Storage Solutions for our OUT-OF-CONTROL iTunes Libraries

[Sweetfeld28]

Has anyone here that has a Drobo, also added the NAS Drobo base to their Drobo? I mean if you did this wouldn't you be able to have the iTunes folder on it like an external, and stream your music from that? also, does the Drobo backup like normal with the base added, or does it turn the whole
Drobo into a NAS Drive?

 

[mpshay]

If you use Drobo Share (the base) then you can run the itunes server app and a few others. Not sure about your last question...you can still use it with time machine and run the time tamer app if needed.

I have the drobo share, but not currently using it. Like the performance with it directly connected to a Mac. I have 3 Minis (2 media center & 1 as a quasi server) that are all always on so that is where I use my 2 Drobos.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

If you use Drobo Share (the base) then you can run the itunes server app and a few others. Not sure about your last question...you can still use it with time machine and run the time tamer app if needed.

Cool, thanks for the info. You answered my questions perfectly. What i ment by the second comment was that in the video, it seems like they state that the Drobo turns into something different if you add that base, like changing the array or something?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Cool, thanks for the info. You answered my questions perfectly. What i ment by the second comment was that in the video, it seems like they state that the Drobo turns into something different if you add that base, like changing the array or something?

An iTunes server on an NAS is ok for serving music as a share to computers around the house, but it's no help for AppleTV or streaming videos.

 

[jcosmide]

Just picked up a Drobo, thanks largely in part to this thread (and incessant discussion on Macbreak/TWiT). I look forward to consolidating my 4 externals into it for Time Machine and SuperDuper backups of my iTunes library.

I may post a little write-up this weekend about it, not that there is any lack of basic Drobo information on the interwebs.

Edit: This purchase came after realizing that my inexpensive but risky plan to store a Time Machine backup in a dual-bay Raid 0 was, in fact, a terrible idea and would ultimately be a temporary measure.

 

[eegger]

I currently have a Mac Pro with 3 1TB HD's in it and have almost 2TB of Video's (drives independent of each other)

I looked devices like the drobo or setting up a server in raid 5, but just can't justify the cost. It's cheaper to just by more hard drives and archive them offline.

So I am replaceing 2 of the 1TB HD's with 1.5TB's and (copying the data from the 1TB to the 1.5TB) and giving me 1 more TB of space. I am just saving the 1TB's as my backup. effectively giving me raid 1,(just not real time) and then I will duplcate any new movies that get copied to the new drives and a 1TB external. plus I can take my 1TB HD and leave them at work for offsite backup.


I will just keep repeating this when larger HD come out and as a need space. when 2tb come down to 1-1.5TB Prices , just keep cycling down and sell off the old drive to pay for new ones.

Eventually I may setup a server, as I will have enough hard drives already availible

look at the cost (roughly) ( I have 2 x 3TB )

3 x 1TB + 2 x 1.5 TB = $560

vs

to have 3 TB in a drobo (2 x 1TB + 2x 1.5TB) would would spend almost $1000 and you have a failure you are stuck with the drobo file formate, vs my hard drives can go anywhere or in anything


I do realize this is easier in a mac pro , but you could do the same with single or dual external enclosures, just buy 2 and copy to each.


I might also prioritize what I really want to save and what movies I could care less about losing. this would free up even more space to use.

 

[prostuff1]

Would that be this unraid server: http://lime-technology.com/

If so how do you like it? I have seen other reviews IE avscienceforum.com etc. Just wondering how a Mac user likes it.

I love it. The forum over there is great and always helpful. The product is advancing very nicely and when version 5 comes out there should be a lot of things that can be done that are not currently easily doable. I run a "special" distro of unRAID that was created by one of the forum members called bubbaQ that has some extra apps and stuff built in. I run all of my torrents on the server now using rtorrent on the backend and with wtorrent (web interface) on the front end. This allows me (with some prot forwarding) to get to the web interface from where ever i am. I can start torrents on the server from my work if i want, or from my parents house.

I am running the Pro version and currently have 5TB of space in the server. That is 2x1.5TB, 1x1TB, 2x750GB, 2x500GB, 1x160GB. One of the 1.5TB drives is the parity drive (this allows me to recover from one drive failure) and the 160GB drive is my cache drive. The cache drive is only in the pro version and is sort of a temporary storage drive when you are writing to the server. It allows for faster writes initially and then in the middle of the night a script is kicked off that moves the data to the correct place. It works pretty well for me and I have been learning a lot in the process.

Read up on there forums and on the wiki and you should get a pretty good feel for things. I really can't say enough about unRAID and how much i like it.

I will point you to this thread so you have an idea on what kinda computer i ended up building. Those pieces and part are not exactly what i used but check out my post about the main piece of my rig over at the lime-tech forums. Also look through the whole thread to get an idea of what everyone else has put together.

OK, I will stop there for now. Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.

I currently have a Mac Pro with 3 1TB HD's in it and have almost 2TB of Video's (drives independent of each other)

I looked devices like the drobo or setting up a server in raid 5, but just can't justify the cost. It's cheaper to just by more hard drives and archive them offline.

So I am replaceing 2 of the 1TB HD's with 1.5TB's and (copying the data from the 1TB to the 1.5TB) and giving me 1 more TB of space. I am just saving the 1TB's as my backup. effectively giving me raid 1,(just not real time) and then I will duplcate any new movies that get copied to the new drives and a 1TB external. plus I can take my 1TB HD and leave them at work for offsite backup.


I will just keep repeating this when larger HD come out and as a need space. when 2tb come down to 1-1.5TB Prices , just keep cycling down and sell off the old drive to pay for new ones.

Eventually I may setup a server, as I will have enough hard drives already availible

look at the cost (roughly) ( I have 2 x 3TB )

3 x 1TB + 2 x 1.5 TB = $560

vs

to have 3 TB in a drobo (2 x 1TB + 2x 1.5TB) would would spend almost $1000 and you have a failure you are stuck with the drobo file formate, vs my hard drives can go anywhere or in anything

I do realize this is easier in a mac pro , but you could do the same with single or dual external enclosures, just buy 2 and copy to each.


I might also prioritize what I really want to save and what movies I could care less about losing. this would free up even more space to use.

Check out the system and links i provided above. If you don't mind having another computer plugged in then you can place all of those drives into the server (drives can be any size in an unRAID server, the largest just has to be the parity) and still have the data protected.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Just picked up a Drobo, thanks largely in part to this thread (and incessant discussion on Macbreak/TWiT). I look forward to consolidating my 4 externals into it for Time Machine and SuperDuper backups of my iTunes library.

I may post a little write-up this weekend about it, not that there is any lack of basic Drobo information on the interwebs.

Edit: This purchase came after realizing that my inexpensive but risky plan to store a Time Machine backup in a dual-bay Raid 0 was, in fact, a terrible idea and would ultimately be a temporary measure.

I've read about enough Drobo failures (as in the Drobo unit itself) that totally destroys ALL DATA that I would never consider buying one at this point. I don't trust RAID 5 or Drobo. Any time you depend on a system to restore data systematically instead of having a FULL SEPARATE backup, you are asking for trouble, IMO unless you have more than one of those backups available in total. I'd rather have two 2TB drives with complete and total backups on them (e.g. Carbon Copy Clone) than three 1TB drives with the same relative amount of storage. I'd just feel safer even if the prices were similar (I won't say performance better since Drobo is pretty darn slow even with FW800 whereas I get 80+MB/sec with internal dual sata).

 

[eegger]

I love it. The forum over there is great and always helpful. The product is advancing very nicely and when version 5 comes out there should be a lot of things that can be done that are not currently easily doable. I run a "special" distro of unRAID that was created by one of the forum members called bubbaQ that has some extra apps and stuff built in. I run all of my torrents on the server now using rtorrent on the backend and with wtorrent (web interface) on the front end. This allows me (with some prot forwarding) to get to the web interface from where ever i am. I can start torrents on the server from my work if i want, or from my parents house.

I am running the Pro version and currently have 5TB of space in the server. That is 2x1.5TB, 1x1TB, 2x750GB, 2x500GB, 1x160GB. One of the 1.5TB drives is the parity drive (this allows me to recover from one drive failure) and the 160GB drive is my cache drive. The cache drive is only in the pro version and is sort of a temporary storage drive when you are writing to the server. It allows for faster writes initially and then in the middle of the night a script is kicked off that moves the data to the correct place. It works pretty well for me and I have been learning a lot in the process.

Read up on there forums and on the wiki and you should get a pretty good feel for things. I really can't say enough about unRAID and how much i like it.

I will point you to this thread so you have an idea on what kinda computer i ended up building. Those pieces and part are not exactly what i used but check out my post about the main piece of my rig over at the lime-tech forums. Also look through the whole thread to get an idea of what everyone else has put together.

OK, I will stop there for now. Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.





Check out the system and links i provided above. If you don't mind having another computer plugged in then you can place all of those drives into the server (drives can be any size in an unRAID server, the largest just has to be the parity) and still have the data protected.

I looked at that , while it's cool and impressive, thats not what I am going for. I could build my own for about half the cost on their site, but I just like the Idea of 2-3 large hard drives in my system and using my older drives to back those up. I only Raid I would trust is Enterpise level Raid and I dont want to spend the $ for that, plus it really doesnt give me anything more that what I really have.


I like KISS, (Keep It Simple Stupid)


Plus any Raid is still not a backup, you still need a backup!!!!!!!

 

[prostuff1]

I looked at that , while it's cool and impressive, thats not what I am going for. I could build my own for about half the cost on their site, but I just like the Idea of 2-3 large hard drives in my system and using my older drives to back those up. I only Raid I would trust is Enterpise level Raid and I dont want to spend the $ for that, plus it really doesnt give me anything more that what I really have.


I like KISS, (Keep It Simple Stupid)


Plus any Raid is still not a backup, you still need a backup!!!!!!!

The thing to remember about unRAID is that it is NOT RAID!!


The prices for there prebuilt servers are actually pretty good. They are quite a bit of money up front but you will have expandability for a long time to come.

I built my server for around $350 total and it is currently holding 8 drives and my data is fairly well protected from failure.

For me, KISS is what I have done. I had multiple externals at one point and it got to the point were i had crap spread on multiple drives. iTunes on one, Photos on another, TV Shows on one, DVD on one, etc. By building the server I have centralized everything into one place and i can not access it from anywhere in the house via wired or wireless connection. Also, anyone that wants access to the content can also be added as a user and be up an running.

 

[eegger]

I have the essentially the same thing, just do not need a extra server.


Here is my main 2 rooms, the living room and main bedroom.

I have 4TB in my Mac Pro for Vid's and Music/Photo's and a 1TB backup for new data and a 3TB archive of older data




So if my house burns, my most of my data doesn't

 

[Shuttleworth]

FivePoint, I was inspired by your diagram and went ahead and put mine together:


Click for Detailed PDF


Storage and backup are a big thing for me. Not only do I have my iTunes library to worry about, but I'm a photographer so my life's work is stored on HDDs! I've put together a very redundant system of Local HDDs, Online storage, a local Time Capsule, and an Aperture Vault and Pocket HDD in a bank safety deposit box.

Have a look at the PDF for a close up.

Btw, with regards to stacking, I thought it over and decided to put the Time Capsule on my work bench instead of stacking it with the tv.

Where is your Aperture library? Is it networked or on the MBP internal drive? If it's networked, I take it it still runs acceptably fast?

 

[robotartfashion]

I have 4TB in my Mac Pro for Vid's and Music/Photo's and a 1TB backup for new data and a 3TB archive of older data




So if my house burns, my most of my data doesn't

do you backup over the internet? if so how? i'm a photog and i've been trying to figure out the best way to do this

just wondering

 

[prostuff1]

do you backup over the internet? if so how? i'm a photog and i've been trying to figure out the best way to do this

just wondering

I just signed up with Mozy for there $5 a month unlimited storage thing. Have not gotten a chance to try it out yet but will be doing so sometime this week. Probably going to back up my home folder along with some of the stuff on my server.

 

[ipedro]

Where is your Aperture library? Is it networked or on the MBP internal drive? If it's networked, I take it it still runs acceptably fast?

I've tried a networked Aperture source but it isn't quick enough. Nonetheless, I need my library to be with me at all times. Many of my gigs come by spontaneously meeting somebody and showing them my Aperture portfolio (got it on my iPhone now too).

I put a 320GB in the MBP so my entire Aperture library is in there now.

 

[benlangdon]

so i had to buy another external drive case because im out of space, i had a 60gb laying around and really needed the space so i moved a couple things.

dude, someone donate a TB for me. come on im dying here.

 

[JPDeckers]

I just signed up with Mozy for there $5 a month unlimited storage thing.

Well, their unlimited has an acceptable use policy, and it seems they cap home users' bandwidth. Given that they ask $0.50 / GB in their Pro version, I doubt we can backup TB's of data over to them... You surely will hit the 'acceptable use' cap very quickly.

I use Amazon AWS - S3 myself for backing up my documents etc., this is what a lot of other parties are using themself too as underlying service. Costs are between $0.10 and $0.15/GB(/month), so backing up my 4 TB of movies to them will cost already $600/month for storage, leaving out upload costs...

This all without even looking at the actual bandwidth-max: My home connection has for example 1.5 Mbps up, so in a month I could upload roughly 400 GB, when uploading 24/7...

So for now I do not backup my movies, just my (relatively small) set of private documents, email & pictures. Everything else is for later (when 2 TB drives are cheap), I have the physical DVDs as backup

 

[Shuttleworth]

I've tried a networked Aperture source but it isn't quick enough. Nonetheless, I need my library to be with me at all times. Many of my gigs come by spontaneously meeting somebody and showing them my Aperture portfolio (got it on my iPhone now too).

I put a 320GB in the MBP so my entire Aperture library is in there now.

Thanks, I thought as much. I think I'll still have to keep out Aperture library on a 1TB USB drive local to the iMac and back it up to another USB drive attached to the Time Capsule, and a third offsite. Too many gigs of photo's to risk it, local backup is ok until you get burgled and they take the lot!!

One of the reasons we got the iPod touch was so my wife could carry a portfolio of her work with her, it's a good way of always having examples of your product with you (she makes jewellery).

 

[Advance The Man]

I recently got a 2TB MyBook external and the artist names are not in a file. i.e. MyBook\U2, etc.

I want to do this... MyBook\iTunes\U2

This will allow me to create files and not have them mixed up with the music. I've messed things up so many times, I would appreciate an answer on how you do it.

How do I change the target file location in iTunes?

 

[prostuff1]

I recently got a 2TB MyBook external and the artist names are not in a file. i.e. MyBook\U2, etc.

I want to do this... MyBook\iTunes\U2

This will allow me to create files and not have them mixed up with the music. I've messed things up so many times, I would appreciate an answer on how you do it.

How do I change the target file location in iTunes?

You have to tell it not to organize your music. The option is somewhere in the preferences. Uncheck that option and then point it toward the correct folder with the music.

 

[NightStorm]

I use Mozy to backup my iTunes purchases... I haven't had any problems with it (except for some client issues in the beginning) and it works fine. I currently have ~250GB of data there currently.

 

[Albion]

do you backup over the internet? if so how? i'm a photog and i've been trying to figure out the best way to do this

just wondering

I have a 4TB Drobo for mostly everything including my Aperture & iPhoto library and iTunes and iMovie library. Itunes is currently running at about 2.2TB between TV shows and Movies, mostly all MTR'd and Handbraked in Universal. I don't have a backup to the Drobo yet so I use Amazon S3/Jungle Disk to back up my documents and Aperture and iPhoto library as well as my iMovie files, the DVD's being the backup currently of my movie and tv content.

Highly recommend Amazon S3, certainly not the cheapest, but not likely to fall by the wayside either, and I would prefer to pay for peace of mind. Once the 2TB WD20EAS discs come down in price I'll upgrade my drobo to 2TB discs and get another 4 bay array (probably not Drobo) as a backup for it, so I can swap the discs out for offsite storage.

 

[ironjaw]

Albion: Two questions, how much do pay for Amazon S3 and why aren't you consodering another Drobo?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I got tired of waiting for the WD 2TB drives so I just bought two internal 1.5TB Seagate 7200 RPM Barracuda SATA drives for less than the price of ONE 2TB "green" (slower) drive. I'm about to move the data from one of my 500GB PowerMac drives over to the 1.5TB one in a little bit (disconnect the backup 500, copy the 500 to the 1.5TB and then disconnect the 2nd 500 and connect the 2nd 1.5TB and then copy the first to the second). I'll probably then get a cheap (less than $80) D-Link network enclosure and put the two 500GB drives in it and RAID them together to provide a 3rd backup of my iTunes library (about 700GB currently, although 300GB of movies are on a temporary external drive at the moment). If I need more space some day in the future, I'll simply change out the two 500GB drives with two 1.5TB drives and RAID them for 3TB and then once backed up onto them, RAID the two internal 1.5TB drives for 3TB internal.

 

[Albion]

Albion: Two questions, how much do pay for Amazon S3 and why aren't you consodering another Drobo?

15cents per GB per month.

Although unlike others I have had little or no problems with my Drobo, I am concerned that Data Robotics is a startup and therefore may not always be around. Given this and that their RAID technology is proprietary, I think I will look to a generic hardware disc array (see Macgurus.com) like a Burly and use the software RAID utility in Leopard. In this way, if the disc controller fails I won't lose my data forever, which could be the case if the Drobo controller went down and there was no more DRI. The chances are remote of course, but the weak link with the Drobo is their hardware, so I'm looking for ways to mitigate that.