PC Tech Thread

I have a £1 per month VPS running nextcloud that has an equivalently cheap as chips s3 back end, which suits my use well enough.

That syncs all files between laptops / PCs / phones, and is configurable - my main PC syncs all files, laptops etc... sync virtual files only.

I also have a systemd service that uses rsync to sync between my PC and a local NAS (an off the shelf WD thing that also serves up media to my home network, but also syncs automatically to a WD cloud instance).

It's a pretty cheap & cheerful setup over all, which is probably more possible as I tend to stream & "purchase" most things, so don't have vast media libraries.

I have a £1 per month VPS

Which one?

I could do with an additional VM for something spurious.

Ionos.

If you're using them as a VPN, though, they run into cloudflare blocks fairly often.

Ooh, I too have a similar need for a cheap and cheerful VM.

For reference that Ionos (annoying adverts) deal is £1/mo (excl VAT) and gets you 1vCPU, 1GB RAM and 10GB NVMe.

I don't have that much to backup - I have a quiet hard to replicate music collection, a large photo library and then little bits like training data, gpx files and personal documents. I want the cheapest and lightest setup (which is why I used Glacier for offsite backup - nothing for me to maintain and it costs $4 a month for all the data I've managed to upload so far)

I think my plan is now - upgrade both laptop and PC drives and sync between them and continue with Glacier offsite for end of days scenarios.

Oh, I still have a bunch of old hard drives and caddies which I probably should dispose of because it's pretty clear they're not being used again. Same goes for a tonne of old optical media that I used to backup to. When 512MB CF cards were as big as you could get I traveled around with a portable CD burner to backup my photos.

I was doing video capture/editing more recently on the PC, maybe that's what pushed the drive over the edge finally. For that, I moved to an external SSD but then the capture card stopped working so I'm half way through only. :S

I could spin up a fair bit of kit in work's AWS or Azure before anyone noticed - that's cheaper still.

I mean, I won't. If I'm going to get sacked for fraud or something, it's gonna be big :D

Ok, I've got syncthing shifting over a folder now. It did work through the VPN and then I turned it off on one end and it had a little wobble and then resumed. Pretty neat. It's a bit slow though.

Anyone got experience trying to fit an SSD with heatsink into a Dell Inspiron 7391 2N1? It's a pretty skinny laptop so I'm assuming this thing won't fit:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/4tb-samsung-990-pro-heatsink-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-ssd-mlc-v-nand-7450mb-s-read-6900mb-s-write-pc

Otherwise, looks like 2TB is as big as I can go (from Samsung)
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsung-980-pro-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-ssd-3d-nand-7000mb-s-read-5000mb-s-write-ps5-compatible

EDIT: Fuck it, 2TB will do for now.

Oh and do you need to pull the battery cable before swapping SSDs? I don't think I did that on my partner's laptop.

EDIT: https://superuser.com/questions/989412/replace-ssd-without-unplugging-laptop-battery

Why would Clonezilla only see the new SSD in the caddy and not the fucking source SSD that's in the laptop?

https://sourceforge.net/p/clonezilla/discussion/Help/thread/f178300a/

Changing 'Raid On" to "AHCI" allowed me to see the computer's hard drive and do a backup. However Windows 11 no longer booted, so had to change it back to Raid On. Will have to change it back to AHCI again if I ever have to do a restore.

Slightly more lowbrow enquiry than the past few pages but how does one install a legacy type programme with a CD installation disk when no-one has a CD/DVD drive in their desktops anymore?

Yes I've searched for a downloadable copy of the installation but no luck.

I've used an external drive in the past. ie. I still have a portable CD burner at home.

Or borrow a machine with a CD drive (my old laptop did that job) and copy the files off it to USB and hope it still works.

What's the program? There might be specific help for it. Someone might have a copy.

Will have to root around upstairs for the programme. Something to do with converting my dad's old video camera footage to digital for my mum.

Caddy got pretty warm during the imaging. Wonder how long this drive will last? :S

I have an external CD drive you could borrow if you are anywhere near SE24...

I have one in SW15 that you can't borrow.

I had one in a big box of cables that someone nicked out of my car. You're welcome to that if you find it

Any interest in an Icy Dock HDD enclosure before I waste my time with it on ebay?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008H7TY1E/

Massive 80mm fan for optimal cooling.
Completely screw-less / tool-less design for any 3.5” SATA I/II/III HDD
mart Cooling technology. Smart Cooling Technology is active in auto mode and accurately adjusts the fan speed according to your hard drive’s needs.
Smart-Temp functionality – Front LED changes from blue to red when over 50° C.
Supports SATA 6Gbit hard drive up to 3TB capacity

@spotter

have done this for over a decade, and have set numerous up for loads of friends / family inc. user @amey My recomendation is to get an enterprise SFF desktop (Dell/HP/Lenovo).

They are small, low power, take normal components, easily upgradable and importantly cheap on eBay.

There are some even smaller form factor ones like the HP Elitedesk Mini's which use laptop components

Do you set up remote controls with this? And if so which one? And does it support voice control?

For some reason kodi has been playing up with my firestick. I've only tried it with borrowed content rather than the apps. Nvidia shield is a bit more than I want to spend, but equally if a SFF is £70 + £30 for a remote which isn't as easy to use then it seems like less vfm. Cheers.

I've always used a Logitech K400

Many moons ago I used a Windows Media Centre Remote, and when I still bothered with Kodi I got one of these USB HDMI CEC adapters so I could use my TV remote instead, but I dont bother now only use the above keyboard. I have never had any interest at all in voice commands sorry.

Cheers.

I used to have a PC as a media center. Had it set up with Kodi (with Plex add-on) and used an IR remote control. These days I'd use a bluetooth remote as they tend to allow switching between cursor and mouse mode and don't require line of sight. (You can get remotes for about a tenner.)

Realistically though they are a faff if you go beyond just using Kodi, Steam big picture, etc. Windows isn't designed to be used from the sofa.
Something like this can help if you want portable

but I also ended up using a K400 for ease.

I've got an Nvidia Shield but they are remarkably expensive given the age of them (I bought mine nearly 4 years ago). They are probably still the best option if you want all singing, all dancing but unless you need the USB ports or want to run a plex server on there I'd get a Google TV chromecast 4k which I think is about £50.

Can someone recommend me a new monitor, it'll be my main screen, don't want to spend > £150 probably. Used for PC and Mac users in the house.
And if you could recommend a small form pc that could stick to the back of it / is it worth sticking a mac mini there and which one - that would be great (mainly powerpoint creating, and other writing words type tasks).

I’ve got your fairly standard office spec monitor from HP https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-v27i-g5-fhd-monitor that is serving me pretty well for office related tasks. VESA mountable; VGA, HDMI and DP connections (1080p so nothing super fast here and no usb c/thunderbolt) but works great for work!

Cheers.

I'm using an unlocked Fire TV Stick 4k Ultra HD. 4yo now and has been fine, but recently started playing up a bit, and Kodi seems to not want me to borrow Rob and Ramesh from the Internet when I use Kodi.

I've added a skin to make Kodi a bit more usable and tidied it up. I realise this does have a performance downside when using something with so little power.

Tbh if it wasn't getting a bit temperamental I wouldn't be looking elsewhere. The voice control is good, other people can use it, and it was £30.

For someone who's unlikely to get around to running a server the Shield just seems like so much more money. But then when I see comments about Android boxes or your eg of a media centre they never sound so much better than an unlocked fire stick and seem to be creeping towards the cost of a Shield.