Okay project rerip is going along fine

about1500 mp3 created so far and there assosiacted Flacs only another 3000 to go

reached a small stubbling block 53 gigs of flacs so far Arse and i only got 30 gig left on my disc

So shall i purchase another hard disc or so and tempt to set up the RAID thingy my motherboard can do

Or the slightly more expensive route of a DVD burner and stick everything onto DVDs.

Finances say hard disc but i think that DVD route may be a better route even though i am going to have to burn about 30 odd discs

I got a Sony DVD writer (DRU-510A) for my new PC. It was a good price for the features -- Teac and TDK both do something similar (and cheaper), but not in the silver colour.

DVD media's quite pricey, but this drive has the advantage that it can read/write DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/CD-R/CD-RW media. It won't do DVD-RAM, because (IIRC) they come in a caddy.

If I had more room in the PC, I'd stick another hard disk in there, though.

Personal suggestion -- both. You'll want the DVD writer for offline backups. You'll want the extra hard disk space, because shuffling DVDs is a pain in the backside.

Agreed, do both.
I didn't go for the Sony, but instead spent less than a third of the price on a TDK that only writes DVD+R. But I have nothing that needs DVD-R and am not likely to buy anything that needs it now.

Additionally, you can never have to much hard disk space. Somehow you will always find ways to fill it up, regardless of how big it is.

Lastly, avoid any raid setup just to get more disk space. Every array config (other than R0) will lose you at least one disk worth of space.
Raid 1 loses you 50% of your disk space
Raid 5 loses you one drives worth.
Raid 0 just spans the disks so you get full capacity, but you would be screwed if anything dies.

Well since both makes more sense and i have just had an offer of two interviews

i have decided to add another hard disc and get the DVD writer later or if i get real brave and buy a G5

Any tips on how i do this

Win2k machine one spare ide slot with one 120 gig hard disc partioned into 20 and 100 and a DVD rom with a CD Writer

You mobo must have 2 IDE channels. I have always been told its preferred to keep similar speed devices on the same channel (IDE cable one to CDR and DVD, IDE cable 2 to Hardrive 1 and 2). Remember you will probably need a jumper on each hard drive to set one to master and one to slave (should be marked on the drive how to do this). The 2 partitions on drive one should be no consequence, except the new drive will be the 3rd drive letter (CD and DVD, will probably move up one).

Right i have in my hand a shiny new 120 Gb drive a screwdriver some jumpers BIG hammer a copy of partion magic on a disc

PC has spare IDE plug (hate these short cables) booting hard disc as master with a CD writer as slave and other channel has a DVD reader on it.

So set this to slave plug it it and then ?

Some would advise you to move the CD writer and DVD drive onto the same IDE cable, then connect both hard drives onto the other IDE cable.

For the purposes of setting up your new hard disk (partiition, format, etc), you can just connect it (jumper set as slave) to the open connection on the DVD cable.

If the DVD and CD drive are of new enough specs to match the hard drive and mainboard IDE speed (Ultra 66, Ultra100, or whatever), then there may not be any real advanttage to grouping the hard drives on one cable, and the removable drives on the other.

edit - Some mainboard/cables/drive combinations require that the device set as "master" on each IDE cable must be connected to the END of the IDE cable, and the slave device (if any) connects to the middle connector.

You can use the hammer to install the drive mounting screws, as screwdrivers are only for undoing screws

You may not need PartitionMagic, depending on your OS. Boot up after connecting the new drive, you may be able to partition and format it just using the OS.

The hard disk was probably the better route to go, IMO. Sure, you can back up as many discs of MP3's as you want, but you'll take up dozens of discs (as you said), which would make it less convenient than the CDs to begin with (you have to find which disk your song is on). Plus, unless you want to spend lots of money on rewriteable disks, you've got a static collection on your hands.

The 120 HDD was a better idea.

You've probably got two IDE channels. There should be two IDE connectors on your motherboard. One is primary, one is secondary.

Each IDE cable should have 3 connectors -- one end for the motherboard, and two connectors for peripherals.

Make sure that the existing hard disk is jumpered as master, and is on the primary channel. Jumper the new disk as slave and plug it into the other space on the primary channel. Make sure that you get pin 1 (the red wire) the right way round. The connectors are usually keyed.

Jumper the CD drive and the DVD drive as master and slave (doesn't particularly matter which) and plug them into the secondary channel.

Turn the PC on. You shouldn't need Partition Magic. Windows (I assume that this is your PC, not your Mac) should just do the right thing.

You should also be able to see the drive in Win2K's disk management.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management

Right click on the NEW drive, choose format.

But Roger's right, it should be pretty simple.

Right click on the NEW drive

Since you are (or may be) changing which devices are on which IDE ports, be sure to double check which devices are which in Windows AFTER your new drive is connected - don't assume all the drive letters stayed as they were - check!

Formatting one's existing drive makes for a bad day.

Its pluged in its booted and its formating

Can't see my DVD reader anymore probably jumpers

Didn't need the big hammer



yet

if you're going to get a hdd, then get this. hotswappable and portable file server.

It won't do DVD-RAM, because (IIRC) they come in a caddy

My philips came with a DVD-RAM that was not in a caddy. Not to be contrary.

Right now got loads of space so project rerip can continue

Damn big pile left

DVD-RAM that was not in a caddy. Not to be contrary.

No problem. I wasn't sure, hence the IIRC. It turns out that you're right -- they just come as normal media. I wonder where I got that idea from. I also wonder why the Sony/Teac/TDK drives don't support it.

From the DVD Demystified FAQ

However, [DVD-RAM]'s not compatible with most drives and players (because of defect management, reflectivity differences, and minor format differences).

Also:

Single-sided DVD-RAM discs come with or without cartridges. There are two types of cartridges: type 1 is sealed, type 2 allows the disc to be removed. Discs can only be written while in the cartridge. Double-sided DVD-RAM discs were initially available in sealed cartridges only, but now come in removable versions as well.