RockDawg

RobJ - not exactly sure how to run that.

I am looking for an automated way to move the contents of a subdirectory to the parent directory and then delete the resulting empty subfolder. For example: My movie files are currently stored: Twister\VIDEO_TS\files. I would like to change them all to Twister\files I dread the thought of manually cutting and pasting for each movie (I have ~570). Just wondering if there is some quick and easy script or something that would accomplish this unattended.

Daemon tools is a piece of software that "mounts" the iso file so your pc thinks it's an actual DVD in a DVD-ROM drive. Without it a lot of pc software DVD players can't play iso files. The only real advantage of iso files is that the whole movie is a single file. If you don't need that, it's no benefit. Single file structure is a benefit if your software only allows for a Windows Explorer-like interface. In that type of interface it allows you to simply click on a movie name to play it instead of having to navigate into subdirectories and then finding the VIDEO_TS.ifo to play the movie.

Au contrair, all you have to do is drop the single large VOB into DVDShrink, set it to split files, and set the destination to a local temporary location, and voilla, you get the files ready to burn in a conventional DVD structure. Absolutely no loss in quality. Sorry, I meant to say they can't be burned as is and played on a regular player. Similarly, an iso file can be extracted and burnt and be playable in a regular player, but both require an extra process to do so and their only benefit is condensing the DVD to a single file. That could be a benefit if you're using some of the set top streamers on the market, but any good GUI will render that moot as you won't be navigating files to play a movie. You will simply select a DVD cover to play the movie. It's all a matter of personal taste since there a few options.

I use DVD shrink set to not compress and I use it in reauthor mode which eliminates menus and allows you to rip the movie only. Through DVD Shrink I can also remove unwanted audio and subtitles (although they don't usually take up much space). I rip the movie as multiple files just like they are on the DVD instead of making them into an iso file or a single VOB. The reason is that many software players or streamers can't play an iso without some other software running in the background to make it work, and a single VOB no longer conforms to the DVD speccified file structured and can't be burned to a DVD and played in a regular standalone player. I rarely ever burn any of my movies, but it's nice knowing they can be if I choose to. This setup gives me the exact same quality as the original DVD while conserving as much space as possible. I have over 500 DVD's and they average 4.5-5GB after ripping them this way. One note: DVD Shrink is free, but no longer in development whch isn't a problem except that it can't break some of the newer/tougher copy protection (mostly Sony DVD's). For those, I highly recommend you also buy AnyDVD. It has a 21-day free trial and it works on every DVD I've thrown at it. Last I kneow you pretty much needed it for the tough titles with any other ripping software too. By the way, what will you be using to play these through?

Yes, I should've mentioned the wiki. Be sure to add to the list if you find something that works that's not on there!

Yes, that is supported. I run one in my unraid system.

If this is an IDE drive then try swapping out the cable. Make sure you're using a flat, 80 coonducter cbale that's not too long. It's amazing how often a different cable fixes things.

Will you be selling the bare case too or just complete systems? I would love to see some more/bigger pics.

I fianlly decided to buy an additional IDE controller card and disabled the onboard channel. Since doing that, I haven't had any problem. Must just be a funk in the mobo.

From my understanding, yes. Your parity drive dying will not cause you any data loss. You will just have to reconstruct the parity.

1. I tried that today. I totally removed everything and re-installed it and it did the exact same thing. 2. By cold bays, I mean devices like 4-in-3 adapters with a 120mm fan in front except they are 3-in-3. There are no secondary connections. I have disonnected all but the cpu fan and tried every logical combination. I still get no love. I'm starting to think it's my mobo.

I tried two different power supplies: a 430W and a 500W. Both are Antecs. Problem still exists. The new case is larger and has cooled drive bays, so drive temps went down 10-15 degrees on average. I tried all kinds of different plug connections to try and change the way the load is distributed, but nothing changed. Throughout my trials I did find a couple oddities. If I disconnect the data cables to all three of my SATA drives, the mobo would find the onboard IDE drives every single time. Also, when I tried the 500W power supply it would power up and then shut off after a second if I had all three SATA drives plugged into it. As soon as I unplug the power cable to any one of them it would power up and stay on. It did this regardless of whether or not all 9 of my IDE drives were plugged in or removed from the power supply. The 400w never showed any problems no matter how many drives were plugged into it. It was what was powering all 11 drives in my previous server (non-raid) for thr last couple years. I'm really at my wits end and I have no idea what to do to get this workng again.

BIOS settings are sticking, but I tried a known working battery anyway and nothing changed.

I'll check all those things. Thanks for the input.

I'm having a hardware problem that is baffling me. I have a GIGABYTE GA-945GZM-S2 mobo and I was using it in a small case to migrate my drives and data from an existing server. It has four onboard SATA ports along with one onboard IDE channel. While it was in the small case, everything worked fine. I had two IDE drives on the lone IDE channel and three SATA drives on the onboard controller and they all were always detected by the BIOS on boot. I never had to alter any BIOS settings. Things just worked. Now, I have transferred the entire system to a large server case and all of the sudden whenever the system is powered down, it will fail to see my two IDE drives. I have changed my IDE cables multiple times. They are short, flat and 80 wire. If I randomly change the "On-Chip SATA Mode" BIOS setting a few times and then return to "Enhanced Mode" (both SATA and IDE) they will be recognized and work as long as I don't power down. Even a reboot that doesn't power down will be alright, but as soon as the power goes off, the drives refuse to be recognized on future bootups. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Why did everything use to work, but not now?

Added to supported hardware list on wiki.

Yes, it appears this card is supported. I just installed this card along with some drives and they are all recognized.

Specifically, in my case, the Highpoint Rocket 133 non-RAID card. Just wondering if unRaid 4.0 has support for this or will I need to go out and buy a different controller?

Congrats! I hop it runs smooth and stable for ya.

Sorry, I should've been more clear. I meant it was already on the Wiki list.

Good luck! I hope it works like a charm for ya. That's a lot of onboard SATA!

limetech - That figures, I recently gave away an old Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe system to a family member. Thanks for the input anyhow. cheezdog - Thanks for the tip. I gave up on trying to utilize my ancient left overs. I just bought a cheap Intel 775 system just to help ensure I get it up and running soon. In fact the hardware should be here today. I have two servers that I want to port over to unRAID, so I'll try an AMD solution on the next go around. The next time you do a parity check, could you check the speeds for me?

Thanks, I've added it to the list! It was already on the list.

Added.