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We have over 150 DVDs that we need to copy the data off of. There is no time crunch, but I don't want to have someone manually swap DVDs for two weeks. Does anyone know of an automated way to get this done? Is there a DVD reader with a feeder, or should we just line up 2-3 computers with 4-5 DVD drives? The budget is $500.

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This question was closed off-topic on Server Fault, so hopefully this is a better place for it. – Kyle Renfro Nov 4 '11 at 20:34
Flagging -a shopping or buying recommendation. Please read the FAQs – wizlog Nov 4 '11 at 21:00
Bit by bit. Regards, – Xavierjazz Nov 4 '11 at 21:44
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@wizlog: This isn't off-topic because it involves a specialized piece of equipment. See this Super User Meta post: In defense of obscure, niche hardware recommendation questions. – DragonLord Nov 4 '11 at 21:46

closed as off topic by Daniel Beck♦, random♦ Nov 10 '11 at 13:32

Questions on Super User are expected to relate to computer software or computer hardware within the scope defined in the FAQ. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about closed questions here.

2 Answers

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If you have 10 computers: on need to read only 15 times by computer. Your budget is very low for a robot, and it's a lot of time to search/buy/configure an hardware solution.

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There is a type of cd copying system that is designed to pull cd's off a spindle for writing. It is usually hooked up to a rack of burners for commercial disk copying/.manufacturing. I would think that it would be fairly easy to write a script to reverse the process and make the sources autoload and the output be a single hard disk. As far as price, I haven't looked into it in several years, but I suspect a used system could probably be had in that range. The robotic changer is what you are interested in. The higher end systems are designed to load many burners at once, but you really only need a single reader. Then every hundredth disk maybe you would load another 100 onto a spindle and start the machine again. The computer itself doesn't need alot of juice. Only enough to control the two drives and the arm. An old system with a decent 7200 or 10000rpm SCSI HD and a fast SCSI cdr would do the trick. Think SCSI for fast dedicated BUS and controller. The scripting may be the $$ item, unless you can handle it in-house

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