My Media Center Configuration

I recently re-paved my Media Center computer because I was getting occasional lock-ups for no discernible reason. It was a good time to do some media management and get more organized and also document the hardware configuration (since it’s a DIY system, it’s nice to have this handy for when there are problems).

• Antec NSK2400 Case

  

• ASUS M2A-VM Motherboard
  

  

• Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ CPU

• 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
• Two Adaptec AVC-3610 Dual analog tuners

  

• Hauppauge WinTV HVR-980 Digital Tuner
• Four SATA2 500GB internal disks
• Two 2TB Buffalo Terastations
• Windows Vista Media Center

I have two of the 500GB disks setup in a RAID1 configuration and they are used for the system files and recording television. The other two contain mostly ripped DVD’s that I don’t care too much about (kids shows, How To videos, music videos etc.) The Terastations contain my ripped DVD’s and about 70GB of music. They are on the same gigabit network as the media center PC which makes the DVD’s play almost instantly.

I will need to add more storage soon, as I have ripped about 420 English DVD’s and have another 60 to go. I haven’t yet started to rip my Bollywood DVD’s (about 300) as the movies tend to be longer and require more disk space than my wallet can presently bear.