But now chips have no identifying performance number at all, and I have no idea what they represent. I also have no idea what sockets or motherboards go with what. It's really quite annoying.
The solution to that is motherboard bundles (like what MWave sells) where the vendor puts together compatible CPUs / RAM / MBs in a list you can pick from. Some will even assemble and test the components before shipping them to you.
DVDs work best for archival snapshots rather then on-going backups. I make a set of DVDs about every 3 months. Makes it handy for digging up a file from previous years. Just make sure to use a disk catalog program (SuperCat works well) so you can find stuff without physically touching media.
For day-to-day, I backup my laptop to a network share (RAID5 volume on a linux server) using Second Copy 2000. I keep 5 previous versions of any file that changed and the backup runs every 8 hours. Offsite backups get handled in a similar manner, a removable hard drive that gets swapped offsite every so often.
In addition, I create a system image with Acronis on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Every few months I'll burn a set of those images to DVD as well.
I always put PAR2 (QuickPar) data on my DVDs. Gives me a chance to recover data off of a fading DVD before it's completely lost.
As you can see, the price per GB stays flat up until you hit 300GB drives. The 400GB drives are slightly more expensive, but still reasonable if you can find the ones for $220.
Same deal, prices are near identical per GB all the way up to 300GB, with a slight rise at the 400GB level.
Now, here's how I setup my current linux file server with software RAID.
2x300GB - RAID1 (boot, swap, root, LVM2 partitions)
2x300GB - RAID1 (LVM2 partitions for more data)
4x300GB - RAID5 (used for near-line backups of data)
For my MP3/media server, I did something simpler with software RAID:
2x300GB drives, split as follows:
- 32GB RAID1 (boot, swap, root)
- 275GB partition for media on the first drive
- 275GB backup partition for media on the second drive
Since the media folder rarely changes, the backup partition stays unmounted for most of the time. If the primary disk crashes, I replace it and copy the files from the secondary drive. If the secondary disk crashes, I replace it and then re-run the backups to refresh the backup partition.
Software RAID makes it easy to do these hybrid systems (rather then using all of the disk on a RAID1 array).
Noir has a somewhat weak ending, I felt that it hit the fevered pitch a bit too early and have barely watched ep 26. I may revise that opinion if I ever go back and watch it again.
Madlax is extremely enigmatic and enticing, but I've only seen the first dozen episodes. I usually have the desire to go play FarCry or Call of Duty: United Offensive after watching Madlax.
Bebop is excellent anime. A bit more humourous then some would like, but similar to Trigun in intensity / emotion / comedy. (The music in a few of these are done by Yoko Kano, a name that you'll start to recognize as you watch more and more anime.)
For the macabre, Hellsing wasn't bad but I feel like the anime (13 eps) left a lot out. I'm left wondering if the manga did a better job with the storyline. (Hellsing should have been 26 episodes, it was too compressed and the characters were given short shift.)
2000 every year? Not unless you're an absolute graphics whore. You can play every game out there by spending about $1000 every other year, at most.
Agreed. You could probably even shave that a bit more (down to around $300/year). You'll need to start with a good case / PSU, but after that you can upgrade in $300-$400 chunks that will last you 2-3 years.
MB/RAM/CPU bundle one year. Better gfx card the next year ($200-$300, buy at least 12 months old). Beef up the RAM in the 3rd year. Go back to start (replace the MB/RAM/CPU bundle). Or cruise for a year or two.
The rate at which CPU speeds increase has flatted quite a bit in the past few years. A system with enough memory (the biggest defect in most systems) from 3 years ago is still a moderately competitive rig.
Business machines can easily last 5-7 years now before needing to be replaced. Gamer machines are changing from a 12-18 month cycle to a 24-48 month cycle.
I disagree. If you want to embed a back door and trigger on only specially-constructed data, you don't use the value of 1! That's too easy to happen by chance.
The length is a four-byte field. You use something like "0x3d07a19f", a random value that only you know and that the code tests for. Or maybe "0xfeedbacc" or some such easily rememberable value. Only then do you trigger your back door.
But plausibly deniable and it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb to any code reviews. You could pretend that the check was supposed to be "<= 1" or some other typo. When you see "== 1" in code, you don't always stop and ask why because there are a lot of cases in lines of code where you compare against 1. But if you see "== 0x3d07a19f", there's a much larger chance that you're going to stop and say "WTF?".
At the very least, you're going to wonder why such an odd value was chosen.
I disagree. If you want to embed a back door and trigger on only specially-constructed data, you don't use the value of 1! That's too easy to happen by chance.
The length is a four-byte field. You use something like "0x3d07a19f", a random value that only you know and that the code tests for. Or maybe "0xfeedbacc" or some such easily rememberable value. Only then do you trigger your back door.
But plausibly deniable and it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb to any code reviews. You could pretend that the check was supposed to be "
At the very least, you're going to wonder why such an odd value was chosen.
1) Did you see the *price* for that bunny? Darn expensive way to try and hide your keys. Why not simply keep the keys in a bag under a rock in the garden?
2) The paranoid side wonders if the website owners would be willing to release the addresses of where something like this was shipped. Talk about easy shopping for crooks, a list of houses that probably leave keys outside!
Still, the bunny is nicer looking then a frog.
Re:Maybe not declining, but simply changing
on
Spam is Dead
·
· Score: 1
I draw the line at intrusive ads. Any ad that pops up windows (browser or DIV tags) or makes noises gets the block. If the ads are well behaved and don't annoy me, I have no problem letting them through.
And I'm just using a custom hosts file with maybe half a dozen entries.
Definitely a good idea to keep the originals. I have mine stored in a cool dry place as well once I converted them to DVD.
If they were bought tapes or tapes of TV shows I only bothered to create a single DVD with a moderate amount of PAR2 data. Worst case, I can always rebuy the program on DVD.
Stuff I don't think I can replace gets the 2-disc treatment with ample amounts of PAR2 data on the discs.
True, dual-core does change the equation quite a bit. There you're actually going to get a significant increase.
One of the scenarios that I encountered was with an AMD AthlonXP motherboard that would only take a limited range of chips. The fastest chip supported was only 50% faster then the slowest. Plus, memory speeds had gone from PC2100 to PC3200, so you would've been shackling a 50% faster chip to a slow PC2100 memory bus.
Built-it-yourself is good, if you already have some of the excess parts. (This is where it pays to constantly DIY, because you can keep bringing certain parts forward into new units.)
A MB/CPU/RAM bundle usually runs $400-$800, depending on how much RAM you want, how beefy of a CPU you want. Last bundle I bought was an Athlon64 3200+ (single-core) with 2GB RAM for around $450.
DVD burner $40, good case $90, good PSU $90, floppy $9, decent gfx card $250, WinXP OEM $135. ($614 for the parts other then MB/CPU/RAM.)
Now for the commercial... the CPU/MB/RAM bundles I usually buy from MWave. They'll even put the 3 pieces together and run a quick test on them before shipping it out to you. Less assembly and you'll know that the RAM/CPU/MB all fit together.
The cases I use are either the Antec p160 or the Antec Sonata. The p160 is better at heat dissipation and cramming in additional hard drives (also comes with 2 built-in temperature probes with an external display, handy for keeping an eye on ambient temps inside the case). The Sonata is slightly smaller with a nice black finish.
Power supply. Shop around and don't go cheap. I've used Antecs and ThermalTakes, but there are others that are just as good or better.
I'll agree with you on the desktops. They work, they're reasonably priced and fairly simple to order and warranty. We only order a few per year.
For laptops? Not a chance that we'd use Dell.
We've spent the past 5 years using Toshiba Tecras and are starting to switch over to Thinkpad T43s instead. The Tecras have done a very good job of standing up to the use and abuse of our remote users.
Biggest problems lie with the newer M1s. They seem to have CPU fans that like to fail often (one user who rarely undocks from the docking station has had his CPU fan replaced twice.) For that, and a few other reasons, is why we're switching over to the Thinkpad lines.
This thread also strikes me as funny because I'm in the middle of archiving about 800 VHS tapes to DVD. Many are 15-20 years old, and I've been surprised at how well most of them still work. I wonder if the DVDs will last as long, but I figure it'll be easier to move the data off them since it won't have to be done in real time.
1) Burn 2 copies, store them in physical separate locations.
2) Don't fill the discs to the brim. Only encode about 3.8-4.0GB of MPEG2. Fill the rest of the disc with PAR2 files stored in the VIDEO_TS folder (prefixed with the letter 'z' so they appear on the edges/end of the disc).
I render my DVDs to disc first, add the PAR2 data, then create the ISOs with ImgTool Classic before burning to disc. I make sure that my block size for PAR2 is a multiple of 2048 bytes (CD/DVD sector size).
Even if you can't copy individual files off of the disc, tools like ISO Buster or ddrescue (or dd-rescue) can read the disc back at the sector level. That lets you pull as much information as possible back off of the disc. Assuming you don't have more bad sectors then recovery data, QuickPar (or the open-source commandline tool) can chew on that extracted data and rebuild the files.
I did about 100 VHS tapes a year or two ago. I still have a bunch more to do in the coming year.
Even a slow dual-CPU or dual-core system would help you on responsiveness. (In fact, with a responsive system, you start to care less about a compile takes.)
Yeah, CPU replacements are generally a dead-end. Unless you initially buy the absolute minimum speed CPU that the motherboard supports and later upgrade it to the maximum speed CPU that the motherboard will support. But that's a somewhat losing proposition because the upgrade is going to only be marginally worth it.
Out of the dozen or so machines that I've built over the last 10 years, I can't think of any that managed to get just a CPU upgrade. They almost always ended up requiring new MB/RAM in addition to the CPU.
And it's not even always just a socket issue. You can run into issues where a motherboard only supports certain speeds for a particular socket (or is particular about FSB). So you have to make sure to get the right "step" of CPU chip.
Yeah, I think it will take Apple to "do it right". Or at least, support multiple OSs out of the box (even if it's just Mac/Windows).
Sony is still its own worst enemy. They have some good ideas, but their implementation is either buggy, faulty, or strangled by another part of the Sony organization.
Yeah, somewhere along the line they stopped trying to do one thing well and put all of those bells-n-whistles on the unit which sap battery life.
I still miss my IIIx, being able to swap batteries out was a very handy thing. I usually got about 2-3 weeks of life out of mine.
Nowadays, I've been using a Palm OS cellphone (Kyocera) that I bought back in 2001. Since it's a cellphone, the short battery life is a little more palatable. I can get 2-3 days between charges if I'm not using it to make calls. The screen is also smaller then the old IIIx. And it requires large pockets.
It still works after 5 years, I'm mostly happy with it. I'm at a loss of what I will replace it with (due to losing all of my PalmOS apps unless I can find another).
Don't confuse data storage with archival. Large media like DVD / HD-DVD / BluRay are ideal for archival (tape works moderately well too, but with different failure modes).
Plus, most of us who are creating long term archives add recovery data to our discs. Typically, we fill the last 5-20% of the disc with this recovery data (WinRAR or PAR2). Which allows us to verify the contents of the disc and to recover from minor errors.
Combine that with annual testing of the media (to catch degradation before it's too much for the recovery data to fix) and you have a fairly stable archive system for minimal cost.
My objections to ICE ECC is that it's closed source, even if it's free. Which means I can't use it on other OSs.
PAR2 still takes the lead for best-choice when you look at long-term storage. There's a multi-platform open-source command-line version and the specs are published.
You are pretty close in your prediction, at least to my prediction. I think HD is the death-nell for the multi-plex much in the same way the multi-plex was the death-nell for the drive in theater.
I didn't realize that Nell had gotten a new job being the bringer of death to drive-in theaters.
I *hate* OSes that do that! If I'm paying top dollar for lots of pixels it's because I want to put lots of text on that screen. If you feel that you need more pixels in each character in order to make them readable then I suggest you're using the wrong fonts.
1) It's an option in those OSs.
2) Wait until you get older and your sight starts to fail. Being able to have more pixels per letter really helps with readability.
(Typing this on a 15" 1400x1050 display around 120ppi with large fonts.)
Slashdot Mirror
But now chips have no identifying performance number at all, and I have no idea what they represent. I also have no idea what sockets or motherboards go with what. It's really quite annoying.
The solution to that is motherboard bundles (like what MWave sells) where the vendor puts together compatible CPUs / RAM / MBs in a list you can pick from. Some will even assemble and test the components before shipping them to you.
DVDs work best for archival snapshots rather then on-going backups. I make a set of DVDs about every 3 months. Makes it handy for digging up a file from previous years. Just make sure to use a disk catalog program (SuperCat works well) so you can find stuff without physically touching media.
For day-to-day, I backup my laptop to a network share (RAID5 volume on a linux server) using Second Copy 2000. I keep 5 previous versions of any file that changed and the backup runs every 8 hours. Offsite backups get handled in a similar manner, a removable hard drive that gets swapped offsite every so often.
In addition, I create a system image with Acronis on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Every few months I'll burn a set of those images to DVD as well.
I always put PAR2 (QuickPar) data on my DVDs. Gives me a chance to recover data off of a fading DVD before it's completely lost.
Assuming no rebates or other sales:
PATA
200GB $85 - $0.42/GB
250GB $100 - $0.40/GB
300GB $125 - $0.42/GB
400GB $260 - $0.65/GB (or $220, $0.55/GB)
500GB $380 - $0.75/GB
As you can see, the price per GB stays flat up until you hit 300GB drives. The 400GB drives are slightly more expensive, but still reasonable if you can find the ones for $220.
SATA
200GB $90 - $0.45/GB
250GB $100 - $0.40/GB
300GB $120 - $0.40/GB
400GB $205 - $0.52/GB
500GB $340 - $0.68/GB
Same deal, prices are near identical per GB all the way up to 300GB, with a slight rise at the 400GB level.
Now, here's how I setup my current linux file server with software RAID.
2x300GB - RAID1 (boot, swap, root, LVM2 partitions)
2x300GB - RAID1 (LVM2 partitions for more data)
4x300GB - RAID5 (used for near-line backups of data)
For my MP3/media server, I did something simpler with software RAID:
2x300GB drives, split as follows:
- 32GB RAID1 (boot, swap, root)
- 275GB partition for media on the first drive
- 275GB backup partition for media on the second drive
Since the media folder rarely changes, the backup partition stays unmounted for most of the time. If the primary disk crashes, I replace it and copy the files from the secondary drive. If the secondary disk crashes, I replace it and then re-run the backups to refresh the backup partition.
Software RAID makes it easy to do these hybrid systems (rather then using all of the disk on a RAID1 array).
Noir has a somewhat weak ending, I felt that it hit the fevered pitch a bit too early and have barely watched ep 26. I may revise that opinion if I ever go back and watch it again.
Madlax is extremely enigmatic and enticing, but I've only seen the first dozen episodes. I usually have the desire to go play FarCry or Call of Duty: United Offensive after watching Madlax.
Bebop is excellent anime. A bit more humourous then some would like, but similar to Trigun in intensity / emotion / comedy. (The music in a few of these are done by Yoko Kano, a name that you'll start to recognize as you watch more and more anime.)
For the macabre, Hellsing wasn't bad but I feel like the anime (13 eps) left a lot out. I'm left wondering if the manga did a better job with the storyline. (Hellsing should have been 26 episodes, it was too compressed and the characters were given short shift.)
Season 2 seems to be shaping up to be just as good as Season #1. A bit more action-oriented then season 1.
I still haven't seen the last few episodes of Season 2 yet.
GitS:SAC is one of those series that I've already watched a few times. It's very well done and the animation is almost always spot-on.
2000 every year? Not unless you're an absolute graphics whore. You can play every game out there by spending about $1000 every other year, at most.
Agreed. You could probably even shave that a bit more (down to around $300/year). You'll need to start with a good case / PSU, but after that you can upgrade in $300-$400 chunks that will last you 2-3 years.
MB/RAM/CPU bundle one year. Better gfx card the next year ($200-$300, buy at least 12 months old). Beef up the RAM in the 3rd year. Go back to start (replace the MB/RAM/CPU bundle). Or cruise for a year or two.
The rate at which CPU speeds increase has flatted quite a bit in the past few years. A system with enough memory (the biggest defect in most systems) from 3 years ago is still a moderately competitive rig.
Business machines can easily last 5-7 years now before needing to be replaced. Gamer machines are changing from a 12-18 month cycle to a 24-48 month cycle.
I disagree. If you want to embed a back door and trigger on only specially-constructed data, you don't use the value of 1! That's too easy to happen by chance.
The length is a four-byte field. You use something like "0x3d07a19f", a random value that only you know and that the code tests for. Or maybe "0xfeedbacc" or some such easily rememberable value. Only then do you trigger your back door.
But plausibly deniable and it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb to any code reviews. You could pretend that the check was supposed to be "<= 1" or some other typo. When you see "== 1" in code, you don't always stop and ask why because there are a lot of cases in lines of code where you compare against 1. But if you see "== 0x3d07a19f", there's a much larger chance that you're going to stop and say "WTF?".
At the very least, you're going to wonder why such an odd value was chosen.
I disagree. If you want to embed a back door and trigger on only specially-constructed data, you don't use the value of 1! That's too easy to happen by chance.
The length is a four-byte field. You use something like "0x3d07a19f", a random value that only you know and that the code tests for. Or maybe "0xfeedbacc" or some such easily rememberable value. Only then do you trigger your back door.
But plausibly deniable and it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb to any code reviews. You could pretend that the check was supposed to be "
At the very least, you're going to wonder why such an odd value was chosen.
The mind boggles...
1) Did you see the *price* for that bunny? Darn expensive way to try and hide your keys. Why not simply keep the keys in a bag under a rock in the garden?
2) The paranoid side wonders if the website owners would be willing to release the addresses of where something like this was shipped. Talk about easy shopping for crooks, a list of houses that probably leave keys outside!
Still, the bunny is nicer looking then a frog.
I draw the line at intrusive ads. Any ad that pops up windows (browser or DIV tags) or makes noises gets the block. If the ads are well behaved and don't annoy me, I have no problem letting them through.
And I'm just using a custom hosts file with maybe half a dozen entries.
Definitely a good idea to keep the originals. I have mine stored in a cool dry place as well once I converted them to DVD.
If they were bought tapes or tapes of TV shows I only bothered to create a single DVD with a moderate amount of PAR2 data. Worst case, I can always rebuy the program on DVD.
Stuff I don't think I can replace gets the 2-disc treatment with ample amounts of PAR2 data on the discs.
True, dual-core does change the equation quite a bit. There you're actually going to get a significant increase.
One of the scenarios that I encountered was with an AMD AthlonXP motherboard that would only take a limited range of chips. The fastest chip supported was only 50% faster then the slowest. Plus, memory speeds had gone from PC2100 to PC3200, so you would've been shackling a 50% faster chip to a slow PC2100 memory bus.
Not really, mostly that my old phone hasn't broken yet...
Built-it-yourself is good, if you already have some of the excess parts. (This is where it pays to constantly DIY, because you can keep bringing certain parts forward into new units.)
A MB/CPU/RAM bundle usually runs $400-$800, depending on how much RAM you want, how beefy of a CPU you want. Last bundle I bought was an Athlon64 3200+ (single-core) with 2GB RAM for around $450.
DVD burner $40, good case $90, good PSU $90, floppy $9, decent gfx card $250, WinXP OEM $135. ($614 for the parts other then MB/CPU/RAM.)
Now for the commercial... the CPU/MB/RAM bundles I usually buy from MWave. They'll even put the 3 pieces together and run a quick test on them before shipping it out to you. Less assembly and you'll know that the RAM/CPU/MB all fit together.
The cases I use are either the Antec p160 or the Antec Sonata. The p160 is better at heat dissipation and cramming in additional hard drives (also comes with 2 built-in temperature probes with an external display, handy for keeping an eye on ambient temps inside the case). The Sonata is slightly smaller with a nice black finish.
Power supply. Shop around and don't go cheap. I've used Antecs and ThermalTakes, but there are others that are just as good or better.
I'll agree with you on the desktops. They work, they're reasonably priced and fairly simple to order and warranty. We only order a few per year.
For laptops? Not a chance that we'd use Dell.
We've spent the past 5 years using Toshiba Tecras and are starting to switch over to Thinkpad T43s instead. The Tecras have done a very good job of standing up to the use and abuse of our remote users.
Biggest problems lie with the newer M1s. They seem to have CPU fans that like to fail often (one user who rarely undocks from the docking station has had his CPU fan replaced twice.) For that, and a few other reasons, is why we're switching over to the Thinkpad lines.
It is a bit daft that everywhere else on /., the username points at the slashdot user page... except for this particular instance.
Definitely some inconsistent design work there.
This thread also strikes me as funny because I'm in the middle of archiving about 800 VHS tapes to DVD. Many are 15-20 years old, and I've been surprised at how well most of them still work. I wonder if the DVDs will last as long, but I figure it'll be easier to move the data off them since it won't have to be done in real time.
1) Burn 2 copies, store them in physical separate locations.
2) Don't fill the discs to the brim. Only encode about 3.8-4.0GB of MPEG2. Fill the rest of the disc with PAR2 files stored in the VIDEO_TS folder (prefixed with the letter 'z' so they appear on the edges/end of the disc).
I render my DVDs to disc first, add the PAR2 data, then create the ISOs with ImgTool Classic before burning to disc. I make sure that my block size for PAR2 is a multiple of 2048 bytes (CD/DVD sector size).
Even if you can't copy individual files off of the disc, tools like ISO Buster or ddrescue (or dd-rescue) can read the disc back at the sector level. That lets you pull as much information as possible back off of the disc. Assuming you don't have more bad sectors then recovery data, QuickPar (or the open-source commandline tool) can chew on that extracted data and rebuild the files.
I did about 100 VHS tapes a year or two ago. I still have a bunch more to do in the coming year.
Even a slow dual-CPU or dual-core system would help you on responsiveness. (In fact, with a responsive system, you start to care less about a compile takes.)
Yeah, CPU replacements are generally a dead-end. Unless you initially buy the absolute minimum speed CPU that the motherboard supports and later upgrade it to the maximum speed CPU that the motherboard will support. But that's a somewhat losing proposition because the upgrade is going to only be marginally worth it.
Out of the dozen or so machines that I've built over the last 10 years, I can't think of any that managed to get just a CPU upgrade. They almost always ended up requiring new MB/RAM in addition to the CPU.
And it's not even always just a socket issue. You can run into issues where a motherboard only supports certain speeds for a particular socket (or is particular about FSB). So you have to make sure to get the right "step" of CPU chip.
Yeah, I think it will take Apple to "do it right". Or at least, support multiple OSs out of the box (even if it's just Mac/Windows).
Sony is still its own worst enemy. They have some good ideas, but their implementation is either buggy, faulty, or strangled by another part of the Sony organization.
Yeah, somewhere along the line they stopped trying to do one thing well and put all of those bells-n-whistles on the unit which sap battery life.
I still miss my IIIx, being able to swap batteries out was a very handy thing. I usually got about 2-3 weeks of life out of mine.
Nowadays, I've been using a Palm OS cellphone (Kyocera) that I bought back in 2001. Since it's a cellphone, the short battery life is a little more palatable. I can get 2-3 days between charges if I'm not using it to make calls. The screen is also smaller then the old IIIx. And it requires large pockets.
It still works after 5 years, I'm mostly happy with it. I'm at a loss of what I will replace it with (due to losing all of my PalmOS apps unless I can find another).
Don't confuse data storage with archival. Large media like DVD / HD-DVD / BluRay are ideal for archival (tape works moderately well too, but with different failure modes).
Plus, most of us who are creating long term archives add recovery data to our discs. Typically, we fill the last 5-20% of the disc with this recovery data (WinRAR or PAR2). Which allows us to verify the contents of the disc and to recover from minor errors.
Combine that with annual testing of the media (to catch degradation before it's too much for the recovery data to fix) and you have a fairly stable archive system for minimal cost.
My objections to ICE ECC is that it's closed source, even if it's free. Which means I can't use it on other OSs.
PAR2 still takes the lead for best-choice when you look at long-term storage. There's a multi-platform open-source command-line version and the specs are published.
You are pretty close in your prediction, at least to my prediction. I think HD is the death-nell for the multi-plex much in the same way the multi-plex was the death-nell for the drive in theater.
I didn't realize that Nell had gotten a new job being the bringer of death to drive-in theaters.
(Try "knell".)
I *hate* OSes that do that! If I'm paying top dollar for lots of pixels it's because I want to put lots of text on that screen. If you feel that you need more pixels in each character in order to make them readable then I suggest you're using the wrong fonts.
1) It's an option in those OSs.
2) Wait until you get older and your sight starts to fail. Being able to have more pixels per letter really helps with readability.
(Typing this on a 15" 1400x1050 display around 120ppi with large fonts.)