computers, smartphones, data, backups, oh my!

[basslord1124]

All right, so first off...I'm an IT guy and enjoy computers/technology. I don't make a lot of money to get every piece of technology but I use what I can. I am also a data hoarder apparently lol..something I have just now recently realized. I also use Linux sometimes.

So anyways, in our household, my wife and I both have laptops. In fact, she just got a new laptop recently. She also has a desktop she built years ago that is now collecting dust...still works fine. Running Windows 7 I think. I also have 2 desktops...an old one running XP that I used mainly for recording music on AND a Debian Linux server that I used for data storage mainly. Well about the same time my wife got her new laptop, my old XP desktop crashed...think the power supply went out. I was probably gonna be upgrading that old desktop anyways...new hardware and getting rid of XP. But since this happened, I have now decided to "attempt" to do music recording on my laptop. If this works out well, I can more or less get rid of my desktop. I don't record music like I used to anyways, just every now and then. And the laptop has newer hardware and does run Windows 10. I have high hopes that this setup will work pretty good.

Well since starting this transition, it has allowed me to really see all the data that has collected over the years. And I am really going to be having my hands full going through some of this data and figuring out what's worth keeping and what I can live without. Pictures, videos, old music that has accumulated over the last decade...not just me but my wife as well. Needless to say, my Linux server is going to be getting some hard drive upgrades or maybe even picking up an external hard drive too. And then anytime we get a new smartphone, it eventually gets filled up and the data gets offloaded onto a laptop/desktop computer so we can fill the smartphone back up again.

Ugghh, I may have this sorted out before I die. lol.

 

[sprzout]

Sounds like you need a NAS, sir. LOL

 

[rockyboy]

Buy another terrabyte of NAS and move on has been my method too

 

[kdobson83]

Easy fix. Buy a hand full of jump drives and keep your pics/vids and stuff on those. Label and file accordingly. Cheap, keeps your stuff clean, and allows quick access to any laptop/desktop.

 

[basslord1124]

I have pondered NAS too lol.

Sounds like a good idea too @kdobson83

 

[basslord1124]

The more I have looked at this, the more I am thinking of fixing up my Linux server with a 2TB drive and using that as my file server/NAS. I had been doing it as a file server for years so I will continue the tradition. This will be a little bit of a cheaper option to use if I later decide to go to one of the NAS appliance setups. I like Linux and love to tinker with it anyways. Some of the features of those NAS systems are not really big deals for us...accessing our files from anywhere for example. At least for me it's not. I can present that to the wife and see how she feels about it. The big thing really is just getting it all backed up. And it's only going to get bigger b/c of our baby (born Dec 2017)...and we got tons of pics and videos of her already.

 

[Bricks]

I kind of envy you as I am not techy at all could not hardly understand half of what was said in this thread.

 

[PsyBorg]

I feel ya on the data collection. Currently in the process of burning my flight footage to dvds.

Why? Well only have a 2tb drive and ran out of space end of last year. Also have over 200 burnable dvds from when all that was popular. 25 discs in I am only 7 months into my first year of flying.

Needless to say these get done when I am EXTREMELY bored. I do need to step up my game a bit though now that a new flying season has begun. Guess ill incorporate a 1 to 1 fino system.

 

[basslord1124]

I kind of envy you as I am not techy at all could not hardly understand half of what was said in this thread.

Thanks...although I don't really hear many people being envious of me.

Basically just on a quest to fit 10+ years of accumulated data from me and my wife to store in a central place that won't cost us much. After which, we will probably need an intervention for keeping so much data. With me having Linux experience (Linux is basically an operating system like Windows), I'm just gonna set up a Linux computer just for storing our data. If you have an Android phone, Amazon Firestick/Kindle, etc. those use a sort of modified version of Linux. It may be still confusing but I think that summarizes it ok.

I feel ya on the data collection. Currently in the process of burning my flight footage to dvds.

Why? Well only have a 2tb drive and ran out of space end of last year. Also have over 200 burnable dvds from when all that was popular. 25 discs in I am only 7 months into my first year of flying.

Needless to say these get done when I am EXTREMELY bored. I do need to step up my game a bit though now that a new flying season has begun. Guess ill incorporate a 1 to 1 fino system.

Sounds like you got your work cut out for you too @PsyBorg ! You just reminded me, I probably have some DVDRs with data on them too that I have backed up.