[TriLUG] Music Files

sholton at mindspring.com sholton at mindspring.com
Tue May 24 12:57:58 EDT 2005


There are several efficiencies which come to mind:
a) All of these files are static: none of them are expected be changing
at any time in the forseeable future. That implies storage on a 
WORM (Write Once, Read Many) media. 
b) The files can be divided into two broad categories: Files for which
you already posess a backup on commercial CDROM, and those
you don't (the 'Napster-ish' ones.).
c) Since virtually none of these files are created by you (I'm presuming)
there exist copies elsewhere to replace copies you lose, although 
potentially at a cost. That cost could be in download time (for the
'Napster" variety) or replacement CD costs (should a CD you own fail).
But any failure would not result in irrecoverable loss, but rather in a 
cost-to-replace loss.

Two broad strategies come to mind:
1) Ensure the ability to recover from any possible failure, or
2) Ensure no possibility of failure occuring.

Strategy 1 first:

If we presume the cost of downloading is small and likely to
decrease, and the files such as these will remain available from
the Internet, then there may be no need to make backups at all.
Alternately, if you are concerned about downloading time, cost, 
or inconvenience, consider that _any_ failure will result in at least
some of these costs, even if you can restore from local sources.

If you're concerned about the legality or availability of replacements
through the Internet, perhaps you need to rethink having all these
files in the first place.

In either case, don't neglect the value of simply having a list of the
files you have. You'll need that to begin the restore process.

If you are planning to keep a local backup, there will be up-front
costs for the drive, the storage media, and costs associated with 
swapping tapes' (or whatever) and the time to transfer the files onto
the backup media. If you are planning to store them compressed 
(to reduce media costs) you'll incur an extra time expense.

And to do this right, you'll need to setup a mechanism to ensure you're
protected against failures in the restore process. That means either
a program of verifying your backups are good at regular intervals, 
and making new backups to replace ones with failing media,
or making frequent multiple backups in the hope that at least
one recent backup will still be restorable. Doing this increases the
time and hassle, but as a necessary part of this strategy, it needs
to be considered up-front.

Again. these are up-front costs which occur even if you never suffer a 
failure.

Should a failure occur, there will be a cost associated with restoring
the files. The components of this cost include media loading time,
file transfer time, and (perhaps) ripping time. 

Strategy 2:

You might implement a 100% availability solution, such as
storing these files on a RAID server. This would involve up-front
costs of hardware, as well as (minor) costs for transfer, etc. 
Additionally, the system would need to be monitored for disk
failures, and corrective action taken when they occur. 

RAID might seem to be overkill here, because none of the files
ever changes, and because 100% availability is not a core
requirement.. It would provide insulation from the hassles of
restoring a failed disk. The up front cost might be prohibitive.

An interesting solution would seem to be RAID on CDR, with failed
disks being recreated from the remaining volume(s) as soon as
blank media is provided, although I'm not aware of anyone 
having actually implemented this. Storage would be severely
limited, however ;-)


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Freeze <mfreeze at gmail.com>
Sent: May 24, 2005 9:56 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discusion list <trilug at trilug.org>
Subject: [TriLUG] Music Files

I am trying to get all of the music I downloaded from Napster a couple
of years ago and all of my CD's that I am ripping to my hard drive
onto one computer that I can use as a media server for my home.  After
all is said and done I'll have approximately 500GB of music files. 
I'd like to hear everyones opinion on the best hardware configuration
to use to prevent losing everything. (Keeping in mind that I'm not
rolling in cash.)  I know that a good backup system for this is either
too expensive for me or too time consuming. (switching tapes, etc...) 
I'd also like to know what mp3 app would be the best to handle this
kind of volume that I could also use for playing, cataloging, ripping,
etc...

Thanks,
Mark.
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-- 
"Convenience causes blindness. Think about it."

Steve Holton
sholton at mindspring.com



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