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I have found out that I can save a network video stream to a local MP4 file with VLC with this kind of command: https://<url>/manifest.mpd --sout file/mp4:my_saved_video.mp4
where "<url>" is the URL of the network video stream I want to save.
However, I have a couple of questions:
My mother recently bought a new desktop computer as second-hand from its original owner. It had a hard disk of about half a terabyte, which my mother thought was not enough, as she is an avid photographer whose photographs are published in several places. So she wanted more hard disk space and asked me how it could be available. I told her that if the computer has more hard disk places available, she can simply buy more hard disks and have me or a professional install them. So she went to a computer store, bought two 4 terabyte disks, and asked the store to install them for her.
But I didn't know how to check if there were any free hard disk places in her computer available, without opening up the case, which would potentially voided the warranty. Can this somehow be done in software only, without physically opening up the computer? The computer runs Windows 10. JIP | Talk 23:13, 1 November 2020 (UTC)
Hard disk power usage is low enough that unless your computer was really close to the limit, it is very unlikely it will be a problem especially if we're only talking about 3 drives. If this is a commercially mass produced computer and you haven't upgraded the components (especially adding a power hungry GPU) frankly IMO you would not even bothering to check.
Heat dissipation could be an issue. That said, again for a commercially mass produced computer and you actually have the physical slots, it is unlikely, especially with only 3 drives, to be a problem. If you're trying something more questionable like attaching it somewhere there is no slot, definitely you should consider heat dissipation. It may be ideal to improve heat dissipation to keep the drives cool so you don't risk reducing life span. That said, WD & Seagate seem to think it's fine to put their drives in USB cases with terrible airflow.
However you definitely should not assume without checking that you actually have physical slots for 3 drives, nor the power connectors or SATA ports.
I do agree with the suggestion to consider an NAS. But I'd go further than that. It sounds like this is data that matters to your mum. What is her backup solution? Whether SSD, hard disk whatever, you should assume any device is going to fail and take your data with it. And there are plenty of other risks. In particular, while using a well set-up (e.g. preventing the remote user from simply deleting all data) locally stored NAS for backups (meaning not the only copy) can reduce the risk from user error, malware and catastrophic computer failure (probably power supply), it is not going to be sufficient.
A good backup solution generally entails at least one copy of important data stored off-site storage in some form since anything else is vulnerable to theft, fire, natural disasters etc. Nowadays this is often the actual 'cloud' but it could still simply be something stored in your house.
BTW, if you only have one free remaining slot, you may want to consider that if we're talking about 3.5" hard disks are relatively small nowadays. I just bought a 12TB WD USB from Amazon a few months ago and while I didn't shuck mine, a lot of people do [1] probably including some cloud storage providers. (BackBlaze in particular are famous for it). If you are uncomfortable shucking, you'll need to pay a little more, however you may still find the price per TB is lower for those larger drives.
Note also while the reliability of USB sourced disks are likely to be lower, per my earlier point you should never be tied to the reliability of a single drive. Preferably not even 2 drives. Most of the time, you're likely far better off storing two copies in two different drives even if USB sourced (although preferably not the same batch, probably even better if not the same model) than one copy in one enterprise drive.
In other words, the issue with reliability should never be one drive may die then I'll lose all my data. Instead, one drive may die then I'll have go to through the hassle of replacing it, restoring from backup etc. (As unlike with Backblaze etc, it's probably not just a case of pull the drive out and put the replacement into the slot.) Perhaps depending on your requirements & what you can afford etc, there will be some loss at the margins, e.g. if you only have a single backup and it's off-site and updated every month, you may lose up to a month.
What I would like to know is what the difference is between Network-Attached Storage and a USB external hard drive. I have a USB external hard drive with a capacity of 1 Terabyte. On my Windows 10 machine it plugs into a USB port and is set up as device F:. My own thought is that it is better to plug things into the box than to open the box. I remember opening the box in the 80286 era, but I think that working inside an opened box requires more knowledge these days than many users have. So what is the difference between NAS, which is being recommended, and a USB external hard drive. Robert McClenon (talk) 22:19, 3 November 2020 (UTC)