Ok for the tv tuners what should i be looking at then. I would like to record shows on the main channels and a few on mtv, hbo etc. So right now im lost i have no clue what i should get to do this. do they sell the usb tuners on newegg.com i think that would be better because the case i will be getting has 10 slots. As for the 3tb of storage I was going to backup my movies that i have on video tapes and dvd so i can stream them to the 3 xbox360's i have on my network. Also I was going to use one harddrive for my cam system that i will put around the house. Idk what system i will use now because the system i wanted to get got alot of bad ratings. The last harddrive will be for the editing my video i shoot etc. I was told the harddrives would last way longer if i dont raid them, but in raid they will die faster no clue if its true or not.
RAID doesn't break drives any faster than usual, not that I've seen. I don't use RAID though, for various other reasons.
Listen to sammorris and dont use RAID, its a bad idea for desktop-level boxes and will only cause you problems. Its not so much the hard drives that break down, its their controllers that can be an issue, especially any onboard controllers, it can also depend on which RAID array is being used. RAID 0 is the worst, its good for video encoding but if one HDD fails you will loose everything on the others. RAID 5 has a third drive that contains "parity" information, any lose of information from A, B or C and it can be recalculated from the other two HDD's. So if it fails completely your system can continue to operate while the disk is replaced, but this gets more complicated to setup, troubleshoot and maintain. When it comes to RAID, problems are common and benefits are few.
You don't need a raid, I have 5 hard drives in my mediapc 1xIDE boot drive and 4x sata drives. They been running nonstop 24/7 for almost 3 years and never given me any problems. Just make sure they have case fans blowing on them to keep them cool. Also for video files the drives need to formatted correctly using the 64kb clusters, this will improve your streaming and will be easier to defrag. USB tuners would be unreliable for a mediapc unless they have hardware mpeg encoders. The media software you are planning to use will tell you what tuners are recommended.
1.) Hardware raid (not that crummy onboard stuff) is far more reliable than a single hard drive, at least when using RAID1 or RAID5. I would not even consider running today's big drives without some form of backup...and there is no way I'm going to use tape or DVDs to back up all of that. I currently have 12 drives in my system, and 8 of them are part of RAID arrays...and two of them are "hillbilly RAID"...where I have two matching drives with the same data put away in a closet in case one of those drives dies. The last two drives are for windows and a temp drive...and I don't mind if I loose any of that. I have not noticed any high failure rates with RAID...or at least not with quality hardware RAID. I'm afraid I can't agree with Sammorris on any hard disk related thing though...so he uses WD drives without RAID, and I use Seagate drives with RAID...I think he is a fool that is risking his data with single drives, and he thinks the same of me for using Seagate drives (he thinks I will have 2 drives in the same array fail at once). 2.) If you want to tune cable/satelite TV, a USB tuner is your ONLY option. Would PCI be more reliable? Perhapse, but it isn't even a choice. Also, newegg is not a choice, as they do not sell any cablecard compatable tuners. AFAIK, the only two tuners with cablecard support that are available to the aftermarket are both made by ATI (and neither is meant for the aftermarket). They are the same tuner, but one is setup to use a cardslot, and the other is external. Here is a link to the amazon listing (out of stock there, but you can usually find someone selling it through google)... http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Digita...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1271152145&sr=8-1
The reason I don't use RAID is that I actually agree with KillerBug in that RAID is only worth doing if done properly. However, the cost of doing RAID properly for my system would actually cost me more than to buy the equivalent number of hard drives new, along with a CPU, case, motherboard, power supply and so on to store them in. I could build my entire server again for less than it would cost me to RAID the system. Given that RAID is still far from risk free, I imagine that would be the better option.
I ran into the same problem; I'm out of ports, and to get just 4 more good ports would cost me about $500 (plus the drives)...that's why I came up with my hillbilly RAID approach...it isn't very useful if you have a lot of files that change frequently (thus, I still have both RAID5 and RAID1 arrays), but it is great for movie archives that fill whole drives and never change. This method also gives you the bonus of being more reliable than traditional RAID because you can keep your backup drives in a safe place, like a fireproof, waterproof safe (if you have one). Plus, you know that no virus, system failure, or anything else will damage both halves of a mirror at once.
Indeed, the bulk of the storage space I use is large files for either HDTV, HD Films or Game Images, so all files at least 1GB in size. Having two sets of drives really seems the most logical approach to a data backup. With the 500s now already retired, my aim is to replace the 750GB and some of the older 1TB drives in my server with 2TB drives, but preserve the data on them and copy, rather than cut. This I intend to be the firm introduction of a categorised drive storage system, something I previously avoided as one drive failure would mean a loss of most or all of a particular media type. So, instead of wondering which animated series is on which drive, it now will hopefully become as clear cut as an animation drive (no doubt + comedy as well, as animation won't fill anywhere near 2TB), a couple of films drives, perhaps one dedicated to serious/action films, and the other comedy/animated/whatever, a documentary drive, and so on. Having used 13 of the maximum 17 spaces for hard drives in my server case, 17 is going to be very cramped and make the thing almost immovable due to its incredible weight, so if anything, I should cut down on drives. There's a current max capacity of 12.25TB, so using 2TB drives, the number of drives required can shrink quite nicely
Sounds like a good plan. The next time I get a 1.5TB, I am going to use my old 500GB and 320GB pairs as the "static mirror" for it...and then the next 1.5TB will get "mirrored" to my pair of 750GB drives...I already bought the port multiplier I need to add more drives to the mainboard ports (and no, it will not work with a real RAID controller...I tried that first). Oh, and I am also building a new case bottom that will add room for 12 more drives, all with enough cooling for 15K drives; the paint is drying now. g0ds360 - Are you sure you want to start this addiction? Media Centers have a way of outgrowing their cases.
