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Wols Lists wrote: |
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> On 08/12/2022 13:31, Mark Knecht wrote: |
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>> |
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>> |
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>> On Thu, Dec 8, 2022 at 5:38 AM Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com |
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>> <mailto:rdalek1967@×××××.com>> wrote: |
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>> > |
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>> > Howdy, |
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>> > |
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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 |
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>> someone 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 |
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>> possible, 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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>> > Next thing. Let's say a NAS comes with two 4TB drives for a total of |
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>> > 8TB of capacity from the factory, using LVM or similar software I |
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>> > assume. Is that limited to that capacity or can I for example |
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>> replace |
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>> > one or both drives with for example 14TB drives for a total of |
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>> 28TBs of |
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>> > capacity? If one does that, let's say it uses LVM, can I somehow |
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>> move |
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>> > data as well or is that beyond the abilities of a NAS? Could it |
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>> be done |
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>> > inside my computer for example? Does this vary by brand or even |
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>> model? |
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>> > |
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>> > Path two, I've researched building a NAS using a Raspberry Pi 4 |
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>> 8GB as |
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>> > another option. They come as parts, cases too, but the newer and |
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>> faster |
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>> > models of Raspberry Pi 4 with more ram seem to work pretty well. The |
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>> > old slower models with small amounts of ram don't fair as well. |
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>> While I |
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>> > want a descent speed, I'm not looking for or expecting it to be |
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>> > blazingly fast. I just wonder, if from a upgrade and expansion |
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>> point of |
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>> > view, if building a NAS would be better. I've also noticed, it seems |
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>> > all Raspberry things come with a display port. That means I could |
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>> hook |
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>> > up a monitor and mouse/keyboard when needed. That could be a bonus. |
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>> > Heck, I may can even put some sort of Gentoo on that thing. :-D |
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>> > |
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>> > One reason I'm wanting to go this route, I'm trying to keep it |
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>> small and |
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>> > able to fit inside my fire safe. I plan to buy a media type safe |
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>> that |
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>> > is larger but right now, it needs to fit inside my current safe. |
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>> Most |
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>> > of the 2 bay NAS or a Raspberry Pi based NAS are fairly small. |
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>> They not |
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>> > much bigger than the three external hard drives and a couple bare |
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>> drives |
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>> > that currently occupy my safe. |
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>> > |
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>> > One thing I'd like to have no matter what path I go down, the |
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>> ability to |
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>> > encrypt the data. My current backup drives are encrypted and I'd |
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>> like |
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>> > to keep it that way. If that is possible to do. I suspect the |
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>> > Raspberry option would since I'd control the OS/software placed on |
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>> it. |
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>> > I could be wrong tho. |
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>> > |
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>> > One last thing. Are there any NAS type boxes that I should |
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>> absolutely |
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>> > avoid if I go that route? Maybe it is a model that has serious |
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>> > limitations or has other problems. I think the DAS thing may be |
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>> one for |
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>> > me to avoid but I'm not for sure what limits it has. Google |
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>> didn't help |
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>> > a lot. It also could be as simple as, avoid any model that says |
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>> this in |
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>> > the description or uses some type of software that is bad or limits |
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>> > options. |
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>> > |
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>> > Thoughts? Info to share? Ideas on a best path forward? Buy already |
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>> > built or build? |
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>> > |
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>> > Thanks. |
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>> > |
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>> > Dale |
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>> > |
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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 |
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> these eSATA thingy connectors, it might be a very good choice. |
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>> |
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>> Synology (sp?) is sort of a big name in home & small office NAS |
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>> boxes. You can buy the boxes with or without drives. I suspect you |
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>> won't like the prices. |
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> |
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> I've been looking :-) I think the empty box costs more than the drives |
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> you're going to put in it ... |
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>> |
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>> I wonder if you might consider what data on your backups needs to be |
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>> immediately available and which doesn't. Possibly buy an 8TB USB |
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>> drive, take a bunch of the lower priority data off of your current |
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>> backup thus system freeing space and move on from there? |
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>> |
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>> I built my NAS devices using old computers ala Wol's suggestion to me |
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>> maybe a year ago. They work for me but don't have the fastest network |
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>> interfaces. |
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>> |
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> I get the impression Dale isn't actually PLANNING his disk storage. |
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> It's just a case of "help I'm downloading all this stuff where do I |
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> put it!!!" |
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> |
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> How much storage do you have in your actual computer? How much space |
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> do you need IN ONE PARTITION? Can you get an external disk caddy that |
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> you just slot bare drives in? |
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> |
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> I've no doubt you have good reason for wanting all this storage. I |
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> just fail to see why you need huge drives for it if most of the time |
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> you're not doing anything with it. |
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> |
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> Get yourself a basic 4-way DAS/JBOD setup, PLAN where you're putting |
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> all this stuff, and plug in and remove drives as required. You don't |
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> need all these huge drives if you think about what you're going to do |
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> with it all. (And while it takes time and hammers the system, I |
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> regularly record off the TV getting a 2GB .ts file, convert it to mp4 |
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> - same resolution - and reduce the size by an order of magnitude - |
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> maybe more. |
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> |
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> If you've got two hot-swap JBOD enclosures, that's brilliant. You can |
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> stream from your media centre to a drive, swap it out, and use a |
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> second system to then organise your collection. |
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> |
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> Oh - and if you are worried about disks going walkabout, just LUKS the |
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> whole disk, and without the key nobody can read it ... build your |
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> partitions or whatever over it. |
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> |
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> Cheers, |
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> Wol |
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> |
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> |
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> |
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|
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Getting some good info from different folks. Picking this to reply to, |
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last message I read. I do have a lot of data in my system. I need the |
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info at random plus want to keep a backup copy. If for no other reason, |
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in case I accidentally delete or overwrite something. I've done that |
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before. I also want backups in case of a sudden drive failure without |
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warning. This is about my backup copy, not the drives in my system that |
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I regularly use. I have a large Cooler Master HAF-932 case. I still |
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got room there. I may at some point build a NAS for regular storage and |
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everyday use. While I would like something power efficient and able to |
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scale for that, I think a 2 bay, certainly a 4 bay, NAS will give me |
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plenty of room to grow for my backups. A NAS for everyday use tho, |
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that's for another day. |
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|
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I kinda like my current setup except that one large directory, it's to |
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big for a single external hard drive. I need to span that data over two |
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or more drives. That means either a NAS of some sort or another |
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system. Since any system I build from old parts I have laying around |
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would be to large, a NAS is the best long term route. I mentioned |
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before, I wish I could split my backup script so that about half of the |
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data goes to one drive and the other half to a 2nd drive. If I knew of |
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a way to tell rsync to split files starting with 'a' through 'k' to one |
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drive and files starting with 'm' through 'z' to the second drive, then |
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I could span across two drives without needing LVM or similar software. |
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I'm not aware of a way to do that without a ton of work and having to |
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update my scripts each time I add or remove a directory within the |
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larger directory. |
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|
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Some of this is sort of hard to put into text unless I write half a book |
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about it. Basically, I'm needing a way to have external drives with |
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enough capacity to hold a large directory. Also some room for growth |
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and even upgrades would be nice. Whether I buy a prebuilt NAS or build |
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one, whichever is the better option and affordable. |
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|
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Since I forgot to hit send after typing the above, I've got more replies |
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to read. |
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|
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Dale |
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|
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:-) :-) |