Installation initial first time set up

[pronto1st]

Hello to All ….I've just ordered the DVDFab movie server and my question is .. When preparing a 3.5" hdd for the initial first time

set up I gather this has to be a drive that's to be formatted by the movie server itself so any files will be lost.


But what happens say when I have quite a few 3.5" hdd's that are all ready populated with Blu-ray ISO images for instance

If I insert a hdd that is already populated with Blu-ray ISO images will the movie server try to format the drive resulting in loss of

all Blu-ray ISO images ?


All my hdd's are formatted in NTFS does this mean that they will not be seen by the movie server and I will have to transfer all

Blu-ray ISO images on to different formatted hdd's.

[jimczyz]

If you let the server format it, you won't be able to see whats on it from a windows pc. I formatted mine using NTSF and everything is fine.

[pronto1st]

If you let the server format it, you won't be able to see whats on it from a windows pc. I formatted mine using NTSF and everything is fine.

ok so I can insert a hdd in the movie server that is NTSF formatted and the server will see it and not try to format it

[Down2Earth]

ok so I can insert a hdd in the movie server that is NTSF formatted and the server will see it and not try to format it

Yes, that is correct. It will not automatically format a drive for you, only time it cares is when it's not formatted. You should also be able to play and watch the ISO movie files that is on the HDD also.

[pronto1st]

At the moment I watch my Blu-ray ISO's backups on my pc but soon I will be going to change my format

and start to backup my new 4K HDR Blu-rays and getting them to work on a pc is a nightmare hence

why I've invested in the DVDFab movie server


The DVDFab movie server is going to be attached to my 4K TV and I will NOT be networking to my pc

the movie server is going to be a stand alone player and will only play files from the inserted 3.5" hdd's

my concern was that all my current 3.5" hdd's are formatted for the pc NTSF and I didn't want to loose

any files due to the DVDFab movie server reformatting the drives when inserted into the player

So when the DVDFab movie player arrives will I be able to insert a hdd that is populated already

with Blu-ray images that is formatted in NTSF and be able to set up the DVDFab movie server

I hope I'm being clear on what I'm trying to establish..... thanks

[signals]

What size are the drives that you will be using?

[pronto1st]

What size are the drives that you will be using?

I will be using drives from 500mb to 4TB all 3.5"

[Down2Earth]

The max size drives you can use in the DMS is 8TB is why question was asked, so you should be good to swap out any of those drives that you are planning on using without any issues.

As a side note:

If all your drives are formatted in NTSF the movie server will not reformat it unless you tell it too. Like I previous posted it only sees a drive that is not formatted, then it will ask you if you want to format it using the DMS. If you format your hard drive using the DMS it uses a different format that is not playable through windows. It seems you like to be able to watch and control your movies on your PC, so formatting your hard drive with the server would not work for you if you still want to watch your movies or control them using Windows/NTSF.

However, the DMS has the ability to format a new hard drive…......yes, but it doesn’'t do it automatically, you have control over that. That being said, if you plan on hot swapping multi drives out that you have ISO movies on it, I believe if you swap out drives that have a different movie library and content on it, you will need to rebuild the metadata library for each one but should be good to go on watching your backed up movies on the DMS without having to reformat all of them.

[pronto1st]

if you plan on hot swapping multi drives out that you have ISO movies on it, I believe if you swap out drives that have a different movie library and content on it, you will need to rebuild the metadata library for each one .

oh oh that's a bit of a pain i thought that if i named the drive say A1 and

built the library for that drive then change drive for another say B1 and

again built the library for that drive then the server would recognise

what drive was in the caddy and know the library for that drive

and i wouldn't have to rebuild the metadata....bag humbug

[Down2Earth]

i thought that if i named the drive say A1 and

built the library for that drive then change drive for another say B1 and

again built the library for that drive then the server would recognise

what drive was in the caddy and know the library for that drive

and i wouldn't have to rebuild the metadata....bag humbug

...…….from past experience, thought also that is what it was supposed to do but doesn't work that way when you swap out different drives, it doesn't matter naming your drive as per content, it only see the last drive that was in it and keeps that metadata for it until you rebuild on it. Think there is a cache somewhere on the server/DMS that needs to be updated every time you put in a different HDD.

[pronto1st]

We'll I suppose that's something im going to try to solve somehow

on another note will the DMS be shipped with the latest firmware

DMS v1.0.3.5 hopefully out of beta by the time it arrives