I'm getting more and more into archiving shows on a hard disk, because they watch so seamlessly with Tivo (and my Tivos don't put any kind of DRM or other junk when they are stored).

Right now I use my computer, but I'd like to either hook up a dedicated external to that computer (where the shows always go), or even better, network a server directly on the network.

This item looks too cheap to be true -- $94 for a Media Server.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WRIBN2/?tag=imwan-20

What do you think? I know it does not include the hard drive itself, but I could get a 1 TB hard drive pretty cheap, and just swap it out as the hard drives get bigger and cheaper down the road.

Am I right that I could just network this into my home network with a Cat 5 cable, and then share it with any device on the net? Seems ideal for HD shows, which take up about 5 GB an hour.

It doesn't come with a hard drive, for a starter.

It says 2 TB max, even though it doesn't actually include a drive ... does that mean it couldn't be upgraded to a 3 TB drive when those are available?

A better investment would be an Xbox 360 or a PS3, because they're super easy to turn into media servers. Or like a Mac Mini would work too.

I have one. But it doesn't function as a media server on my network. Costs twice as much as this thing.

And it only has an 80GB hard drive. And the new ones only have 160 GB.

My computer has 500 GB and I have external drives for it. I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to get a monster storage capacity drive on the system. Not trying to figure yet another way to figure out to play the content. I've got that. Need more storage.

How do you watch them now? If you still intend to stream to a device, what device?

Two Tivo HD's and a PS3. My choice.

Stick with the PC solution and add storage. Just use Windows Media server; you can stream to any device with that. If you need more formats that it doesn't support, you'll have to use TVersity or PS3 Media server (the latter only works with PS3 and Xbox afaik).

I have no internal bays in my main computer. What's the best way to hook an external drive to it? What kind of wire? USB seems kind of bush league for a full time drive, but if I got a good powered one, is that the best solution? Is USB 2.0 respectably fast?

I suppose I should just get a 1 TB external -- here's one for only $94 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D7REJ4/?tag=imwan-20

I was thinking it wasteful to pay for external drive if I'm going to get bigger and bigger. But it's not really worth the extra $94 just to be able to buy and internal 2 TB drive. (And like Linda, I don't understand why it would be limited to 2 TB).

But I was always intending for my computer to be the true brain of the server -- running PlayOn for the PS3 and Tivo Desktop (which is like the PlayOn for the Linux Tivo boxes).

But with these standards converging around DLNA and stuff like that, the day is coming when you don't need a box (or much of one).

I just did a test -- copied a one hour program to a USB external Passport in 60 seconds. It was about 3 GB. That's got to be pretty fast.

I should just get a good 1 TB external drive and hook it up to my computer. Set the default folders for video programs to the external.

Thanks!

Might be that the device requires a FAT32 file system, which is limited to a 2TB partition, the way FAT16 was limited to 2GB.

Thing to watch out for there is if it's FAT32 you have to keep your file size down to...I think it's 2 GB. Something like that. NTFS has no such limitation.

It's 4GB...which ain't much if you're using a low-compression codec, like the MS-DVR type.

Speaking of which, I did a test yesterday to see if I could just keep the programs in the default directory on my main computer hard drive, and then just move them around to an external when I'm ready. That's how I timed a 3 GB file taking 60 seconds to copy to the external over USB 2.0.

But I tried it with a 5 GB file and it said the "file is too large for this operation."

Is there some kind of limit to the size that can be copied by regular drag and drop in File Explorer?

Can anybody recommend a good quality, but cheap, external 1 TB drive for me?

How about this Iomega for $94? It's nice and shiny. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D7REJ4/?tag=imwan-20

I feel like I need one that plugs into a power outlet -- more hardy. The Passport I have must just be flash or something. It gets all its power from the USB port.

Shouldn't be any limit specific to Explorer. Check the file system of the external drive by right-clicking on it in Explorer and choosing properties. It'll say FAT32 or NTFS. If it's FAT32, you may want to convert it. Upside to converting: no file size limitations. Downside: no compatibility with 95/98/Me-based computers.

Here's an MS TechNet article on converting:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 56984.aspx

Done. It's FAT32.

No point in fooling with converting it -- it's just a cheap 160GB Passport. I'll just continue to use it for family photo and music backup.

May as well just get another big drive for archiving HD videos.

The biggest weakness of the Mac Mini in my opinion. I would rather it be bigger and have a standard size drive. They need to combine the apple tv and the mini into one device.

Have you looked into picking up an old G% Powermac on Craigslist? I know it won't accept Snow Leopard but as a server, with the bays etc. it should rock. Just add a gigabit card.

Dell's version looks interesting:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/corp/desktops ... -hd&s=corp

And its cheap too.

My biggest problem with Windows Home Server is the 10 client limit. Typical Microsoft to self impose a limit.