Difference between revisions of "EJBDESK"

From Ed's Mediawiki
(Backup change)
(iDrive initial backup)
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==iDrive initial backup==
 
==iDrive initial backup==
When I ordered the iDrive Express device for seeding the cloud archive, I started a local backup to a 4TB drive to get a head start and maybe copy that one to the seed drive they sent me. But they don't want me to do that, and they want me to leave the drive formatted to exFat instead of ntfs. Besides, the initial backup was taking forever, so there was no way it would finish on time.  
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When I ordered the iDrive Express device for seeding the cloud archive, I started a local backup to a 4TB drive to get a head start and maybe copy that one to the seed drive they sent me. But they don't want me to do that, and they want me to leave the drive formatted to exFat instead of ntfs. Besides, the initial backup was taking forever, so there was no way it would finish on time. I might clone the iDrive Express to my local drive before I send it back.
  
 
Why was it taking forever? I think I worked it out. Included in the backup file list, I had AppData, which has a huge number (553,876) of small files adding up to about 30 GB. I think that because it has to index the contents of the archive, the sheer number of files just clobbered it. And there is really no reason to back that stuff up. Part of my backup strategy is periodically making system drive clones, which will include that kind of stuff. Once I got the iDrive express device, which is a 4 TB Seagate USB3 drive just like the one I was using, I removed the AppData directory from the backup set, and only included files that I really care about. That backup is proceeding so far at about 2% per hour so far (6/10/21 1:00 A.M. 65% at 32:19 run time)
 
Why was it taking forever? I think I worked it out. Included in the backup file list, I had AppData, which has a huge number (553,876) of small files adding up to about 30 GB. I think that because it has to index the contents of the archive, the sheer number of files just clobbered it. And there is really no reason to back that stuff up. Part of my backup strategy is periodically making system drive clones, which will include that kind of stuff. Once I got the iDrive express device, which is a 4 TB Seagate USB3 drive just like the one I was using, I removed the AppData directory from the backup set, and only included files that I really care about. That backup is proceeding so far at about 2% per hour so far (6/10/21 1:00 A.M. 65% at 32:19 run time)

Revision as of 22:52, 9 June 2021

Overview

EJBDESK1 was getting slower and slower, particularly when running SolidWorks, and the USB ports seemed to be getting flaky, so I replaced it with a newer HP machine and called it EJBDESK. The old ejbdesk1 moved to the shop downstairs. It is now EJBSHOP. EJBDESK came with Windows 10 home, which I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for its RAID functionality.

Hardware

This is an HP ENVY Desktop computer, model 750-415. I bought it at Best Buy, probably sometime in 2018.

  • Motherboard - Odense2-5
  • Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2712 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
  • Memory - Shipped with 8 GB, upgraded to 16 GB
  • Hard Drive 1 TB, upgraded to 1 TB SSD (SanDisk SDSSDH31000G)
  • DVD Burner drive, disconnected to free up the sata port.
  • Added 4 TB software RAID1 for content storage.
  • USB 3 expansion card

Firmware

  • BIOS AMI A0.14, 1/11/2016
  • BIOS mode UEFI


2 HP z24i ZDisplay 1920x1200 monitors.

For email, I use gmail on the web, which forwards emails from ed@edburdick.net

Most of the content raid is synchronized with a Synology file server and backed up by Code42 small business backup, both locally and on the cloud. The local backup drive is a 4TB Lacie ruggedized USB drive.

For a system drive, I use a 1TB Samsung SSD, which I periodically clone. With the SSD, this is a much better/faster machine that it was with the original drive.

Security is NORTON 360 and I run Private Internet Access VPN on this machine and other Windows 10 machines in the house.

Photo editing software is Adobe Creative Cloud with a photographer subscription.

Virtual Machine software is VMWARE and I run Windows XT and Ubuntu virtual machines.

Sound still drives my old Cambridge Soundworks speakers with subwoofer. This has been on four different computers.

Backup change

Crashplan for small business is not really working for me anymore. Recently, moderate sized files like 300MB videos have gone 2 or 3 weeks without getting backed up. Archive maintenance takes up a lot of time, and during maintenance, no backups get done. 99% backed up on a 2.5TB archive still leaves a lot of stuff not backed up, including recent media files. My backup for media files also includes my Synology NAS, which synchronizes with my content raid, so I am somewhat covered. Research reveals interesting alternatives. I am going with iDrive, which offers service for multiple computers and different price points for different archive sizes. The 5TB level is cheaper than Crashplan, and they offer one courier backup per year for free, so I can ship them an archive on a hard drive they provide to seed the cloud archive. I does take days to create a local archive. I am 59% complete in 53 hours on a new LaCie 4 TB drive and the courier drive is on the way, so hopefully I can just copy the archive to the courier drive when it arrives. iDrive does not maintain both the local and cloud archives at the same time, but doing this manually should not be a problem.

iDrive initial backup

When I ordered the iDrive Express device for seeding the cloud archive, I started a local backup to a 4TB drive to get a head start and maybe copy that one to the seed drive they sent me. But they don't want me to do that, and they want me to leave the drive formatted to exFat instead of ntfs. Besides, the initial backup was taking forever, so there was no way it would finish on time. I might clone the iDrive Express to my local drive before I send it back.

Why was it taking forever? I think I worked it out. Included in the backup file list, I had AppData, which has a huge number (553,876) of small files adding up to about 30 GB. I think that because it has to index the contents of the archive, the sheer number of files just clobbered it. And there is really no reason to back that stuff up. Part of my backup strategy is periodically making system drive clones, which will include that kind of stuff. Once I got the iDrive express device, which is a 4 TB Seagate USB3 drive just like the one I was using, I removed the AppData directory from the backup set, and only included files that I really care about. That backup is proceeding so far at about 2% per hour so far (6/10/21 1:00 A.M. 65% at 32:19 run time)

Flaky Monitor

One of my HP monitors (Z24i model D7P53A) is flickering during cold start for 5 to 10 minutes. I am guessing it is a power supply issue. It also seems to have a slight backlight flaw in the upper quarter, but this might be part of the same issue. I moved that monitor to the secondary monitor position and will live with it until it gets worse. So far, it is solid after the startup period of 5 to 10 minutes. I found a used power supply board for this monitor on ebay for $25 with free shipping, so I ordered it to have on hand.