PC Tech Thread

I've always used Clipgrab, nice GUI wrapper for youtube-dlp.

Gets slated a bit for malware installer. Maybe the command line version can just pull audio?

I've never had an issue with Clipgrab on Mac or PC, but yes, you can just use yt-dlp command line to rip whatever you need.

There is another GUI for it as well: https://github.com/dsymbol/yt-dlp-gui

Command line was quick but pulled the whole video, just digging into the million comman line params to find the audio only bit. Maybe it has to download the whole thing and then strip the audio and that's why it was quicker pulling the video.

EDIT:

Just needed to install ffmpeg from https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/#release-builds and run

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sexytimeswithhippy

If you don't specify --audio-format mp3 it gives you a .opus file

Not strictly PC, but feels a natural place to ask.

We have Google One package that I share with my OH and my folks. 200GB of storage plus some extras I don't use for £25pa. Very reasonable.

Unfortunately it's almost full. Overwhelmingly it's my stuff. I think it's a mix of me being lazy with cleaning up photos but also because I've been using Google drive and storage for well over a decade. Ultimately tho there's ~80GB of my photos. The next package is £80pa for 2tb, which feels like a lot and my OH isn't happy with when I haven't tidied my shit up.

I periodically back up my and my OH's files inc. pictures to two external SSD. I buy a new one every 5-10yrs (e.g. "my" one is 10yo which I'll probably replace soon and "my OH's" is 6yo but they both contain more or less the same stuff.

2 Questions:

1. Is there an easy way to clear out the useless stuff? (eg maybe I'm saving raw versions of blurry photos - the general Web app management UI isn't easy for doing stuff in bulk)
   
2. What are peoples thoughts on going for physical backups of say all the videos (sentimental value) and deleting them from the cloud storage?
   

What are peoples thoughts on going for physical backups of say all the videos (sentimental value) and deleting them from the cloud storage?

I've done this using a NAS. Freed up tonnes of space on Google Drive. I'll back up to an external hard drive every month.

I think Google photos has some way of getting rid of blurry photos and duplicates, but I can't remember. I think if you go to Manage Space or something?

I've used up the easy Google functions on my phone 😔

NAS

Have you worked out your running costs? If so how do they stack up?

I do actually have a home WD "cloud" storage device I haven't actually set up yet. Which it sounds like I should.

I guess I just trust Google's backup systems more than mine.

edit: using the search function while in a laptop and using the shift/select function is pretty good. Means you can search for say "serial number" and bulk delete all those random photos of serial numbers, receipts, etc. you don't need any more.

Have you worked out your running costs? If so how do they stack up?

I have not. It's only a two HD server, though, so I think fairly low wattage.

What are peoples thoughts on going for physical backups of say all the videos (sentimental value) and deleting them from the cloud storage?

I'd be very sad if a fire or flood or something destroyed my physical copy of photos/videos and I didn't have an off-site/cloud copy.

Anyone know what to do about getting a DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error code on certain (but not all) websites? On two different laptops, so can't be an individual laptop issue. Obviously, it's all the sites I need for work purposes. Cheers.

FWIW, I'm getting the following when I run an ipconfig /release:

C:\Users\User>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection* 11 while it has its media disconnected.
No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection* 12 while it has its media disconnected.

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Internet service provider error?

Are you using pihole? I get that message in the browser when it’s blocked by pihole, usually because it’s trying to access a service I’ve blocked

I've no idea what pihole is, so I'm guessing it's not that.

Weirdly enough, since posting this, it's all started working again. Bizarre.

In short your browser can't find the websites. Slightly longer, DNS lookup has failed. Try a different DNS service for a while (this is normally an address set on your router).

I unplugged the router for a minute, then hooked it back up. After around five minutes or so, everything started working again.

.

It's possible your router is crap/failing/overheating and that's causing errors.

I replaced my basic modem/router with a low end business-grade router to get rid of this sort of problem

Could be. Was pretty hot.

Any recommendations on a low-end business-grade router? I'd rather avoid this happening in future if I can.

Cheers.

Ubiquiti Edgerouter X

I can't remember too well how I
got there, but I ended up with the predecessor to the Draytek Vigor 2766 modem+router+wireless access point: https://www.draytek.com/products/dsl-routers/ as I wanted everything in one box.

ectoplasmosis recommendation is a router only I believe?

Microsoft 365 family is 79.99 for a year and you get 6x 1TB onedrive accounts for that. I use this for video file storage.

Create the primary account and then 5 dummy accounts and share the onedrive folders with the primary and you have a pretty solid sync client and 6tb of storage in one place. Admittedly it's a bit annoying doing the initial 6 logins fanny around but once it's running it's been very reliable for me. I like how you can right click a folder you need keep it on your device and then just send it back to the cloud easily.

Hilariously I was paying for this for my OH for years so they had ms apps on their laptop, but they never logged in properly or synced it properly to use the storage. So I bought one of those dodgy full Office suites instead.

Also I think the issue won't be the value on a £/KB basis, but that it is still £80. Eg even though 2tb < 6tb, 2tb is sufficient and in that case it'd be easier for everyone to just upgrade One.

Is there a way to effortlessly link this up with my Google Photos?

Is there a way to effortlessly link this up with my Google Photos?

*hollow laugh *

Any interest in this AV Access HDMI/KVM extender? Recommended to me by @ectoplasmosis, I haven't touched it as the use I needed it for went away, looks basically new. Can do 4k@60hz or HD@120hz in 4:4:4 colour over 100m of Cat6. Just looking to recoup the £100 it cost me.

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having a clearout cos i'm broke.

any interest in my diskless WD MyCloud PR4100 4-bay Nas enclosure for £110 posted?

has been fully factory reset and loads into the factory setup wizard when booted ready to go.

just enclosure and psu. no original packaging or manuals but will be shipped carefully boxed and wrapped in bubble wrap.

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