janullrich
Standard Member
I decided to build a Kaleidescape style Movie Server to store all my DVDs.
If youre not familiar with Movie Servers then the general idea is that they store your DVD collection on a large storage array for playback in multiple rooms or even multiple locations (anywhere in the world), simultaneously if so desired.
Now, you may be asking yourself why didnt you just buy a Kaleidescape? Well there are two reasons why I didnt go down that route. Firstly, by creating something to my own specification I could have exactly what I wanted, which in this instance is functionality far in advance of what Kaleidescape offers (more on this later). Secondly, and most importantly, other off the shelf systems are prohibitively expensive for my budget. The equivalent to my Movie Server System from Kaleidescape would cost approximately £35,000/$55,500. I think my system will come in under £2500/$4000.
When planning the build for this project there were several things that I needed to focus on in order to achieve the desired end result. Ive created subsections for these below.
CASE:
I needed a case and not any old case but a case that satisfied 3 important features.
This was a difficult task and after days and days of searching I was annoyed that there were no off the shelf cases that ticked all the boxes. There was going to have to be some out of the box thinking.
I settled on an XCase RM413 Pro 4u Rackmount Case. This ticked most of the boxes and could take all motherboard sizes, big enough to sort adequate cooling and long graphics card support. However it only supported 13x3.5 OR 6x5.25 and not both but I had a plan.
Here are some pictures of the case (from store not mine ):
And a video (also from the store):
I wasnt using a server motherboard or 12x13, I was using a standard ATX mobo so I worked out that there would be space between the edge of the mobo and back of the 5.25 drives. I reckoned that I could take the HD Cage out and put them perpendicular to the 5.25 bays and achieve the 13x3.5 AND 6x5.25. There were 3 small problems with this though:
1. No cooling for the hard drives.
2. The surface wasnt flat because of the raised motherboard tray.
3. How could I secure the cages to the case.
Continued.................
If youre not familiar with Movie Servers then the general idea is that they store your DVD collection on a large storage array for playback in multiple rooms or even multiple locations (anywhere in the world), simultaneously if so desired.
Now, you may be asking yourself why didnt you just buy a Kaleidescape? Well there are two reasons why I didnt go down that route. Firstly, by creating something to my own specification I could have exactly what I wanted, which in this instance is functionality far in advance of what Kaleidescape offers (more on this later). Secondly, and most importantly, other off the shelf systems are prohibitively expensive for my budget. The equivalent to my Movie Server System from Kaleidescape would cost approximately £35,000/$55,500. I think my system will come in under £2500/$4000.
When planning the build for this project there were several things that I needed to focus on in order to achieve the desired end result. Ive created subsections for these below.
HARDWARE
CASE:
I needed a case and not any old case but a case that satisfied 3 important features.
- Rackmount/HTPC type case so that it can go in my comms rack.
- Space for 8 x 3.5in hard drives (I explain why 8 later).
- Space for several 5.25in DVD/BluRay Drives.
This was a difficult task and after days and days of searching I was annoyed that there were no off the shelf cases that ticked all the boxes. There was going to have to be some out of the box thinking.
I settled on an XCase RM413 Pro 4u Rackmount Case. This ticked most of the boxes and could take all motherboard sizes, big enough to sort adequate cooling and long graphics card support. However it only supported 13x3.5 OR 6x5.25 and not both but I had a plan.
Here are some pictures of the case (from store not mine ):
And a video (also from the store):
I wasnt using a server motherboard or 12x13, I was using a standard ATX mobo so I worked out that there would be space between the edge of the mobo and back of the 5.25 drives. I reckoned that I could take the HD Cage out and put them perpendicular to the 5.25 bays and achieve the 13x3.5 AND 6x5.25. There were 3 small problems with this though:
1. No cooling for the hard drives.
2. The surface wasnt flat because of the raised motherboard tray.
3. How could I secure the cages to the case.
Continued.................
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