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4451

Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 08:25 PM »

I do have a question, how do all these individual drives connect to the server?  I can't imagine there's 16 SATA cables coming out the back plugging into the motherboard?  Does it use a CAT5?  Is something going on inside the box which combines it into one SATA or eSATA cable?  How does this work?

-superboyac (December 30, 2010, 07:56 PM)

Port Multipliers - one eSATA port into 4 or 5 SATA drives, or Infiniband - 4 SATA ports into one cable and then back to 4 SATA drives, (maybe even 20 drives if you can tack Port Multipliers on the end).

Addonics, (yes, them again ), sell Port Multipliers.  The 5-Port HPM-XA on a PCI bracket will give you access to 5 SATA drives over 1 eSATA cable.

If you will be going to move most of the drives out of your system box into an external enclosure then that will free up more internal SATA connectors to be used as eSATA ports or a couple of Infiniband ports.

The Norco case you seem to have chosen allows for the installation of a motherboard and since you're going to connect the drives to a network for house-wide access which would require a PC anyway, (or some form of SATA->Network interface), then you may as well install a motherboard and create a NAS, (using whatever OS tickles your fancy - XP Pro, WHS, etc for simplicity of filesync software or eg. FreeNAS for full-blown NAS).  This will give you lots of SATA ports, (whether onboard or PCIe cards), and the Gb interface.

Addendum: If you were going to go for the NAS thing, then possibly a motherboard with multiple Gb ports that allows 'Teaming', (ASUS term, Gigabyte use something else), this would reduce any bottleneck from the network.

4452

Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 07:27 PM »

Actually, aren't there are two definitions for JBOD? One where data is spanned across the disks as you describe; and the other where a virtual disk manager is put on top of the "bunch of drives" but where each physical disk operates independently of the others?

-40hz (December 30, 2010, 07:03 PM)

The spanned version is more properly called SPAN (DOH!) or BIG now, with JBOD correctly being just individually addressed drives.  However, even some company descriptions seem to get it wrong.

eg. Some of Addonics products refer to JBOD (Concatenation), which I would have thought would really be SPAN or BIG, which they refer to on others.  Some have JBOD (Individual) and BIG.

If I recall correctly Goolge's Greyhole Project utilizes the second approach, but goes it one better by providing for data replication in software. Doing that makes Greyhole act much like a RAID-5 combined with an extremely flexible drive concatenation capability. This is similar to the 'Drive Extender' feature Microsoft just removed from their new Home Server release.

That looks very interesting, kind of like a combination of AFS, ZFS and RAID-5 

4453

Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 06:59 PM »

I see.  Yes, i'm probably misusing the term.  I figured JBOD meant exactly what I thought, but it's not.

-superboyac (December 30, 2010, 06:34 PM)

No, it might just be me.    As I said, generally JBOD has implied what is really meant as SPAN when people talked about it.  But JBOD really means what you have stated, Just a Bunch Of Drives - each individually addressable.

So your use is correct, however specifying JBOD still implies no data redundancy.

What's the difference between what I'm describing and Raid-1?

With RAID-1, one HDD is mirrored to another - they both contain exactly the same data, ergo they, (AFAIK), have to be the same capacity.  It's also taken care of by the controller, no user interaction, (apart from initial setup), required unless one HDD dies.

File syncing requires that the user run additional software, (and makes sure it's running), and action any errors, eg. files locked, permissions, etc, however the HDDs can be different capacities or the same HDD but different partition.

Incidentally, following on from worstje and JJ above, if you were going to try RAID-1, (even if only on a pair of your HDDs), I'd suggest using two different manufacturers, eg. WD 2TB and a Samsung 2TB, you'd be unlikely to end up with two HDD from the same batch.  Also, it would probably be better to use Enterprise class HDDs instead of Desktop class.

4454

Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 05:33 PM »

I'm building me a JBOD server, baby!!

-superboyac (December 29, 2010, 01:36 PM)

Geezz, the perfect way to lose everything through the failure of one drive.

-4wd (December 30, 2010, 04:42 PM)

Wait...huh?  I don't understand why.  I'm not raiding.  i'm just putting a bunch of disks in a rack.  Each disk will have another identical disk (or two) for backup up (not images, but file syncing).  How would I lose everything?  If what you say is true, then even my current setup is at risk.  but I don't think what you are saying is true.

-superboyac (December 30, 2010, 05:23 PM)

I think that maybe I may have misunderstood because of your use of the term JBOD.

Generally, JBOD refers to combining separate HDDs into effectively one bigger HDD so that data is spanned across all of them.  So if the 3rd HDD of a 5 HDD array dies, you've generally lost all data across all HDDs.  You may be able to recover files using recovery software from the other HDDs but it'll be a long process.

By definition, JBOD is non-RAID and therefore there is no data redundancy.

Your explanation of what you're going to end up with is kind of a RAID-1 setup for each individual HDD without actually using RAID.

4455

Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 04:42 PM »

I'm building me a JBOD server, baby!!

-superboyac (December 29, 2010, 01:36 PM)

Geezz, the perfect way to lose everything through the failure of one drive.

4456

Living Room / Re: Cute jokes' thread

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 06:52 AM »

From C-Section Comics:



* You need to take note of the comic mouseovers on the site.

4457

Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2010, 04:06 AM »

Here's a circuit using a Quad Bilateral Switch, CMOS or TTL they are pin compatible - although the TTL would need to be 74HC or 74HCT series.

Parts:
4066 CMOS or 74HC4066 or 74HCT4066 (use a IC socket)
DPDT toggle switch
100nF MKT capacitor

You could wire up the whole thing on the back of the IC socket.


Here's the functional sketch bit:


The only thing I'm not sure about is whether the internal parameters of the IC will allow full 480Mb/s without degradation but it's a simple circuit so if it doesn't perform satisfactorily then there's always the rotary switch method

The other thing I have is a Belkin Flip, haven't tested it yet but I don't see why you could just not use the monitor port, connect the keyboard to one of the USB ports and a self-powered hub to the other.
If you're interested I'll give it test - I don't use it anymore since I use DVI connectors now.

4458

Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2010, 07:40 PM »

now I'm curious about you're beneficial solution (are we going into manufacturing?)

-Target (December 29, 2010, 07:34 PM)

Nah, nothing so productive - just a little testing with a bit of equipment no longer in use around here - who knows maybe you'll get a simple solution and I'll get some pocket money for more Steam sales  

4459

Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2010, 07:24 PM »

Yes, you can try a 2-pole, 2 position switch and just switch the data lines.  Power the hub from an external source so you're not switching the power lines as well.  Leave the ground connected back to the computers but not the +5V.
You might need some kind of buffering, (not the data type - more to debounce the change-over), but you can certainly try it without first.

-4wd (December 29, 2010, 06:49 PM)

that's more like it

so is it acceptable to leave both power lines connected concurrently?  I haven't looked at the pinouts yet, but I assume this from your comments

-Target (December 29, 2010, 07:07 PM)

I wouldn't call it acceptable, there's a risk of destroying the USB device or you may have the two computers fighting each other if the voltage supply isn't exactly the same.
Since you'd be having one powered port anyway, (for external 2.5"), you might as well power them all externally - plus it's so easy

EDIT: Just to expand on the underlined bit.  If you switch the +5V then you're effectively disconnecting the power and reconnecting within a very short space of time.  This could induce a voltage spike into the device but I look at it this way: I wouldn't do it to my whole system, a television, or any electronic device since it has been proven in the past to kill devices.

If you leave both connected  then a fault in one computer could possibly feedback into the other - why take the chance?

I prefer to leave the USB devices powered and just switch the data lines, there's less chance of a voltage spike being induced into the data lines that way also.

and how would you 'buffer' the change over?  I don't anticipate that I would be switching while anything critical was running so I do expect it would be an issue, but now I'm curious

Did you mean don't ?

Possibly just a couple of CMOS/TTL chips wired to input/output lines, the problem being looking through specs to find what's capable of >480MHz switching.  I'd need to look through my circuit library and check the web to get a better idea and see how critical it'd be.

See my edit to my previous post also.

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Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2010, 06:49 PM »

A simple toggle switch to the control lines of a Quad Bilateral Switch, (4066 CMOS or 74HC(T)4066 TTL), is a relatively simple way to do it and it would be self-powered.  However, I'd look at making all the ports powered via external means.  You're talking about 12 ports, if they are all occupied at a relatively modest power consumption of 100mA, even with 1 powered that's still 1.1A, over twice the specified current sourcing for 1 USB port - which will be where it's coming from.

-4wd (December 29, 2010, 06:11 PM)

HA! once a tech, always a tech

-Target (December 29, 2010, 06:25 PM)

Thanks!  

my electronics knowledge is rudimentary at best so that's possibly beyond my current abilities (seems like it would need some sort of control circuit to make it work) - I was thinking along the lines of a simple (analog) type switch

Yes, you can try a 2-pole, 2 position switch and just switch the data lines.  Power the hub from an external source so you're not switching the power lines as well.  Leave the ground connected back to the computers but not the +5V.
You might need some kind of buffering, (not the data type - more to debounce the change-over), but you can certainly try it without first.

DSE - $0.99
Jaycar - $3.95

EDIT: If you want to wait a few hours, (housework - BLAH!), then I can sketch up a simple circuit using the 4066, (or TTL version), and post it up.  If you can solder two wires together it shouldn't prove daunting and the components are minimal, say ~$10.
Otherwise I do have another idea that may be mutually beneficial 

4461

Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2010, 06:11 PM »

as an aside it occurred to me (about 10 minutes after I posted, DUH!) that someone, somewhere must have already done this so I went looking for a DIY version.  There are a number of references of multiple port hubs being constructed by gutting a bunch of cheap hubs and mounting them all in a single case (basically daisy chaining), and it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to extend this concept to add a switch and 2 inputs...

3 unpowered and 1 powered (with a suitable power supply) would give me 12 ports...hmmm  

-Target (December 29, 2010, 05:01 PM)

A simple toggle switch to the control lines of a Quad Bilateral Switch, (4066 CMOS or 74HC(T)4066 TTL), is a relatively simple way to do it and it would be self-powered.  However, I'd look at making all the ports powered via external means.  You're talking about 12 ports, if they are all occupied at a relatively modest power consumption of 100mA, even with 1 powered that's still 1.1A, over twice the specified current sourcing for 1 USB port - which will be where it's coming from.

A more interesting way would be to use a micro-controller, (eg. PIC, Atmel), to monitor the incoming PC USB data lines and through-switch to the devices - more interesting but maybe not more practical since, (as mwb1100 said), Windows would need time to identify all the devices before data could be sent through, so you'd need to incorporate some sort of RAM buffer I'd think or message back to the OS to hold until device ready is signaled.

4462

Living Room / Re: USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2010, 03:49 AM »

It sounds like you want to be able to share USB devices between computers.

Like these, (there's some more on the site):
USB 2.0 2-Port Switch for Sharing Devices
USB 2.0 4-Port Switch for Sharing Devices

You might be able to plug a normal self-powered hub into one of the ports, (I don't see why not), which would increase the number of devices accessible.

Here's one that's close to you, (well Brisbane anyway ): USB Sharing Hub

4463

General Software Discussion / Re: Run a security check on your Gmail account - if not already done

« Last post by 4wd on December 28, 2010, 05:07 PM »

This seems to be forced on by default in my Gmail, and I cannot change it. I did come across an information link to a Google note that explains that if you try to disable it, it will not be activated for a delay period, for security reasons. I don't recall whether you get an auto email to ask for confirmation that you wanted it disabled. (Which would make sense.)

-IainB (December 28, 2010, 04:38 PM)

You don't - I've had a couple of mine turned off for a while and I never received a confirmation prior to it taking effect.  I think they expect you to notice the next time you log in via browser - something I do very rarely.

eeerrr    Of course maybe it's different if you have a alternative email or SMS set up - neither of which I use.

4464

Living Room / Re: Startup Applications List: Executables that do/dont need to boot with windows

« Last post by 4wd on December 27, 2010, 04:38 PM »

It's too bad that these type of websites never actually check what they add and that all the lists just copy one another and that you can't get them to change their minds about a program once they've gone to the trouble of sticking it on their websites.

D066UUtility.exe - It is NOT a TWAIN driver.  It turns off the CFL in the film scanner after a certain period so its life isn't shortened unnecessarily.

4465

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by 4wd on December 27, 2010, 01:08 AM »

That's what I've heard. They didn't have the HTC Desire HD when I wanted to buy, so I stayed with Vodaphone. I don't know how good they are though. Never used a Telstra phone. They certainly can't be worse than Optus though~!

-Renegade (December 26, 2010, 09:23 PM)

I've always been with Telstra, (well since I worked for them 13 years ago), and at only $5/month I ain't going to change any time soon.

4466

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2010, 06:39 PM »

Back to wireless -- I still don't like it much. The telcos here in Australia throw in an extra dose of incompetence for all things Internet. 3G barely works on the Optus or Vodaphone networks (haven't tried Telus) if at all.

-Renegade (December 26, 2010, 10:46 AM)

IIRC, Telstra currently has the best 3G, (or NextG as they call it), network in Australia.

4467

Living Room / Re: Need Help Finding a Domain Name

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2010, 05:49 AM »

apathetic.me
apathetic.us

4468

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2010, 05:47 AM »

I am surprised that the battery does't last more than a day - most of the reviews I've seen on that mouse they get approx 4 or more days, (still way short of the 3 months I think they claim on the pack).

Maybe that's a consequence of using only one battery ?

Maybe it's just that battery ?

Some rechargeables are crap, have you tried another ?

A few of my LAN night friends use Logitech MX Revolution and usually get a month or more out of a set of batteries.

The MS 5000 Bluetooth claims 6 month battery life and if I put a decent set of alkaline in, I'd probably believe them.  The rechargeables certainly last a fair amount of time.

4469

Living Room / Re: Need Help Finding a Domain Name

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2010, 05:30 AM »

whyigotstuckwiththiscrappydomain.com

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Living Room / Re: Not backing up will cost you!

« Last post by 4wd on December 25, 2010, 03:28 AM »

I just want the thing that holds the drives.

-superboyac (December 25, 2010, 01:13 AM)

Addonics

RAID Tower IX - 15 hot-pluggable SATA drives, connect via eSATA, USB3, USB2 or Multilane^*  $729->$779 depending on whether you want Multilane or not
RAID Rack - 20 hot-pluggable SATA drives, connect via eSATA, USB3, USB2 or Multilane  $1219->$1619 depending on whether you want redundant PSU or not.

They use hardware RAID controllers, the RAID mode is easily set by turning a switch at the back to the mode you want.  You can also keep them as individual drives but if connecting by eSATA your motherboard chipset needs to support Port Multipliers, IIRC, any Intel chipset ICH10 or later.

I'd love to buy some of their stuff but it's so ridiculously expensive over here.

^* Multilane is 4 SATA channels configured into one Infiniband connector to provide maximum throughput, ie. 4 x 3Gb/s SATA channels instead of a single 3Gb/s eSATA channel.

Addendum: Otherwise for something a little cheaper to start with and more portable, there's their RAID Tower IV or their Mini Storage Towers.

4471

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by 4wd on December 24, 2010, 10:54 AM »

Usually I've found that it's not the switch that fails but the mechanics of actuating it.  The plastic tab on the bottom of the button or the plastic actuator on the switch itself end up wearing grooves against each other requiring you to exert more force on the button to keep the switch actuated.

It gets to the point where you're actually pushing against the body of the switch rather than actuating it via those two small pieces of plastic.

I have bodged mice back to life by attaching small plastic shims to either the button or switch actuator but you really need to have fallen in love with the mouse or are just plain desperate to be bothered doing it.

Also, I've had to fix some really cheap mice like this because the plastic tab on the bottom of the button wasn't long enough in the first place.

4472

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by 4wd on December 24, 2010, 06:34 AM »

Another vote for the Logitech MX518 as being very good cheapish mouse.

Admittedly I no longer use mine because the scroll wheel went flakey and I also wanted a new mouse that would keep button profiles in the mouse and not have to load a driver.

You're lucky, StaticIce is now in the UK

4473

Living Room / Re: Contact information in one's profile

« Last post by 4wd on December 23, 2010, 11:39 PM »

I'd like ICBM!   

4474

What's the Best? / Re: Video Splitter: What's the best AND easiest?

« Last post by 4wd on December 23, 2010, 10:19 PM »

Actually, i said yes to one of those messages, and after that, I wasn't able to select the "Copy" setting in the video part.  So I knew that meant lossless was not going to be possible.

-superboyac (December 23, 2010, 09:30 PM)

That would have been the question about unpacking a packed bitstream, as soon as you answer Yes the output format changes to AVI-Unp, (IIRC).  It doesn't actually encode it, if you then hit Save the file will be saved as an uncompressed AVI resulting in a file many times larger than the original - no video encoding is applied so it's effectively RAW.

This stuff is all too technical for me.  I just want to split a video.  I just want to enter the start and end point, press split, and it splits it in a lossless way.  Whatever it has to do to reindex and get the AV syncing right, just do it.  Don't ask me about it, don't tell me about it, just do it.  I just want the clip split.

A little more involved with AVIDemux since it wasn't really aimed at that kind of one shot wonder appliance.

To split the file you need to cut the end bit off of the first section, save it, Edit->Reset Edits, cut the start bit off of the second bit and then save that.

However, you can queue these things up in the joblist and have it do numerous files all together.  Otherwise, I could possibly look at modifying one of the scripts to make it a bit easier, ie. select a split point and then run the script to have it do the above steps.

4475

What's the Best? / Re: Video Splitter: What's the best AND easiest?

« Last post by 4wd on December 23, 2010, 08:01 PM »

I think you mean AVIDemux.

AVIDemux does lossless splitting, like so:



1. Open your file.
2. Enter your time.
3. Hit 'A' for the start of the clip.
4. Hit 'B' for the end of the clip, then use Control-X to remove it.
5. Save file.

Points to note, starting from top and going down, left -> right:
* Volume control for preview playback
* Set Video to Copy
* Set Audio to Copy
* Set Format to same as input file format
* Play/Pause button
* Stop
* Frame type - this is important - if the initial cut frame type is not I, (key frame), then no matter what program you use the first few frames will have to be re-encoded until the next key frame.

You will see three type of frames^w represented by the following three letters:

• I - frames are the least compressible but don't require other video frames to decode.
• P - frames can use data from previous frames to decompress and are more compressible than I-frames.
• B - frames can use both previous and forward frames for data reference to get the highest amount of data compression.

I always aim to start a cut on a key frame.

If you don't start the cut on a key then when you go to save there will be a dialogue asking if you want to enable Smart Copy - choose Yes if your cut doesn't start on a key frame, otherwise you can safely choose No, (if that doesn't work, save it again and choose Yes).  Just answer OK for the next dialogue about quantizer.

Any program that allows frame-accurate cuts will need to re-encode any section of video if it doesn't start with a key frame.

ADDENDUM:
If the program detects a packed bitstream when you open the file, it will offer to unpack it - the correct answer is NO.
If the program detects H.264 video encoding, it will offer to open the file in a 'Safe' manner - the correct answer is CANCEL.  Be aware that this might cause the program to crash, however the alternative 'Safe'  method can cause a loss of sync between video/audio streams.

I suggest the following preferences for opening of files:



I use AVIDemux for all my MPEG4-ASP editing without a problem.  I also use it for some MPEG4-AVC edits but I now upgraded to VideoReDo TV Suite H.264 from v3 which can do frame accurate on MPEG2 and now MPEG4-AVC.