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pc vs mac, eac vs itunes

Multi part question: (1) Thinking of going to a musicserver rather than a wall full of cds. I have not been a mac user and would lean toward a pc based system. However, I have not completely closed off the mac option. Main concern is not degrading or changing the data. I have heard that EAC is the best option to insure this and I am wondering if the mac options will ensure the same integrity. I am not concerned with cost of external drives, my plan is to store on a number of external drives and make backups to a spare set of external drives. Looking for feedback on comparison of EAC with a mac option (or is it possible to use EAC with a mac?). (2) Goal is to be able to access everything from sitting on the couch. Any suggestions - both pc and mac based - would be appreciated.
musicnoise
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Sufentanil - I'm not sure why you need RAID. Single disk is fine and Firewire 400 works great. You need to keep backup disk outside of your residence in case of burglary, fire etc - I keep it at work.
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil
782 posts
 
Kijanki,

My statement was that you might need RAID if you have a lot of media files (ie, multi-terabytes). With some of the computer-based movies, this is somewhat of a reality. For music-only, it's less likely that you would exceed the 1-2TB / drive capacities seen now.

Either way, I agree with the offsite backup (I keep mine in the safe deposit box). And while Firewire 400 will work fine, you'll appreciate the faster interface when it comes to making the backup (which can take hours to days depending on several factors).

Michael
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Sufentanil - Safe deposit box is a great idea since i won't touch this drive after I'm done ripping. You are right that backup takes long (forgot about that) - I have only firewire 400 and have to do it overnight.
musicnoise OP
377 posts
 
Sufentanil: You raise an important issue as to going with a RAID. As between RAID and concantenating individual drives (JBOD) RAID is probably a better idea. My understanding is that RAID or JBOD has the primary advantage of allowing the system to see one large partition rather than a number of different partitions. Say that one had, for eg. three external 1 terabyte drives (with the artists separated alphabetically i.e. A-H drive J, I-P drive K and Q-Z drive L) and was willing to simply look at the respective drive to grab the music, would the only advantage of having the single large partition be that you didn't have switch between drives, or am I missing something more fundamental here - such as software limitations in accessing the music held on separate partitions.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Musicnoise - As I understand RAID drives work either in stripping or mirroring mode. Stripping increases speed (not needed here) but makes security even worse (one drive fails - you loose both) while mirroring provides automatic backup (writes to both disks at the same time) but is also not very secure since protects only from drive failure and not from virus or OS going crazy. The best in my opinion is separate disk kept unpowered in remote location. There is no need for more than one disk since 1.5TB mentioned previously would hold about 6000 CDs in Apple Lossless. There is no need for separating disks alphabetically unless you have more than 6000 CDs (not likely).
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