http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/guides/2009/12/30/how-to-build-a-dvd-server/1

nice bit of promo there

Only one mistake:

 

"unRAID formats each of the data independently using Linux's ext3 filesystem."

 

unRAID actually uses ReiserFS, right?  Nothing major, but worth noting.

 

Regarding Split Level: "...it's important to get this setting right: we don't want the files of one movie shared over more than one disk. If that were the case, we'd have a pause in the middle of a film as a new disk span up. Not good, especially since that's the kind of thing that gets the wife asking awkward questions, such as whether it would be easier to just play the film from the original DVD."

 

Haha, I think every (married) unRAID user has encountered this at some point or another. 

we don't want the files of one movie shared over more than one disk. If that were the case, we'd have a pause in the middle of a film as a new disk span up.

With the spin-up groups added in unraid 4.5, thats not a problem anymore either.

I'm just excited they typed the name right. (grin)  Even wrong, it's good PR>

Only one mistake:

"unRAID formats each of the data independently using Linux's ext3 filesystem."

 

unRAID actually uses ReiserFS, right?  Nothing major, but worth noting.

Yeah, I realised that mistake after the article had already been published. The reasoning behind the whole statement (that you could take an unRAID drive out of the server, plonk it into any Linux system and still be able to read what's on the disk) still stands though.

we don't want the files of one movie shared over more than one disk. If that were the case, we'd have a pause in the middle of a film as a new disk span up.

With the spin-up groups added in unraid 4.5, thats not a problem anymore either.

Surely not? Spin-up groups would only make sense if you have all of your movies spanning a couple of drives with other stuff on the other drives. If you had movies spanning more than a couple of disks, they'd all spin up just to access one movie on one disk. Better (in my mind, anyway) to allow each disk to spin up or down independently and set the Split Level properly.

I'm just excited they typed the name right. (grin)

I'm a stickler for accuracy (most of the time )