Tag Archives: howto

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New Home Backup Server (Dell T640 with 18 20TB Disks)

  By Scott • 2024-06-13
HM-BACKUP05 - Cover 01 - 360TB Raw Storage

In this video I create a new backup server from a Dell EMC PowerEdge T640 with 18x 20TB Seagate Exos refurbished drives. Also there’s some more ranting about backups in general. But idk, there are chapters so you can skip to whatever. And it’s not technically a server, in that it doesn’t serve files. It’s really more of a client that takes files from other servers and holds onto them. But I call it a backup server because hardware-wise it’s a server. Anywho, that’s the description. It’s probably not optimal for the YouTube algorithm, but hey, I’m not an influencer even though I have a TikTok account that I don’t use. For posterity, here’s a transcript of the video in … Continue reading

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Creating a Backup Server from a HP DL380 G8 (StoreOnce 2900) | Hardware to Software RAID Conversion | Rambling

Video

  By Scott • 2021-11-27 , ,

I converted an older HP DL380 Gen8 (aka a StoreOnce 2900) from using a hard RAID controller to an HBA for software RAID. The conversion is simple, but the video is long af because I spend a lot of time discussing the “why” more than the “how”.

In this excerpt from the below video, I talk about the total cost of ownership of RAID arrays.

This describes why I created the RAID HDD TCO Calculator which helps you figure out the total cost of ownership of a RAID array, inclusive of stuff like electrical and cooling costs.

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Clone a Dynamic Disk to a New SSD in Windows 10

  By Scott • 2019-11-08
Clonezilla Vomits Feces onto Other Tools Because that's Classy

This is partially just for my own reference, so I don’t have to go down this rabbit hole again. (But I hope it helps you, too!) The Situation I wanted to upgrade the LITE-ON 256GB SSD in my trusty ol’ Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop to a snazzy new Samsung 960 EVO 2TB drive. I have a version of Acronis that came with a Crucial (or Kingston?) SSD, which has worked great in the past. The problem? There was a system reserved partition at the very end of the disk, and Acronis therefore would not proportionally scale the OS partition to fill the disk; It would only scale that system reserved partition. In a moment of errant stupidity, I said, “Ah-hah! … Continue reading

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Apparently myisamchk Doesn’t Understand 2-Digit Numbers (MySQL)

  By Scott • 2018-02-13
MySql Logo

myisamchk If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re trying to run myisamchk on a large table and you want to set the –sort_buffer_size to some large value. That’s advisable, of course. However, it seems that some versions of MySQL don’t understand a 2-digit value for that parameter. I was trying to do the following: myisamchk -f -r –update-state –key_buffer_size=4G –sort_buffer_size=16G –read_buffer_size=32M –write_buffer_size=32M /var/sql/myisam-temp/mastersitedb/applicants_master_search – recovering (with sort) MyISAM-table ‘/var/sql/myisam-temp/mastersitedb/applicants_master_search’ Data records: 0 – Fixing index 1 myisamchk: error: myisam_sort_buffer_size is too small MyISAM-table ‘/var/sql/myisam-temp/mastersitedb/applicants_master_search’ is not fixed because of errors Try fixing it by using the –safe-recover (-o), the –force (-f) option or by not using the –quick (-q) flag If you’re getting an error like that, try using … Continue reading

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Solderable LED Xmas Tree Ornament – Christmas the DIY Way

Video

  By Scott • 2016-12-07 , , ,

DIY Tree

I got this because it looked like a cool little project, and a neat (if tiny) gift for the missus. So that’s about the extent of my motivations. If you’re trying to put one of these together, I’m hoping that this video might answer a couple of your questions. It’s not really meant to be an educational video, though; More a demonstration of what’s involved in assembly for anyone considering a purchase. Speaking of which, if you want one you can pick one up for about 5 bucks over at banggood.com.

And in case you were wondering, this is not a paid advertisement. I actually paid them for this thing, so it’s pretty much the opposite. (If this kit were complete crap I would tell you.)

2D Version

3D Version

For viewing with Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, Rift, etc.

A couple of people have rightly told me that you can just set a 3D video to 2D viewing mode, and therefore don’t need to upload 2 versions of the same video.

There are a couple of problems with simply uploading one 3D video, however:

  • Because the two sides of the video are compressed horizontally, viewing it in 2D stretches one of the “eyes” to full screen. That means it’s much lower quality with half the horizontal resolution versus a regular 2D version.
  • As far as I can see, YouTube defaults to anaglyph (red/blue) mode when browsing 3D videos on a regular monitor. That’s a potential turn-off for any viewer that doesn’t know about the switch to view it in 2D instead.

If I’m off base here, please let me know. I’m still learning this whole 3D creation process.

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ecobee3 Smart Thermostat Install & Review

Video

  By Scott • 2016-09-27 , , ,

My old style programmable thermostat died last weekend, and so I rushed over to Home Depot to get a replacement. I wanted a smart thermostat mainly for its wifi connectivity, but also wanted to try out the truly “smart” aspect of it: Optimizing heating and cooling cycles to suit my needs.

They did an excellent job with the user interface, making setup really easy. And their app, though slow to connect at times, is overall well-designed and easy to use. So far I like the ecobee3, but my main concern is with reliability/longevity, and that of course remains to be seen.

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Razer DeathAdder Button Swap (Left- to Right-Handed Mouse)

  By Scott • 2016-09-11 , ,
Razer DeathAdder Button Swap

I’m a leftie, but all my life I’ve used right-handed mice in my left hand. I needed to replace my old Microsoft Optical Mouse, and found the DeathAdder Left-Handed Edition. It’s the perfect size and shape for me, but they did the weird thing of switching the left- and right-click buttons. It’s easy enough in most any operating system to swap the buttons in settings. However — at least with Windows — the buttons are only changed locally. So when connecting to other hosts via Remote Desktop the buttons revert to their hardware configuration. That’s a no-go for me, but I liked the mouse so much that I decided to mod the hardware instead. Fortunately, it’s very easy to reconfigure … Continue reading