Vortexbox CD/DVD Ripping NAS

[aashish351]

Hi Fellows!

Realizing the many benefits of Digital music and a slight disadvantage of the time required to convert the 500+ CD collection to lossless FLAC/ALAC/MP3, I have decided to make my own Vortexbox CD/DVD Ripping NAS. I have already tested it on Virtualbox and it is every bit as easy and convenient as its said to be. A dedicated small form factor PC which will run the vortexbox OS and serve music directly and through the network.

The components:

1. Intel D425KT Atom CPU/Motherboard Combo - Rs.3800/- (Bitfang)
2. iBall Nettop 009 HTPC Cabinet with 150 W PSU - Rs.1750/- (Rediff)
3. Sony DVD-RW Optical Drive - Rs.1200/- (Bitfang)
4. ADATA DDR3-1333 Mhz 2GB RAM - Rs.800/- (Bitfang)
5. Western Digital 80GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD - Rs.1300/- (used - ebay)
6. Vortexbox - Free Download

Total: Rs.9000/- all incl.

The music will be on the external 1 TB Seagate Free Agent Go Flex USB HDD. The internal Vortexbox player will be used to directly play music on the HiFi through a Valab USB NOS DAC. And other users in the house will have an option to stream to any idevice (itunes server), Squeezebox (Logitech Server), or any DLNA client (DLNA Server) all built into the software.

The OS runs headless and controlled through a web interface on any browser. It makes simultaneous version in FLAC/ALAC/MP3 for different stream options and devices. DVDs are also ripped in lossless format with menu structure and can be simultaneously transcoded to MP4.

Lastly, the convenience of a desktop! Can always add/subtract components, try different OS / Software!

Pictures once all the items are delivered....

 

[aashish351]

Update....

I decided to go ahead with a 1 TB internal SATA drive only as the idea of installing Vortexbox on the external HDD didn't work out due to constant hang situation at "Probing EDD (EDD=off to disable)..."

It took me 15 minutes to build it using the quick install guide that came with the motherboard. Here are the pictures of the build...

Components as delivered...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

The iball cabinet is neat and useful although not the best in build quality...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

Sony DVD-RW...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

And the Intel D425KT...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

All installed...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

The case cover from inside...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-27

 

[aashish351]

And here are the screenshots of Vortexbox installed and working perfectly. Accessed through the web interface on the same network...

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

By aashish351 at 2012-06-28

 

[haisaikat]

congrats aashish, if you plan to get tower like NAS provision in future you may but one of these, requires separate power supply though but I think disk cooling will be better and not end up heating your main board uncecessary had they been in same cabinet, I checked shop abroad online can import these for 3.5K INR all inclusive (including price of product)

Newegg.com - SANS DIGITAL HDDRACK5 5-Bay IDE / SATA Hard Drive Organizing Rack

 

[Oakley]

Vortex box is a good Linux solution for server, i am using the full version

Oak

 

[anm]

can it rip BRs?

 

[aashish351]

Good question! I don't think it does... But I'll read through it's features and forum once again. Can't check as I installed a DVD drive not bluray in mine!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

 

[fedexp]

aashish351, congratulation on your DIY.
I am thinking about building a NAS for streaming. I've read a few guides here and there, but I am not able to conclude on what to buy. Is it possible to pack in up to 4 2TB harddrives into a cabinet enclosure and the cabinet remains as small as a htpc cabinet or sleek like a rack mount chassis? Do you know where I can find such cabinets? Also, you did not mention cooling information for this setup?

 

[anm]

can we make a similar one with lower power requirements? Something like 25watts?

 

[aashish351]

aashish351, congratulation on your DIY.
I am thinking about building a NAS for streaming. I've read a few guides here and there, but I am not able to conclude on what to buy. Is it possible to pack in up to 4 2TB harddrives into a cabinet enclosure and the cabinet remains as small as a htpc cabinet or sleek like a rack mount chassis? Do you know where I can find such cabinets? Also, you did not mention cooling information for this setup?

The cabinet which I choose can accept only one hdd. I am sure there are cabinets which can accept 4 also but they may not be very small.
The cooling is passive on the motherboard and through a fan in the power supply. There is also a fan in the cabinet controlled by the motherboard.

it is very quiet. vortex box does not load the processor much.

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

 

[aashish351]

can we make a similar one with lower power requirements? Something like 25watts?

I am sure there are options for lower power build. But I am not sure about 25 w. May be 60w. It depends on the motherboard, processor, drive, hdd. If you put ssd, power requirement reduces a lot. But the price is crazy!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

 

[agillis]

VortexBox does rip Blu-Ray you just need to buy a license for the MakeMKV that is running on it. It shouldn't be to hard to build a VortexBox that only uses 25 watts. Thats what the VortexBox Appliance draws.