iTunes outgrowing my 4tb drive

[westrock2000]

There is no reason to use RAID0 from a performance perspective. Streaming even 1080P video requires very little bandwidth...only about 2-4MBps for sustained...10-20MBps for the initial buffer. So do not consider RAID0 based on the performance increase. It's not worth it after the time you spend amassing a large collection.

RAID1 is the easiest way to get protection, but looses the most amount of space. RAID5 is a good compromise between space efficiency and protection. If you have a Mini (or anything less then a Mac Pro) then you will probably need to buy one of the Drobo type housings in order to get RAID5. Mac Pro's can use something like MacZFS software based redundancy (thus keeping cost low).

 

[Hesse]

Why not just stream?

I don't understand why you can't just stream your movies to your Apple TV. As long as you have good wifi you don't need your movies stored on any of your hard drives, just stream them easy. Also, why are you backing up your iTunes library, it's all linked to your Apple ID so you can always re-download it for free...

 

[paulrbeers]

I don't understand why you can't just stream your movies to your Apple TV. As long as you have good wifi you don't need your movies stored on any of your hard drives, just stream them easy. Also, why are you backing up your iTunes library, it's all linked to your Apple ID so you can always re-download it for free...

Most likely the OP didn't buy all his movies from Apple.

 

[Mindprey]

I don't understand why you can't just stream your movies to your Apple TV. As long as you have good wifi you don't need your movies stored on any of your hard drives, just stream them easy. Also, why are you backing up your iTunes library, it's all linked to your Apple ID so you can always re-download it for free...

This is personal collection of media that was not all purchased from iTunes.

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There is no reason to use RAID0 from a performance perspective. Streaming even 1080P video requires very little bandwidth...only about 2-4MBps for sustained...10-20MBps for the initial buffer. So do not consider RAID0 based on the performance increase. It's not worth it after the time you spend amassing a large collection.

RAID1 is the easiest way to get protection, but looses the most amount of space. RAID5 is a good compromise between space efficiency and protection. If you have a Mini (or anything less then a Mac Pro) then you will probably need to buy one of the Drobo type housings in order to get RAID5. Mac Pro's can use something like MacZFS software based redundancy (thus keeping cost low).

I am using a Mac Mini, and just started setting up a Drobo 5D. I'm not going for speed, just a reliable storage solution.

 

[Richdmoore]

Sorry I steered you toward a jbod setup with the trouble and cost you incurred. I have been using the jbod setup I described for months without any corruption issues. Maybe because my superduper is set up to copy new/changed files individually to the backup vs a block by block type of backup system?

Hopefully the drobo will work better for your situation. Sorry again.

 

[satcomer]

So I have then adding to my iTunes library quite a bit lately, and now my 4 TB drive is about to run out of space. I have a Probox with room for a total of 16tb. How do I best go about expanding my iTunes library at this point? The majority of my iTunes library are my HD movies. I would like to keep the next storage solution to a reasonable cost (ie, not a $600 box plus another $600 in drives), and keep the storage as a DAS to my late 2012 Mac Mini. The Mac mini acts as my itunes and photo server for my house.

Right now I have three 4tb Seagate drives in my Probox. Should I buy a fourth, and try to do a RAID 0 on the first two drives, then back them up on the next two drives?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Sounds as if you are going hog wild converting into all digital. So you would be terr with a five bay NAS from someone like Synology DS1813+. With its VPN server function (along with iOS apps) and you could enjoy that music/videos from anywhere.

Plus if you do get a Synology NAS the follow the instructions in this video.

 

[betman]

Any reason to store all that stuff?

Personally I wipe shows off my hard drive as soon as I watch them. Not only can I download them again for free at any time, but I can also stream them direct using Apple TV.

 

[salohcin]

Any reason to store all that stuff?

Personally I wipe shows off my hard drive as soon as I watch them. Not only can I download them again for free at any time, but I can also stream them direct using Apple TV.

Again, the OP's library is made up mostly of items not bought from the iTunes store. I would guess that it is mostly from Blu-rays/DVDs that the OP purchased. I have a rather large iTunes library myself and I'd say that less than 5% of it is actually from the iTunes store. Most of it is from my Blu-rays and DVDs.

 

[K4LK]

There is no reason to use RAID0 from a performance perspective. Streaming even 1080P video requires very little bandwidth...only about 2-4MBps for sustained...10-20MBps for the initial buffer. So do not consider RAID0 based on the performance increase. It's not worth it after the time you spend amassing a large collection.

RAID1 is the easiest way to get protection, but looses the most amount of space. RAID5 is a good compromise between space efficiency and protection. If you have a Mini (or anything less then a Mac Pro) then you will probably need to buy one of the Drobo type housings in order to get RAID5. Mac Pro's can use something like MacZFS software based redundancy (thus keeping cost low).

What software are you using to setup the RAID?

I feel like a slacker with only 1.7 Tbytes of iTunes library.

 

[westrock2000]

What software are you using to setup the RAID?

I feel like a slacker with only 1.7 Tbytes of iTunes library.

I'm using MacZFS, because my Mac Pro is quite a bit old at this point and does not (officially) support the newest software.

The newer and possibly more preferred version is OpenZFS which is designed for the newer Macs that have the 64 bit EUFI (BIOS)...not to be confused with a 64 bit processor.

The MacZFS version uses a older build of ZFS so it does not have several newer features, but it has the features I need to store media.

 

[Mindprey]

Sorry I steered you toward a jbod setup with the trouble and cost you incurred. I have been using the jbod setup I described for months without any corruption issues. Maybe because my superduper is set up to copy new/changed files individually to the backup vs a block by block type of backup system?

Hopefully the drobo will work better for your situation. Sorry again.

Not your fault at all. A lot of my research suggested JBOD was a logical and safe way to go. Something just didn't work out. It was a $400 learning lesson, but one that got me all of my data back and forced me to a better storage solution.

 

[rlogan814]

Is there any reason to back up iTunes movie purchases? I started my digital movie collection by ripping my blu-rays. since then I've purchased my movies and tv shows through iTunes. i'm up to 183 purchased movies and 43 seasons of tv shows. my blurray rips and photo library are on a 2 tb hard drive attached to my airport extreme. my purchased iTunes collection is on a 4 tb usb hard drive which is running out of space.

i stream everything through an apple tv or on my air or on my iPad. knock on wood, but i haven't had any internet connection issues for the past year. I can't think of a time when i've had to play a movie or a show off my mac mini with the attached hard drive. Do i really need a back up of the purchases?

I think the only thing i'm unsure of is what happens when iTunes no longer has the licensing agreement with a particular movie studio. if for example they don't renew with who ever made Hunt for Red October and that movie is no longer available for purchase, am i still able to stream it as a previous purchase or is it removed from my purchased library?

 

[Menel]

Got it. Raid 5 offers enough protection for me. A single drive failure and my data is intact. I have yet to have a single drive fail.

Burglary? Fire?

 

[reboot81]

Got it. Raid 5 offers enough protection for me. A single drive failure and my data is intact. I have yet to have a single drive fail.

What if your NAS/DAS unit fails? Can you put the disks in a similar unit and continue without any trouble?

 

[famous600]

What if your NAS/DAS unit fails? Can you put the disks in a similar unit and continue without any trouble?

Yes, and burglary/fire? My data is not nuclear launch codes. I dont need 50 copies spread around town in safety deposit boxes lol. And if there is a fire/burglary then it is what it is!

 

[sulliweb]

What if your NAS/DAS unit fails? Can you put the disks in a similar unit and continue without any trouble?

If it was a Drobo, then yes. Well, theoretically....

I have a Drobo, and that was a big selling point for me. Now, thankfully, I haven't had to try it, but according to the documentation, it is possible. You just have to put them all back in the new Drobo, in the same order.

From Drobo's website:
Drobo disk packs can be transferred and read (as a whole set only) from system to system. The new replacement Drobo device should boot up with all of your drive data intact and available.

I do keep a couple of external drives offsite as a backup in case of fire, flood, earthquake or tornado... but as far as failures. The Drobo is pretty solid. I use dual disk redundancy. I had one drive fail. I replaced it, while it was doing the rebuild, a second drive failed. It took the drive about 120 hours to complete the rebuild, but it did. I didn't lose a single video.

 

[bearcatrp]

Is there any reason to back up iTunes movie purchases?

If apple doesn't renew the contract with the studio, you will lose the movie. Has happened to allot of folks who tried to redownload and wasn't there.