Mega memory unit for movies and such

I have about 800 movies on my seagate $59 external storage ... it works well..i did pay $30 for the WinX Cd/DVD copy software which is simple and easy to use.. it takes some time to copy 500 movies, tho.. about 6 minutes each.. took me awhile to copy all.. but, just a hint.. invest in a duplicate external storage unit and mirror your 1st one in case you drop or damage the one you use.. I was able to get rid of all my cds and dvds that one..

 

That way..(sorry)... spell check sux..

 

You can now download movies from Netflix..Hulu...amazon to add to your collection without even having to ever have had the cd, too.. My collection grows and grows.. lol

 

It's an involved process but doable. You can buy & operate a Raspberry Pi 3 single-board computer about $50. Run Kodi or Plex on the Raspberry Pi connected to your external drive and you have your own wifi cloud server. Youtube has videos on how to do this. It's not real easy but once it's running it's easy to use & reliable.

 

The factory-made device with this personal cloud function is called Network Attached Storage NAS. For a couple hundred dollars you get essentially a hard drive enclosure and space for a hard drive. The wifi is built into the enclosure. Put your media on the hard drive and you can stream it to your phone or TV. The store bought devices are more expensive than building your own NAS / Plex server. I spent about a week last Christmas getting my Raspberry Pi setup working. You'll need to decide if you have more time or money.

 

Try using Freemake Video Converter.....

Free Video Converter - AVI MP4 DVD - FREE Download

It's a free download that you can convert all your DVD's and Blu-ray's to video files, like MKV, AVI, MP4, etc, and you can make the files as big or as little as you want. Just make sure when you download it to your computer not to use the quick set application because that'll add on unwanted features, like Google Chrome and other stuff. Instead, use the advanced application and click off the add ons that you don't want. It works similar to the way iTunes will rip CD's to MP3. Just pop in your DVD and use the Freemake Video Converter to create Video files and use whatever media player you have to watch the videos. I have my whole collection of Shaw Brothers DVD's converted to MKV Videos and backed them all up on a External Hard drive.

 

We use a 5 tera box via USB.

No need for software as long as windows finds it and you have a inverter to run the power adapter to the 5tera. (It wont need much, a basic 12 volt to 300 watt 120 volt fan cooled metal cased inverter will do well. Shut it down when you are not using the laptop etc.

The beauty of the USB system is you can daisy chain them up to 128 devices.