This isn't a particularly tech-y thread, I'd just like your opinions :)

 

I have a few series of the Simpsons, Friends and various other TV shows and movies. I was wondering whether you guys thought it would be worth ripping them all onto my computer? I doubt I'll watch them on their disk form.. but yeah I'd like to know what you guys would do? Seems somewhat random I know.

 

I know it would take quite a lot of storage, seeing as I have 14 series + movies to rip. What do you guys think harddrive-wise?

 

I currently have a 500GB and a 160GB(boot) harddrives, I was thinking of going to 1 2TB harddrive to store everything on? I can see having more than 2 hard drives might become a bit of a pain. Also, are there any programs that will allow me to 'combine' 2 hard drives, like making windows refer to my 2 hard drives (500 + 160) as a single 660GB drive? Is that possible? I don't think any RAID protocols allow this.

 

Also, is there any noticeable difference between 5400 and 7200 RPM drives? I'd prefer 7200, but I have no real experience with 5400. I'll be playing games a fair bit, like Flight sim, and watching video. And 32mb vs 64mb cache? Which is more important? Also, should I be looking for a sata 3 one or will sata 2 suit me fine?

 

Thanks.

 

Disclaimer: These rips would be from legally purchased DVDs that I have bought, and the resulting files would be for my exclusive personal use - they would not be used for filesharing.

 

EDIT: I'm 99% sure ripping is legal, at least in the USA.

I'm not entirely sure its worth ripping them at all, what's the advantages of doing so?

 

And as far as I know, it is legal to rip as long as its for personal use, which you said it was.

This isn't a particularly tech-y thread, I'd just like your opinions :)

 

I have a few series of the Simpsons, Friends and various other TV shows and movies. I was wondering whether you guys thought it would be worth ripping them all onto my computer? I doubt I'll watch them on their disk form.. but yeah I'd like to know what you guys would do? Seems somewhat random I know.

 

I know it would take quite a lot of storage, seeing as I have 14 series + movies to rip. What do you guys think harddrive-wise? I currently have a 500GB and a 160GB(boot) harddrives, I was thinking of going to 1 2TB harddrive to store everything on? I can see having more than 2 hard drives might become a bit of a pain. Also, are there any programs that will allow me to 'combine' 2 hard drives, like making windows refer to my 2 hard drives (500 + 160) as a single 660GB drive? Is that possible? I don't think any RAID protocols allow this.

 

Thanks.

 

Disclaimer: These rips would be from legally purchased DVDs that I have bought, and the resulting files would be for my exclusive personal use - they would not be used for filesharing.

 

EDIT: I'm 99% sure ripping is legal, at least in the USA.

 

Well sadly it is the other 1%. Ripping isn't legal in the USA since it violates the DMCA (many will say it falls under fair use, but it doesn't).

 

But everyone does it, and I don't think anyone has ever got in trouble for it (unless they then upload those files to others), so it isn't a bad idea. I love having all my media on my media server.

 

Luckily you don't have too many series to rip, and they are only DVD, so the space shouldn't be too bad. You should be fine fitting that all on the 500gb. I have two 1.5tb+ one 2tb +about 1tb in 7 other random hard drives, it's not too bad to manage it all. You get used to what is stored where pretty easily. You also don't need to worry about it too much either, whatever program you use can just be pointed to all these different places and it will all show up in one place.

[bleep] the DMCA

 

5400 RPM drives are slower, but better for storage as they use less power and don't wear out as fast. If you're looking to rip all those shows, I'd get a Western Digital Caviar Green drive, they're cheaper and more reliable than faster drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%20600003269&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

 

 

I would say go for a large hard drive and keeping everything on there. You could get a 1.5 TB for as little at $60. As far as ripping them on the computer, as long as you don't distribute it then I see no foul play. If your just using your hard drive as storage then the only reason I would see RPM and cache being a factor to you is that amount of data transfer the hard drive will have to take. It will take longer to read\write files on slower drive, and really when hard drives are this cheap there's no reason to not spend another 5 dollars to get a significant boost.