Disaster

[StudioMartillo]

@quietrob,
Oh EVERYTHING is backed up. The very first thing I do when I download anything (even before installing) is copy the .zip or .exe or whatever the original download file is, to an external HDD that is used only for backups. Other than backing up it is never plugged in.
It's just 500GB but when it's full I'll get another. I have a couple cases of CD's that have backups from way back.
I have only one (1) runtime. When I download something from DAZ I use WinZip to extract just the Runtime directory into my Poser Directory.

No entity whatsoever, beside myself, will EVER for any reason manage my assets for me. Just not going to happen.

So the only Poser things that will be on the internal HDD will be my Scenes. Which, of course, get written all the time.
The spare SATA3 bay is internal. So, you see, there will be two (2) internal drives. And the reason for that is what has been discussed above. The goal being to maximize the workload performance (reliability) of both drives by using them at their best abilities.
Also, the paging file and the Temp directories will be re-directed to the HDD. This is done in the system configuration, and by editing the environment variables to point that stuff to where I configure it on the new HDD.
I have MS Visual Studio, which is a software programming tool, and that is mainly what I use to write scripts.
It's also what I use to edit .pp2 and .cr2 files etc. when I design Poser content. That stuff of course is written all the time so the directories it uses will be moved to the HDD. The same goes for my Lightwave directories as I said before.
Whenever any project is completed, all files and assests created are packed in a .zip file that is named for the project and backed up to the external drive.
And now, since my well worn old hard drive still works it's like another sort of archive. To be stored away just in case....

 

[Faery_Light]

I hope your hands feel better!
I noticed a couple of things. 1and1.com is located in Germany. Are you from Germany?
Next, I couldn't find any archiving at all. I think it's only for website hosting. Are you storing your poser/daz files there? If so, How?

I'm in the USA but they have several plans when you take one of the hosting packages you get different amounts of space for your files.
It is okay as long as you also use it for a Web Site as well.
mine is the unlimited package so there is space to use for all my Web Page stuff.
You can HTML or PHP to create your own site and create folders for everything.
So I create folders for other files I want to keep safe.
This link leafs to the package offers (I hope it is okay to post to here).
Web Hosting | Secure Hosting Services for your Website | 1&1



I have not found any other site that offers packages with as much space for such a fair price.

Dropbox was offering unlimited storage for an upgrade price but I think they ended that offer.

 

[Faery_Light]

One of the reasons I want to get all my files that I have, work related or personal to some online storage is that anything can happen.
Depending on where you live, a natural disaster could destroy everything in your home, including the backup HD.

We are always having tornadoes popping up around us here in Missouri, one might actually get us someday, or a fire.
And I can tell you in any f those events I would not stop to save my computer stuff, nor anything for that matter.
I'd be moving my behind somewhere safe with my family.

If that ever happened I'd like to have my files safe online so I could get them back.

 

[Hornet3d]

One of the reasons I want to get all my files that I have, work related or personal to some online storage is that anything can happen.
Depending on where you live, a natural disaster could destroy everything in your home, including the backup HD.

We are always having tornadoes popping up around us here in Missouri, one might actually get us someday, or a fire.
And I can tell you in any f those events I would not stop to save my computer stuff, nor anything for that matter.
I'd be moving my behind somewhere safe with my family.

If that ever happened I'd like to have my files safe online so I could get them back.

I have cloud backup for the same reason. If I was burgled and they nicked my computers and drives I might still be left with the NAS as it is hidden but it is in the same location so a fire would take the lot. I understand the reluctance to trust someone else with data but I balanced that against the possibility of losing it all.

 

[Faery_Light]

I just checked Dropbox, they have two plans with unlimited storage.
They have Advanced for 20.00 a month and Enterprise for which you have to contact them for pricing.

I'd rather do Dropbox since it is easier to transfer files and they do Sync as well so files are always updated.
but I can't do 20.00 a month right now...sigh.

 

[Riccardo]

I do not like much the idea of online storages
(you know the saying "There is no cloud, just other people's computers"),
but in certain cases it does make sense...
Maybe one could think of storing online an encrypted backup of the important files...
(something like Truecrypt could be an option: GRC's | TrueCrypt, the final release, archive  )

 

[StudioMartillo]

If I were quite anxious about my backups, I would just walk over to my bank and put my Toshiba Canvio USB HDD in my safe deposit box. Then when it's time to back new stuff up, I could go get it, back-'em-up and take it back. My safe deposit box is free because of the type of savings account I have, and also needed for stuff like my birth certificate, stock certificates and other very important documents.
If some major disaster occurred it might also entail economic hardship and leave one unable to continue paying for server space.
Then away goes your 'cloud' storage.
Oh, I like the saying!
Right Riccardo, cloud doesn't mean much anymore, but it once DID!
It is a term that was used by communication engineers to refer to the transmission layer of the internet. And this is why:
The transmission layer has many, many paths, of all types and data can take any combination of these paths.
Also, data is transmitted in 'packets' each of which has a destination and origination code included and each of these packets, upon transmission can take any combination of paths.
So the data on the internet is broken down into little molecule like chunks that are going every which way to finally end up at the destination together.
Therefore all the chunks are like water molecules in a cloud just bouncing around all crazy while they are in the transmission layer.
How do I know this crazy stuff? I'm a retired communications engineer.

 

[Hornet3d]

If I were quite anxious about my backups, I would just walk over to my bank and put my Toshiba Canvio USB HDD in my safe deposit box. Then when it's time to back new stuff up, I could go get it, back-'em-up and take it back. My safe deposit box is free because of the type of savings account I have, and also needed for stuff like my birth certificate, stock certificates and other very important documents.
If some major disaster occurred it might also entail economic hardship and leave one unable to continue paying for server space.
Then away goes your 'cloud' storage.
Oh, I like the saying!
Right Riccardo, cloud doesn't mean much anymore, but it once DID!
It is a term that was used by communication engineers to refer to the transmission layer of the internet. And this is why:
The transmission layer has many, many paths, of all types and data can take any combination of these paths.
Also, data is transmitted in 'packets' each of which has a destination and origination code included and each of these packets, upon transmission can take any combination of paths.
So the data on the internet is broken down into little molecule like chunks that are going every which way to finally end up at the destination together.
Therefore all the chunks are like water molecules in a cloud just bouncing around all crazy while they are in the transmission layer.
How do I know this crazy stuff? I'm a retired communications engineer.

I am not sure how other companies run the services but Amazon drive will hold your data for 90 days should you stop your subscription. This means if you could no longer afford to continue, or wanted to change, you have 90 days to do so. I assume they are not alone in giving this grace period.

 

[Hornet3d]

If I were quite anxious about my backups, I would just walk over to my bank and put my Toshiba Canvio USB HDD in my safe deposit box. Then when it's time to back new stuff up, I could go get it, back-'em-up and take it back. My safe deposit box is free because of the type of savings account I have, and also needed for stuff like my birth certificate, stock certificates and other very important documents.
If some major disaster occurred it might also entail economic hardship and leave one unable to continue paying for server space.
Then away goes your 'cloud' storage.
Oh, I like the saying!
Right Riccardo, cloud doesn't mean much anymore, but it once DID!
It is a term that was used by communication engineers to refer to the transmission layer of the internet. And this is why:
The transmission layer has many, many paths, of all types and data can take any combination of these paths.
Also, data is transmitted in 'packets' each of which has a destination and origination code included and each of these packets, upon transmission can take any combination of paths.
So the data on the internet is broken down into little molecule like chunks that are going every which way to finally end up at the destination together.
Therefore all the chunks are like water molecules in a cloud just bouncing around all crazy while they are in the transmission layer.
How do I know this crazy stuff? I'm a retired communications engineer.

I lectured on mobile phone networks and CCS7 and later Voice Over IP. It was not at engineering level but it it was detailed enough to understand what you are saying and you explain it well. I has been many years since I have been in the training room so your post was a nice reminder.

 

[Riccardo]

If I were quite anxious about my backups, I would just walk over to my bank and put my Toshiba Canvio USB HDD in my safe deposit box. Then when it's time to back new stuff up, I could go get it, back-'em-up and take it back. My safe deposit box is free because of the type of savings account I have, and also needed for stuff like my birth certificate, stock certificates and other very important documents.
If some major disaster occurred it might also entail economic hardship and leave one unable to continue paying for server space.
Then away goes your 'cloud' storage.
Oh, I like the saying!
Right Riccardo, cloud doesn't mean much anymore, but it once DID!
It is a term that was used by communication engineers to refer to the transmission layer of the internet. And this is why:
The transmission layer has many, many paths, of all types and data can take any combination of these paths.
Also, data is transmitted in 'packets' each of which has a destination and origination code included and each of these packets, upon transmission can take any combination of paths.
So the data on the internet is broken down into little molecule like chunks that are going every which way to finally end up at the destination together.
Therefore all the chunks are like water molecules in a cloud just bouncing around all crazy while they are in the transmission layer.
How do I know this crazy stuff? I'm a retired communications engineer.

Very interesting indeed; even though I knew the way TCP/IP works, I never heard about the cloud metaphor before!

 

[Faery_Light]

I want a new external but can't afford one at present, too many out of pocket costs on medical stuff.
But since stuff I need to really keep backed up is works in progress so I don't have to keep doing it all from the beginning.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Very interesting indeed; even though I knew the way TCP/IP works, I never heard about the cloud metaphor before!

Geek speak Not likely something you hear in many places. Some of it doesn't get so far off as cloud did. But I can't imagine where else the current usage might have come from. Just sounds nice and fuzzy and indistinct enough to use for anything though.
Another one used in this thread is NAND. quietrob asks why if it's just NAND can't you put as many chips as you want in a drive.
Good question but what does 'NAND' have to do with it? Engineers call the flash gate technology that because it's like the serial stacking of gates in a metal oxide type of logic device. But NAND logic gates don't store data on one of the gates so really it's a very weird geek idea in the first place. But now all these types of flash are called that.

 

[quietrob]

Nand Gates, Nor Gates. Isn't something that 1+1=0 in a nand gate but with humans 1+1 will often equal 3?

True Crypt. The site looks scary. Anytime I don't see any updates since 2014 I am wary. Read the page and tell me you aren't scared too!

Amazon. 60 bucks a year for a Terabyte is pretty good! The Best I've seen. I used to pay more to belong to Prime and the PC club. A good solution when I get the horses back in the barn so to speak. That 90 Day grace period is pretty good. If Yahoo had done that and I'd still have my name as my email address. Yes, there was a woman to blame. In my youth, I rather liked crazy girls. Sue me. Anywho, Round up of the horses has proven elusive.

Replacing the External Drive on another system still yields the same result.

Seagate 4 Terabyte Drive.
Blinking Blue Light should be solid.
Shows up a Local Drive rather than an External Drive.
I can't access properties.

What can?

 

[StudioMartillo]

@quietrob
I just reviewed this thread for a reminder of what you've said about your hard drive and see that you didn't use the term NAND, but called it flash. What's going on with my brain?
Anyway, you listed as part of your procedure the test of putting the drive in a new enclosure. Maybe that would do it, but it would still be external to the OS and if you weren't going to get a new enclosure anyway it might be a waste.
Probably the best chance of looking at the drive is for it to be on the local drive buss. SATA maybe? Don't know without the drive model number. So if you don't have a spare internal bay, maybe take it to someone who can mount it internal and see what happens.
I had a laptop that quit on me, just wouldn't boot, so I took out the hard drive and mounted it my desktop and the drive did have corruption but most of it was readable and I copied what I wanted out of it to the C drive.
In my SSD adventures I found that there is 3D-NAND coming. We all love 3D right? And what's cool about it is that there will soon be 32 Terabyte SSDs. I guess it was my own adventures that got that stupid term NAND stuck in my old brain.
Oh, and that thing about 1700 years or whatever, was kind of a wise crack. Semi-conductor technology hasn't even been around for 100 years. How the heck can anyone test that hypothesis? I'm not sure what to think of a claim like that.

 

[Riccardo]

Nand Gates, Nor Gates. Isn't something that 1+1=0 in a nand gate but with humans 1+1 will often equal 3?

True Crypt. The site looks scary. Anytime I don't see any updates since 2014 I am wary. Read the page and tell me you aren't scared too!

Well, there are also other options to encrypt our stuff... However:
True Crypt was abandoned by its original creators. Gibson Research (grc.com) is NOT the program's website. It is simply offering a repository where you can find a verified copy of the program's final version and learn the whole story.
The guy behind GRC knows a looooooooooot about security
Steve Gibson (@SGgrc) | Twitter
I have been trusting GRC for nearly two decades (I recall a newsletter in which Mr. Gibson told us about a new and promising search engine few people knew: Google) and never regretted it.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Now I've thought of another thing you might try on your computer. If it's Windows 7 or newer, which I figure it could be since you say there's a C: drive. Plug in the reluctant hard drive and go to Control Panel: System and Security: and open Administrative Tools as administrator, then open Computer Management and click on Disk Management.
The system might be able to show more about the condition of the drive. Sometimes those external HDD's have a Recovery partition reserved so that the drive can be repaired if the system can detect the errors or whatever is causing the problem. Maybe somebody already said this but I'll post it anyway.
Oh, and Samsung has a 4TB SSD for only $1500, WOW what a great deal!

 

[seachnasaigh]

Lately, I had been having trouble with my Spectrum cable internet and phone service - noise on the telephone line, and frequent resets required for the modem. I switched the phone to Frontier and added Frontier's DSL internet. When the day came that the Frontier tech came to hook it up, we couldn't get the modem to go online; likely not enough bandwidth on the house's existing phone lines.

I ordered some bulk Cat6e cable, RJ-11 (phone/DSL) connectors, RJ-45 (Aethernet) connectors, and crimping tool. I figured once they arrived, I'd install new cable runs for both phone and DSL internet. When that was completed, I'd cancel the Spectrum cable internet.

Come Wednesday morning, my cable internet went out, and after several failed attempts to reset the modem, I logged onto the modem, and it said connectivity: denied. Spectrum had shut off my internet when they handed the phone number over to Frontier.
Ah, well. I figured I could wait until the Cat6e arrived.

But.... the next morning, my credit union called and said my credit card had been hacked; they wanted me to bring invoices from my purchases (all of which would have been online purchases), and they had canceled the card. Oh, but I don't *have* internet service, and y'all canceled the order for the cable I'd need. It's after 2 and the bank closes at 4.

I dug into the leftover alarm system supplies, got out a partial spool of telephone wire, tied the end around a water bottle, and flung that out the bathroom window. Hustle downstairs, strip and connect the wires to the outside box. Back inside upstairs, and trot down the hall unspooling telephone wire. Hurriedly hook up a telephone jack outlet, and plug in the Frontier DSL modem.

Success! I'm online. I get invoices and screenshot them onto my old Vista laptop (I don't have a smart phone or tablet).
I get to the bank and we go over the transactions to spot the fraudulent charges.

So at the moment, I still have telephone wire dangling out the window. I'll have to wait until the new card arrives, then re-order the Cat6e cable et al, and then do the permanent cable installation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime, I have been running spherical sky panoramas in HyperVue for use with the enviro skydome. The Samui sunset with Godrays took 48hr, 13m. I'm using 360 cores averaging 3.22GHz, so if you had a 3.2GHz H/T quad core i7, it would take you a smidge over three months to do that. But I can leverage my network to get the pretty sunset atmospheres done for you.

 

[Deleted member 325]

I'm having a lot of problems with my dad's Spectrum account right now. FYI Spectrum is actually owned by Charter cable/Communications, so everyone knows. Charter has a long history of screwing over customers and breaking regulations. Now that they own Time Warner it sucks. From what I can tell, they created the "Spectrum" subsidiary because several states with cable regulators refused to allow Charter itself in (Massachusetts being one) so they did this to get around it.

 

[Miss B]

What's really interesting is, If the SEC allows it, AT&T will be able to enforce their plans to take over Time Warner. How that will affect Spectrum (and/or Charter), will remain to be seen.

It's all amusing to me, as I remember when they broke up "Ma Bell" into the little regional "Baby Bells" decades ago because of the monopoly Ma Bell had become. Hmmmmm . . . . .

 

[quietrob]

A little update while listening to an updated version of Mas Que Nada by Nossa. Sometimes they do a better job than the original.

Here is the video if you feel a funky latin beat comin' on. Mas Que Nada by Nossa

When last I checked in, I was crying a river of tears because my hard drive died. Then like the Princess Bride I realized it's mostly dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. "With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. Go through it's clothes and look for loose change." - Miracle Max

The blinking light meant it probably had some power left. It felt like it was spinning so buying an enclosure would be a waste at this time. That's 20 bucks I can put toward a replacement drive.

A quick check found I can get my data recovered for 4oo bucks which includes a replacement drive. Kinda righteous. But we've got bills and money is tight and I have a reputation for being cheap. Just ask the women I dated in the past.

So I re-read my own thread. Took some advice from @StudioMartillo My drive was listed but not accessible. Indeed. It was mostly dead. So the cheapest thing I could do was type F: Chkdsk /f /r /x

And it said, my volume was NTFS. This is good. That meant the drive was slightly alive. I then did nothing. It's what people normally do. I did nothing and let chkdsk do it's thing. It's supposedly a little better than the windows 7 days.

Two days later it said, it couldn't recover my data because there wasn't room on hard drive and just sat there.

This made a little sense. I had used just over half the capacity and it was marking bad sectors like crazy. This meant there was less room than before. Not enough to keep fixing a bad drive but enough to give me access to some directories.

I moved some embarrassing photo's to the other drive. Well, a little embarrassing for some. I think nudity is just fine. For her. Moved some family photo's and music. My nieces wedding video (She brought models. Real models dressed as Angels). I was testing speed and making room for another try at recovering my runtime. Speed was sooooo slow. I'm talking floppy disk slow. I moved some stored content. I moved some PZ3's but it stopped as it couldn't read the source. The drive went back to mostly dead. It's still slightly alive and I'll save what little life is left when I go for that recovery. One shouldn't leave some 8 or 9 years of building the not so perfect runtime to the dustbin of history. I had hundreds of poses. Made by me and for me. Posing is our style. What really hurts is the textures. I may make another try and see if I have the textures left over. I may write a few vendors and see if they'll be willing to replace some content but most of it was for A3. The last two years were dedicated to making poses and materials for V4. If I could just move the textures over, that would be wonderful. After all, they are just JPG's and a LOT of my Jpg's survived. Next, if Possible I'll try and move each part of the runtime to a storage area on the new drive. Pose first because the poses contain Morphs that created the figures in my comic. Then Hair because it's reasonably the smallest of my runtimes. Then Props because it's smaller than Character. It's also a good time to reorganize everything. I can reload everything I bought from Rendo. DAZ is already located on the good external drive.

A small bonus. Just to make room on the broken drive, I moved almost all of my finished art to the new drive! It's the PZ3 files I'm lacking that is making this project so difficult. I normally start with a PZ3 and then keep adding to it, saving several versions along the way. So anyway, I'm rebuilding my own runtime bit by bit. It will take a while to save up the necessary funds to get those files (If they can be gotten) but at least I'll be creating once more.

How y'all doin?