Windows Channels DVR TIPs/Tools

[bnhf]

I also have my Windows 11 Pro VM set to automatically log in -- however I use this approach:

How to Log In Automatically to Windows 11

Not sure exactly why, but I haven't needed to employ any extra measures to keep my VM awake, other than setting it to not sleep by using high performance mode under power options.

Updates haven't been an issue either with Windows 11, as Channels DVR seems to keep update reboots from happening until I initiate them.

As far as other tools go, DrivePool is a killer addon that I've been using for many years, and allows me to create a single virtual drive from several physical drives. I've not seen anything as easy to use for the purpose, and as comprehensive, on another OS:

https://covecube.com/projects

One thing Windows lacks is a package manager, but WingetUI pretty much takes care of that:

GitHub - marticliment/WingetUI: WingetUI: The Graphical Interface for your...

I'm actually pretty agnostic when it comes to Operating Systems, I've used them all, and each has their pluses and minuses. IMO, the best OS for a given job is more-often-than-not the one you've already used successfully for that specific task.

[Edwin_Perez]

@bnhf

As far as other tools go, DrivePool is a killer addon that I've been using for many years, and allows me to create a single virtual drive from several physical drives. I've not seen anything as easy to use for the purpose, and as comprehensive, on another OS:

An alternative to DrivePool is Windows Storage Spaces which I use.

[bnhf]

@Edwin_Perez

An alternative to DrivePool is Windows Storage Spaces which I use.

Storage Spaces is good too -- and free. In DrivePool there's an option to duplicate specific folders across as many drives as you like. And while I don't care that much if I lose DVR recordings, losing photos and digitized home movies dating back to the 1930's is another matter. Everything in DrivePool is stored NTFS as well, so files are readable from a removed drive -- no lose one disk and the whole array is gone like RAID1.

DrivePool also has a scanner and cloud companion products, to verify drive integrity on an ongoing basis, along with folder duplication to the cloud. Amazingly, this type of thing is hard to find in the Linux world, without resorting to some pretty complex solutions. I'm a Linux fan -- but easy to use, WebUI storage management is somewhat lacking in standard distros.

[Edwin_Perez]

@bnhf

DrivePool looks interesting I did some research and like the features you described will give it a shot.

Much Better than Storage Spaces thanks for the tip.

[Morris_Altman]

I've never had to do anything to avoid Windows Update stepping on a recording. When I first setup Channels DVR I was concerned about this. I think it's that windows update reboots are only done when the system is idle. I guess one could go off and delay the start of a recording yet I've not seen this.

My recordings are stored on a NAS and I use SATA SSDs for the recordings. I chose them as they will not spin down as channels hits the disks too frequently. This gets me lower power usage than spinning disks. You could do the same on a Windows box.

My "server" is a BeeLink N100 box which also runs Plex and under Hyper-V my network management system and also my backup orchestrator. It's amazing what this little box can do.

[Edwin_Perez]

Just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen ...

How to disable automatic reboots in Windows 10? - Super User

[chDVRuser]

I don't use Windows for Channels DVR (use Synology), but after purchasing a WIN 10 laptop, I discovered this tip which may help users running CDVR on Windows.

It was taking a long time just to open a text file on my internal and external hard drives and discovered that advanced power settings didn't expose this value that can be changed with the POWERCFG utility. The default value in my power scheme was to turn off (sleep) the hard disks after 15 seconds when plugged into AC power. I changed it to disabled using this command.

POWERCFG /X disk-timeout-ac 0

In a windows command prompt, run POWERCFG /? for help

[Morris_Altman]

Has it happened to you?

[chDVRuser]

Why so defensive?
The Topic is TIPS/Tools.

Are you waiting until it happens to someone and reports it?

@Morris_Altman

I've never had to do anything to avoid Windows Update stepping on a recording

@Edwin_Perez

Just because it has not happened to you does not mean it does not happen ...

@Morris_Altman

Has it happened to you?

Why wear a raincoat/rubber?

[Morris_Altman]

We all know people that have had that go wrong. Have you had Windows Update affect a recording?

[chDVRuser]

@Morris_Altman

Have you had Windows Update affect a recording?

Never

I run Channels DVR on Synology NAS's for that reason.

Didn't want to off-track the Topic

So back to your regularly scheduled program.

[reneg]

I run Channels DVR on a Windows mini PC with USB drives attached, and access it remotely. I don't run other programs to keep my PC or USB drives awake. It's been a while, but I turned off sleep/hibernation and made sure that the USB controllers in Device Manager do not shut down to try to save power. I'm running both Channels DVR & Plex on the same system.

I like the other tips, thanks.

[Michael_Birk]

@Morris_Altman

I've never had to do anything to avoid Windows Update stepping on a recording. When I first setup Channels DVR I was concerned about this. I think it's that windows update reboots are only done when the system is idle. I guess one could go off and delay the start of a recording yet I've not seen this.

I also don't do anything special to avoid updates, but I do set the options in Windows 11 update so that my inactive hours are from 2AM to 8AM and use the option to force notification before update will restart. I don't know of anytime it has restarted without my consent. At any rate my happiness doesn't rely on any TV recording, so I don't spend any effort worrying about it.

[Edwin_Perez]

@reneg

made sure that the USB controllers in Device Manager do not shut down to try to save power

Great tip.

[Morris_Altman]

The drive that you have channels configured to record to is constantly accessed and will not spin down. This will keep the USB controllers up. There have been bugs related to this in the past.

[Edwin_Perez]

@Morris_Altman

The drive that you have channels configured to record to is constantly accessed and will not spin down. This will keep the USB controllers up. There have been bugs related to this in the past.

Depends on how you have Channels DVR configured ... on my USB drives the only thing I have on them are recordings/watching a recording everything else is on a different SSD drive. So the USB drive is only accessed when recording.

[Morris_Altman]

The drive you record to hold the debase and the backups. All other drives are library only and will spin up when accessed. Depending on the drive that might be very fast or take a second or so.

[Edwin_Perez]

Not in my Setup ... All backups logs etc... are on an SSD.... Streaming folder also.

Is it possible to change the location of CDVR Cached files?

So to sum up what you did. On your Windows PC you created the base directory for Channels DVR, C:\ChannelsDVR Then you created Directory symlinks in it for the directories that you want to be only on your NAS. The directories must NOT already exist on your Windows PC, the symlinks take the place of them. MKLINK /D "C:\ChannelsDVR\Movies" "Q:\ChannelsDVR\Movies" MKLINK /D "C:\ChannelsDVR\TV" "Q:\ChannelsDVR\TV" At this point on your Windows PC you have C:\ChannelsDVR (Directory on your PC …

[Morris_Altman]

Neat setup. Symlinks are still on the disk and to access them the disk must spin up unless in memory. Then the disk the symlink is pointing to will spin up when accessed.

[ameegreg]

@reneg

made sure that the USB controllers in Device Manager do not shut down to try to save power.

I just migrated my server from a Rasperry Pi 4 to a BeeLink N95 Mini PC running Windows 11 Pro. I'm using a SSD for my recordings, but wouldn't have thought to do this. Thanks for the tip!