Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Distributed DVD Back-up Solution?

Posted by Cliff on from the more-processors-are-better-than-one dept.

SoBeIcedT asks: "I just bought the third season of 24 [fox.com] on DVD and have begun to back it up to DVD+R using DVD-Shrink on Windows XP. Being the gadget loving guy I am, it makes sense that I would have multiple computers. The trouble is I can't make use of all of those CPU cycles and they go to waste. Is there a way (perhaps using clusterKnoppix or something of the sort) that I can easily use all of the processor power in my home to transcode the DVDs?" dvd::rip is one option that has clustering support. Are there any others?

1 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Just buy Dual Layer Discs by Nos. · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you're not trying to actually compress the backup (it didn't sound like you were), might I suggest just buying Dual Layer discs and just doing a straight copy. Requires no CPU, and if you have two drives, hardly requries disk space. They are starting to come down in price, though they are significantly more than a DVD +/- R.

    Of course there's also the option of just backing up to a large HD. Again, probably more expensive than blank DVDs, but lets face it, if you're buying box sets and then backing them up, money obviously isn't your biggest concern.