How big of a hard disk do i need

[rennocneb]

Hi how big of a hard drive do i need for a well featured pvr. Im currently running on an 80gig but just set the box up and have about 50 gig free after a week or two of use.

[hasso]

Depends on how many hours of programs you'll think you'll record, keep, delete and at what quality. I've got a 160mb drive and I use about 2 gigs per hour (or so) of recording. From my viewing habits, the drive seems to have stabilised at about 60% full (about 90 gigs).

[Networker]

Heh.. a funny question to me.. I started off playing with just a 40GB, that ended quickly, threw in an 80GB just for videos and now I just purchased a 200GB from OfficeMax today as the 80GB isn't doing it. I'd say whatever your budget will allow, go with a 160 or higher... And remember you can always add more drives



John

[jorm]

tipstir,

Now you need an app written that will measure the directory size on drive 1 (C and drive 2 (D and based on which has more free space as a % of the drive copy files around and update the database with the new path information.  So you do not have to worry about one drive filling up.

[Networker]

tipster,

I didn't think to check there as I don't go to Cosco.. But I have used a buddy's card to get some cheap UPS'. I'll check there next time, staples, well I think we finally have one but I never think of them. Ah well...

And yes I know what you mean.. I do capture at the highest quality, I'm anal like that, I'm guessing you are too ... I'll get another drive to archives after bit... If I can see how well it would archive to my server I'll load it up, but I think I need to upgrade to 1Gb switch and NICs, but that won't help, my Shuttle has an embedded 10/100 and both AGP and PCI slots are taken.. oh well..

John

[Ericwiz]

I had a 60GB drive kicking around that I was using when I first started but I have since swithed to a SATA 250 GB drive that is dedicated to recordings.

newegg.com has great prices. In fact I got the 250 there for $130. This drive is also 2X fatser then my older ATA100 drive.

go figure!

[smeghead]

Quote[/b] (jorm @ Feb. 10 2005,22:06)]Now you need an app written that will measure the directory size on drive 1 (C and drive 2 (D and based on which has more free space as a % of the drive copy files around and update the database with the new path information.  So you do not have to worry about one drive filling up.

You could always set up a single logical drive in XP - these can have multiple physical drives mapped in to it.

[reefboy]

I have a 200 gig and can't imagine using less for myself; Although, I use it for storing my music on it as well.

I have bought my last few 200 gig hard drives for less than $90 after mail inrebates.

I like to watch http://www.techbargains.com for finding great prices for my HTPC needs or http://www.slickdeals.net .

[colin]

<snip>

[colin]

A good website for checking out bargains (well for the US) is xpbargains.com - they usually have the offers available for most ot the major places.

Though now that we using large disks (well large for home use) it would be nice to have a file system which does not fragment as badly as ntfs

But as for HDD size, like everyone else says, go for as large as possible and the faster the disk speed, the better.

Cheers,
Colin.