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Traveling personal cloud options?
  • Just saw the edit and if you don't want to go the router route + LAN for some reason guess another option would be a ucb c dock that allows power pass through. I have an anker one that I use on occasion and recommend it. You can then either get an external drive or a SD card.

  • How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)
  • Kinda doubt that tbh think at most 15-20 years then we'll look at USB A like how we see serial today. We're still in the infancy stages of companies phasing it out even though it started like 8 years ago.

  • Looking for a good, cheap backup solution.
  • How much data are we talking about and how convenient do you want it? I just learned about the storagebox service that another user posted but personally I brought used large capacity drive for cheap and keep them offsite but that's just because I have less than 4 terabytes of data still. Anything above that I'll commit to the storagebox service

  • How should I do backups?
  • Damn never heard of them looks great. Is there any catch or is it like a small company that might go out of business in a few years? I still haven't had to backup more then 4tb but once I do get up to those numbers they might be the best option compared to offsite hard drives like I been doing

  • What's up with the prices of smaller used drives?
  • Agree 100% about the smart data and hate the excuse of "I have too many drives..." but I guess I understand since they're a wholesaler. They mostly rely on their vendors for the testing. The only words of advise I can give since I was in the same exact shoes as you a couple months ago is this on ebay: stick to known sellers (serverpartsdeals and goharddrives are the big, reliable ones on there), aim for something less than 5 years old since actual powered on hours aren't really reliable like miles on a car, look for a seller warranty and a free return policy not a manufacturer warranty since they were kinda a bitch to deal with, make sure you message them about packaging the drives correctly (bubblewrap + antistatic bag + box) can't tell how many of them thought it was fine sending a drive in a yellow bubblewrap envelope, and the biggest one is multiple drives since you already have that covered I don't need to explain it. For 4tb I wouldn't go anywhere above 35$ USD think that's 33€ but could be wrong. I wish you luck

  • Paying for mullvad via mailed cash
  • 100% agree but personally seems like a hassle to get, exchanging giftcards or another crypto for monero, etc..., especially if you haven't dipped your feet into the whole crypto world like me to begin with. For my personal threat model if i do end up liking mullvad, amazon vouchers will work just fine or if this whole mailing system works I'll continue doing that. But yes you're absolutely correct though

  • Paying for mullvad via mailed cash
  • Gosh darn spudtacular, but for real thank you for the help. Think I was honestly overthinking everything. I have a standard envelope at home so I'll just use that and get the stamp at the post office. It'll be my first time sending out something in years so hopefully I do things correctly, haha

  • Paying for mullvad via mailed cash
  • Yeah I read that but I'm just getting a little hung up in the details. Like what envelope to use and what stamps? I keep getting mixed result online, a standard us white envelope, an A4 yellow envelope, 3 forever stamps or an international stamp. It just confusing me a bit

  • Paying for mullvad via mailed cash
  • Oh god thank you was thinking the same thing regarding the return address. I think I'll be fine with amazon knowing that I paid for a VPN as long as mullvad doesn't know about me but if the mailing process works smoothly I'll continue going that route instead. I am really confused though on what stamps and envelopes should be used? Keep hearing "oh use 3 forever stamps or an international one" and "tape up a standard white envelope or use an A4 yellow envelope" I might just be over thinking but I have no idea

  • Paying for mullvad via mailed cash

    God I hope this isn't a stupid question to ask but how exactly do I send out cash? Do i need to add a return address and won't that defeat the purpose? I really just want to try the service for 2-3 months after that I'll probably switch over to the amazon vouchers since I don't want to deal with monero. I think I sent out an actual physical letter maybe twice in my life and all the research I done was for sending it out internationally even though there's a us based address AFAIK so I'm really a noob here and I appreciate any help you can provide.

    Edit: Just want to apologize if this is really stupid to ask I feel like an absolute idiot right now, haha

    Edit #2: Thank you all for your help think I got an understanding on what to do now

    33
    Need advice about used drives and Wd warranty experience with drives brought from unauthoirized resellers

    Copy & paste since I don't know how to crosspost on my client. Hope this is alright

    Well I went with your guy's advice and got me a drive that still has a year of manufacturer warranty on top of the eBay 1 year warranty, but a bit of a sketch seller ngl. The drive itself seems legit visually with matching serial numbers (if you know another way, I'm all ears), but womp womp it doesn't work. At least it fails to initalize, data error (cyclic redundancy check) on windows and some kinda fsync error iirc using "Disks" on Linux, both errors are relating to hardware. I used both a tested enclosure and connected it via sata cables on different machines and the same problems continue, hehe. I'm just wondering how the limited warranty with WD (the manufacture of my drive) works and what you're experiences are getting a replacement from them? I keep reading horror stories that they won't help since it was brought from an unauthorized reseller, etc... Also is it worth even sending it in? I read the replacement is another refurb with no warranty afterwards. The alternative would be going the eBay route and getting a replacement that's also used but will retain the warranty from the seller. Which is the better option? BTW don't worry about data loss still practicing the 3,2,1 method this is purely about the best bang for my buck.

    Goddamn wall of text, I'm sorry...

    TLDR: Wants to know about the warranty and replacement process of WD and concerned about receiving assistance from WD if the drive was purchased from an unauthorized reseller. Also considering whether it is worth sending the drive to the manufacturer which means receiving a refurb drive with no warranty or if getting a used replacement from eBay seller, which comes with a warranty, is a better option?

    Edit: Decided on sending it back to the seller and getting a refund

    8
    Even more questions about used drives

    Well I went with your guy's advice and got me a drive that still has a year of manufacturer warranty on top of the eBay 1 year warranty, but a bit of a sketch seller ngl. The drive itself seems legit visually with matching serial numbers, but womp womp it doesn't work. At least it fails to initalize, data error (cyclic redundancy check) on windows and some kinda fsync error iirc using "Disk" on Linux, both errors are relating to hardware. I used both a tested enclosure and connected it via sata cables on different machines and the same problems, hehe. I'm just wondering how the limited warranty with WD (the manufacture of my drive) works and what you're experiences are getting a replacement from them? I keep reading horror stories that they won't help since it was brought from an unauthorized reseller, etc... Also is it worth even sending it in? I read the replacement is another refurb with no warranty afterwards. The alternative would be going the eBay route and getting a replacement that's also used but will retain the warranty from the seller. Which is the better option? BTW don't worry about data loss still practicing the 3,2,1 method this is purely about the best bang for my buck.

    Goddamn wall of text, I'm sorry...

    TLDR: Wants to know about the warranty and replacement process of WD and concerned about receiving assistance from WD if the drive was purchased from an unauthorized reseller. Also considering whether it is worth sending the drive to the manufacturer which means receiving a refurb drive with no warranty or if getting a used replacement from eBay seller, which comes with a warranty, is a better option?

    11
    Another question about used hard drives

    Did decide to go the used drive route just saving up and waiting for the right deal from a good seller. I did notice on eBay specifically that some sellers have tested drives for a great price per tb with a shit seller's warranty (30 days to 1 year) but offer insurance for a significantly longer length of time for a few more bucks. I'm wondering if that's a good alternative to having a long seller's warranty? Just assume I will back everything up properly so drive failure won't be a massive concern I just want the option of returning it or getting a replacement if need be.

    17
    Questions regarding Old-new Hard drives

    Hi, I seek your help once again. I'm in the need of upgrading my storage now and I found what I consider to be a good deal via Amazon on an older gen enterprise WD drive that supposedly hasn't been used, but I'll let the power on hours tell me the truth. The price is about 16usd/TB and I'm wondering if this is a bad idea due to the age of the drive? I'm guessing the drive would be about 10 years old maybe. The plan would be to buy 2: 1 for my cold media backups and the other would be a backup for the cold media backup.

    22
    Question regarding ripping dvds (yes DVDs)

    I know the majority opinion is not to do it for various reasons, but basically I started to backup the majority of my dvd collection that I created over the years since I have the time and they were just collecting dust. Turns out though I guess I'm doing it "wrong" or at least not in the original quality since I used handbrake instead of makemkv. I'm already 160 dvds in and about 40 more to go, is it worth, quality wise, going back and actually ripping? Is there a way to compare them? To clairify, I'll be using makemkv from now on for the rest.

    28
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)PO
    poncho @lemmynsfw.com
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