anyway I would have to a hard drive large enough to convert my FLAC files back to WAV

the aggravation, time taken, and plain inconvenience really does rule it out as a practical solution.

You could do them in batches -- you'd need to if you moved the WAVs onto DVD. Automating the process wouldn't be that hard, anyway.

That's what shell scripts are for .

To summarise:

Anyway, you don't want to, so the solutions you need to look at involve more storage space. In your case, obvious solutions are:

• More hard disks. Complicated -- cases are only so large, and you'll need more disk controllers. Take a look at the 3ware ones while you're casting around, though.
  
• Another computer, with the disks in it. This is probably my preferred solution.
  
• NAS, like having another computer, but low-maintenance, supposedly.
  
• Tape backup. Still relatively cost-effective for archival purposes. Looking less attractive by the day.
  
• DVD-RAM or DVD-RW -- I don't know enough about this to comment sensibly.
  

The disadvantage of the first three is that there's no sensible backup strategy -- do you really want to rip all of those CDs again in the event of a disk failure? -- whereas the last two are their own backup strategy.

I raised the lossless encoder issue because it's something I've been looking at, and I thought it could be of help to you. It's certainly likely to help other people who are looking at archival solutions.

the point of this thread

Everyone knows that threads in this forum never stay on-topic. Jammy Dodgers anyone?