OK I am setting up a massive network attached storage array (probably multiple NAS's) to hold my DVD collection (500+). I am currently using AnyDVD to rip it to my drive. Then I use Media Center 2005 paired with MyMovies 2 to catalog and play the files. My question is what is the fasted READ drive out there? Currently it takes over 30 min to rip the dvd or about 250 hours for the entire collection (not including the kid stuff and box sets). Also is there any way to start multiple instances of AnyDVD so I can use more drives. The drive seems to be the limiting factor at 3-5 MB/s so the hard drive could definately handle 4 total drives doing 4 different movies. Or is there a better tool for this?

Thanks for any help you can provide, suprisingly it is really hard to find info on just ripping to the hard drive everyone seems to be more interested in coping it to another DVD.

you never mentioned your drive. some drives are riplocked (only allow ripping up to a certain speed)

you can change this by using Media Code Speed Edit, checking "increase read speed" and then flashing the drive with the new firmware that you've saved.

be warned that modifying firmware voids the warranty with the drive.

also, I'm not sure if storage space is a limiting concern, but anydvd copies each disc "as-is." using another program to strip out extras and/or menus and just keep the main movie would decrease the size of each film and increase the max number of movies that you can store. (unless you wanted to keep the menus and eextras then by all means do what you're doing)

as far as i know, the anydvd ripper can not be opened in multiple instances. Anydvd can, however, decrypt multiple dvds at once. if you insert a disc in another drive, ther'es nothing to stop you from using clonedvd2 to write that disc to files on the hard drive. I *think* however I'm not positive that clonedvd2 can be opened in multiple instances.

the ripping speed may suffer if you do this meany at once especially if the destination drive is the same or if the drives are on the same controllers so it may still be more time efficient to do one at a time...but that's up to you to play with and figure out!

BenQ, NEC and other newer DVD Burners are very fast rippers as they can read double layer at 12x. For BenQ's you can even "overclock" with MCSE and reached 15.67x peak on pressed double layer discs resulting ripping in around 9 minutes per double layer movie. See here: Dare! Fastest DVD DL rip speed.

There are also DVD-ROM drives such as AOpen that is known very fast but given the price of dvd burners around $40 I would go with dvd burners instead of DVD-ROM drives.

To rip multiple disc efficiently you need multiple readers and storage in different channels.

Thanks for the quick response. The drive I have is a NEC 3520A. I certainly don't have a problem updating the firmware. I plan to replace this anyway, so what is currently the fasted one available (looking at all the other costs a new drive is a drop in the bucket).

Space is a concern, but I am just getting started. I will try Clone2DVD to see how much space can be saved.

Eventually I will be ripping to a RAID 5 over gigabit so write capacity probably won't impact performance too much on just 4 threads. Even if it slows 10-15% it would be worth it on 500+ discs.

What, in MB/s, do you usually see on average? I am only seeing 2-5 maybe, is that slow or normal. How long should it take to rip a DVD?

I rip my DVDs with DVD Decrypter while AnyDVD active (or sometimes disabled). Usually it takes 5-6 minutes for a single layer movies and 9-11 minutes for dual layer movies.

The term "x" in 15.67x is quite the standard to replace "speed".
1x = 1,385 KB/s thus 16x = 22,160 KB/s (~22 MB/s).

Thanks and great DARE article! Is the BenQ 1620 (I assume the 1650 is the same) with the Firmware: BSJB, MCSE speedpatched still the king? Also do I get that firmware from BenQ or do you have a link for that. Sorry to be a lazy a** I know there is probably a post here somewhere on that.

zevia; Since DVD Decrypter is not shrinker then how do you fit the ripped DVD9 into DVD5 for burning?.

TCAS, for some good movies, I rip it straight to hdd (DVDD + AnyDVD) and burn with ImgBurn to DL media. For other movies I still use DVDD+AnyDVD to HDD and then DVDShrink but mostly when I don't use the PC. This is usually my method for ripping/shrinking multiple movies simultaneously.

i'm not sure which drive is tops for reading at the moment, but the firmware can be obtained from BenQ and there are probably links all over the place if you search the BenQ forum.

then you have to download media code speed edit and load the firware into MCSE.

you check off "increase read speed" then save. this will save the firmware as something like "BSOB_speedpatched.exe"

you then run the .exe file to flash the firmware to the speedpatched version.

MCSE is also useful for other things, but you can check out its other uses on your own at http://ala42.cdfreaks.com/MCSE/

Yes if you use DL disc then obviously you wont have to shrink it but if you use SL disc then you have to shrink it to fit DVD5 (4.38GB) disc in later case then no use to first rip it with DVDD+AnyDVD then shrink with DVDShrink and then burn it rather that shrink &rip it simultaneously with DVDShrink and burn it with either Nero or ImageBurn.

BTW: Could you explain the process of : when I don't use the PC. This is usually my method for ripping/shrinking multiple movies simultaneously.[/quote]

Thanks zevia.

TCAS: in my system, if I shrink 4-8 movies simultaneously, it will take hours to do them. Rather than abusing my dvd burners with those hours I prefer saving some "wear and tear" by ripping first and shrink later from hdd when I'm away from my PC (shopping, outdoors, sleep, etc). When the shrinked movies are ready, then I just put 4-8 blanks into my burners and let ImgBurn queue all of them.

I have used alot of different drives for ripping the Aopen 1648\AAP was good. but the best I have ever used is my BenQ 1640, it is a very fast ripper and the best reader I have ever owned.

I have a rebadged BenQ 1640, a Sony DRU-810, and I also feel that it is the fastest ripper of the DVD-RWs that I have had.

I have the same one as you but mine is a 810A so are they the same?

Yes Dr. it is>

in my exp
even a fast dvdburner cannot match a fast dvdrom
I have a BenQ1655 which is supposed to be a fast ripper
but cannot match my Asus E616A2 DVD-rom
which i think is one ofthe fastest ripper around
it only costs $20, and will rip most movies within 10 min
also works in DMA 3(?) and has a 2mb buffer

Yo-

My BenQ 1640 xflashed to EW164 is the fastest ripper I have ever had and my NEC 3540 is the second fastest and both will read most anything - a decently fast cpu is also part of the equasion as cpu usage is around 45 to 60% during most rips

Mike

@ zaq,
I have a BenQ 1655 as well and it is not nearly as fast. With my Sony DRU-810 I rip most movies in under 10 minutes, that's including w/compression. I was able to rip Fun w/ Dick and Jane in 7 + minutes.

@bigmike7
I also would agree with you Mike, your system also does have a say in how fast things can get done. I have a AMD Athlon 3700+ with 1 Gig of Ram. Plenty fast for me.

on average rippiing a movie with my BenQ 1640 with compression is 7-8 minutes.