TheDonkey
Eat my bearrrrrrrrrrr, Tonighttt
+163|5687|Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hey guys, so I'm looking at possible ways to bring all my movies, music, and other assorted data with me to University.

I have a DD-WRT router with a USB port, so I plan on using it as a SAMBA server with whichever USB hard drive solution I choose. I'm just looking to hear any opinions of my situation or any suggestions.

I just got a laptop which I will be taking with me, my desktop is staying home so the hard drives can be ripped out.

Option 1: Purchase 3 USB Enclosures (~$20 each) and use my USB hub to connect the three hard drives currently in my PC to the router and share them out.
Pros: Cheapest of all options, but only marginally.
Cons: Three drives are clunky, also it would take a lot of shuffle data around so that the drives can be EXT3 formatted. (As needed for efficient Samba sharing on DD-WRT

Option 2: Buy a WD Elements Black 2tb drive. It's $100 at Ncix until the 20th. Plug that directly into the router.
Pros: Clean looking, most energy/processing power efficient, easy to take the actual drive with me if ever needed (going to be away from my dorm and/or offline for an extended period)
Cons: Most expensive option. Not sure if I can/should spend that much. (We're trying painfully hard to scrape buy to pay tuition and for textbooks). The drive inside is also a Caviar Green from what I read which is slower than the main drive that would come from option 1. (I have 1tb 7200rpm, and 2 Caviar greens in 500 and 320gb)


Option 3 is something different but I've also considered it: Buying a $100 2 bay NAS enclosure, putting the 1tb and 500Gb drives in there, and calling it a day.
Pros: Would relieve the slight worry that I have about the read/processing speed of the router. It's got a 320mhz processor but it really isn't intended for this purpose. Forums/others say it can sustain about 8MB/s, sometimes up to 12MB/s.
Cons: Matches the WD Black in price, not as portable, not as much capacity. (1.5 vs 2tb)



In any option, I'd like this to be an always-on box. I'm renting a VPS and my plan is to set up auto-torrents of TV shows and stuff, then have them automatically transfer to my local drives over a secure FTP/VPN.


Sorry for the long read, but hopefully someone can help me out with these options.

(Sidenote, I'm Canadian so prices may be higher than expected)
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
I'd consider studying instead of re-watching films on your computer.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
jsnipy
...
+3,276|6492|...

You seemed to put a great deal of energy in laying your options out with emphasis expressing your "knowledge" of lot of different things. Sounds a bit like you over-thinking it.

What is the budget? How important is potability? You setting up samba because ... ?
your roomate walks in "damn that is an ugly, bulky setup you got ther"
option two "wow that's such a clean drive there.. you are the man. wanna party ?"
TheDonkey
Eat my bearrrrrrrrrrr, Tonighttt
+163|5687|Vancouver, BC, Canada

jsnipy wrote:

You seemed to put a great deal of energy in laying your options out with emphasis expressing your "knowledge" of lot of different things. Sounds a bit like you over-thinking it.

What is the budget? How important is potability? You setting up samba because ... ?
I'm willing to spend $100, but would very much not rather.

Portability isn't crucially important, but it would be nice to have since I'd be going home in the winter/summer.

Samba is the easiest way to keep the drives connected to a laptop, keeps from having to carry the drive around. Also, with the VPS, it keeps the drive online all the time so that the VPS can offload any new stuff it downloads.
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6470|so randum

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

your roomate walks in "damn that is an ugly, bulky setup you got ther"
option two "wow that's such a clean drive there.. you are the man. wanna party ?"
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella
mikkel
Member
+383|6571

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

your roomate walks in "damn that is an ugly, bulky setup you got ther"
option two "wow that's such a clean drive there.. you are the man. wanna party ?"
Went from hard drives to yaoi in a single sentence.
max
Vela Incident
+1,652|6537|NYC / Hamburg

External enclosure, attach directly to laptop?
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot  xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.
Benzin
Member
+576|5968

max wrote:

External enclosure, attach directly to laptop?
This would likely negate the VPS option, though, right? I mean, it could obviously be done but then his laptop would be pulling server duty. It's definitely the cheapest option but provides the least amount of space for him.

I would say a brand new 2TB external is the best bet for you. It's a shame that you're strapped for cash (a Drobos would be the coolest option) but the 2TB drive would give you a lot more user friendliness. You don't want to be hassled with your drives like in the first option just to save a few bucks and have more stress and less storage space. Pretty simple decision here, if you ask me.
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6470|so randum
ok seriously what kim said is true. uni first year is a cold hard place where you either make m8 m8s and fuckbuddys or be consigned to 'that dude who lives on our floor'.

dont be the guy who spends his evening adjusting his harddrive

#winning
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella

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