[mythtv-users] My First MythTV Box

[match at ece.utah.edu]

On 30 Dec 2007 at 19:54, lists at benzo8.org wrote:

> > On Dec 30, 2007 1:01 AM, John Sullivan <lists at benzo8.org> wrote:
> 
> >> RAM             2 x DIMM 1 Gb DDR2 800 MHZ KINGSTON HYPER-X
> >> HD 1            HDD 80 Gb 7200 RPM SATA II
> >> HD 2            HDD 250 Gb 7200 RPM SATA II
> 
> > I dont know much about DVB but if  I was you i would save some money on
> > RAM.  1 Gig is plenty.  I would go with 2 512mb sticks to get dual
> > channel.
> > With the extra money I would get some more storage!  Are you buying a
> > 80Gig
> > HDD?  Or is that a left over that you have?  500GB are only $100 USD  I
> > would get atleast one.
> 
> Thanks for the advice - I'll shift some funds from memory to HDD - upgrade
> the 250GB to a 500GB... I'll be buying all the drives new, but I was
> thinking that the 80GB is just a systems/DB disc and so doesn't need large
> amounts of space - am I mistaken?

You're not necessarily mistaken, but an 80GB drive just makes no sense at 
all. Look at it this way: 

1. You only have a few physical spaces in the box to mount HDD's, so if 
you're going to have 2, then have 2 large ones. You'll never regret having the 
additional storage space.

2. That 80GB drive will make about the same amount of noise and consume 
about the same amount of power and hence generate about the same 
amount of heat as the 500GB.

3. At this time I don't see much value in having the system/DB on a separate 
disk, do you?

So, if I were you I'd buy a pair of the biggest disks I could find a good deal 
on. Look at all the drives available to you, eliminate any that are excessively 
noisy, and choose whichever will get you the most GB per dollar (or pound, 
or ruble, or whatever) from the remaining list. Last time I did this, it was 
400GB Seagates for $69 each... YMMV.

Everyone's recording habits are different, but personally I feel that for an SD 
system, 700GB of program storage is about right. More is overkill, but 700GB 
is large enough that you won't be worrying about running out, and there's 
room for a few movies and some music.

If you're going HD (I didn't see your original post) or think you ever will, then 
4 times this much storage is about right IMNSHO. Personnally I have actually 
cut back from 5.5TB to 3.7TB total.

Yeah, some on this list feel I have more GB than needed, others have more 
in their systems than I do. When it comes down to brass tacks, only you can 
decide what's best for you, but I can assure you... at some point you are 
going to wonder why you even bothered with that 80GB drive.

Marvin