but that is what you need to have a 2TB or larger partition.

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

XP. When I load a full HDD to the dune the Dune reports the drive as empty...

Thanks Craig for your help !

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Now who brought up GPT/MBR ...

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Ok so I put in a half empty 3TB HDD and the Dune is seeing them now so I have a partition problem but it doesn't stop there... Shocked

Now half of the ISO files,all recorded using the same programs and drives,are not working and the Dune reports "Play list is empty" It shows them all as ISO files but instead of the disc symbol, ISO's that do play, I get what looks like a document on the right side of the display ? Crying or Very sad

CIR Engineering · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:20 pm Post subject:

I'm losing it I think...

I was just in MicroCenter and bought this new washing machine... erraahh huge tower case.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/364204/Elysium-Window_Black_Full_Tower_ATX_Computer_Case

I also ordered two more hard drive cases for the front of the tower.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078IWQGI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That makes the case able to hold a total of 16 hard drives without any modifications to the case. All the hard drives will also get good cooling from the fans at the front of the case.

The 4TB hard drives have really come down in price. Right now Amazon has WD 4TB externals for $179. I figure the next addition to the server will be 5x 4TB drives to add another 16TB. WD says they will release the 4TB Green drives in Q3 and then 5TB drives in Q4. I hope I can wait until Q4 and get 4TB drives for cheaper as they will no longer be the top dog. I really want 4TB Green drives as well and they are not even out yet.

I'm still researching hard drive controllers, but I may get one of these.
http://www.provantage.com/supermicro-aoc-usas2-l8i~7SUP91NP.htm

I'd rather find one that can hold ten or twelve drives though.

Planning ahead...

craigr

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:31 pm Post subject:

So suddenly I started having issues with BD ISO files skipping during playback on all three of my Dune players. This started right after Dune released a new firmware that I had installed. After pulling out what's left of my hair for hours, I finally discovered that the issue was with my server and not the Dune players.

After many more hours of hair pulling I discovered that the problem was with the FreeNAS operating system. For some reason it just stopped working properly with BD ISO files over the network to the Dune's. File transfers were still fast, but playing BD files cause problems. I have no logical explanation for this, especially since I had not changed anything in FreeNAS at all and the problem just started on its own.

So I tried a fresh install of FreeNAS and much to my chagrin this did not solve any problems either.

So I decided to give NAS4Free a shot again. Long story short, NAS4Free has proven to be much better in my opinion. Not only did it solve the unexplained issues with FreeNAS, but it works better for everything else as well. I get fast NAS boot times, better GUI (IMO), faster file transfers, and easier setup.

People have preferences between FreeNAS and NAS4Free, but with my experience I certainly would recommend NAS4Free.

I am also slowly upgrading the server for more drives. I got the huge case a few months back. Today I ordered an IBM M1015 SAS card. The card supports 8x SATA drives. I am going to cross flash the firmware on the M1014 to an LSI9211-IT version that allows for true pass-through and removes the boot option. Removing the boot option speeds up the server boot time and pass-through allows ZFS to handle the array without obstruction from the card.

Once I get that done I will wait until around Christmas to purchase either 8x 4TB or 5TB hard drives depending on price and if WD has green drives in 5TB size. The WD 4TB green drives should be released within the next few months, followed by 5TB drives, and then finally 5TB green drives.

craigr

CIR Engineering · Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:37 pm Post subject:

Also, when I add the drives, I am seriously considering buying the 16x drive version of unRAID instead of continuing on with FreeBSD. I like the data security against rot with ZFS, but unRAID really does seem like an all around better option for media servers... maybe because that's what it was designed for Wink

unRAID costs $100 against FreeBSD's cost of zero. It also means coping all my data from my existing 18TB array which would probably take at least four days of straight copying. The data is also less secure with unRAID, but in a failure you would only lose one drive instead of the entire array (failure meaning more than one drive dies at a time).

craigr

HK-Steve · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:43 am Post subject:

Both my towers run unRaid, have been running for 3 years with no problems at all.
Each tower has 20 hard drives, 19 data and 1 parity.

I also use the Dune players in 3 locations around the house,

Use My Movies as the interface, My Wife Loves it.
Access to over 3000 Blu-ray movies, heaven.

Cheers
Steve

CIR Engineering · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 2:35 pm Post subject:

HK-Steve · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 3:09 pm Post subject:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nzxt_whisper_chassis_review_%7C_test,1.html

HK-Steve · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 3:12 pm Post subject:

I cut the tower a small amount, so I could fit 11 hard drives into the 6 drive bays,
Plus the 9 bays in the bottom of the tower, 20 all up.

Cheers

CIR Engineering · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:52 pm Post subject:

That's a nice looking case for holding a lot of HD's. Of course, just like all the cases that hold tons of hard drives, yours has been discontinued. I bought my new one because it was one of the few I could find that would hold so many hard drives and when I bought it, the case had already been discontinued and was the last one MicroCenter had in stock. I wouldn't normally have bought a case a year before I needed it, but I am getting worried that there just aren't a lot of cases available anymore that can hold loads of HD's.

I got this guy:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/364204/Elysium-Window_Black_Full_Tower_ATX_Computer_Case

With two more HD enclosures to go in the 5.25" bays:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078IWQGI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So I can hold 16x HD's without any modifications to the case, and there is tons of room to add more enclosures. I like to HD cooling in the new case because all the HD's are at the front and have fans blowing directly on them. But I hat the open design of the case because it will let out a lot of fan noise in my office.

I wish there were more case alternatives that held 16x or more HD's.

craigr

VideoGrabber · Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 933 Location: Michigan

ecrabb · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:20 pm Post subject:

Ditto here, Tim. Plus, after buying a couple hundred DVDs in late-90's and early 2000's, I came to the realization that I'd only re-watched a tiny fraction of them. Now, I only buy Blu-rays if it's something really special that I love, great demo material, a special occasion (party, friends over for a movie, etc.), or it's cheap/used on craigslist. Consequently, my Blu-ray collection is probably only 75 movies ballpark. It's also the reason I have no interest in a movie server... I re-watch hardly anything.

I have been tempted to buy lots a couple of times from a local craigslist listing, mostly because the price is just so damn cheap - in the $3-5/disc ballpark... Like 50 movies for $150. But, mixed in with the titles I really want it's half stuff I'm not interested in, so I can't get excited about it. One of these times, though... Hell, I pay more than $3/disc to rent in some cases.

But, yeah - 3,000 movies is insane. That's a HUGE amount of money to have tied up in a movie collection. Heck, come to think of it, at that point, the server makes sense just to avoid the 100-feet of shelf space they'd take up!

SC

HK-Steve · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:34 pm Post subject:

I have about 1000 DVD's
About 3000 CD's

Plus about 500 Laser Disks.

I am a media horder Wink

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Craig using your server are all the drives powered up and spinning all the time or you can you manually turn off all but the ones you need to access ?

CIR Engineering · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:12 pm Post subject:

With ZFS when files are accessed in a pool of drives, all drives must be spinning because the data is spread out across all drives. My drives are set to spin down after 20 minutes of inactivity so they power down themselves when the server is not in use. So in my current 6x disc server all drives are spinning when I am watching something.

With unRAID only drives being used are spinning because the data for a given file is stored on a single drive instead of across all drives like in a RAID array. Hence the "un" in unRAID.

craigr

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

For me I think I would use unRAID. I chose to back up each drive on a second drive just in case of failure but it's quite expensive !!! Shocked

CIR Engineering · Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:26 pm Post subject:

Hey Steve,

Does unRAID support power management? ACPI such as CPU speed down and the like. I can't find any info on this about unRAID. I really wouldn't want the CPU running 2x 3200 MHz cores all day everyday.

NAS4Free is really good about this. Once enabled, the main screen displays the actual CPU speed and I can watch it drop to 400MHz when not in use and then adjust dynamically to the load.

craigr