Recent Posts

2426

General Software Discussion / Re: File system monitoring utilities?

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2011, 12:35 PM »

Thanks!
Well, both of the tools above monitor files.  But I'd also like some automatic logging capabilities.  In short, I'd like the monitor to automatically create a log every day of the files that have changed and save it.  Ideally, I'd also like to be able to search the logs in the program, but that's not a big deal.  If it saves the logs as text files, I can search it with a file indexer.  The key is a program that can be set to save the log every night.

2427

General Software Discussion / Re: File system monitoring utilities?

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2011, 12:18 PM »

Boom:
http://www.deventerp...se.net/Projects.aspx

2428

General Software Discussion / File system monitoring utilities?

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2011, 11:53 AM »

Does anyone have any recommendations for a file system monitoring software?
I'd like to have a cool program that logs all changes made to files on a  computer (maybe not all).  Like if something was deleted, renamed, etc. it would keep track of it.  Is such a thing available?

2429

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2011, 11:47 AM »

Very well said, Carol.  I often question how much I can get away without having any security things running constantly.  My computer sure runs faster without them.

2430

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 02, 2011, 05:12 PM »

 
I got it from Dennis Reynolds in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
http://youtu.be/u_KIRUFbQiQ

2431

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 02, 2011, 03:36 PM »

It's a maturation process for all of us.

A lot of the blush has come off the rose when it comes to RAID. Most of us have modified our opinions about it over the years. Old school "received wisdom" used to be: always go RAID-1 for the OS, with RAID-5 for everything else - plus a separate small and very fast drive for log/swap/cache files.

That old formula is absolute overkill for most of today's far more reliable hardware.

RAID doesn't reduce the chance of hardware problems. Nor does it reduce costs. Each additional drive you add will increase the number of potential failure points. Plus they'll also create heat and increased operating expense. No getting around that. Having three drives in a RAID-5 doesn't reduce the likelihood of a drive failing. It actually increases the possibility a having a drive fail by a factor of three or more. Some even argue that the additional busywork that comes from constantly striping and writing parity data actually increases wear and tear on the drive and makes a hardware failure more probable in a RAID array. Good thing it at least allows you to repair it without too much hassle. Because you will need to repair them. About once every three or so years.

At least from my experience.

Properly implemented, RAID reduces your risk of downtime. It does nothing to improve your reliability from an engineering perspective.

But today, it's less fretting about reliability and more about configuring for efficiency and performance. Because, in the end, the only real hope for data protection and preservation comes from having "known good" snapshots, file copies, and backups.

And all the fancy drive controllers in the world won't automatically give you those.

-40hz (August 02, 2011, 03:27 PM)

That sounds very sound to me.
I think I have this figured out.  Dell server from Stallard.  A hard drive storage unit, like a Norco.  Whatever power supplies and cables and other stuff I need to make it all work together.  Slap it all into a 3-4' cabinet.  Connect it to my router.  Boom.  I'm done.

2432

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 02, 2011, 02:58 PM »

40hz, Stoic:
Thanks so much for the discussion.  I'm really following along better than i expected, and I'm learning a lot.  I think I'm getting a clearer picture of what I want.  As far as taking "sides", I think very very much like 40hz in the simplicity approach, and the restrictions being a blessing in disguise.  As you can see, I struggle with this concept when you also add in my desire to overkill and overengineer everything.  It's a maturity thing right now...

Anyway, I like this:  I'm not going to RAID.  I'm pretty sure of that.  I'll have different disks for different stuff.  It's the videos that are the killer.  I think everything can fit on one drive, and videos will have to span multiple derives.  I'd like to pool them, I like that a lot.  Using Windows 7 libraries, and if that proves insufficient for my desires somehow, I'll see what kind of third-party solutions can handle merging several directories on different hard drives so the client computers "sees" them as one drive (please offer ideas if you know of any).

To me, "rebuilding" is as simple as copying all my files over to a new drive.  That's all I need, especially considering that multiple locations will have these copies readily available.  Anything fancier than that just doesn't seem to hit home to me.

I think this discussion is very good.  I've had several discussion int he past couple years about RAID, storage, backing up, etc., with a lot of people, and it seems to be a very divisive, confusing subject.  A lot of people are saying things that don't make a whole lot of sense to me.  I think if I could wrangle in this discussion into a short presentation, it would prove very useful to people.  The question people have about all of this is "What should I do?  What is the right balance?"

2433

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 02, 2011, 10:01 AM »

For 6-10 TB that you need kept very safe and available, RAID-5 is a viable first line of defense if you go with "business grade" RAID controllers and hard drives. But as you probably already know, you'll still need to combine it with a backup or sync of some sort so you have a copy as well as a resilient original of your data.  RAID mostly assures you of availability since an array drive failure won't take down the entire array. But it does nothing to get data back if a catastrophic failure occurs. For that you'll need a backup or mirror copy.

There are flavors of RAID (50 etc.) that combine striping with mirroring and parity check options.  But they're expensive solutions and usually only found in data center level installations. In short - fuggeddaboutit!

-40hz (August 01, 2011, 05:14 PM)

That's how I feel, thanks for confirming.  That's why I'm thinking of having no RAID.  Just the disks on their own.  To merge them into larger directories (spanning), I can use Window 7 or the server's capabilities for that, right?  And backing up is easy that way: just file sync onto an identical hard drive.  I've been doing this for years now and see no real problems with it.

2434

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 04:07 PM »

P.S. Don't use RAID-5. If you have a good backup strategy and can afford occasional downtime to perform hardware maintenance or replacements, RAID-5 is more trouble than it's worth IMO.

40hz said that earlier.  I'd like to understand this better.  because Geoff from Stallard recommended using RAID-5, and it sounded good to me.  If I don't use RAID-5, what are my alternatives?  Keep in mind that I will be handling about 6-10TB of data that I want backed up and very safe.  Also keep in mind that I am going to get a business quality RAID controller, not any consumer grade ones.

But I also shy away from RAID if I can help it.  I just need to know what alternatives I have if I don't RAID, especially when it comes to backing up and redundancy and all that.  I can only think of two things: RAID, and mirroring (file syncing).  Is there any other way?  Images are not the same, versioning is not really the same.

2435

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 03:50 PM »

OK, guys.  I've changed my mind again, and yes, I'm going to go back to the NAS suggestions that you all recommended to me in the beginning.  I've read around and asked about it, and I think there's no need for anything else really at this point.

The company I like so far is Synology.  I like them a lot.  I'll just get a 4-bay drive, and have a RAID5 array in there.  I think with the redundant disks, I can get 4 TB for now with it.  And that's good enough for now.  I might get two of these so I can store one in a remote location and sync it that way for backup.

Any thoughts?  Does this seem more reasonable and not so much of the overkilling that I tend to do?

(er...I may change my mind back. sheesh.  I'm annoying myself now!)

2436

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 09:06 AM »

A real pain will be to merge data from binary files like Office documents and databases. All the usual (D)VCS systems are based on merging text-like documents, such as source files of a programming language, not binary data. Some of them have extensions/plug-ins to read/compare/merge Word or pdf documents, and that's often the best you can get. For comparing/merging databases there's a whole different SW industry, (I've not investigated 'cause I don't need nor want to go there).

I/we usually do the merges we need to do with an IDE like Eclipse and/or Visual Studio and their available plug-ins (for SVN, that's our central VCS of choice), and so far there have not really been merging issues, not even with international development teams working on the same repository.

-Ath (July 30, 2011, 03:32 AM)

Yes, very true.  This is something I'm struggling with.  Here's my problem: i don't really care about merging and subversion control all that much.  It's not that I need everything to merge properly.  I just want to figure out a way to manage this workflow where I do some stuff at home, some stuff at work, some stuff on a usb stick.  I think I can get away with my initial idea which didn't have any kind of subversion control, just some file synchronization tweaks.  If I bring my usb to the homebase, the synchronizer will check to see which file is newer, and put that in the working directory.  Any older files won't be replaced or deleted, just moved to another location (like a subfolder).  That's all i want.  I don't think I need anything more than that.

2437

Living Room / Re: Android tablets to rival iPad

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 09:02 AM »

Absolutely none. It could keep up with me no matter how fast I wrote. Some fellow techs used to use the "grafabet" for their paper notes too. It's a pretty efficient set if letter forms. And it looked "sooooo geek" when you used it that way. 

Palm realized it was far easier to train the user rather than try to have 10,000 users attempt to train the same interface.

There's a lesson in there someplace. 

-40hz (August 01, 2011, 08:54 AM)

Very true.  Never thought of it that way.

2438

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 08:58 AM »

Rostropovich plays the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1

2439

Living Room / Re: Android tablets to rival iPad

« Last post by superboyac on August 01, 2011, 08:46 AM »

The handwrighting input, best I can tell, hates (me) left handed people. As we tend to start certain letters/numbers from the bottom (o, 3, 8, etc.) instead of the top ... and this thing was having none of it. Even after a training session on what was to be perceived as an 'o' damnit. It just couldn't get it right.

-Stoic Joker (July 28, 2011, 12:06 PM)

I always find it amusing that the Palm Pilot figured out the handwriting issue ages ago with its Grafiti alphabet and interface - and nobody has brought it over to any of the new tablets or smartphones.

Guess in this era of software patents and lock-in, NIH rules supreme. Even if it means dismissing from consideration something that actually worked.

-40hz (August 01, 2011, 07:40 AM)

That's true, huh?  Those palm pilots really had no trouble with handwriting.

2440

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« Last post by superboyac on July 30, 2011, 12:14 AM »

Armando's thread:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=25765.0

2441

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« Last post by superboyac on July 30, 2011, 12:12 AM »

Sweet!  Thanks, Shades.  I'll have to check out Armando's thread, he's always extremely helpful with this sort of thing.

2442

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« Last post by superboyac on July 29, 2011, 04:17 PM »

Once you start getting too many versions of a fine it's almost worse than losing said file. As it becomes an ordeal to figure out which is the correct latest file - With the changes you're looking for.

I'd prefer to keep it simple and leverage the  previous version feature that is already built into Windows.

-Stoic Joker (July 29, 2011, 04:00 PM)

Well, i don't plan on doing this with all files.  There are certain files that I will be regularly modifying both at home, at work, and on the run (think a notetaking application that captures clips of stuff you come across).  So I need a way to handle that with the minimal amount of manual tuning.  Let's say I added some notes to a database on my USB drive, then I go home and capture a couple of notes on the desktop...then I remember I had a couple of new ones on the USB...how do I combine everything?

2443

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: AceText - text & clipboard manager (for coders, writers, etc.)

« Last post by superboyac on July 29, 2011, 03:01 PM »

How you getting on with AceText superboyac? 

-mitzevo (July 29, 2011, 11:18 AM)

I haven't really committed to it yet.  But I probably will soon (I'm in the middle of to many things right now).  It's very similar to mouser's Clipboard Help+Spell, which is free.  I'm trying out the CHS beta rightnow.  They both have pros and cons.  There's something I just like about the Aceclip interface.  But CHS is more powerful and does a couple of things better, and the beta added a couple of features I really like (icons in the quick paste).  One thing I want in CHS is to add more of whatever the SQL options are intended to do as regular buttons and checkboxes in the options menu.

So I'm kind of playing around with both right now.

2444

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on July 29, 2011, 09:28 AM »

Thanks Stoic!  You're right.  Again, I've only HEARD these things.  To me, as long as I can stick in an install dvd and it runs, I should be able to deal with it.  Where I would have trouble is if the OS can't even start or get going...then I'm lost.  Once it's up, you're right, I can always turn to the DC experts!

2445

Living Room / Re: Android tablets to rival iPad

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 05:52 PM »

I'm REALLY excited about the possibilities suggested by what I've seen of Windows 8 so far... Will be watching developments there with interest.

-Darwin (July 28, 2011, 05:14 PM)

People are already dismissing Windows 8 as being too late to the party, or not being able to overcome the momentum of iOS and Android.  But I think Windows 8 is going to be the tablet answer for me.  I like my ipad, it's ok.  But it lacks so much in the way of configurability, even jailbroken.  Android is better in that respect, but still, my problem is that all my stuff is on Windows, and it would just be super duper convenient if the OS on the tablet was Windows also.  It's not that it's better, it's just that I need that low level compatibility so I can deal with my files, folders, and favorite software without any middlemen or hacks to bridge the gap.  I think Windows 8 is going to surprise people.

2446

General Software Discussion / Re: Grid Layout software? Does it exist?

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 05:49 PM »

Guys!  Check this out!
http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups

It's pretty amazing.  You can essentially create a mock application quite easily.  This might be very important for me.  I always have software ideas, but not being a programmer, it's difficult for me to accurately explain my vision.  This would be awesome for that.  I'm probably going to use it for coding snack ideas...

2447

General Software Discussion / Re: What special character do you use to have a file sorted at the top?

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 05:31 PM »

What do you all use to always have a file/folder sort to the bottom?

-AndyM (July 28, 2011, 05:23 PM)

I've seen people use prefixes like "zzz_"

2448

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 04:54 PM »

Well, I've had some more time to work through this project.  Before I give Geoff a call back, I'd like to review my server design here with you guys.  It's pretty generic right now, but as we discuss things more, I'll fill in the details.


Questions:
1) Let's say I order a Dell server for that first box shown (from Stallard).  How difficult would it be to format the drive and freshly install a server OS (MS Server, Home Server, whatever it ends up being)?  From what I've heard, doing a format/fresh install on a server is a lot more finicky than doing it with the regular OS's.  I always do that whenever I get a new computer.  But I don't want to run into an impossible to solve problem regarding drivers, OS configuration, hardware issues, etc.

2) The other thing I want you guys to pay attention to is the setup of the storage components.  I have RAID5 going on based on previous discussions here and with Geoff.  I also have this special shared drive, like a media drive, that will sync up with the media folders on the central storage.  This is how I'll get around my never ending issue with VPN, and trying to access files remotely.  I've given up on all that technology, none of them are good in my opinion.  Things like Dropbox are limited by their cloud services, usually by price or storage size.  I want nothing to do with monthly charges or cloud services.  So instead, I'll just physically sync all the files to each remote device that I use.  That way, I don't have to stream any videos, or read/write to a remote location.  Everything is local.  So I like this solution very much.

2449

General Software Discussion / Re: What special character do you use to have a file sorted at the top?

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 02:37 PM »

Depending on what I'm doing, I use an exclamation point (majority of the time) or a tilde.  Some file managers don't sort the tilde to the top but (almost?) all sort the exclamation point to the top.

-skwire (July 28, 2011, 10:52 AM)

+1. I use the !.

You can also do multiples: ! !! !!! etc. to provide "levels" of importance.

 

-40hz (July 28, 2011, 01:14 PM)

Ha!  I kinda like that.  I'm gonna steal it.

2450

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2011, 12:57 PM »

Bazaar is looking appealing to me.  It seems to have a nice GUI.  All the others are very command line-ish, which I hate.