arup’s blog

The title of this post is the backup plan but it’s also about storage. I’ve been considering the idea of building a Hackintosh this year (2012) but due to a limited budget think that building a home server set-up would be a more pressing project. When I asked an experienced friend about the idea of setting up such a system he gave me a detailed and well thought out response. He took my ideas and formulated two main goals and worked from there. Here are the two goals or requirements.

• Having a central, master copy of all your files.
• Making sure that you have decent backups of all your files.

What follows is my response to his suggestions where I came up with quite a coherent way of managing my data.

I had a feeling that the entry level NAS box might be low on performance. I set up a similar one where I used to live which also acted as a media server connected up to a HDTV. Most of the time it was fine but it would hang now and again, usually when you needed it. It would update its IP address suddenly and then everyone in the house was having problems connecting so I had to go round each persons computer and set them up with a static ip. Most of the time it was a bit slow but bearable but I assumed that since that was about 3 years ago entry level machines might have improved by now. I guess not.

Having a main machine with a master repo I think would be a better solution rather than spending time trouble shooting the server set up. The only drawback I can see is that the main or master machine then needs to running most of the time. I was going to put this NAS box in the front room which I never use so it would be silent as far as the rest of the flat was concerned. The one with the current big HD is the desktop mac which has a 500GB drive and the only big files on there are movies. I can risk losing these so they aren’t important.

I think what I need to do then is to sort my data into groups. What is unique and important and couldn’t easily be replaced? What could be archived – things that only require occasional access. And what requires heavy access? Here’s what I’m doing at the moment:

My current plan

• Twice weekly back up (clone using CCC) of my main computer hdd leaving out the movies and other data that I consider less important. The reason for creating a clone is so that it is bootable and if the main drive fails (which has happened to me before) I can be up and running straight away.
• Gradually moving document files to Google docs which I can easily access and edit via a browser interface. They offer 1GB free storage for files but it’s unlimited in Google doc format. It’s only $5.00 a year for 20GB. But I’m happy with their format.
• Gradually moving all the code that I’m working on such as website code into svn repos. I’m starting to get more comfortable in the command line so that seems fairly cross platform so far – pc, mac and linux.
• I have recently taken out a bigger hosting plan as it occurred to me that most of my previous web clients pay annually for a hosting service and they could just as easily pay me. So I’m gradually moving my old and new clients onto there. Loads of space on there so I can ftp archived data onto there (once I’ve sorted out what to archive).

I think that 500GB would be plenty for me if I archive the movies. I rarely listen to the music and mostly listen to online radio stations so even that doesn’t require constant access. My current clone drive is an external FW drive which is only 120GB. But as you say, I need a back up of the back up which I don’t have at the moment. So I like your idea of the hard disk docking station and just popping a drive in there.

My forthcoming plan

Having thought this through again with all your suggestions I’m wondering if I actually need a file server of any type at home whether it’s my main machine or an NAS drive. If I can put the stuff that I need onto remote servers then that achieves the first goal of having a master repo. Especially if I trim down my stuff to what I actually need. I’ll have working copies of these files across my machines (which has already started happening on a small scale) so I just need to see that process through.

So what I’ll do then is to get a 2nd 500GB disk and use that as my clone drive and dump stuff from my other machines onto the main machine just so that I can see what I’ve got. Then continue the process of moving some data onto remote servers such as Google Docs, svn repos (project locker) and my own hosting space with Hostgator which offers unlimited disk space.

Back pain has been a big part of my experience during February. It started toward the end of January and was actually quite painful. Teaching yoga was interesting to say the least and days spent with Maya were demanding. I didn’t really do much about it aside from resting and stretching. I found that standing for any length of time made it worse and lying down was painful too. Sitting and cycling were fine though. It has gradually improved though as the month has progressed.

This month I’ve been doing something that I feel a little embarrassed about mentioning but as it has taken up a large chunk of my time I think I ought to mention it. I’ve been playing Evony. Oh yes. I’ve been enjoying it immensely but I do feel very guilty about it. What happened? I decided to try it one day to see what would happen if I just played for about 10 minutes or so. Before long it was like riding a bike again. I set up a fake Facebook account to get extra resources and had also joined an alliance. I thought that I would just let the account disappear after a day or so but a month on I’m still playing. What happens is that once you start to play you invest in your cities and armies, you connect with the people in your alliance and so all the time invested keeps you coming back. You think that because there are so many people playing that it can’t be that bad. But at the moment I really have a lot of work to do and I have a course coming up so it isn’t ideal to be spending hours on a game.

In the final week of February just after my course started I decided that I needed to quit the game. I gave my account to one of my alliance members and then just walked away. They told me that I could come back any time but hopefully I won’t do that. Just when things were starting to get exciting. But I would much rather ‘waste’ my time learning to program than play Evony. It’s too addictive and serves no purpose but to burn up your precious time.

Cycling 120 miles per week

So far this February I have been below last year’s average of 90 miles per week but in the week ending the 19th of February I did in fact hit 100 miles and also completed another thousand miles. That has put a smile on my face 8). In the week ending on the 26th which is more or less the final week I did complete 118 miles which is almost there.

Yoga

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again but I just have to find an alternative means of income from teaching yoga. But at the moment it’s such a big chunk of my income that I just cannot ignore it. But talking to a friend this evening we mentioned the idea of trust. How much do we have trust in ourselves? Are we prepared to just make a jump? I want to quit teaching yoga and I don’t have anything that would cover the loss of income but do I trust in myself and in the world enough to just quit. Without playing it safe and finding an alternative first. Am I prepared to take that risk? I have rent to pay so I’m too scared. But if I trusted myself and my gut instincts more than my fear of poverty then perhaps I could make the jump.

Friends

As I mentioned in the year plan I wanted to get more organised with how how I keep in touch with my friends and to that end I’ve just started working on a spreadsheet. It’s essentially just a big list of all the friends with whom I wish to maintain contact, where they live and how I wish to contact them. Some are on Skype regularly and others are better on email. Some I can visit of course. But it’s good to finally get this list done so that I can keep track.

De-clutter

One of the things that has gone onto my list of things to throw away is my Facebook account. During the final week of January and the first weeks of February I just haven’t logged on at all. I’ve deleted the app from my phone and from my iPad. The plan is to announce it on Facebook and then do the proper deletion of data rather than the deactivation of my account.

Java programming

I’ve got an email from the course authors for SaaS starting on the 20th of Feb. They have produced a book for the course which I have downloaded onto my Kindle. It’s going to be focused around RoR so I’ve been brushing up on my Ruby rather than spending time on Java. It’s only a 5 week course so we’ll see afterwards whether I should focus my efforts again on RoR or stick with Java.

Reading a book a month

As it’s now getting further into February and I haven’t been reading the book that I started in January I am getting a little bit concerned. Been thinking about switching to a low brow book such as a Lee Child one in order to make up tho quota. It’s actually not a bad idea.

Reading day

This month I had planned to have a Reading Day on the 23rd of February but now that my teaching schedule has changed from Wednesday to Thursday I can no longer take that day as a Reading Day. The Wednesday is sort of free but there is so much work coming in I don’t think that I can afford to take a day in that way. What a pain. Perhaps I’ll have to take a half-day. Seems like reading has been sidelined a bit this month.

Regular cycle rides

As February has gone on the weather has gradually improved in spite of the very cold days and the snow. But I never managed to get out for a proper ride and I still haven’t made a list of possible rides that I could do if I had the inclination or the time. I did receive another Audax magazine which I’ve opened but haven’t read.

Healthy nutrition

I seem to be having my vegetable soups in the evenings even though I haven’t yet signed up with the Food Doctor which was the plan. Still eating a low sat fat diet and it looks as though I might even have lost a bit of fat around the mid-section which isn’t a bad thing at all. But I sense the old ways are creeping back in and the fear of cholesterol build up won’t be enough to keep me away from the junk.

Speed reading

I’ve managed about one session I think which is mainly due to the fact that I haven’t been using the iPad very much. Maya uses it when she comes to visit but as I’ve been working or programming these things aren’t really possible on the iPad so it has drifted out to the margins. I also haven’t been reading that much.

Blogging

As well as the reports I have written a couple of posts and it’s great fun to have everything under version control but there is still a slight reluctance to use it for myself in the way that was intended – as a resource for all my stuff. There is still that feeling that it is very public and that I should try and make it useful for other people. But at least it’s happening a little bit so that’s good.

Blog revamp

I found a sheet of paper from last year with some notes on how to reorganise the blog layout more like my design site. I’ve put it into my Google Docs. What happens next is anyone’s guess. I think if I put my mind to it I could have it done in a few days but it’s not urgent so it will remain pending for a little while.

Build a Hackintosh

I think I’m going to put this off till later in the year as the urgent thing is to have a home file server. Building a computer will be an interesting project but it will still be a local machine and the data needs to be available to all my devices. So I’m going to be putting precious funds towards building a home file server.

Start straight shaving

I’ve had a quick look through the straight razor place forum and found a beginners guide. I’ve also found a supplier that does hand honing in the UK. I want to make sure that I have everything that I need before shelling out on gear.

Go for a proper bike fitting

I think about this one a lot but still haven’t got in touch with the guy or thought about when I might do it. I think it’s mainly the expense that scares me even though those that have had it done say it’s totally worth it. Are they wrong? Are they just trying to justify the expense?

Get divorced

I think this one will get shelved till later this year as it is going to involve some research and costs. It isn’t really urgent especially as relations are fairly amicable at the moment.

I don’t know whether I should take some of the one off projects out of the monthly reports as they aren’t on going but perhaps it’s a good reminder to have them there and to see that I haven’t done anything. We shall see if I just get annoyed at seeing them there or if they are a good kick up the arse.

For about 18 months since moving into my flat in July 2010 I have been sitting at my desk in a garden chair. A couple of yoga blocks on top to add comfort and height. It served as my main seat of work as well as my seat of computer entertainment. Purchase of a proper desk chair had been in my mind for all that time yet it took all of that time till it came to pass.

I now have a swivel chair since mid-January 2012 with adjustable height and backrest. Uphosltered in a dark brown fabric which fits well with the room colours. I carried it all the way home from the second hand furniture store next to the Lidl supermarket on the High Street. My arms were aching the next day. But now I have the chair I always wanted. And here I am writing this sitting on my sofa with my laptop. It’s an anomaly. I love sitting in my new chair but so does my daughter when she comes to visit. She takes my place so I’m back on my laptop after a very long while.

I do plan to be sitting at my desk at lot of the time especially as I have a few websites coming up, a software engineering course and just general admin work to do at the computer so an upgrade from the garden chair is most welcome.