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On Thursday, 8 December 2022 20:44:56 GMT Frank Steinmetzger wrote: |
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> Am Thu, Dec 08, 2022 at 06:36:14PM +0000 schrieb Wols Lists: |
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> > > > I've pretty much reached a limit on my backups. I'm up to a 16TB |
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> > > > hard |
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> > > > drive for one and even that won't last long. Larger drives are much |
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> > > > more costly. A must have NAS is quickly approaching. I've been |
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> > > > searching around and find some things confusing. I'm hoping someone |
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> > > > can |
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> > > > clear up that confusion. I'm also debating what path to travel down. |
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> > > > I'd also like to keep costs down as well. That said, I don't mind |
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> > > > paying a little more for one that would offer a much better option. |
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> > > > |
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> > > > Path one, buy a NAS, possibly used, that has no drives. If possible, |
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> > > > I |
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> > > > may even replace the OS that comes on it or upgrade if I can. I'm |
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> > > > not |
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> > > > looking for fancy, or even RAID. Just looking for a two bay NAS that |
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> > > > will work. First, what is a DAS? Is that totally different than a |
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> > > > NAS? From what I've found, a DAS is not what I'm looking for since I |
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> > > > want a ethernet connection and the ability to control things over the |
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> > > > network. It seems DAS lacks that feature but not real sure. I'm not |
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> > > > sure I can upgrade the software/OS on a DAS either. |
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> > > > […] |
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> > > |
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> > > DAS is direct-attached-storage. I don't think you want that. |
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> > |
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> > Depends. If it fits in the safe, and can be connected using one of these |
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> > eSATA thingy connectors, it might be a very good choice. |
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> > |
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> > […] |
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> > |
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> > I get the impression Dale isn't actually PLANNING his disk storage. It's |
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> > just a case of "help I'm downloading all this stuff where do I put it!!!" |
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> |
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> Haha, thanks for the laugh. |
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|
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Actually this had me thinking what is the need to back up the ... Internet? |
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If all this never-ending and recently accelerated download activity by Dale |
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will continue and most of these video/audio files are available on some |
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streaming server on the Internet, WHY do they need to be backed up locally? |
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|
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I appreciate some of these video files may be rare finds, or there may be a |
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risk some of these may be taken off the interwebs sooner or later. This |
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should leave a rather small subset of all downloads, which may merit a local |
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backup, just in case. I'd thought the availability of higher fiber download |
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speeds negates the need for local backups, of readily downloadable media. |
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|
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Of course, with personal and private data, plus configuration files, the |
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backup need is clearer and the strategy simpler. |
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|
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Perhaps the whole backup strategy for files downloaded from the Internet, Vs |
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personal files, needs some critical (re)thinking. |
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|
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|
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> > Get yourself a basic 4-way DAS/JBOD setup, PLAN where you're putting all |
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> > this stuff, and plug in and remove drives as required. You don't need all |
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> > these huge drives if you think about what you're going to do with it all. |
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> |
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> That’s actually a good idea. Either use a hot swap frame for an internal 5¼″ |
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> PC bay, a desktop dock for bare drives or a multi-bay enclosure. The market |
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> is big, you have lots of choices. USB (with or without integrated hub), |
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> eSATA, one or two bays, etc: https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=hddocks |
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> |
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> Advantages: |
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> - no separate system to maintain just for storage: save $$$, time and power |
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> - very flexible: no chassis limitation on number of disks |
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> - no bulky external enclosures, each using a different power brick and cable |
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> - minimum volume to put into a safe (just get or make a bulk storage case) |
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> |
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> Disadvantages: |
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> - not as “fancy” as a NAS |
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> - possibly not all disks can be used at the same time |
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> - physical handling of naked disks takes more care |
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> - LVM is not practical, so use each disk separately |
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> - you gotta remember which files are where¹ |
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> - SATA connectors aren’t made for very many insertion cycles (I think the |
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> spec says 50?), which doesn’t mean they endure much more, but still … |
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> |
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> > (And while it takes time and hammers the system, I regularly record off |
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> > the |
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> > TV getting a 2GB .ts file, convert it to mp4 - same resolution - and |
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> > reduce |
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> > the size by an order of magnitude - maybe more. |
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> |
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> Well, ts uses mpeg2 encoding, just like old video DVDs, which is very |
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> inefficient when compared with modern h264/h265. Modern digital TV broadcast |
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> uses h264 by now. |
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|
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Depending on the PVR make/model I've seen 1080p resolution recordings with |
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.m2ts and .ts file extensions, while the codecs inside them are the same. |
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Here's the ffprobe output of a .ts recording containing a h264 video I |
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captured recently off terrestrial TV transmission: |
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|
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Input #0, mpegts, from '20221209 0147 - BBC ONE HD - Weather for the Week |
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Ahead.ts': |
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Duration: 00:13:01.44, start: 48999.919856, bitrate: 3744 kb/s |
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Program 17540 |
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Stream #0:0[0x19c9]: Video: h264 (High) ([27][0][0][0] / 0x001B), |
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yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 25 tbr, |
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90k tbn, 50 tbc |
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Stream #0:1[0x19ca](eng): Audio: aac_latm (LC) ([17][0][0][0] / 0x0011), |
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48000 Hz, 5.1, fltp |
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Stream #0:2[0x19ce](eng): Unknown: none ([17][0][0][0] / 0x0011) (visual |
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impaired) (descriptions) (dependent) |
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Stream #0:3[0x19cd](eng): Subtitle: dvb_subtitle ([6][0][0][0] / 0x0006) |
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|
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The h264 codec means converting the .ts file to mp4 will not change much at |
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all the size of the file. If anything the mp4 file could increase in size if |
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the audio stream and subtitles need to be transcoded. |
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|
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> Incidentally, I got myself a new HDD today: an external 2.5″ WD Passport |
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> Ultra 5 TB with USB-C 3.0. Just because I like portable storage and also |
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> because I need temporary space if I want to convert my NAS RAID-Z2 to Z1. |
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> |
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> |
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> ¹ I do have several external USB disks, plus the big NAS. All of which don’t |
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> run very often. And I don’t want to turn them on just to look for a certain |
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> file. That’s why I have another little script. ;-) It uses the `tree` |
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> command to save the complete content listing of a directory into a text |
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> file and names the file automatically by the name of the directory it |
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> crawls. So if I want to find a file, I just need to grep through my text |
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> files. |
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|
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Backup scripts utilising rsync, tar, etc. can output a log file which contains |
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(some) details of all the backed up files. Nothing as sophisticated as |
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Frank's script, but it allows for a quick search against the name of the file |
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or directory, before extraction. |