# Calculating hard drive size for AV server



## packratt (Jul 27, 2014)

Approximately how many DVD and BlueRay movies can you fit on a 1TB drive?

Thanks


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Maybe a bit more than 200 DVD's, BD's @ around 5X the size of a DVD.

And that is using something like DVDFab to reduce if from 8 to 4 Gb's.

Then you have to consider: Do you want all the special features, like directors commentary etc.

Just uncompressed movies, about 110, BD's about 35.


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## gazoink (Apr 17, 2013)

Tonto said:


> Maybe a bit more than 200 DVD's, BD's @ around 5X the size of a DVD. And that is using something like DVDFab to reduce if from 8 to 4 Gb's. Then you have to consider: Do you want all the special features, like directors commentary etc. Just uncompressed movies, about 110, BD's about 35.


Where does one find "uncompressed" movies?

Don't forget the drive you'll need for backup.


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

gazoink wrote:



> Where does one find "uncompressed" movies?


Yeah, that was a poor choice of words...referring the movies compressed form 8 to 4 Gigs by the likes of DVDFab.


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## gazoink (Apr 17, 2013)

Tonto said:


> gazoink wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, that was a poor choice of words...referring the movies compressed form 8 to 4 Gigs by the likes of DVDFab.


Whew, yeah that's better. Uncompressed 1080p/24 burns through over 650 gig per hour. And unless you create your own, or work in the film industry, you ain't havin' none of that.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

I would HIGHLY recommend a SYNOLOGY NAS unit as a movie server - its very expandable as you need more storage - just pop in an additional drive and it integrates it into the RAID configuration automatically .. I could go on and on about these units - they are FANtastic for movies servers ... Jump over to the site and take a tour of the demo software....


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## djlittlewonder (Jul 19, 2008)

You should look at bluray & DVD approx size and what your needs are now vs future. I personally rip my blurays, full res, full audio, which usually ends up being between 25-40gb. DVDs are closer to 10gb. 
I originally purchased a smaller synology 1-bay unit, then upgraded to a 2-bay, then upgraded to a 5-bay, then expanded the 5-bay with a 2-bay (7 drive array). My 7 drive array holds movies, and the 2 and 1 bay hold photos, music, videos, etc. (there sync'd).

What I'm getting at is plan ahead. Spend more now to save later.

How are you planning to store your movies?


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

A DVD .iso file will range from 4.7GB to 8.7GB (depending on whether the disc is a single layer or dual layer DVD). Most newer DVDs will be closer to the 8.7GB mark though. This will give you the full uncompressed image disc. 

Blu-Ray discs will range from 25GB to 50GB, again single vs dual layer. I'm not sure how widely used 50GB discs are for movies as I don't have much experience ripping blu-rays. Again this is for the full uncompressed image of the disc.

Taking a 1TB HDD (1024 GB) and running it through an online calculator that determines actual formatted capacity, you actually end up with 931.32GB of free space.

So for DVDs you'd be able to store 107-198 movies depending on the amount of data on the disc.
For Blurays, you'd be able to store 18-37 movies depending on the amount of data on the disc.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

On a side note, if you plan to connect the drive using the USB port on most BluRay players you wont be able to playback high bitrate video files such as Uncompressed Bluray movies. USB 2.0 cant handle the high bitrate files and it will pay back really choppy. I am unaware of any Bluray players that have USB3.0 but hopefully that will change soon.


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## packratt (Jul 27, 2014)

Movies will likely be stored compressed.

Transfer from server to TV will be through a device with wired Lan connection (Roku, playstation, raspberrypi, etc)


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