Backing up DVD / blu ray & CD collection?

[Technique]

I was thinking about this more yesterday. Weirdly I became more & more interested in it the more i thought about it whereas usually when so much learning & effort are required (learning may not be required for those who know it all already but a lot of the terms here are new to me) I tend to just say forget that it's not for me.

 

AUDIO

 

Thinking more about this i think it would have to be in .mp3 format. I guess from what i read that that is not 'true' lossless but for the CDs i've ripped i can't tell a difference. I listen to my music on iPod's and if my iPod is acting up then a CD with mp3s on it which will be used in my car. What i'm saying is, absolutely everything i use to play music recognises .mp3s ... but FLAC on the other hand? Can i be bothered with the hassle of converting it to a format that can be played on what i'm about to use? Probably not.

 

As far as copies of music go i think it will almost certainly be for backup (your standard backup) purposes only, for me to go to in the event i lose a CD or one breaks. I don't think i would use it for streaming around the house on various devices.

 

DVD

 

This is a little different in that i would be wanting more than your standard backup. I would be wanting to access it through my smart TV in my living room to pull movies at will. The image and audio quality would have to be 1:1 - no worse than the DVD (or blu ray) it came from.

If it helps then i can remove things like subtitles for those who are from Timbuktu but i would need the English subtitles for sure and possibly also the Special Features.

At this moment in time I can't see me needing to stream it from outside of the house. Hotel WiFi in my experience is generally crap so i'm not convinced it'd be worth it. Besides, when we go away we only use a hotel to sleep in as we're out all the time anyway. We have no kids and no plans for kids so that keeps a lid on that issue.

The only other one i could think of is if we went to a relatives house and we were all wondering what we could watch, but i can't even remember the last time that happened so God knows when the next time it'll happen.

 

BOTH

 

I do like the idea of Budman's professional looking library - where it shows the DVD or CD front cover and other information, rather than just a basic list of movie titles and that's it. Having seen this then it's something i think i would certainly want.

 

2 THINGS

 

1) Best location for this drive? I'm guessing if it's a drive that's actually in an enclosure then somewhere near the TV (i have an ethernet hub behind the TV where my router, Wii U, TV & satellite devices are connected to).

2) While i understand it being called a 'library' it is at the same time a backup isn't it. It will take a lot of time to put this backup/library together, so imagine how P'd you'd be if the drive failed for example. So how do you backup...the backup? Where do you store it? Let's be honest, the chances of your house burning down are unlikely. Possible but unlikely. I'm just wondering what you do to make sure the backup/library is backed up?

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, Technique said:

I was thinking about this more yesterday. Weirdly I became more & more interested in it the more i thought about it whereas usually when so much learning & effort are required (learning may not be required for those who know it all already but a lot of the terms here are new to me) I tend to just say forget that it's not for me.

 

AUDIO

 

Thinking more about this i think it would have to be in .mp3 format. I guess from what i read that that is not 'true' lossless but for the CDs i've ripped i can't tell a difference. I listen to my music on iPod's and if my iPod is acting up then a CD with mp3s on it which will be used in my car. What i'm saying is, absolutely everything i use to play music recognises .mp3s ... but FLAC on the other hand? Can i be bothered with the hassle of converting it to a format that can be played on what i'm about to use? Probably not.

 

As far as copies of music go i think it will almost certainly be for backup (your standard backup) purposes only, for me to go to in the event i lose a CD or one breaks. I don't think i would use it for streaming around the house on various devices.

 

DVD

 

This is a little different in that i would be wanting more than your standard backup. I would be wanting to access it through my smart TV in my living room to pull movies at will. The image and audio quality would have to be 1:1 - no worse than the DVD (or blu ray) it came from.

If it helps then i can remove things like subtitles for those who are from Timbuktu but i would need the English subtitles for sure and possibly also the Special Features.

At this moment in time I can't see me needing to stream it from outside of the house. Hotel WiFi in my experience is generally crap so i'm not convinced it'd be worth it. Besides, when we go away we only use a hotel to sleep in as we're out all the time anyway. We have no kids and no plans for kids so that keeps a lid on that issue.

The only other one i could think of is if we went to a relatives house and we were all wondering what we could watch, but i can't even remember the last time that happened so God knows when the next time it'll happen.

 

BOTH

 

I do like the idea of Budman's professional looking library - where it shows the DVD or CD front cover and other information, rather than just a basic list of movie titles and that's it. Having seen this then it's something i think i would certainly want.

 

2 THINGS

 

1) Best location for this drive? I'm guessing if it's a drive that's actually in an enclosure then somewhere near the TV (i have an ethernet hub behind the TV where my router, Wii U, TV & satellite devices are connected to).

2) While i understand it being called a 'library' it is at the same time a backup isn't it. It will take a lot of time to put this backup/library together, so imagine how P'd you'd be if the drive failed for example. So how do you backup...the backup? Where do you store it? Let's be honest, the chances of your house burning down are unlikely. Possible but unlikely. I'm just wondering what you do to make sure the backup/library is backed up?

AUDIO:

 

The reason for FLAC is that it does a certain amount of compression but is lossless. So it maintains the "purity" of your original media provided a proper copy progam like EAC is used.

 

Then you make a 2nd copy from the FLAC to MP3 on the hard drive for devices. Audio takes up such little storage that this is very practical.

 

DVD:

 

Making exact copies means they behave identical to the original. Nothing more to say other than multiply 200 x 6 gigs to estimate storage (Most DVD use 5 gigs, but many use the full 8 gigs)

 

Converting DVD format to single file copies for easier media consumption should only be considered after reading and asking questions here. In general "transcoding" or re-compressing any Audio or Video media that has already been compressed has the potential to introduce all sorts of artifacts and loss of quality when different algorithms make different decisions on which parts to "throw away" in lossy compression. That's why you want your audio in FLAC.

 

For Video, it is even more complex since there is NO (commercial) video that does not start out with quality loss of one form or another and all Video includes storing only change information from "Key Frames" which varies from system to system. Now after saying all that, you should be able to encode your DVDs to a safe 2 gig file in x265 without being able to personally perceive any quality difference, even after staring at it for hours, and given what you have said so far about your perception of DVD quality I would guess 800 megs per DVD would also be a safe bet.

 

(if you experiment with compression, keep in mind that the resulting size can vary a lot between input material to get the same quality level, so use multiple sources in your experiments)

 

 

MEDIA SOFTWARE:

 

Read reviews and kick the tires by trying out free downloads of these (listed in random order) since many many of the criteria and conclusions people come to are very subjective in this area:

 

Plex - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plex_(software)

 

Kodi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodi_(software)

 

UMS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Media_Server

 

Emby - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emby

 

Serviio - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serviio

 

Media Portal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaPortal

 

and probably not for you but listed for completeness for people wanting to start with a more comprehensive serving the kitchen sink from your home to the  internet:

 

OwnCloud - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OwnCloud

 

 

LOCATION OF SERVER:

 

1. Anywhere it can't possibly be bumped by furniture moving, kids playing, curious visitors, frisbees, etc since spinning hard drives are fragile. Run LAN Cable to peaceful home office is good.

 

1.B) No vibration from passing vehicles, dancing, home stereo sub-woofers etc

 

2. Cool and dry, no direct sunlight

 

 

REAL BACKUP:

 

1. Buy a second drive for each drive you buy

 

2. attach to a different computer or NAS (perhaps in a different room or at least area of room)

 

3. Use backup software or set a scheduled mirror copy of some sort

 

OR

 

1. Pay $6 per month to Backblaze.com

 

 

[Technique]

Thanks very much for the post.

 

That's something that i would be avoiding at all costs though (no pun) - i don't mind 1 off payments but i don't like ongoing payments. Storing in 'the cloud' for a monthly fee, paying x-amount for a program each month/year. I don't like renting because it costs long term. I'll buy something - to keep, not to hire.

 

 

How would that backing up thing work though? I'm not quite sure how to phrase the question tbh.

For example - this week i received the Marvel phase 3 disc 1 box set. I can't remember how many movies in it off the top of my head but there's a few.

 

Let's say i rip them all to my primary NAS drive that i can access using my Smart TV. Well, i'll need a backup of that backup. To do the initial rip to the primary NAS will have taken an amount of time. I wont want to have to take the time (also known as remembering to do / be bothered to do) to then add this to the backup of the backup. It'd be good to be an automatic copy.

 

Question then though is if something is deleted from primary NAS drive, is it such a good idea to auto-delete from the backup of the backup? 9 times out of 10 i'd GUESS the answer would be probably. There's always that 1 time though....

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, Technique said:

Thanks very much for the post.

 

That's something that i would be avoiding at all costs though (no pun) - i don't mind 1 off payments but i don't like ongoing payments. Storing in 'the cloud' for a monthly fee, paying x-amount for a program each month/year. I don't like renting because it costs long term. I'll buy something - to keep, not to hire.

 

 

How would that backing up thing work though? I'm not quite sure how to phrase the question tbh.

For example - this week i received the Marvel phase 3 disc 1 box set. I can't remember how many movies in it off the top of my head but there's a few.

 

Let's say i rip them all to my primary NAS drive that i can access using my Smart TV. Well, i'll need a backup of that backup. To do the initial rip to the primary NAS will have taken an amount of time. I wont want to have to take the time (also known as remembering to do / be bothered to do) to then add this to the backup of the backup. It'd be good to be an automatic copy.

 

Question then though is if something is deleted from primary NAS drive, is it such a good idea to auto-delete from the backup of the backup? 9 times out of 10 i'd GUESS the answer would be probably. There's always that 1 time though....

Backing up stuff can be REALLY COMPLICATED involving the interaction of risk management, environmental control, cost, tech issues and psychology.

 

Psychology typically dictates that systems that are not automatic invariably FAIL. On the other hand systems that ARE automatic can have unanticipated glitches and failure modes.

 

Any backup plan should consider the risk factor - some data is more valuable than others. Irreplaceable items like business data and family photos usually top the list. On the other hand, although media like songs and movies seem easily replaceable, the labor hours involved in doing that often make it more worthy of a backup plan than people usually realize.

 

The actual methods and software of backing up stuff can vary a lot. A lot of people use mirroring or RAID within the same enclosure which really defeats the purpose and simply should not be even discussed as an option.

 

Actual backup software usually copies everything at the start, and then makes incremental (i.e. store only the difference) backups after that. If you delete media by mistake, it will still be backed up and restorable from a previous "generation" all of which will be configurable and can theoretical use up a lot more disk space over time depending on how many "generations" you keep. For example if you discover 6 months after the fact that you deleted something by mistake, you would need have specified your retention for more than that period!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_backup

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incremental_backup

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup_rotation_scheme

 

 

Many other considerations exist which means you need to read up on the subject or at least study the features of a few software products in this area:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_backup_software

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_backup_software

 

 

[Technique]

I think i have a version of Acronis True Image somewhere. IIRC 2012 was/is the version but i'm sure i had issues last time i installed it. It's a genuine copy, i paid for it but i think it went 'out of date' and then the update to the installer didn't work or something to that effect (can you tell i don't use my backup like i should?!) After reading about backups recently i see ATI getting panned a bit and a shift towards Macrium. I'm sure there's many other alternatives.

 

All this talk of ripping reminded me of something though - many moons ago i had a piece of software called DVDXCopy. It seemed to copy a movie to another DVD very well (or it may have been to a CD, i can't remember now). For me there was little to no obvious loss in quality but i understand it's been shut down long ago.

 

I have about 10 years worth of scattered backups so it would really help for the music alone to be put in a 'library. By scattered backups i mean i'd fill a drive, buy another, back up to that, it'd become so scrambled with a ton of various files that instead of just sorting through what i needed and didn't need i'd just buy another drive. Very silly.

[DevTech]

40 minutes ago, Technique said:

I think i have a version of Acronis True Image somewhere. IIRC 2012 was/is the version but i'm sure i had issues last time i installed it. It's a genuine copy, i paid for it but i think it went 'out of date' and then the update to the installer didn't work or something to that effect (can you tell i don't use my backup like i should?!) After reading about backups recently i see ATI getting panned a bit and a shift towards Macrium. I'm sure there's many other alternatives.

 

All this talk of ripping reminded me of something though - many moons ago i had a piece of software called DVDXCopy. It seemed to copy a movie to another DVD very well (or it may have been to a CD, i can't remember now). For me there was little to no obvious loss in quality but i understand it's been shut down long ago.

 

I have about 10 years worth of scattered backups so it would really help for the music alone to be put in a 'library. By scattered backups i mean i'd fill a drive, buy another, back up to that, it'd become so scrambled with a ton of various files that instead of just sorting through what i needed and didn't need i'd just buy another drive. Very silly.

You obviously didn't put much effort into reading the backup links I posted. It is a bit discouraging to attempt to help people when they don't put in the effort.

 

Acronis True Image is NOT a backup program, it is a disk imaging program (with its name being a good hint for that)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_backup_software

 

Anything that says "Yes, incremental" in the Versioning column is a possible candidate for you.

 

Just ignore the old software you have lying around. It will not be supported and there is a lot of good free software as well.

 

[DevTech]

I don't have a strong interest in backup software so I will leave it for other members to suggest alternatives, but after quickly reviewing the options on Wikipedia, Duplicati looks like it would do the job:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicati

 

https://github.com/duplicati/duplicati

 

https://www.duplicati.com

 

https://www.duplicati.com/download

 

https://updates.duplicati.com/beta/duplicati-2.0.3.3_beta_2018-04-02-x64.msi

 

Update: After glancing through the docs, it is rather impressive in its support of a multitude of online services. It also supports LAN based and local disk storage:

 

https://duplicati.readthedocs.io/en/latest/05-storage-providers/

 

[Technique]

17 minutes ago, DevTech said:

You obviously didn't put much effort into reading the backup links I posted. It is a bit discouraging to attempt to help people when they don't put in the effort.

 

 

A bit of a harsh and unfair comment to be honest.

 

If you'd have asked me before posting that i would've told you straight - i haven't yet read ANY of the links you provided. I work during the week and have limited time when i get home. My intention was to read them at the weekend when i have more time. I was simply checking in to see if there'd been an update on this thread (and also to post the other thread in this forum). I saw there'd been an update here and just responded briefly.

 

You'll have to forgive me for referring to ATI as a backup program on account of it being listed here

as backup software.

 

I don't know if software/program is the technicality here where you say it's not a backup program but i'm sure you'll have spotted by now that my knowledge in all of this is extremely limited - sort of like when old people refer to recording something as 'taping' still. It's technically no longer 'taping' but you know what they mean.

[DevTech]

4 minutes ago, Technique said:

A bit of a harsh and unfair comment to be honest.

 

If you'd have asked me before posting that i would've told you straight - i haven't yet read ANY of the links you provided.

If you want to consider a 100% accurate estimate as "harsh and unfair" I will fill out the paperwork to provide a full refund!

 

But I went ahead anyways and took a look at the "real" backup programs (on what is realistically an incomplete listing of perhaps hundreds of potential software products in that area) and it seems like Duplicati might do the job.

 

Also, I have not reviewed the feature set of the Media Software list I posted. It is possible that one of them have some sort of more media specific backup feature.

 

Personally, I just have a large collection of x265 encoded media files that I don't backup since I rarely view media twice. Although I miss a few of the artfully impressive DVD menu systems, it just isn't worth the trouble and disk space and the poor quality of DVDs are just too excruciatingly painful to my eyeballs in this day and age... My personal opinion does NOT invalidate your own subjective experience and objectives.

 

If you don't read stuff, I will continue to make "harsh and unfair" comments pointing that fact out but I never got around to installing the Internet Upgrade where I can make a giant arm come out of your computer screen and rap you on the knuckles so you are free to turn your eyeballs away from my observations.

 

 

 

[Technique]

22 hours ago, DevTech said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_backup_software

 

Quote

 

This is a list of notable backup software that performs data backups). Archivers, transfer protocols, and version control systems are often used for backups but only software focused on backup should be listed here. See Comparison of backup software for features.

Systems listed on a light purple background are no longer in active development.

 

 

 

 

Now i've not made this post here to try and say you're wrong. I don't tell anyone they're wrong when we're discussing a topic that the other person is clearly more knowledgable than me in, whether it's this topic or any other.

 

All i'm saying is with this post - you mention backup software (or program), i mention ATI in my post (not that it had any relevance as the post didn't lead anywhere tbh, i was just rambling) and you say it's not a backup program ... when it's listed on the "list of backup software" link you gave me.

 

As i've said numerous times, my knowledge on this is limited and by limited i mean non-existent, so surely you can see why i'd refer to ATI as a backup program (software) when everything i read, including the link you provide, refers to it as that.

[sc302 Veteran]

Acronis True Image is a back program and an imaging utility.  They have renamed Acronis True Image to Acronis Backup, the feature set has not changed.  You can open the image, map a volume as a drive letter (if you wanted), and restore pieces of the image (files if you will) as you would with any other backup software.  I have been a Acronis True Image User since 8.x

[Technique]

I was hoping to make moves on this soon and have it all wrapped up in no time.

 

I bet i'll be in to 2019 before i finish reading everything i've been given 🤣

 

I'm not complaining. I'd rather be given full info to try and learn more but damn i didn't think there'd be so much i had to learn. I thought it'd all be much more straight forward.

[DevTech]

I wouldn't want to harm another human being in any way unless it was some life and death situation.

 

It would be nice to invest a little extra time in some extra background explanations and tutorial type stuff but the people who run the forum have a very narrow view on that and when somebody else Googles out the great information the mods will yell necro post and lock the thread.  So over time I think most of the helpers become de-motivated and get a bit short, sometimes even snappy unless they are @goretsky

 

I explain it a bit here:

 

 

So it becomes almost impossible to build up any sort of knowledge base and repository of good useful information by cross-referencing and updating the incredible store of of valuable information at Neowin.

 

Like C-beams that glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate, all our work will be "lost in time, like tears in rain"

 

Hence, a far too brief description of backup options:

 

1. Anything that makes another copy of something is essentially a type of backup. So some people might use Disk Image software to duplicate a hard drive to an external disk and then put that disk on a shelf with many others and create a versioned full backup system. This is very awkward for the average user and the primary use-case for this software is to make an exact snapshot of an Operating System install with all the drivers and installed programs and tweaks and setup to restore a corrupted system without losing all that work.

 

2. A batch script with a bunch of copy commands which can get quite sophisticated with the Windows Robocopy command. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy

 

3. Sync software which keeps two or more directories as mirror images of each other, well known examples being rsync (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync), SyncThing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncthing), SparkleShare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SparkleShare)

 

4. Actual real backup software designed to make incremental backups and restore a particular version of a particular file. Duplicati is one example of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicati

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sc302 Veteran]

current versions of acronis do have version control.  It has offered deduplication for a while now...I think it started in 10 on the business versions.  I have not used the home versions.  And yes, they have included backup options if you fully loaded on the business versions since at least 10, not just used the bootable iso.  

 

Also the current version of Acronis True Image features state:

Quote

Flexible Management

Schedule times, configure destinations, and select from full image, incremental, differential or custom backup types.

Quote

 

Visual Control of Backups

View the status of backups, file sizes, backup speeds, and number of backup versions. You’ll even see color-coded displays of how many photos, videos, music and documents are available to restore.

 

 

 

It does a bit more than just image.  

 

I don't know if the home/consumer version always had this or if this is a newer feature.

[DevTech]

20 minutes ago, Technique said:

 

 

 

Now i've not made this post here to try and say you're wrong. I don't tell anyone they're wrong when we're discussing a topic that the other person is clearly more knowledgable than me in, whether it's this topic or any other.

 

All i'm saying is with this post - you mention backup software (or program), i mention ATI in my post (not that it had any relevance as the post didn't lead anywhere tbh, i was just rambling) and you say it's not a backup program ... when it's listed on the "list of backup software" link you gave me.

 

As i've said numerous times, my knowledge on this is limited and by limited i mean non-existent, so surely you can see why i'd refer to ATI as a backup program (software) when everything i read, including the link you provide, refers to it as that.

I complained you didn't read what I posted.

 

You answered back "i haven't yet read ANY of the links you provided."

 

That was just data that I observed as a possible impediment to progress well worth noting if an ongoing pattern.

 

Adding a tag to that data of "harsh and unfair" has relevance to your own media indexing system perhaps but is not one of the tags that I use. It would seem to make sense for you to use your own tagging system to skip things you don't like.

 

[Technique]

4 minutes ago, DevTech said:

I complained you didn't read what I posted.

 

You answered back "i haven't yet read ANY of the links you provided."

 

That was just data that I observed as a possible impediment to progress well worth noting if an ongoing pattern.

 

Adding a tag to that data of "harsh and unfair" has relevance to your own media indexing system perhaps but is not one of the tags that I use. It would seem to make sense for you to use your own tagging system to skip things you don't like.

 

Not really sure what you're saying here to be honest. So i'll just say ok great stuff & give you a big thumbs up and hope that makes sense to whatever you just said

13 minutes ago, sc302 said:

current versions of acronis do have version control.  It has offered deduplication for a while now...I think it started in 10 on the business versions.  I have not used the home versions.  And yes, they have included backup options if you fully loaded on the business versions since at least 10, not just used the bootable iso.  

 

Also the current version of Acronis True Image features state:

 

 

It does a bit more than just image.  

 

I don't know if the home/consumer version always had this or if this is a newer feature.

I just had a look at the installer - the version i have is Acronis True Image Home 2011. I do remember though that after i formatted the HDD and tried to reinstall it from that installer (this would've been like 2016) it no longer worked for some reason i think, or it wanted me to update and it failed to update. Bottom line is it no longer worked properly.

[DevTech]

26 minutes ago, sc302 said:

current versions of acronis do have version control.  It has offered deduplication for a while now...I think it started in 10 on the business versions.  I have not used the home versions.  And yes, they have included backup options if you fully loaded on the business versions since at least 10, not just used the bootable iso.  

 

Also the current version of Acronis True Image features state:

 

 

It does a bit more than just image.  

 

I don't know if the home/consumer version always had this or if this is a newer feature.

Any of the 4 backup categories I listed could be configured to work for his needs.

 

I like Acronis but it seems "off" for this task and the tech ability level etc. although my suggestion of "real" backup software is also overkill when I rethink it a bit since incremental versioned backups of static 8 gig DVD copy directories are not that useful either.

 

Some sort of straight up copy or sync system might be best but that could go bad which is why it would be nice if any of the media server software were to include this ability.

 

[sc302 Veteran]

The media server is already the backup of the physical media.   As long as the original media is stored someplace safe he is fine. Alternatively since it is a backup of a backup a few large usb2.5  drives to copy it would suffice as the backups of the backup. You could go nuts with backups of backups that backup backups. 

[DevTech]

2 hours ago, sc302 said:

The media server is already the backup of the physical media.   As long as the original media is stirred someplace safe he is fine. Alternatively since it is a backup of a backup a few large usb2.5  drives to copy it would suffice as the backups of the backup. You could go nuts with backups of backups that backup backups. 

1. I keep forgetting about the original optical disks because nobody uses those things anymore

 

2. Was straining for some sort of "install and forget about it solution" but I guess that is called Backblaze.com

 

[Rippleman]

While you may want higher quality, what I use to back up my movie collection is Google Photos for free. At first, people (including myself) assume its not usable since you can't have a folder and movie thumbnails but you really can in an indirect way.

Say you want to start with "Shrek" and wish to add it, 

1) Make a gmail account with the name you wish to use... "yournamemoviebackup@gmail.com"

2) Go to https://photos.google.com/

3) Upload the movie poster to your google photo movie account. It will ask you if you want to ADD to album, say yes, and name the Album "Shrek"

4) Upload the movie "Shrek" into it.

5) To see your movies in a thumbnail type selection, go to your google photos page and click on albums. 

 

That's it. Each movie needs its own album. When you do it this way, you will have unlimited backup space for as many movies as you watch. You can also see ALL your movies from any device where ever you are (as long as you have data or wifi).

 

If you NEED the HIGHEST quality and don't mind cost, you can store original quality versions but have to buy the space you need monthly/yearly. 

 

Google music will also be a place for you to store you music. They allow up to 100,000 songs. Free.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Rippleman

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

If you would like to get a general overview of backup technologies, several years ago I wrote a paper titled Options For Backing Up Your Computer [PDF].  It is about seven years old at this point, so some of the information about storage capacity in it is out-of-date, and it does not mention cloud backups at all, but it was meant to provide an overview of the different kinds of backups out there, and the technologies they use, and that has largely remained unchanged.  Perhaps you will find it of use.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[DevTech]

16 minutes ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

If you would like to get a general overview of backup technologies, several years ago I wrote a paper titled Options For Backing Up Your Computer [PDF].  It is about seven years old at this point, so some of the information about storage capacity in it is out-of-date, and it does not mention cloud backups at all, but it was meant to provide an overview of the different kinds of backups out there, and the technologies they use, and that has largely remained unchanged.  Perhaps you will find it of use.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

404:

 

https://www.eset.com/fileadmin/Images/US/Docs/Home/Staying_Secure/2205_19_0_EsetWP-OptionsBackingUpComputer.pdf

 

 

[+BudMan MVC]

Backing up DVDs with Acronis?  Wow has this made a left turn

 

The is a big difference in making a copy of your optical disk to an ISO and then storing that iso and then using something open that ISO so it works like the DVD menu and all.. Pretty sure you can do that with VLC... But have not done anything like that in YEARS!! 

 

You rip what you want off of that disk and put serve it up to your network.. If you want the commentary extra's then rip those as well...  But use of the actual menu that you see when you stick the disk in a player - UGGGH... Who would want that?? 

 

If that is the sort of "backup" you want then space is simple exact size of the media because with an ISO your going to get full size.. If its a 8GB optical disk and media on it takes up 4, your iso is going to be 8GB..  And good luck doing that with some disks since they put protection on them and media is encrypted.. How you can pull the media off is software determining the keys needed to decode the media, etc. This is how makemkv does it for example.

 

Do you want to move your media to a NAS/Serve and be able to watch it via an interface like Plex - have you had the time to check out their site?  Where you can search it and watch/listen to what you want when you want.. Or do you want a caddy of your disks in digital ISO format so you can toy with the old school DVD menus to get to your movie?

 

To be honest maybe your just better off doing what your doing and getting a bigger album so you can store 400 disks vs the 200 you have now

 

Yes moving to a digital media library is going to be a learning curve.. But your going to need to drop some of these old school notions.. For starters that 480p is good anything hehehe

 

I am one of the old ones around here, I remember when the first vhs came out and the the beta wars... When wife and I first got married we went with Beta... hehehe So I know how it was.. Here is the thing - nobody does disks anymore, nobody wants dvd menus   They want a simple interface they can search and call up their media and watch the content on any device..  This is what a NAS and Plex can do for you... If that is what you want then start learning.  Download plex, rip a movie or 2 and some media...   And start playing.. Once you get the idea you can worry about how much storage you need for your library, what sort of NAS might be best suited, etc.. But if you have a PC you can start playing with this right now and get hands on vs just talk of terms you don't understand.

 

Netflix generation...

 

Plex runs on windows, linux, mac so download it install it on your Box and rip some media into some libraries and come back with your questions.

 

All your doing with something like a plex server is putting Netflix in your home with your own library and Pandora at the same time with your Music..  And whatever you own media is as well.. Plex is not real friendly with home video and such in organization for example.. I don't have all my home video over on new setup... I rebuilt all my libraries when moved from old nas to new nas.. And have not gotten around to all the home video as of yet.. But for example kids and grandkids went to a cubs game this year and got on TV for a few seconds singing go cubs go.. So ripped some video of that off of mlb dot com of them doing that and put it on my server    So people come over its clickity clickity to show them that clip, etc.

 

How you use and consume media has come a long way from sticking a tape or disk in a machine.. So you can either join the party or continue to use your disks in the machine.. More than happy to answer any and all questions on how I run my library and what it takes to do it right, or on a budget... But it becomes more about the hobby of collecting and organizing more than anything else if you ask me..  For example some of my media is not listing that the audio is english and is saying unknown... So now I have a project to go through the entire library and fix that Should  keep me busy for a while heheeheh

 

 

[Technique]

I'm at work on my mobile right now so I'll keep this short & sweet and respond to anything else when I get home. 

 

Who mentioned backing up DVDs using Acronis?

If you think that's what I was getting at then you've massively misunderstood me. 

 

As as I say I'll reply more when I get home. 

[+BudMan MVC]

The topic is backing up dvd, bluray and cd..

 

How we got on Acronis was my point

Then there was a bunch of posts on is Acronis even backup software

 

So lets keep it simple - my advice.. Ditch the idea of keeping menus off your optical media... They serve no point if you convert to digital copies and serve them up off a media server.. If you want to save the different sound tracks you can do that, if you want to rip any extras of the media you can do that... But keeping the menu's for each optical disk is not optimal in actually viewing and accessing your library.

 

You can for sure rip the video from your media with out any loss of quality.. MakeMKV is going to just grab the video and place it in a mkv container.. Zero loss of quality to the video.  I would experiment with other forms of grabbing the video and changing the bitrates of the data using other formats and containers so your happy with the quality.. Ripping a BluRay can be quite large of a file... Do you really want to do that - that is up to you.. Again I would suggest you experiment.. Before making any sort of major effort in ripping your whole library.. Only thing I would suggest is whatever format and container you use to rip - your prob going to want your media server to serve that up to your different players without having to transcode it on the fly again to different format.. This requires horsepower of your media server to be able to do that - and will limit the number of simultaneous streams you might be able to handle.

 

Same goes for your audio - if you want to use a lossless format then sure you could use FLAC... But there are currently not a lot of common players that will play this format native.  Ie if you want to take some of your music into your car on a usb stick for example... So you might want to just find a good bitrate of mp3 rips that sounds good for you and your audio system you will be playing it on.. There is a big difference if your using some $$ audio system to listen to your music vs having your Echo Dot play it from your server for example.

 

I would say we table the discussion for a bit other than specific questions you might have on getting media server up and running and do your first few rips of your media.. Play with the different media servers - there are multiples to choose from.  I am a fan of plex and it is very simple and easy to use and admin.. And pretty much any nas is going to support easy install of it.

 

We can get to the topic of backing up or using parity on your ripped media after you have figured out the basics.  Since to be honest that is a topic all its own.

 

Moving your optical media to format that allows you to easy access it on the fly form any devices will in itself solve your question of backing up your media so it doesn't get damaged moving it in and out of your players, etc.. And can be stored in a safe place..

 

As you might of gathered from my lengthy posts - I could talk about this sort of tech for hours and hours It is a fun hobby of mine - and I am very vocal on my opinions on the matter.. Never take any of my comments personal either.  If I say 480p is sucky and ###### and useless.. That is my opinion - its also just fact.. <ROFL> But if your happy with that resolution on your large tv - then nothing wrong with that.  Especially if that is the media you have.. And are not looking to spend the money to get movie xyz on blueray at this time   To get the better quality video..

 

On a side note on extras that might be on your media - keep in mind that plex can if you tell it too list extra's that are available for some movie off of imdb and will list them off that movie so you could watch those without having to even rip them off your media.  Trailers are fun as well - if you have plex pass and someone is browsing your library and a trailer is available for the movie users can watch the trailer with a simple click if the plot summary plex pulls from the imdb is not enough to know if the movie is something they want to watch.