It's A Digital Disease!

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/danielrosehill on 2024-01-24 13:53:44+00:00.


"Best" is subjective of course but let's define it here as best reliability. A BIFL (buy it for life) Blu Ray writer that you can use to archive disks with until the technology is deprecated or something better comes along.

I'm thinking that an internal drive would firstly be the way to go given that there seems to be pretty wide consensus that these seem to be built better and last longer than their external/slimline equivalents (and they can be used with an enclosure so anyone really can use them).

I've also heard musings that Pioneer is the best brand ... and there really aren't that many OEMs and manufacturers still making these (Asus, LG, OWC ... not a whole lot more).

If you were prepared to spend whatever it takes to get the very best hardware ... what product on the market today would you purchase?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/riffdex on 2024-01-24 13:53:01+00:00.


I noticed that when using MakeMKV to rip my DVD collection, certain DVDs (perhaps that have scratches, or other defects) fail to rip on my DVD drive of my desktop computer, but my laptop's disk drive can rip them ok, and they play fine after the fact. I feel like the drive in the desktop is highly sensitive to defects and as a result can't rip some DVDs that are in bad shape, even if the data needed for the streams is in adequate shape. Is there any way to make this particular DVD drive less sensitive so I can rip these disks universally here? I am decommissioning the Laptop and want to use the desktop exclusively to rip disks.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/tex_willer_ on 2024-01-24 13:30:58+00:00.


Hello, on a 6-drive pool of 2-way mirrored Exos X16 drives, I have been running into a SMART failure for several days. I was about to put the drive for RMA but then, unexpectedly, the SMART runs started to pass again (which I was greatly surprised with).

I was curious if I could have some assistance parsing the SMART output and help decide whether to initiate RMA process on this drive as I am now confused. The conventional wisdom tells me that I should replace the drive on a first SMART failure but I have not heard of a drive failing SMART only to pass again.

Here is the drive's full SMARTctl output - would appreciate thoughts on how to handle this? The drive is under warranty.

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===

Model Family: Seagate Exos X16

Device Model: ST14000NM001G-2KJ103

Serial Number: ZTM0DYQH

LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0dcabf378

Firmware Version: SN03

User Capacity: 14,000,519,643,136 bytes [14.0 TB]

Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical

Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm

Form Factor: 3.5 inches

Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]

ATA Version is: ACS-4 (minor revision not indicated)

SATA Version is: SATA 3.3, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)

Local Time is: Mon Jan 22 15:24:44 2024 MST

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.

SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:

Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity

was completed without error.

Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.

Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed

without error or no self-test has ever

been run.

Total time to complete Offline

data collection: ( 567) seconds.

Offline data collection

capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.

Auto Offline data collection on/off support.

Suspend Offline collection upon new

command.

Offline surface scan supported.

Self-test supported.

Conveyance Self-test supported.

Selective Self-test supported.

SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering

power-saving mode.

Supports SMART auto save timer.

Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.

General Purpose Logging supported.

Short self-test routine

recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.

Extended self-test routine

recommended polling time: (1266) minutes.

Conveyance self-test routine

recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.

SCT capabilities: (0x70bd) SCT Status supported.

SCT Error Recovery Control supported.

SCT Feature Control supported.

SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 073 064 044 Pre-fail Always - 226004580

3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 092 091 000 Pre-fail Always - 0

4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 168

5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 099 099 010 Pre-fail Always - 5744

7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 081 060 045 Pre-fail Always - 119727214

9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 089 089 000 Old_age Always - 9953

10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0

12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 168

18 Head_Health 0x000b 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0

187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 090 090 000 Old_age Always - 10

188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0

190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 070 050 040 Old_age Always - 30 (Min/Max 13/40)

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 140

193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 064 064 000 Old_age Always - 73368

194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 030 045 000 Old_age Always - 30 (0 13 0 0 0)

197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 2696

198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 096 096 000 Old_age Offline - 2696

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

200 Pressure_Limit 0x0023 100 100 001 Pre-fail Always - 0

240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 6365h+55m+30.422s

241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 53844360169

242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 219364534140

SMART Error Log Version: 1

ATA Error Count: 10 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)

CR = Command Register [HEX]

FR = Features Register [HEX]

SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]

SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]

CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]

CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]

DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]

DC = Device Command Register [HEX]

ER = Error register [HEX]

ST = Status register [HEX]

Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as

DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,

SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 10 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9722 hours (405 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER ST SC SN CL CH DH

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:41.474 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:41.473 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 10 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:41.473 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:41.473 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:41.467 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 9 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9722 hours (405 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER ST SC SN CL CH DH

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:33.438 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:33.437 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 28 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:33.425 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 18 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:33.415 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:33.415 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 8 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9722 hours (405 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER ST SC SN CL CH DH

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------

60 00 50 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:29.784 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 10 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:29.783 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 68 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:29.779 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:29.761 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:29.760 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 7 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9722 hours (405 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER ST SC SN CL CH DH

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------

60 00 a8 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:24.420 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:24.409 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:24.409 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 08 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:24.409 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 e0 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:24.402 READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 6 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9722 hours (405 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER ST SC SN CL CH DH

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f Error: WP at LBA = 0x0fffffff = 268435455

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------

61 00 10 90 02 40 40 00 29d+18:15:20.844 WRITE FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 10 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:20.843 READ FPDMA QUEUED

60 00 10 ff ff ff 4f 00 29d+18:15:20.843 READ FPDMA QUEUED

`60 00 10 90 02 40 40 00 29d+18:15:20.843...


Content cut off. Read original on https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/19eh50l/need_help_interpreting_an_intermittent_smart/

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/hewhodared on 2024-01-24 13:23:00+00:00.


Last night while I was in bed I received an email from my Synology noting the # of bad sectors has increased. 16 as of this last night. Unknown to me, I guess there were IO errors last week so I am just catching this now. I jumped out of bed and began an extended SMART test and not long after I received another email saying the drive failed. I am pretty sure it did not even complete the whole test.

I have three Seagate Ironwolf 6TBs in SHR1 in my 920+. The first two drives I bought together in December 2021. Third parity drive I bought later in July 2022 from BHPhotoVideo. Thankfully, the drive in question is still under warranty so I will initiate a RMA with Seagate for the drive in bay 1.

Does Seagate do advanced RMAs where I can pay for a new drive and send my current one for service in the same packaging and then receive it back? For the time being I ordered another drive last night, a Western Digital Red Pro from BHPhotoVideo as I did not want my array in a degraded state for too long.

Something I was thinking of last night... We're having construction done at home, namely the kitchen being redone which is the room on the other side of the wall. I really did not think too much of it but was worried if vibrations from equipment had killed this drive potentially. I was thinking of powering down my 920+ and then doing the rebuild over the weekend when they are not working I believe.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/SuccessfulFinding812 on 2024-01-24 12:19:22+00:00.


I've been lurking on this subreddit for a while now, and it seems like HDD prices in the US are way lower than in Sweden. Currently, the cheapest 12TB+ drive I can find is an 18TB Seagate Exos X18 for about $17.5 per TB. That's a lot cheaper than shuckable externals or other enterprise drives are here. Any tips on finding budget-friendly options here in Sweden, or am I stuck with the pricey choices? Thanks!

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/slime1982 on 2024-01-24 11:57:43+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/realizment on 2024-01-24 07:58:36+00:00.


Certain files I’d like to send to my mega without download so I can later open them inside a VM, is this possible ? Thank you

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Dimitar_Drew on 2024-01-24 06:19:51+00:00.


has a lot of my first videos ever since i was a kid and many many other people like me.

The issue is that nobody remembers their login info from 15 years ago so can somebody provide a YT downloader type of thing (most of them don't work idk why) or maybe we can contact the owner and offer him to drop us everything on a cloud?

Should we start a GoFundMe for a cloud within of all the people who want to download the whole site?

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Getting Started... (zerobytes.monster)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 
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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Phoenix_of_Anarchy on 2024-01-24 05:56:10+00:00.


I've been following this sub for a month or two now, after I set up a Plex server and realized I needed a lot more storage if I wanted to do anything real with it. Right now, all I've got is 4tb across 2 ssds (which I know is chump change for most people in this sub, but is pretty important to me for the speeds, and I'd like to free up the one I'm currently using to store Plex data as soon as possible) plus a bunch of little flash drives. What I've gathered is that, at least for a plex server, HDD speeds are going to be just fine and offer much more storage for much lower prices, but what is a good price per terabyte? Looking on Server Part Deals I see things for as low as ~$13-14 per tb. Is that a good deal? bad deal? suspiciously good? And while we're at it, if I buy just the HDD itself and not a whole hard drive, I'll need some sort of enclosure, right? So what is considered good for that? I did try looking on the wiki for these things, but many of the links are dead or I just don't know how to decipher the information I'm given into what I do and don't need. My endgame, when I win the lottery or otherwise have large sums of money to spend, seems to be NAS, but for right now I'm just looking for one or two, well priced, large units (10-15tb should be enough to rip my entire dvd collection and then I probably have another 10tb of junk either cluttering up other storage devices, that I want to download but don't have the space for, and at least two boxes of paper files that I wouldn't mind digitizing [though I know this won't end up taking too much space]). Lastly, unrelated but I figure this is the place to ask, I've recently found that a youtube channel I used to watch deleted almost all of its content a couple of years ago. I can get some of the videos from re-uploads and a couple of them ended up on altCensored (I didn't even know this was a thing until today) or the Wayback machine, but the majority of the catalogue is lost to me. Does this community know of anywhere else I could look? For a time the videos were just unlisted, but at some point they disappeared completely, and I'm at a loss looking for them. As you can tell, I'm a bit of a noob at this, but I'd love some pointers so I know that I'm doing it right. I should also say, because I get the feeling a lot of people here are big computer nerds, I don't have a desktop. I have a laptop that I use for everything and an old potato laptop that I'm running Plex on, so any recommendations would need to be compatible with that setup. Again, I eventually intend to get a desktop, I just don't have the money for it right now.

TL:DR:

  1. What is a good price/tb on hdds and where do I find the best deals?
  2. What are some good HDD enclosures (docks?) that I can rely on and won't break the bank?
  3. Some of the terms still don't make a lot of sense to me, based on my use described above, is there anything I should watch out for or be looking for in particular?
  4. Are there any places that I can look for deleted YouTube videos?

Thanks so much!

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/TaifulIslam on 2024-01-24 03:41:55+00:00.


I've secured 5 10 tb hard drives from a sale nearby with very cheap prices. However a desktop isn't suitable for me for various reasons and I own 2 laptops. I received an offer to purchase an Orico 5 bay 50Tb max with 5 Gbps speed docking station. But as a long time lurker here, there are some negative side due to the cooling issues. So should I purchase that considering all the drawbacks?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/kkgmgfn on 2024-01-24 05:14:38+00:00.


Has any one used AWS Glacier and what was the cost like?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Less_Pension1903 on 2024-01-24 05:12:02+00:00.


Sorry if this has been asked many times. I’m not an expert with backing up data so I’m asking here.

I’m helping out a business that is wanting to have a external backup for their PC (preferably on the cloud as physical external storage really isn’t an option). Currently they are using a high end Xeon workstation from 12 years ago and their entire business is basically on there, they’d basically be fucked if something was to happen to it. I’m surprised they haven’t lost anything yet. I’ve heard of services that can accomplish this but I have no idea what the best solution is. I checked the drive, there’s about 340GB of files that need to be backed up. Eventually they will have 2 PCs though and that will need to be backed up since they are expanding. The business has gigabit ethernet, so cloud solutions aren’t an issue.

It would be nice if the software could backup the entire OS, so if the hardware gets damaged it can just be restored back to its original state.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/TaifulIslam on 2024-01-24 03:41:55+00:00.


I've secured 5 10 tb hard drives from a sale nearby with very cheap prices. However a desktop isn't suitable for me for various reasons and I own 2 laptops. I received an offer to purchase an Orico 5 bay 50Tb max with 5 Gbps speed docking station. But as a long time lurker here, there are some negative side due to the cooling issues. So should I purchase that considering all the drawbacks?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Evil_Lootly on 2024-01-24 03:27:37+00:00.


Hi everyone, I have been looking for a solution to storing a bunch of music files for a extended period of time (10-30+ years). I would normally just make multiple copies of the data and leave it at that, but I want the data to be low-maintenance. With this in mind, I was planning to use M-Discs (100GBs) to store the data, and store them in a closed container to prevent any moisture or other environment issues.

However, I came across this post from around a year ago claiming the M-Discs being sold now by Verbatim aren't the original ones that used to be produced, and are just normal CDs labelled as M-Discs to make a profit. (The post: )

Does anyone know if this is still the case? Or does it even matter and the discs being sold would still do what I want them to? If it does matter, what would you recommend instead of M-Disc to store the files I need to keep?

Thanks

Edit: )

Apparently a commenter further down in the post found that a German news station reached out to Verbatim about the issue and this is what they said:

However, when asked, Verbatim clarified that these media were further developments. The technical changes lead to a different appearance and the ability for higher burning speeds, the changed media ID is due to an adaptation to other Verbatim products. Verbatim has already delivered the first modified media at the beginning of 2022.

The data security of the new discs is not inferior to that of the old discs: According to the manufacturer, data should also last 1000 years.

However, I'm still interested if there are any better methods for long-term, low maintenance, data storage that I've missed. If you have any recommendations lemme know...

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Just_Ero on 2024-01-24 03:23:20+00:00.


Hi.

I understand this may be a bit offtopic, but I thought this community is my best bet on this.

I am looking for the most cost-effective way to store a lot of movies and shows to watch on my TV, as well as games to play on my console. I am thinking around 4TB for the movies and shows and around 2TB for the games. Neither of these drives need to be particularly performant. Both need to connect to USB ports.

My uncertainty here is with what storage I should get. I've considered everything from external drives to an enclosure.

External drives are nice because it's very easy to disconnect them and move data onto them from my PC. But larger ones get fairly expensive (both drives total close to 200€).

An enclosure (1 or 2 bays) may be cheaper. Most enclosures I've seen though have only a singular USB-B output and I'm not sure what I can do to route that in a way that it connects to both the TV and the console (and whether they are even compatible with such a setup). I also don't know which companies are reputable in this branch.

I thought you guys may have some insight and recommendations for me?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/heinesterhuyse on 2024-01-24 02:26:17+00:00.


Hi, newbie here.

I have lots of scrap data on numerous HDD, which I want to combine and start sorting.

I am looking for a centralized home system, maybe a NAS, which has only basic encryption (not that important) but should be secured, (RAID setup).

The issue is I have no idea where to begin.

If anybody can suggest a good NAS system and HDD as a starting point for me to investigate further?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Grimy81 on 2024-01-24 01:14:23+00:00.


Morning folks,

I have the joy of coming up with a solution to verify the 100's of millions of files/folders that were copied to an Azure File Share indeed match the source file. From what I've found MD5 would not be my friend / scalable in these types of numbers, perhaps xxHash or something like that for the Windows world? Both source and destination can be mapped from a Windows host if this plays a factor.

There is a check built in to azcopy that should have been used at the time, but this is now somewhat irrelevant as the 120Tb worth of files is already in the AFS space plus the post-copy check was going to take something like 3 years base on test results.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/ericlindellnyc on 2024-01-24 00:59:47+00:00.


I'm down to the last copy of my data, and I have to copy it to a backup. I'm concerned something might happen to this one copy I have, cuz the last couple times I tried to duplicate it, either the source or the target got mangled. In one case, the dual-bay drive dock copied Target to Source. In the other, the copy worked, but the Source drive no longer works a day later.

I'm going to buy an external enclosure or two to ensure that nothing goes wrong this time -- so I'll have both Source and Target intact when done. I'm looking at Sabrent external enclosures -- probly two of them. Or possibly Startech, which is sold by B&H, which I take as an indication it's a reputable brand.

I have a 2015 iMac running macOS Monterey, and a couple cheap dual-bay drive docks that I'll probably never use again. I've just bought three 14TB drives from GoHardDrive -- with 5 year warranty. They are all pulls, WD Enterprise drives.

Any thoughts from this community? This is a great sub, BTW.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/danielrosehill on 2024-01-23 22:51:34+00:00.


Hello datahoarders!

Sorry for posting a couple of times on the sub today. I'm finishing off a few years of data archival and some questions and thoughts have come to mind in quick succession.

So, I'm one of the oddbods using the M-Disc for archiving personal data (videos, podcasts, documents). It's working out nicely for me.

I know that there are some on the sub who are very sceptical of the M-Disc. To be frank, I'm not one of those and believe that Verbatim is producing legitimate M-Discs after buying the technology from Millenniata (with Ritek, AFAIK, as the only other licensee). I think it's an intriguing technology that tried to creatively tackle an important topic - data permanence - that the storage industry has largely, and continues to, ignore.

The patent about the composition of the disc layer is freely available on Google Patents for anyone who wishes to read it. This PDF also offers a little bit of insight into what's so special about the all-important inorganic layer that holds the data (as compared to the organic dyes that are now otherwise ubiquitous).

A common bone of contention against the M-Disc goes something like "well, if a regular Blu Ray can write the discs, it can't be that special."

I've looked into the compatibility question a little and Millenniata did indeed state from the outset that most Blu Ray burners would be compatible (with advances in Blu Ray writing technology since, it seems that pretty much everything works with it). The picture with the DVD M-Discs is/was a little more complicated but is quickly fading into irrelevance (Verbatim never produced them to the best of my knowledge; there's just old Millenniata stock on the market and some stuff with Ritek; I have no idea if the latter is new or old).

In any event...

I interviewed the guy who invented the technology on YouTube a couple of years (he's a storage scientist over at Bringham Young). I dropped him an email today to ask for his thoughts on appropriate ways to test the longevity of the disc (his answer: accelerated ageing testing is imperfect but probably the best methodology).

He also wrote a couple of lines about the compatibility between the discs and burners. With his permission, I'm reproducing these lines from our email exchange:

About the writing of Mdiscs – we worked LONG and HARD to make it possible to write Mdiscs in ordinary drives (takes a different amount of laser power and a different write strategy), and were mostly successful with the DVDs (only needed a relatively small increase in laser power – about 20% more – and the laser in the drive was already capable of this; and did need a different write strategy to reduce the jitter, but that write strategy was already available in most ODDs; we just had to specify it). We were completely successful with the BD Mdisc – it was able to be burned in any BD-capable ODD because it used one of the standard write strategies and standard laser power. We considered that a coup-de-gras.

In any event, I thought that tidbit might be of interest to the M-Disc archivers here - whether you're a skeptic or, like me, a believer.

TL;DR

The guy who invented the M-Disc says that they succeeded in getting the M-Disc to work with pretty much all Blu Ray hardware. Apparently the DVD product did end up requiring some additional strength from the hardware but the Blu Ray didn't. He says that he and his co-inventors considered that a big achievement.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/redditor7588 on 2024-01-24 00:39:38+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/CactusJ on 2024-01-23 22:56:47+00:00.


I have a Think Station P3 micro that take NVMe M.2

We purchased a SABRENT 8TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD, but it does not fit, as its dual sided.

Is there a 4/6/8 TB drive that is single sided, that will fit?

Thanks Everyone

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/thebigrace on 2024-01-23 23:55:26+00:00.


I'm a photographer/videographer with half a dozen > 10tb external hard drives who finally got fed up with trying to organize them.

Today I purchased a Thunderbay 4 Bay enclosure and 4x20tb Western Digital Red Pro drives, now I'm trying to figure out the simplest, safest way to keep my data safe.

I have about 30tb of data, that increases 3-5tb a year. It's all backed up in 2 locations somewhere in this pile of hard drives, as well as to the cloud via backblaze.

When I get my Thunderbay set up I'd like to decommission/repurpose the external drives I have and use two drives in the Thunderbay for my primary archive and the two other drives as a backup.

I know that, even though RAID 1 is a mirror, that RAID is not a backup. My question is, using something like Carbon Copy Cloner, can I create two separate 40tb volumes and back one up to the other without risking one drive failure killing the entire thing?

Basically treating it like I've got two separate enclosure?

If not, what would my best option be for this?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/IceDakota on 2024-01-23 23:16:22+00:00.


Hey all,

Long time lurker, probably first time poster.

I have a small collection of CDs that I want to rip and keep on my hard drive as a backup, since I live in a fire-risky area and no longer have fire insurance. We've had evacuation scares before, and I'm taking more effort to back up my important files and media. It's easier to grab my external drives than the box full of CDs and DVDs in the case of emergency.

I don't remember whether or not CD quality is good, but I would like to rip things in the best quality I can if possible. I know it's probably better to find / download higher quality lossless rips, but I also wish to rip these CDs.

I feel stupid for asking this, but does it matter what optical reader/writer I use, or will any random cheap ebay one do a job ripping it in its best quality?

Thank you! <3

EDIT: Any recommended software for ripping CDs and DVDs?

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/majinmilad on 2024-01-23 22:58:09+00:00.


Is there anyway at all to backup my WhatsApp media like photos and videos from a message thread (or all threads) to a PC?

I’d like to do it without the use of any 3rd party apps or cloud technology. But if there is literally no way then what are the best alternatives.

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/Suncatch3r on 2024-01-23 19:08:16+00:00.


I got this 8tb external drive for just 60 bucks, i thought it would be worth it. They do run very hot, I only use as a plex server pr backup. I was wondering if the drives can be used as an enclosure for any other drive I might buy and put in them? If so, what would be the highest capacity if anyone knows, I want to be able to put at least 2x14tb in it. Also for cooling, are there any mods I can do? Like change the fan. I didn't find any of these anywhere online so I thought I should ask. Thanks

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