old computer as external hardrive?

[Twizzler09]

All the numbers you just mentioned are up to the individual ripper/encoder. The length of the video doesn't determine the size of the rip, it's based on the bitrate the encoder chooses which is usually based on a standard set by the 'scene'.

The reason they picked 700MB as the standard to compress movies into was because that's what you can fit on a CD and movies from 1.5 to 2 hours looked decent enough to be watchable at that size. Sometimes they go with two 700MB files if the movie is really long or just if the ripper/encoder feels like delivering a high quality rip.

Most ripped DVDs are 4.5GB because that is the available space on a standard non-dual-layer DVDR. The DVDs that the movies come in have pretty much always been dual-layer DVDs capable of holding 9GB of data, and people have been shrinking them to fit into single-layer DVDRs, since dual-layer burning is a relatively new concept.

I'm aware of this. But the companies assume the general public is not. And in most cases they are right.

 

[fleck]

Unless the HD in the old computer is more than say 80GB you are wasting your time. Best thing would be to take the old drive out, put in an external enclosure and use it as storage. You can buy a 1TB external drive for a reasonable price. An enclosure for your old drive is about $25 or so.

Well I think pud has the right idea anyway. While playing a video game, I can't download something too fast or it will make the video game lag like a mofo. That's why I'm soon setting up a Linux box with all the storage space in it, all the apps I'll use to browse, download and chat, and one Windows box with all the power for gaming and HD video playback, but very little storage at a high speed. I'll be running two solid state 32GB drives in RAID0 to equal 64GB of (very fast) space for Windows, which should be more than plenty for everything I'll need. Then I'll be downloading stuff on the Linux box all the time, while playing games and watching the stuff I downloaded on that Linux box in my Windows box.

I think it's a good idea, in the case that there is concern in the performance of the system that will be under main use.

 

[pud]

yeah, ive concluded that the old rig is too much of a pos to waste time with. That and i dont even have an ethernet plug in the back of it and everything i need to do to make it work costs money...so for a little more money i can have an external usb drive with 100x more space.

 

[Twizzler09]

The USB drives are a little cashy, but worth it if you just want more storage space on-demand without having to have a second machine sitting around driving your power bill up.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Unless the HD in the old computer is more than say 80GB you are wasting your time. Best thing would be to take the old drive out, put in an external enclosure and use it as storage. You can buy a 1TB external drive for a reasonable price. An enclosure for your old drive is about $25 or so.

I got what you were saying after reading it over a time or two, terminology is all wrong.

There will be no server, you do not use IP addresses to install drives, an internet connection is not required for this to function. Let me Illustrate.

MS Paint, ohh yeah!! >.<

The Modem and Internet are optional to make the network function. All he has to do is plug both computers into the router, set the TCP/IP settings to Auto (The Router will hand out IP Adresses to both computers as to operate properly within the mini-network), and then enter the workgroup names on both computers, verify the drives on the old machine are shared and read/writeable, done.

The USB drives are a little cashy, but worth it if you just want more storage space on-demand without having to have a second machine sitting around driving your power bill up.

That pretty much covers it. yank the drive, it will be probably no bigger than 20gb. you might get a 40gb if it is a higher end machine, I had an old P3 hp computer with a stock 40gb and win 98...Get the drive enclosure, you will then have a quick storage for miscelaneous files for about 25 bucks.

scrap the rest of the computer, there is nothing in it worth salvaging...


If it boots up, here is how you can tell how big the harddrive is:

go to windows explorer, and look at all the drives. if it only has one partition, it will be likely the C:\ drive. right click and select properties. it shoudl tell you how much space you have on it. if there is more than one partition, right click each and add them up. If the drive is less than 20 gb, I would not even bother with buying an enclosure unless you want stuff off of it or just want to play around with it.

by the way, harddrives have some kick ass magnets in them...

AJ

 

[Nhaz]

So before you go and scrap your old machine. functional old machines are not a complete waste of space and power.

I tend to use mine for specific things like dos games that simply dont run on newer machines and or win 98 games that dont work either.

although my old machine is a 486dx2 40mhz with 24megs ram and a 60 meg hard drive. and a early voodoo card!

 

[Twizzler09]

speaking of old games....Carmageddon!!! Most hilarious game EVER! Last I knew, it also ran on XP...

 

[addiman09]

The easiest way to do this is: Take the old 16GB HD out and plug it into the secondary slot on the new computers motherboard. This will create a extra hardrive that you do not have to install a OS system on, it will just be empty space that you can put things in to, when you say your E: and F: drive; this is your new computers HD with small portions of that HD set back to be a recovery system. They are not extra space, they are used when your computer crashes to back up every file into a compressed zip folder and made to fit into that HD only. You could then remove that old HD and take it wherever you want to, that is if there is another computer around.

 

[Psychopete]

speaking of old games....Carmageddon!!! Most hilarious game EVER! Last I knew, it also ran on XP...

LOL, that game is a classic. Sucks they went to Zombies in the later versions... Carmageddon II was pretty fun still tho. Rise of the Triad was also a classic brutal game, I still have the original game CD.

Nhaz, if you were closer, I have a working 486 board and chip, ram and small hard drives that I'd just give you, LOL. I think one is 500MB and the other might be 750MB - 1GB. I think the issue at hand was I don't have an AT power supply, wouldn't boot from CD rom, I have no more floppy drives that work without ruining the disk, and I don't have time to wait for it to boot. I need to start throwing this old crap in the garbage...

Pete

 

[mixwell]

I didn't see it mentioned but why not just buy an internal drive and make it a slave on your new computer ?? Assuming you have the IDE connections available still ? You can probably purchase a large capacity internal driver for much less than an external with more storage... ?? Personally thats what I would do if I needed the space.

 

[kunar]

The easiest way to do this is: Take the old 16GB HD out and plug it into the secondary slot on the new computers motherboard. This will create a extra hardrive that you do not have to install a OS system on, it will just be empty space that you can put things in to, when you say your E: and F: drive; this is your new computers HD with small portions of that HD set back to be a recovery system. They are not extra space, they are used when your computer crashes to back up every file into a compressed zip folder and made to fit into that HD only. You could then remove that old HD and take it wherever you want to, that is if there is another computer around.

I didn't see it mentioned but why not just buy an internal drive and make it a slave on your new computer ?? Assuming you have the IDE connections available still ? You can probably purchase a large capacity internal driver for much less than an external with more storage... ?? Personally thats what I would do if I needed the space.

by far the best way to do this. there is a couple issues though. the first is that if the new computer is still under warranty, they wouldnt be happy with you poking around inside. the other is that the 'old' hard drive is most definately an IDE drive, and depending on the age of the 'new' computer, it may only use SATA drives. if the new computer is old enough that you can put the older drive in, its pretty simple. sent the primary drive as master (using the jumpers on the drive) and set the secondary drive to slave. it should boot without issues. save anything important off of the smaller drive by moving it to the primary drive, then format the secondary drive.

 

[pud]

this is the 'new' computer
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/hp-compaq-presario-sr1620nx/4507-3118_7-31589079.html?tag=mncol;psum

Ive found out...after disassembling it completely to snoop around... that my "old" computer, a Blaster PC by empac is actually a kind of unique beast. It has an FM transmitter, optical audio out, and came with a remote (which i didnt have). So now its sitting in pieces in a box in my storage room and I have no idea how to put it back together lol.

 

[rboyer]

You can always pick up a 10/100 network card for like 15 dollars and then install naslite on it and set the drive up as a NFS share. So 15 dollars and 20 minutes to set up naslite and you'll have the drive shared on your network.

 

[ejholmgren]

 

[1stHand]

new fire wire external drive