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Ohhai
Apr 5, 2011


I tried a thick plastic business card, but unfortunately it was too thick to really pry the plastic apart, although it worked for keeping them apart.
I've ordered a couple of spudgers now for future use, but there's no way I could have waited a month for them to arrive.

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD
Jul 7, 2012



Fallen Rib

The best way I’ve found is to use four butterknives. Slide the first two into both sides of the crack along the long edge. Then slide the other two into the sides, at the closest points of the curve facing you. Then twist, and the drive comes right out with zero damage to the enclosure.

derk
Sep 24, 2004


i need to upgrade my tool kits, any suggestions? PC/cell phone work, general electronics, most of mine have disappeared or broken over the years. Not sure who makes quality stuff anymore.

mystes
May 31, 2006



Eletriarnation posted:

Guitar picks also work in my experience and are useful for taking phones/tablets apart too, if you ever find yourself doing that.
Seconded. Guitar picks worked really well for me.

priznat
Jul 7, 2009

Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

derk posted:

i need to upgrade my tool kits, any suggestions? PC/cell phone work, general electronics, most of mine have disappeared or broken over the years. Not sure who makes quality stuff anymore.

If you search for the ifixit kits on amazon you can get those or the knockoffs in the related products sections.

phosdex
Dec 16, 2005



Tortured By Flan

I used 1 of those membership cards from a grocery store. Cut it up into 4 pieces and it worked out.

D. Ebdrup
Mar 13, 2009



Duck and Cover posted:

I still got injured.
The gods of packratting demand blood sacrifices in return for your data not getting ruined when you expect it the most.
They are, however, capricious - and if your sacrifice was not enough, they will ruin your data when you expect it the least.

Duck and Cover
Apr 6, 2007


D. Ebdrup posted:

The gods of packratting demand blood sacrifices in return for your data not getting ruined when you expect it the most.
They are, however, capricious - and if your sacrifice was not enough, they will ruin your data when you expect it the least.

Nooo not my copy of Air Gear.

eames
May 9, 2009



Does anybody have a clue what ever happened to the Synology DS619slim? The announcement was a year ago but no retailer has info. The DS119j was announced at the same event has been available for half a year.

It's like it was silently cancelled, perhaps bad blood between Intel and Synology because of the Atom bug?
The DS218+ is on sale today and I'm getting tired of waiting.

eames fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Apr 2, 2019

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Dec 6, 2014

CUCK SJW


Atomizer posted:

Drives tipping over might be a legitimate concern if you can't put them somewhere out-of-the-way, but stacking them together, even side-by-side will transfer heat between them and cause it to build up. You want space between them, even if the air isn't flowing heavily. Think about how a heatsink works, with a bunch of fins and a lot of surface area.


That's totally fine, and you can continue using that drive for that purpose; just throw it in one of the enclosures from a shucked drive and use it externally. That way it's even easier to replace when it dies.


The laws in your country may vary (and I'd suspect the EU has some strong consumer protections regarding things like this) but in the US a product warranty can't be voided just from opening up and trying to repair your products yourself (e.g. repairing your own car, or taking it to a 3rd-party mechanic.) Companies will threaten that your warranty will be void, but that may actually be false in Estonia (like it is here.)

The "internal drives are cheaper" is a known annoyance. It has something to do with: being able to charge businesses more for known drives (whereas external ones aren't guaranteed and can vary,) having surplus drives that they want to move via selling them for less as externals, etc.


Like I said you can totally continue to use the old drives, but put them in a single tower instead of continuing to deal with several externals.

Thanks for the reply man. Yeah with the drives standing up and an inch and a half between them their temps are in the low 50s so I'm happy.

Good point on the laws. I do know I once sent WD a dead drive and they refused to fix it because I shucked it but thus was like 10 years ago. Now I know what to say if they try to bust my chops again.

So is the idea that I should put all my extra 4tb drives in another computer case? And have it run what, Linux? Or just have it connect to my Windows PC somehow? I'm not against the idea of it's fairly cheap.

astral
Apr 26, 2004



eames posted:

The DS218+ is on sale today and I'm getting tired of waiting.

Where, out of curiosity?

Greatest Living Man
Jul 22, 2005

ask President Obama


WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

Thanks for the reply man. Yeah with the drives standing up and an inch and a half between them their temps are in the low 50s so I'm happy.

Good point on the laws. I do know I once sent WD a dead drive and they refused to fix it because I shucked it but thus was like 10 years ago. Now I know what to say if they try to bust my chops again.

So is the idea that I should put all my extra 4tb drives in another computer case? And have it run what, Linux? Or just have it connect to my Windows PC somehow? I'm not against the idea of it's fairly cheap.

If you have another computer case, you still need a PSU for powering the drives (and fans) and SATA cables to run to some sort of card in your desktop. I would recommend something like the LSI card below and a couple of mini SAS to 4x SATA cables.

It might be cheaper to go used enterprise, but of course these things are somewhat loud. This is my setup, all purchased through eBay in the US:
Hitachi DF-F800-RKAK 15-Bay Expansion Array HDS AMS 2100 2300 2500 w/ Trays ($100)
LSI SAS9207-8e 8-Port External HBA Full-Height PCIe P20 IT Mode for ZFS FreeNAS ($40)
Molex SFF-8088 TO SFF-8088 External mini SAS to mini-SAS Cable 1FT DELL 00TFC6 ($16)

The Expansion Array connects to the LSI card in my NAS through the SFF-8088 cable. Adds 15 drives to my setup and will work on Windows or whatever.

5436
Jul 11, 2003

UGGGGH MOOSE

Why do NAS'es cost so much? I just built a computer for like $500 which i could just put 4 HD's into.

8-bit Miniboss
May 24, 2005

CORPO COPS CAME FOR MY


5436 posted:

Why do NAS'es cost so much? I just built a computer for like $500 which i could just put 4 HD's into.

Embedded hardware and software development. "Custom" RAID levels. Turnkey solution for most people who don't want to computer janitor their systems.

HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast


5436 posted:

Why do NAS'es cost so much? I just built a computer for like $500 which i could just put 4 HD's into.

Support, I guess, but I see the whole thing as a black box that's hard to get parts for a few years down the line, just when it might experience failures, and be out of warranty. The software dev argument holds some water, but the majority of boxes use a lot of open-source code anyway.

In my opinion, the home user is better off building their own with standard parts in most cases, but a business should buy something with a long support contract, and replace it when the contract can't be renewed

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 2, 2019

Heners_UK
Jun 1, 2002


HalloKitty posted:

The software dev argument holds some water, but the majority of boxes use a lot of open-source code anyway.

Open Source just means no licencing costs. For integrated NAS systems you still need a developer who understands the product to properly use it and it may be the case that licencing costs would be dwarfed compared to this cost anyway.

I agree though, Home Users who are capable of it are better off building their own system.

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD
Jul 7, 2012



Fallen Rib

Time is money. Setting up and managing a Synology unit is a snap. FreeNAS can be a fucking nightmare.

Enos Cabell
Nov 3, 2004



I admit I don't have experience with Synology, but aside from the initial build I've had to do literally zero managing of my Unraid server. Even adding a second SSD and GPU after it was setup was a process of minutes, not hours.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006


5436 posted:

Why do NAS'es cost so much? I just built a computer for like $500 which i could just put 4 HD's into.

Because I'm willing to pay you to assemble it for me, pre-configure all the software, and provide me with a single point of contact for the hardware warranty. So now $500 + your time = $750-1000.

Unraid is a relatively new piece of software to the market and if it was as robust as when I bought my synology as it is now I would have had a real decision on my hands.

As it stands though I deeply hate computer janitorial work. My next desktop is likely to be one of the top of the line NUC's or similar.

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

I MEAN, TURN OFF YOURE MONITOR, MIGTH EXPLAIN YOUR BAD POSTS, HOPE THIS HELPS?!

In DiskStations with dual M.2 slots, could you run them in a second RAID 1 separate from the SATAs (for example to segregate OS/Application/Servers and storage on their own arrays), in particular I'm thinking of something like this: https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS918+#specs where you have 4x SATAs and 2x M.2s?

Duck and Cover
Apr 6, 2007


You know what has worked well for me with no issues? Is it Plex? Is it Sonarr? No it's the Synology itself. Sonarr, and Plex aren't even bad. Do I want to deal with multiple warranties? Do I want to deal with setting up and dealing with what may be terrible user unfriendly software? I didn't think the savings of money/increase in power/flexibility makes it worth it. Although I suppose time will tell I only setup the ds1019+ a weekish a go.

Duck and Cover fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Apr 3, 2019

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006


Schadenboner posted:

In DiskStations with dual M.2 slots, could you run them in a second RAID 1 separate from the SATAs (for example to segregate OS/Application/Servers and storage on their own arrays), in particular I'm thinking of something like this: https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS918+#specs where you have 4x SATAs and 2x M.2s?

Don't worry about the os worry about making a backup of the config. Those m.2 slots can be used for ssd read (raid0) or write (raid1) cache. The write cache is an order of magnitude more dangerous but if mine had the m2 slots I would do it.

Coxswain Balls
Jun 4, 2001



College Slice

What are you guys even doing with your DIY NAS devices that makes them a nightmare to set up? My FreeNAS box has been chugging along for four years with no issues. The only computer janitoring I have to do is software updates when I get an email, and actual janitoring when I take it outside and blast it with an air compressor.

CommieGIR
Aug 22, 2006

If Godzilla can do it, you know I can deliver!

Pillbug

Hell, I'm running FreeNAS Corral beta, the bastard love child of FreeNAS, and it works without much issue or configuration needed.

Worst janitorial I did was point it at more modern Docker collections.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007

Bote McBoteface. so what


WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

So is the idea that I should put all my extra 4tb drives in another computer case? And have it run what, Linux? Or just have it connect to my Windows PC somehow? I'm not against the idea of it's fairly cheap.

You'd be running them in a second PC for some other, ancillary purpose, e.g. backups; you'd run any OS on it, be it FreeNAS or Windows with file shares, or you could use it standalone without sharing the storage over the network (this would be ideal for the aforementioned backup scenario.)

5436 posted:

Why do NAS'es cost so much? I just built a computer for like $500 which i could just put 4 HD's into.

Well a new NAS has to make a profit for the manufacturer. A PC can be made out of second-hand parts that someone else wants to get rid of and has already paid full price for when they were new.

D. Ebdrup
Mar 13, 2009



Speaking of opensource, click here if you've ever wondered how RAIDZ 1 through 3 works.

Lowen SoDium
Jun 5, 2003

Highen Fiber


Clapping Larry

Duck and Cover posted:

I have decided all NAS owners be legally mandated to own a copy of Cleopatra 2525. Let me sell you on it; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ZRSwul7cE

I had forgotten that Gina Torres was in that show.

Duck and Cover
Apr 6, 2007


Lowen SoDium posted:

I had forgotten that Gina Torres was in that show.

Cleopatra 2525 has 28 episodes, Firefly has 15.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Dec 6, 2014

CUCK SJW


Atomizer posted:

You'd be running them in a second PC for some other, ancillary purpose, e.g. backups; you'd run any OS on it, be it FreeNAS or Windows with file shares, or you could use it standalone without sharing the storage over the network (this would be ideal for the aforementioned backup scenario.)

OK so if I make it a Windows PC (I have an old motherboard laying around that I can use this for), what is it that people normally do? Keep the 2nd PC off most of the time, turn it on once in a while, and copy/paste the important files to it, then shut it back down?

Also I am doing what many said here and am going to begin replacing my smaller internal drives with 8TB shucked WD externals.

There is a $10 USD price difference between the WD 8TB My Book (WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN) and the WD 8TB Elements (WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN). Which one is recommended? Is it worth the extra $10 for the MyBook? The only differences I can find is a Reddit post saying that MyBooks are helium and Elements are air, but isn't helium not really proven yet and also way more expensive to repair?

Enos Cabell
Nov 3, 2004



Why do you want to make it a windows pc? You keep trying to make this harder on yourself than it needs to be.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Dec 6, 2014

CUCK SJW


Enos Cabell posted:

Why do you want to make it a windows pc? You keep trying to make this harder on yourself than it needs to be.

Actually making it a Linux box would make it harder than it needs to be since I'm a moron who can barely use OSX because I can't figure out how to copy and paste on it lol

The last time I tried Linux, briefly, it couldn't write to NTFS so I figured I am not gonna bother because Windows uses NTFS but maybe that changed? I am guessing the benefit of Linux is lower power consumption even if it's just some old microATX I had laying around from 2009?

Volguus
Mar 3, 2009


WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

Actually making it a Linux box would make it harder than it needs to be since I'm a moron who can barely use OSX because I can't figure out how to copy and paste on it lol

The last time I tried Linux, briefly, it couldn't write to NTFS so I figured I am not gonna bother because Windows uses NTFS but maybe that changed? I am guessing the benefit of Linux is lower power consumption even if it's just some old microATX I had laying around from 2009?

Use whatever OS you want and you're comfortable with. Unless you want to learn how to use Linux/BSDs and harness its power. But that's not a requirement.
The storage box is normally supposed to be up and running 24/7. This is where the expensive NAS solutions shine since they can be quite power efficient (ARM cpu, optimized drivers, etc.).

redeyes
Sep 14, 2002
I LOVE THE WHITE STRIPES!

One of these days WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW is going to try Stablebit DrivePool for windows. I hope that day comes soon.

Raldikuk
Apr 7, 2006

I'm bad with money and I want that meatball!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

Actually making it a Linux box would make it harder than it needs to be since I'm a moron who can barely use OSX because I can't figure out how to copy and paste on it lol

The last time I tried Linux, briefly, it couldn't write to NTFS so I figured I am not gonna bother because Windows uses NTFS but maybe that changed? I am guessing the benefit of Linux is lower power consumption even if it's just some old microATX I had laying around from 2009?

Linux has been able to read and write from NTFS partitions for a lonnnnnng time. When did you last use it? Windows probably is fine for your needs, but that excuse is just weird

Matt Zerella
Oct 7, 2002


Raldikuk posted:

Linux has been able to read and write from NTFS partitions for a lonnnnnng time. When did you last use it? Windows probably is fine for your needs, but that excuse is just weird

While it can do it I would not trust the write part. And I'd only use it to grab data off of things, not as a permanent storage option.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Dec 6, 2014

CUCK SJW


redeyes posted:

One of these days WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW is going to try Stablebit DrivePool for windows. I hope that day comes soon.

I am not sure if that's sarcasm lol. I'd be happy to but is there really a huge benefit to having one big E: or whatever?

I did buy Stablebit Scanner though, which will alert me via text if one of my hard drives are reporting errors.

mystes
May 31, 2006



WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

Actually making it a Linux box would make it harder than it needs to be since I'm a moron who can barely use OSX because I can't figure out how to copy and paste on it lol

The last time I tried Linux, briefly, it couldn't write to NTFS so I figured I am not gonna bother because Windows uses NTFS but maybe that changed? I am guessing the benefit of Linux is lower power consumption even if it's just some old microATX I had laying around from 2009?
If you have fast startup enabled in windows and reboot into linux, linux won't be able to write to the NTFS partition because it's unsafe (the windows kernel has been suspended without cleanly unmounting the partition).

Otherwise, there's no problem with writing to NTFS from linux.

redeyes
Sep 14, 2002
I LOVE THE WHITE STRIPES!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

I am not sure if that's sarcasm lol. I'd be happy to but is there really a huge benefit to having one big E: or whatever?

I did buy Stablebit Scanner though, which will alert me via text if one of my hard drives are reporting errors.

Its so you can just add all your drives to the pool without fucking with any of the data. Just add the drives, move the data to the pool folders, done. Then you can duplicate very important things and get on with life.

I don't see any other easy options other than maybe Windows Drive Spaces but I wouldnt fuck with that if I were you.

SuitcasePimp
Feb 27, 2005



eames posted:

Does anybody have a clue what ever happened to the Synology DS619slim? The announcement was a year ago but no retailer has info. The DS119j was announced at the same event has been available for half a year.

It's like it was silently cancelled, perhaps bad blood between Intel and Synology because of the Atom bug?
The DS218+ is on sale today and I'm getting tired of waiting.

Oh man... I've been stalking the elusive DS619slim too. I've been waiting for this since it was announced, I check pretty much every week and nothing! I really hope this comes out in the next few months, I want to build a small, "rugged" backup box with SSDs to take with me out of the country.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007

Bote McBoteface. so what


WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW posted:

OK so if I make it a Windows PC (I have an old motherboard laying around that I can use this for), what is it that people normally do? Keep the 2nd PC off most of the time, turn it on once in a while, and copy/paste the important files to it, then shut it back down?

Also I am doing what many said here and am going to begin replacing my smaller internal drives with 8TB shucked WD externals.

There is a $10 USD price difference between the WD 8TB My Book (WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN) and the WD 8TB Elements (WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN). Which one is recommended? Is it worth the extra $10 for the MyBook? The only differences I can find is a Reddit post saying that MyBooks are helium and Elements are air, but isn't helium not really proven yet and also way more expensive to repair?

If you're going to use the 2nd PC and spare drives for backups, I would actually suggest doing exactly what you described: start it up to update your backups (e.g. weekly, depending on the importance of the files) then shut it down. Keeping it powered off will both save on power usage but also maintain the integrity of the hardware (less wear on the drives if they're only spun up once a week, for a few hours) and the software: if the system is off then you can't be inflicted by some catastrophic 0-day malware that encrypts all your files and demands a ransom in buttcoin. This is what I do with my backups: for my PMS, when I add new content to the media drive I connect the backup and update that, and when I boot up my gaming PC after all the updates are done I update the backup and then disconnect the drive.

If you had some other purpose for this secondary system, then it might make sense to leave it running.

In the US at least, those Easystores seem to be exclusive to Best Buy, and Elements and MyBooks are sold elsewhere. The main thing to keep in mind is that with externals, the drive inside is not necessarily guaranteed, which is why there are potentially 4-6 slightly different drives in those 8 TB models, for example. I think I mentioned recently that the first one I bought had a full Red and the next one has a white label that's otherwise identical to the Red (both with 256 MB buffer) but of course there are other options with 128 MB buffer. None of that really matters, especially for the price though, so I'd probably go with the cheaper option because again, you might just be paying more for a coin flip.

Also, while you're talking about the 8 TB drives, note that if we were talking about different capacities within the same line the drives might vary more drastically, e.g. 1-4 TBs might be Green equivalent, 4-6 TB Blue, 8+ TB Red, etc. But that's not what you're comparing here so I wouldn't worry about that. Finally, I don't know what the general opinion is on the Helium drives, but I have one (an HGST He6 6 TB) and I'm considering buying more (they're $100 refurb'd); the drive is pretty fast and reliable, and although it's perhaps a little loud, I actually kinda like HDD chatter (my first PC had a 400 MB HDD, I'm used to their sounds by now!)

Enos Cabell posted:

Why do you want to make it a windows pc? You keep trying to make this harder on yourself than it needs to be.

My point was to use whatever OS he has available, is familiar/comfortable with, etc. It's along the same lines as why we're recommending used/spare hardware.

Volguus posted:

The storage box is normally supposed to be up and running 24/7. This is where the expensive NAS solutions shine since they can be quite power efficient (ARM cpu, optimized drivers, etc.).

For online storage, yes, but I was leading him towards using it for backup as described above. He'd previously had an issue with data loss and expressed an interest in getting his important stuff backed up.

mystes posted:

If you have fast startup enabled in windows and reboot into linux, linux won't be able to write to the NTFS partition because it's unsafe (the windows kernel has been suspended without cleanly unmounting the partition).

Otherwise, there's no problem with writing to NTFS from linux.

I ranted about Fast Startup in another thread. With SSDs, there's no reason to use it. It causes more trouble than it's worth.

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