Current thankless task akin to watching paint dry: finally getting around to using my iMac to securely erase a HD that was formerly in my NAS but started having sector errors.
I have an ancient Thermaltake disk docking station I keep around just for this task. Unfortunately mine is USB 2 so slowwwww.
I’ve made the switch to Arq Backup for all devices (Mac, Windows, NAS, and Raspberry Pi) and all 3-2-1 destinations (Local NAS, Cloud and Offline Disk). I’m really pleased to have one backup tool “to rule them all”.
I started using Arq 5 a couple of years ago to do low-cost offsite backups to Amazon’s AWS Glacier storage. It was much cheaper than a service like Backblaze since I needed to run on multiple computers. Over that time period Arq proved to be stable and reliable.
Recently I moved some data-oriented workloads from my NAS to Raspberry Pi’s. This triggered a look at how to include Pi’s in my backup plans and, one thing leading to another as it does, I reviewed my whole backup strategy. As I started documenting my goals for backups and the possible tools/solutions I could use I saw how Arq’s v7 backup tool could greatly simplify my life (well my backup life at least).
Arq’s software can backup to a crap-ton (technical word) of online services including Amazon Drive, AWS, Backblaze B2, Dropbox and OneDrive to name a few. Arq can also backup to local HD/SSD as well as NAS devices. When I set up AWS Glacier a couple of years ago it was a bit daunting and I have to admit I’ve found monitoring AWS usage to be rather opaque.
To advance my effort to simplify backups I decided to adopt Arq Premium which includes two key features in the annual fee: a license good for 5 computers and a very easy to use 1 TB of their own cloud storage (additional costs charged at a reasonable amount per GB). N.B. They also offer their software on a license basis without an annual fee with no Cloud storage included i.e. a “bring your own storage” approach.
From a design standpoint I decided to make my iMac the primary hub. In addition to running its own 3–2-1 backups it backs up the Raspberry Pi’s as well as selected portions of my NAS using Arq tasks that automatically mount those devices’ drives. The other Macs and Window devices independently run their own 3-2-1 backups using Arq.
Setting up the Arq tasks was straightforward. Over the course of my research and implementation I contacted support with questions and she very responsive and accurate in her answers. Since I never include operating system files or applications I was pleased with how much fit within the 1TB included storage amount even though my backups do include a large library of photos as well as our movie library. I don’t know that I’ll ever need more than 1TB in spite of backing up the key data from multiple devices. I think Arq’s de-dup and compression algorithms work well.
Overall I feel I made the right decision. If I didn’t already have a few years experience with Arq 5 I probably would have taken a slower approach. But jumping in with both feet feels right and the result is more reliable backups and more convenience for me in checking on status.
I seem to be in the mood to tinker. After moving Plex a few days ago, today I started switching to Arq for both local and cloud/offsite backups. I like that I can now use one tool for both destinations and on both Macs and Windows machines.
My initial tests of Plex on a Pi4 went well so I installed Docker and a few helper tools today. Now I’ve started one of several long tasks to copy video from my NAS to a USB drive on the Pi. More testing tomorrow.
I have a Synology NAS I’m quite happy with. In spite of this I decided to start tinkering with running Plex on a spare Pi 4 now that I have a combi heatsink/case for it. A simple stream test worked fine. Tomorrow hopefully I can configure it more properly with an external HD.
An Old Fashioned snowman 🍹 😉
It just dawned on me that in the past couple of weeks running errands I have not seen a single Christmas tree lot 🎄Guess all the trucks are busy with other goods.
Questionable decision? I just noticed that when I decorated I put this snowman right next to my Hakko soldering iron… ⛄️ 🤷🏽♂️
Photo of a nice summer thunderstorm. Only thing is it’s December… ⛈
Wikipedia prevented me from logging in saying my IP address range was blocked. I was confused because the IP was not my public IP. After research I found the IP address range was part of Apple’s ‘iCloud Private Relay’ feature which I use and like. So I sent a query to Wikipedia…
I’ve signed up for several MB based newsletters today. I think most everyone had a newsletter via another service but I never bothered to sign up. I like the low friction of the MB approach. I wonder if there will be a ‘directory’ of MB users with newsletters?
Thanks @manton!
For any who enjoy maker projects, programming, electronics, the IoT or etc I highly recommend Andreas’s Youtube channel. He has a ton of experience and a real knack for explaining things in well edited and intentionally shorter videos.
Success! After yesterday’s abject failure we succeeded in making dinner rolls from scratch today. Our first ever bread-type effort. They were a big hit - the rack was full a few minutes ago! We’re looking forward to more and invested in a stand mixer afterwards. 🍞
We decided to try making some dinner rolls from scratch today. It did not go well. Apparently we murdered our yeast in the process. Yet we survived to try another day.
A hazy sun but pretty sky this morning.
What do folks use to do simple video editing on an iPhone? We’re putting together a few videos of 10-15 minutes comprised of a few clips and iMovie is not handling it well.
I’ve never finished shopping for my wife’s Christmas gifts this early to say nothing of getting them all wrapped. I do enjoy my santa role.🎄🤶
Pictured: detrius of the wrapping in progress
My wife recently decided it would be good to make videos showing how to make some of her favorite recipes to benefit our kids in the future as well as some friends and family. Today we created the first: how to make her peppercorn steak sauce. I handled the camera and editing.
The Ohio State v Michigan 🏈 game is being played in a light snow storm. I love this kind of game. But I wish it would snow harder. 😀
My Series 7 Apple Watch was delivered yesterday. I was tired from decorating so decided to wait until this morning to set it up. The main thing I wanted was an always on display. I already love having this - no more flicking my hand to see something! ⌚️
Christmas decor is done. Phew! Now we have a month to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Christmas 🎄
So there I was cleaning off the dining table after a great dinner time when all the sudden I hear a yell of “fire!” from upstairs. Not exactly a relaxing end to the day. Fortunately when I ran upstairs it was just the TV that had blown it’s electronics. Whew! 🔥
Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating! We just put our brined turkey in the oven to roast. Can’t wait to eat all the goodies! 🦃
First (fireplace) s’more of the season
When our teenage daugther came in the door from school she was all excited and wanted to go to Target right away. Turns out a new Pokemon game dropped. Son got home and screamed with joy. Digital download FTW.