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Thread ID: 88506	2008-03-30 05:01:00	Suggestions re: storage options	Chikara (5139)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
654139	2008-03-30 05:01:00	Hi all, I'm a regular reader but seldom post. I'd like your advise on HD storage options please. First a bit of background... Currently I have an old Athlon 1400 system - a tried and trusted workhorse, but it's not far away from the knackers yard :badpc: I've been holding off getting a new system as I'm away from home a lot with work until about August, so I'll get a new system then. Looking to try and build my own PC for the first time, but I'll save that for another post :) I have an external 500GB harddrive that I bought a few years back. Originally I got this to do backups. However I've recently started 'digitizing' a number of live audio concerts I have on cassette (another hobby), onto the computer. I've only done 20 or so, but all-up I have a couple of hundred to do :waughh: which is an ongoing project. The ones I've done so far have been sucessful (using Goldwave - great program), but I have been saving them as .wav files so I don't lose any quality, which uses up a lot of storage space. I don't have enough space on the main HD, so I've started storing them on the external drive, but of course now I have the problem of not being able to back them up because I will run out of space. When I have eventually transferred all these tapes over, I don't really know the total storage space they will require, but I would say it would be well into the hundreds of gigs. So - long story short - on to my questions: 1) When I do get my new system, what would you recommend as a hard drive configuration and storage options, bearing in mind my data requirements? (I would rather not have all these .wav files stored on CD or DVD discs, and I prefer to keep them as .wav files rather than MP3's because of not losing quality - although I'm happy to be convinced otherwise!). 2) Depending on the answer to question 1), what would be a good short-term solution so I can back up everything in the meantime, but not be left with surplus equipment when I do upgrade later on? (ie should I buy a second external hard rive to back up in the meantime, and then I'll have two external harddrives when I get my new system)? I'm reluctant to take the risk of not backing them up until then, as there's many hours work gone into the data already! Thanks in advance for your help Tony	Chikara (5139)
654140	2008-03-30 05:23:00	When transcoding (converting) from an analog source to digital, using WAV as the output format is pointless IMO. I would highly suggest looking into lossless compression audio formats such as FLAC (mentioned in the Goldweave FAQs (www.goldwave.com)) or WavPack (www.wavpack.com/), a comparison chart of most popular ones can be found here (http:). Doing this should give you back a lot more HDD space, at least enough to tide you over till system upgrade. Good luck.	sal (67)
654141	2008-03-30 05:34:00	Yeah I would convert those WAVs to MP3 or even WMA format... you'll gain 90% of the used space back... thats assuming that an mp3 file is 10% of it's original wav....give or take a few bytes here and there	chiefnz (545)
654142	2008-03-30 06:35:00	I found it was economical to back up as mp3's on both a external drive and on discs. Generally I found a slight loss in quality for instrumental/brass audio. Hence perhaps such music should be at least retained in the wav or other high quality format. I also stored some online for free at stream load (now media max (http://www.mediamax.com/)), where I could download the tracks on other PC's... Also, might come a time where you may want to play your music on a disc in a stand alone stereo...If so, then you might need a disc catalogue program to help know what tracks are on certain discs (as you have indicated plenty of tracks); Something like the comprehensive Godfather (www.snapfiles.com) or Media Monkey (www.snapfiles.com). There are simple organizers like disclib (www.snapfiles.com) or cathy (www.snapfiles.com) (There are many others).	kahawai chaser (3545)
654143	2008-03-30 09:11:00	Thanks for the quick replies. I always assumed .wav files were lossless, obviously not. So if I convert the existing .wav's I've already done, to FLAC (or one of the other lossless formats suggested), will it lose any further quality whilst opening/processing the .wav files to do that? Also, if I need to burn any audio CD's later on, can I do this directly using Nero with those file formats? Or will Nero require the files in a different format first (i.e. you can import .wavs directly to your tracklist in Nero, can you do the same with FLAC?) Sorry I would check myself but I'm on a different computer now that doesn't have Nero installed, and I've had a quick Google without luck. I guess ideally what I need is a file format that is lossless but still compresses, that is still easy to burn as an audio CD if required? Thanks also kawhai chaser, I'll check out some of those programs you've mentioned.	Chikara (5139)
654144	2008-03-30 09:35:00	I think you can download a Flac plugin for Nero, but might be version dependent. Don't know about losing quality to the Flac format (there might be different levels or like bit rates as there are with mp3's, resulting in different quality levels, and hence file size). Also, with tapes, remember to make sure that both left and right sound channels are recorded (if any tapes were only recorded with only one sound channel). Though some programs allow you to manually add a sound channel, to the other sound channel if it's empty...	kahawai chaser (3545)
654145	2008-03-30 09:52:00	Oh okay, if there's options for Flac, I'll make sure I choose the losless setting then. I'll have to have a play with Nero when I'm back home and see if it can import that format directly, or with a plug-in. I think my set-up is okay for capturing both channels, I've got a decent soundcard and made sure I had a stereo, not mono, cable that goes into the soundcard, and Goldwave does show sound in both L&R channels when I capture it.	Chikara (5139)
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