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Distributed DVD Back-up Solution?
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?
Seems to me from the series, they could transcode a DVD in about 30ms...
You could take the easy way out. Have each computer rip/transcode a different DVD. Kick them all off at once and walk away.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Dvd::rip is definitely quality software, but it doesnt (in my experience) preserve DVD menues. I also havent quite figured out how to rip the title to multiple dvds while maintaining the dvd format in dvd::rip. I end up running dvdshrink via wine, but span the title onto many dvds, nix the menues all together, and preserve the dvd video format.
Does someone have a *nix native way of doing this?
DVD::Rip looks really neat. It mentions that the heavy I/O operations are done on the system with the local disk, and that transcoding is done on the agent nodes... though I'd think there's significant I/O involved in the transcoding... has anyone got data on the point at which adding systems really stops helping unless you've got switched gigE? I would imagine that the NFS mount becomes a bottleneck at some point before you get to a dozen nodes.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
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.
Um, this has nothing to do with what "format" the files are being written in - it has to do with space. A store bought DVD is dual layer, consisting of roughly 8.8 gigs of used space. Sure, they advertise 9.4 - but you can't actually use that much. So, when you buy a normal blank DVD, it's going to let you use 4.4 gigs. See a problem there? It has nothing to do with formats. Now that dual layer burners are out there, you can copy an entire movie onto once disc. However, blanks are not cost effective with dual layer yet.