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4801

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 05, 2011, 07:45 AM »

I still don't see a compelling argument for RAID here. You're basically just saying "pro-level RAID is more reliable". Yes, it probably is. And I guess if you buy it off-lease it's affordably inexpensive (I have no experience with doing that so I can't say). The question is whether it's significantly advantageous over basic software syncing *for the home user*.

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

Well... with 10+TB of data ... Size Matters. Where are you going to sync it to?!? The cloud? Total recovery time = 9 weeks... *Joy* ...I ain't got that kinda time, do you? another NAS appliance? Ouch $$$.

We can't use the amount of data as a gauge of how "serious" or "important" anything is anymore. In times past only enterprises has 10+ TB of data, but these days with high resolution digital cameras, home DVRs, people ripping their own media, huge music collections, and everything else going digital, we're approaching a time where 10TB will not be unusual for the average household to have. Does that now mean *everyone* should have a RAID unit?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

You gota back it up somehow, some where, and magnetic tape is too expensive for an archive that size even for most SMBs. Hell you're talking about a $10,000 device. Sure you can use one of those external drives (a stack of them actually) but do you want to walk a typical end user through an incremental restore? I don't.

So again the question, what specifically are the advantages over basic syncing?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

Cost. Syncing requires either a 1 to 1 target size or you gotta decide what not to backup ... 'cause it won't fit.

It seems like the only real benefit you mentioned is speed. You could argue that realtime redundancy is good to have, and it is, but is it worth the added complexity vs. a simple sync solution?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

How is it complex? You read the instructions, do it once, and then it continues working all by itself. Syncing requires that you remember to do it; or store you files in the right magic folder; or notice the error message... You aint gonna miss the alarm on a RAID controller going off ... Last time that happened here I had half the company in my office frantically pointing inside of 3 minutes. The other half of the staff...? ...Was outside thinking it was a firedrill.

Think about what superboyac has said about the desirability of being able to just take a drive and use the data on it as-is. That's simplicity, for a home user.

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

I did, parts of it are possible, and parts are science fiction... *Shrug*

And how much storage does that $1000 buy you anyway? Can you toss in 2TB drives to upgrade the storage? Does the controller support that? Are they SATA or SCSI? In other words does $1000 buy you a usable and *upgradeable* large data solution, or is it a one shot deal?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

You can get either SATA or SCSI (SCSI typically being cheaper and smaller these days). But get the one you already have drives for, all you need are the drive trays ($10 - $20 each) and you can use the existing drives you have now. You're only limit is the number of Hot-Swap drive slots (6, 8, 10, more) there are on the machine. Yes the 2TB (SATA, I'm not sure on SCSI - probably if you can afford them, I can't) drives will work.

As for my own situation with the Lacie unit, it's getting a bit off-topic but your proposed solution isn't really applicable to me either. I dunno about you, but I don't equate a stand-alone unit I can just plug in to a USB/eSATA/Firewire port with a complete, separate machine with RAID. I guess I could just use that machine as a sort of NAS, but the whole point to me was to have *local data access speeds* over e.g. eSATA, rather than network-limited speeds.

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 11:10 PM)

Hm... GBit limited Network speeds. How often are you moving what size file(s)? It's not like browsing the filesystem is going to lag with the traffic of a home LAN (which everybody has these days - Even if they don't know it). How many of those Units do you have in order to be able to store the 20TB of stuff you mentioned having? They can't be that cheap.

4802

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 05, 2011, 07:06 AM »

(RAID5) Two drives blowing in perfect harmony is excruciatingly unlikely

-Stoic Joker (January 04, 2011, 10:48 PM)

Yet it does happen - and when it does, it's usually when rebuilding the array, which seems to be more stressful on the disks than the simple procedure of re-duping a mirror to a blank drive. Shit's probably most likely to hit the fan if you've use drives from the same batch when building your raid5, which is a cardinal sin and all that... but with the stories I've heard, I wouldn't put my faith in Raid-5.

-f0dder (January 05, 2011, 05:21 AM)

I did say unlikely, not impossible, and with other configurations like RAID 0+1 you gotta blow all three at exactly the same time. Everybody has a horror story about an uncle that got blown to bits in a taco eating accident...The point is that it is highly unlikely.

Now a software RAID controller probably will torch your data if you look at it funny ... Which is why I like to avoid them.

Limiting yourself to mirroring for RAID does mean you don't get partitions larger than a single drive, but I don't see that as a super big problem - decent filesystems can abstract that need away (NTFS junctions, unix symlinks, ZFS storage pools, ...).

-f0dder (January 05, 2011, 05:21 AM)

Um... I don't recall making that distinction/recommendation, so I'm not sure what you're driving at here.

IMHO the only real advantage hardware raid controllers give you is battery-backed cache. And replacements for those cards tend to be pretty expensive, don't they?

-f0dder (January 05, 2011, 05:21 AM)

From the manufacturer? Staggering ... That's why you buy it from the other guy... The key is that the necessary part will actually be available.

The drive failure alarm is also a handy feature...especially if you have a headless server that doesn't allow you to see the first failed disk warning until it's too late.

Transplanting a RAID set is also smoother and safer with commercial hardware. When our PowerEdge 1600 started to die, I grabbed a PowerEdge 1800 for about $600 and since both used the same RAID controller (options, less is more) I was able to just drop in the second set and go. The controller pulled it in auto-magically, and Windows only needed an Import Foreign Disk reminder and we were live. Sure I could have restored the *)GB of data from tape - in a few days - But I like things simple.

4803

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 10:48 PM »

Let me just start by saying that I have seen way to many people lose thousands of dollars taking shortcuts with data storage, Okay...

What exactly is the advantage of RAID in this situation?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 05:42 PM)

Redundancy. If you have one drive, and that drive blows ... I mean really blows with hard parts touching or seized (which is rather common) ... you are sunk.

Now I know you just had a bad experience with consumer grade RAID hardware but you're throwing the baby out with the bath water. RAID is not the enemy, the appliance that was handling it was...

(RAID5) Two drives blowing in perfect harmony is excruciatingly unlikely, but if you want the extra cushion there is RAID 1+0 which would require that you lose three drives simultaneously to lose anything ... now that type of configuration does requires commercial hardware, but...

If you are going to have 10+TB of data kicking around the house, it's time to get (serious) off the porch and get the type of hardware that was actually designed to store that much data in a safe and comfortable fashion. And by comfortable I mean be able to repeatedly spin-up that many drives to find the file(s) you just asked it for without frying the PSU because it got a tad dusty and couldn't quite handle the request without puffing a cloud of smoke.

Not to mention that the uber handy looking flavor-of-the-month NAS appliance isn't going to be repairable in a few years because there is no compelling reason for anybody to stock parts for it. It's an appliance ... like a toaster or a blender, they're not designed to be repaired. When they break...You throw them away. So if the proprietary RAID controller (or other parts) decide to go poof ... you ain't getting another one. But you are at the mercy of the data recovery companies, and I'd rather not think of what the bill for recovering that much data would be, would you?

Off-lease commercial hardware is cheap as hell, and being mainstream they are quite common and easy to find parts for even years later because there is a market for the parts. You get a real hardware RAID controller with built in diagnostics that actually work, and the ability to rebuild after a disk failure automatically on the fly (e.g. zero down time). Not to mention they are also insanely fast. Doing a full format on a 200GB partition takes about 17 seconds ... Try that with a NAS appliance.

Either way you are looking at a grand or so ... So why waste it on something that's unrepairable and designed to die if used as advertised. Sure the last generation commercial server won't look quite as sexy in the living room, but it'll fit just fine in a typical closet and run forever in a home environment under a scant fraction of the load it was designed for, for damn near the same price!

If you're not using AD, IIS, etc. then what's the point of using a more expensive server OS?

-JavaJones (January 04, 2011, 05:42 PM)

Who said it was more expensive?!? Off lease commercial hardware (which was already paid fore once...) will either come with or have available the necessary server OS license. It's perfectly legal and endorsed by MS. The link I provided in your other thread has a price tag of only $250 for a flat out MS certified completely legal copy of Windows Server 2003. Now how much is Window 7??

I've dealt with that company many times in the past, I'll be ordering a server from them tomorrow. They are for-real, completely legit, super fast, and the customer service there can only be compared to things I saw on TV shows from the 50s.

4804

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 09:44 PM »

SHIT I just spent a freaking hour typing a response and the damn thing just vaporized. Board ate it or something, hell I don't know.

Now I gotta do the whole damn thing over - Where the hell is Ctrl+S when you need it!

4805

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 05:33 PM »

Let me make this simple... Technology Totally Sucks ... When Applied Badly.

Windows 7 Libraries Do Not Work over the wire. Period. So if you include network share folders X, Y, and Z in a Library on one machine, then go to a different machine you will have to recreate in again, and again, and again ... There is a word for that, it's called stupid.

A Windows Server... Will give you the full set of file sharing services, like DFS (Distributed File System)  which is a "Library" for folders from disparate locations pulled into a single shared location for consistent easy access from any location...And you only have to do it once. No you don't get the spiffy indexing features with DFS, but you also don't get them with the Win7 Libraries over-the-wire either. So nothing is "lost" but major constant headaches.

IIS, AD, DHCP, DNS, and etc. are all services that Can Be Added to a Win2k3 server. They are not compulsory, or even there by default. It does just fine as a bog stock workgroup server. However IIS is a kick-ass web server if you know how to setup and manage it properly.

With 10TB of data to keep track off if you go with proper commercial hardware, then RAID (1+0 as well as a backup strategy) would truly be the best configuration. But if you just want to hang a bunch of independent drives off a RAID controller then DFS will be your best bet to keep things organized and accessible. Either way a true server OS will handle the access of the data much better by not wasting it's resources on themes & multimedia nonsense.

Note: Commercial RAID controllers have on-board repair features that work (both manually and transparently) quite well. Not to mention that multiple configuration can be used for the various drives so you're not locked into the all or none crap of the consumer lever stuff.

4806

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 03:07 PM »

Well I only started playing with Win Server OSes with Server 2008, so i guess I started from a clean slate.

-Eóin (January 04, 2011, 02:14 PM)

That can help I'd imagine, starting with 2k I didn't have to unlearn any of the NT4 stuff so it was easy to pick-up as everything was new. The term Primary Domain Controller (or PDC) is a left over from the NT4 days - You still hear people using it, but they're generally the (older) NT4 crowd - still not completely unlearned yet...

...and I guess I'm getting my turn at that bat now also... (hehe) ...Shit.

4807

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 02:00 PM »

Windows Server 2008 R2 because it's free for students and is just sooooo easy to manage.

-Eóin (January 04, 2011, 01:07 PM)

I'm MCSA in both Win2k & 2k3, and yet I still spend half the time working with 2k8 trying to figure out where the hell they moved stuff to. I think they got a little too cute with the interface; the new IIS really drives me nutz. The old one was fine (UI wise) what was the point of scattering stuff everywhere hidden behind little pictures?!?

I'll get used to it eventually, and really like parts of it ... But I'll bitch about the rest in the interim...

4808

General Software Discussion / Re: Websites running your favorite oldie operating system

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 01:51 PM »

Damn that's cool, thanks!

4809

Living Room / Re: What would it look like if all DC visitors were gathered in one place?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 11:22 AM »

Something is clearly wrong with that photo, though i couldn't quite put my finger on it until i went back to the site app used to generate it and saw she didn't check the "show cody" box:
 (see attachment in previous post)

-mouser (January 04, 2011, 10:15 AM)

  If that's how big Baby Cody is going to get, we are in BIG trouble!

-app103 (January 04, 2011, 10:19 AM)

I was just wondering if he was going to start eating us myself... 

4810

Living Room / Re: iPhone Alarms Don't Work

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 10:33 AM »

Yet oddly enough the alarm on the $8 wristwatch I bought at K-Mart (6 years ago) is still working just fine.

...And I do know a bit about writing code for clocks with alarms & stuff... 

4811

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 10:22 AM »

There is a section on my site in the Quick Facts section about RAID types and usages. It was made up (long ago) of reproduced articles that I didn't want to lose so I could refer to them quickly if need be.

RAID Configurations

4812

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 09:53 AM »

RAID isn't a bad thing, it's just not something you can do safely in a half-assed manner. If you're seriously looking at building a box to permanently store 10TB of data - that you actually expect to have 5-10 years from now - Do Not Frankenstein it together from "kit" parts. Stuff breaks, but never in a timely fashion ... You need to get something mainstream. From a major manufacture ... That will have replacement parts available down the road.

You can get (refurbished) off-lease commercial hardware for a fraction of the initial selling price. And reputable resellers will also provide warranties for up-to a full year. As an example:

 Here is a Dell PowerEdge 2950 for $860. It's a Dual Xeon with 4GB RAM, and a True Hardware RAID controller which will handle up to 6 2TB SATA drives. Add a completely legal server license for an additional $250.

 I have personally bought several refurb servers from them for both in-house and client use, and their service has always been excellent.

4813

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 07:29 AM »

This can't be that uncommon? My wrist tends to stay fixed, acting as the pivot for my hand. So that means lifting the mouse a lot to get the cursor to travel plenty of distance. This just feels a lot less trouble than moving my whole arm to get the same cursor movement.

-nudone (January 04, 2011, 06:31 AM)

Especially with multiple monitors (and/or some wide ones) it's basically mandatory (i think). I do it most frequently when jumping between windows that are on opposite sides of the desktop.

Move cursor to new work-area center position, then lift mouse and set back down on center of pad where your (unmoved) wrist is most comfortable. I'll be willing to bet most people do this - but unconsciously.

Right?

4814

Living Room / Re: What would it look like if all DC visitors were gathered in one place?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 06:56 AM »

Very cool find App103!

I tried my site, and it is actually considerably larger than the average bathroom.

4815

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Wireless sensor

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 04, 2011, 06:49 AM »

(Long-Shot> IIRC... the logon screen uses the HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT profile...Which also has a subkey entry for Software\Microsoft\Current Version\Run

I've used this key/profile decription in the past to enable num-lock on the logon screen, so it could be worth a shot to try running/launching it from there.

4816

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: "VeggieSquares" - Children's Game

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 09:48 PM »

For instance, I do not believe it would be wise to try and become a C++ programmer at this stage in my life, but I think I still can learn.

-CodeTRUCKER (January 03, 2011, 11:28 AM)

I wouldn't rule that out just yet, it's a great language, and there are free versions of MSVS available from MS. Hell if I can figure it out - starting a bit late at 35 (then) - it can't be that hard...

4817

General Software Discussion / Re: Slash your windows boot time

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 03:36 PM »

Not a direct solution (more a rule-of-thumb), but when I run into this type of thing I usually just move the leftover files to another (temp) folder.

If nothing complains imediately, then they're not currently loaded (good sign).

Reboot and check for related errors.

Depending on the situation I may sit on the (to-be-deleted) temp folder for X time period before actually dumping it.

*Shrug* Just a Thought...

4818

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 12:33 PM »

  ...I thought it was just me ... But I was slightly drunk last week (yes all of it).

4819

Living Room / Re: iPhone Alarms Don't Work

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 08:58 AM »

Add in parentheses? What's the Difference signature? Maybe some parameters?

Think::Different(Arrogance** lots)

Not that?

-Renegade (January 03, 2011, 07:50 AM)

Okay, you win. 

4820

Living Room / Re: iPhone Alarms Don't Work

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 07:43 AM »

Silly buggers~! Let me fix that...

Code: C++ [Select]

1. while(!ringing) {
2.       if(timenow == alarmtime) {
3.           Think::Different; // <--+++--<<<<< Colons and semi-colon~!
4.       }else{
5.           ringing=FALSE; // ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
6.       }
7. }

There we go~!

-Renegade (January 03, 2011, 07:26 AM)

Hm... I don't think that'll work, Think::Different is a reference to a class they don't actually have.
Think = Different; // May at least compile *Shrug* Either that or a Windows Phone...

4821

Living Room / Re: iPhone Alarms Don't Work

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 03, 2011, 06:55 AM »

Reason for being tardy: Thinking Different.

I heard about this on the news this morning, and was actually too shocked to laugh - I am chuckling now however, and will continue to do so for most of the day - How the hell does one screw up something that basic?

Code: C++ [Select]

1. while(!ringing) {
2.       if(timenow == alarmtime) {
3.           Think Different. // <--+++--<<<<< Bugg!
4.       }else{
5.           ringing=FALSE; // ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
6.       }
7. }

4822

General Software Discussion / Re: In need of security advice ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on January 01, 2011, 10:11 PM »

If I can view the content then that's simply it, I have a copy of it on my machine, a copy I was willfully given.

-Eóin (January 01, 2011, 06:19 PM)

...and that is the best short description of the end-game so far. Anything viewed is already had, end of story.

Locks only keep out honest people, and copyrights don't scare anybody - Dire FBI warning at the beginning of every movie ... ever meet anyone that didn't laugh at it? I haven't.

4823

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 30, 2010, 05:03 PM »

hehe - Been thinkin' about this a bit huh? - I was pondering something much the same but using a custom file extension and file header check (both already exist). Then playable tone files could be created to play through the PC speaker.

The chances of this going (way) out of scope quickly are high ... But I'm thinking.

4824

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 30, 2010, 09:41 AM »

I use T-Clock 2010 but I don't have external speaker. 
My wish: Allow user to use PC Speaker's beep for hourly chime. 

-erikts (December 29, 2010, 08:22 PM)

I can't guarantee a time-line, but I will look into it as an option.

4825

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 29, 2010, 12:47 PM »

if you want to add super simple optional update checking, im happy to help show you how to use dcuhelper.

-mouser (December 28, 2010, 04:35 PM)

I'm thinking I should probably have an installer before I go that route. But I'll keep it in mind as is is something I'd been toying with doing.