Do I have to format my WHS to use SageTV?

[blackcows]

Currently using MCE but ready for a change, been reading a lot in the STV forum the last few days and some of my reading is leading me to believe that in order to use SageTV with my WHS I will need to reformat...is that correct? Something about 64 blocks.

Mike

[gplasky]

If you want to use Sage to record to any drive it should be formatted in 64k blocks. With that being said WHS is no exception. There is a thread on how to do it if you want to record to the pool. Essentially you'll need all data off of any drive in your pool because you will need to format them with 64k blocks thru disk administrator. You can also use drives that are attached to WHS that are NOT in the pool. But these will also need to be formatted with 64k blocks. New WHS installs are less troublesome bwcause you're not dealing with pre-existing data. With pre-existing data one easy way is to purchase an external drive as big or bigger than you're largest drive in the pool. Attach the external drive and add it to the pool. Now thru the WHS console choose one of the other drives to remove. Once all the data is migrated you can then remove the drive from the pool, add it back into the pool and immediately format to 64k. Now repeat the process for each drive that needs to be pormatted until you are done. It will take a while but it is doable.

Gerry

Gerry

[blackcows]

Thanks Gerry...so if I understand correctly since I will only be using SageTV as a front end for my digital media and still using my Cox Cable DVRs for recording TV this shouldn't apply to me.

Mike

[gplasky]

If that is how you choose to use it-correct. Personally SageTV does a better job than any cable DVR and with extenders you have one recording that can be watched any where there is an extender.

Gerry

[blackcows]

I do like the idea of using STV as a media recorder but from doing some reading on the forum doing this would mean a little more of a time commitment to get set up.

Mike

[SWKerr]

64k blocks is a performance recommendation not a requirement of Sage. I ran for a long time without problems not using 64k blocks.

If you are building a new system or can do it without much effort, it is something that makes some logical sense. Depending on your hardware and how many concurrent sessions you intend to record you would probably never notice the difference.

[blackcows]

Is there any advantage to using Window Home Server as my STV server? I was orginally considering putting it on my MediaSmart Server but I really hate to mess with that much as it contains a lot of data and my backups...it does what I need it to do. I do have a computer that I was using as my HTPC which I could dedicate to a STV server, it has a AMD Athalon 64 3500+ 2.19 Ghz with 1 GB Ram and a 200 GB hard drive, OS is XP MCE 2002 with SP3. This TV is connected to my 65 inch TV so I could probably use it as a client also and purchase the extenders for my other rooms?

Mike

[Fuzzy]

the is no inherrant advantage to running on WHS.. sage has all the same features on WHS as it does on any other platform. The advantages of WHS are outside Sage.. the drive pool, the ability to use the backup services for other systems... Sage for WHS was basically a way for people to put Sage on a system that the customers ALREADY had running 24/7.

[blackcows]

Thanks. So would STV run well on the system I described? As a Server and/or Server Client? My storage would be on the WHS through a wired network.

Mike

[Fuzzy]

Pretty much anyhting that was running as an HTPC before, is more than likely just fine running as a sage server/client... if you are running it strictly as a server, then it will CERTAINLY have enough power. The server itself, especially if serving up to just extenders, takes VERY little power.. (many run it on tiny little Intel Atom 330 processors). I will add, though, that if you plan on upping to a decent amount of HD material, with multiple sources and playback, remote storage on the WHS may become limited (performance wise). A sage server will definitely have the best performance writing to / reading from local storage.