Copy a bunch of cd/dvd

[Innuendo]

40hz: the software might be free, but the hardware isn't - and if you're using run-of-the-mill components, it's going to cost you in power consumption as well :/

-f0dder (September 28, 2009, 06:05 PM)

Yep, you take a look at a Qnap, Synology, or D-Link NAS and they use a mere pittance of power compared to a full-fledged PC running that free software. You eat up your initial savings pretty quickly.

[Nuri]

No need for it to be. Try any one of a dozen free open source servers. Won't cost you so much as a forint since they're all free for download. That's the beauty of FOSS. If the first one doesn't do what you want, just download and try out another.

I don't really need access to my data all the time, so think a NAS solution is still too expensive for me.
(And if I want to expand I just buy another 2 drives, with NAS I would have to change the whole thing,
or buy a new one if I hit the limit.)

[Innuendo]

Buying a NAS isn't the answer for everyone. A simple external drive would suit you well, but I would suggest you buy the drive and enclosure separately rather than buy an all-in-one solution. You will get a drive that has a longer warranty (external drives usually only come with a one year warranty) and if choose your enclosure carefully you'll get something with much more ventilation (which means longer drive life!) than a already-built solution.

[dwilbank]

I did exactly what you're doing.

After copying 800 gigs of files and throwing away the dvds, I lost everything I had copied on a Seagate Barracuda 1 TB drive. Non-recoverable. So get 2 drives and back everything up!

Anyway, I installed 3 DVD drives on the same machine, and started them copying them simultaneously to the hard drive. I used Teracopy to make the copies queue one after another, and ejected them by hand when they were all done. I had buttons and scripts programmed to eject the disks but found it was quicker just to press the buttons on the drawers themselves. Teracopy will play a nice chime when the copy is complete.

This works, of course, only if you're just copying files from the disks, and not ripping images.

[Nuri]

Buying a NAS isn't the answer for everyone. A simple external drive would suit you well, but I would suggest you buy the drive and enclosure separately rather than buy an all-in-one solution. You will get a drive that has a longer warranty (external drives usually only come with a one year warranty) and if choose your enclosure carefully you'll get something with much more ventilation (which means longer drive life!) than a already-built solution.

-Innuendo (September 29, 2009, 10:39 AM)

Yeah, I did exactly that.
Bought this one: http://www.sharkoon.com/html/produkte/externe_gehaeuse/sata_quickport_duo/index_en.html

After copying 800 gigs of files and throwing away the dvds, I lost everything I had copied on a Seagate Barracuda 1 TB drive. Non-recoverable.

Auch, sorry to hear that.