EXPERTS: Starting from scratch with new WD. Help me build a powerhouse

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Hub Discussions
1

Alllllllllllrighty then…

I most likely didn’t send this inquiry up the right channel within your company, but I am hoping that I have since you are most likely knowledgeable about most of your current product line.

I’m starting all of my data storing and home networking/streaming from scratch.  With, of course, a few mandatory initial requirements to get this new setup running.

I’ll start by mentioning what I already have as well as the components I already know will be involved.

Current storage in use:
WD 3TB MyBook
WD 3TB Internal drive (currently housed in a USB shell until the new PC arrives)
WD 750GB Portable
WD 500GB Portable

2 crappy Toshiba 750GB Portable drives
(I know…I know, ew.  They were on sale and I needed a place to dump data fast.  I’ll never stray again)

On for the overall goal (and why I need your consultation first).

I have a brand new PC on the way.  Made sure it has several slots for additional internal drives.  Also equipped with 4x USB3.0 ports and 8x USB2.0 ports.  On the complete other side of the house is my flat-screen TV.  Doesn’t have every single port imaginable but darn near it.  So hopefully plugging in shouldn’t be too difficult.

This opens up a few different areas where advise is needed.  Most importantly I want to be able to have everything hosted on the PC and accessible not only my current living room TV but also on a separate TV to be placed in the bedroom and some day down the road a 3rd media receiving TV in yet a different room.

I’ve browsed through most of your current product line but because some products are so close to each other I want to make sure I’m making the BEST choice.  Not one I just assumed would work.

I am told that internal drives are much more reliable and have higher shelf life.  I use my media A LOT.  Not only actual utilizing but adding to/moving/changing/organizing.  So what is my safest route for the long haul??

Is it safe for my drives to plug many of my external WD drives (MyBook and portable) into the new PC at the same time?  Will this put any strain at all on them?  If there is one most important factor in this entire project it is to ensure the data storage is NEVER compromised.  It literally has to be bulletproof.  There will most likely be a higher level raid set up to ensure this unless you have a different suggestion.  Until I have the chance to duplicate the current external drives onto what will probably several stacked internal WD 3TB drives…I need to make sure I am as safe as possible to not compromise any current data.

Is it safe to instruct my PC to transfer to/from more than one connected WD external drive at the same time?

NEW PC specs in case it is relevant:
AMD Elite Quad-Core A10-6700 accelerated processor
3.70GHz, 4MB L2 Cache
8GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 32GB)
1TB SATA hard drive
10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
4 x USB 3.0 ports, 8 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port, 1 x optical audio output
2 x PCI Express (x1) slots, 2 x PCI Express (x16) slots, 2 x external 5.25" bays, 3 x internal 3.5" bays
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 8 (may downgrade it to Win7 if I hate the new OS)

What is my best approach to streaming all of this with wireless to multiple receiving TVs in the most efficient and reliable way possible.  All the while maintaining a high rate of use with the need to not compromise the data.  Ever.

Ever. Ever. Ever. Never.

Since I feel that I may have already written one of the longest inquires you’ve gotten I will stop here for right now.

Help me create my dream media powerhouse.

2

If you are a videophile, wifi isn’t going to work for you as well as cat5 connections no matter what you use…just sayin’ :slight_smile:

3

+1

Wired is the best way to go.

You can use more than one devce at a time, but when doing tranfers and such, best not.(you said you wanted to be fail safe)

That also brings up the point, all hard drive will fail! ( most of us have been lucky, but given enough time, we all die)

That said, the better your backup system, the safer you are.

Good luck, Dan

4

A wise man once said …  The only Hard Drive still running is the one that just hasn’t died yet

there is no fool proof plan for data storage and protection against disk failure

about the only advise I can give on data protection

never EVER NEVER disconnect an external drive from anything

PC, WD, other device without properly safely ejecting the drive

besides that, if your data is that important to you,

you’ll want to invest in some high end raid equipment

as for actually streaming

Wired is not fool proof either but you’ll certainly have a lot less headaches

but that said wireless is possible, but expect to need good networking equipment and the time to set it up properly

5

I would run a NAS and have your media centralized to it I have had 14 1TB drives for about 3 years now with lots off unplugging and plugging in til full. Most are WD passports a few seagates and a couple toshibas. I went with lots of drives for ease of backing up and tracking but thinking of going bigger for the next one, as I am running into a USB problem piggy backing off of usb ports its having a hard time I belive powering them up I loos one every now and again and have to lug it into another port, plus I only have 1 port left anyways

I have every hardrive backed up on an internal drive and stored in my safe. I had  WD fail about 1 and a half years ago and WD warrantied it went down to the safe pulled it out and 5 hrs later done. I have most that are 3.0 or should say half everything in my house is hard wired. I stick to ISO files and have had no problems at all

6

+1 for centralizing your media on a NAS or FileServer. Easy to backup, and easy to add more drives as needed. I built an innexpensive Fileserver, added a bay plus a bunch of external drives and use Drivebender to have folder duplication and be able to add drives and expand volumes on the fly. In a real meltdown I can go back to the original DVDs and CDs and rip them again. 

Every device in the house can easily access the server, and the redundancy though not even close to perfect, is worth every penny knowing a bad drive wont have me ripping DVDs for two weeks. 

I have the HUB and the Server hardwired to the same switch and I have never had a problem with streaming movies.

-P

7

Another vote for a wired network.  My house came CAT5 prewired, and that helped hooking things up.  Drives connected to the WD player are preferred.  Also, drives that have an idle/sleep mode are a requirment of mine.  These things don’t get used 24/7 in a home environment.  They are off more than they are on, and a drive that spins less will likely last longer (the enemy is friction).

If you are getting a new router, get the fastest dual-band you can (I have an Asus RT-N66U). Not so much for the current WD players, but for other things.  Ever since getting an iPad earlier this year, I have streamed 1080p media to and from it more than use the WD and often stream to and from the WD player.  I use 5G N-band for streaming – that’s what the 5G band is designed for.  Some new PC’s still do not have dual band wireless; rediculous.  Example: a pricey new custom HP laptop did not indicate that it did or did not have a dual band wireless, but I assumed it did because my over three year old current HP laptop did.  Guess what, the new one did not have dual band.  I sent it right back to HP for a complete refund.  Totally unacceptable in today’s 5G world.

I have a lot of media, but still get by without having a lot of HD storage connected to the WD player.  (I don’t do torrents, so do not have an endless supply of movies to store).  Anyway, I have two, 2TB drives connected to my WD player.  There is probably plenty I could delete when space gets tight to stretch things out a little longer.  Also, I have 2TB drives that are backups of what is on the active drives.  No way I want to redo a complete drive from scratch.  I even have some new, in-box 2TB drives bought on sale to replace any I have that fail.  When (drive) disaster srikes, I think I am well prepared.

Enough from me.  Good luck putting it all together.