[D-Dan]

If I’m honest it was only the upgrade that was noticibley slow. Everything is fine in normal usage, so it may, indeed, be a race condition somewhere, though I suspect between the update and the VM.

The host OS is minimal Arch, which doesn’t run off and check for updates unless you specifically tell it to (fun fact, there is an AUR package called checkupdates specifically to that, though it’s not installed on the Arch host. I wanted as little as I could get away with on the host to get VB running with a desktop Windows).

Probably worth reporting that I have, in fact, managed to get a truly portable Windows 10 installation going this way. I can plug the drive in any machine capable of booting from USB and boot (aesthetically) straight to Windows.

I had to write a bash script on the Linux side to modify the VM to suit the host hardware (specifically RAM and CPU count – VB insists on reserving 30% of RAM for the host), though it’s such a short and easy script, and completes before VB is launched, that can’t be the issue.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

It’s a USB3 SSD, so not that slow, though I suspect you may be right regarding the major version upgrade. Virtualisation barely impacts on performance, since the host is doing next to nothing other than running X and the virtualisation container.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

damn, I had to remember which PW I used. I hate change :/

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

The fps of the media is either 24, 29.something, or 30. The monitor is 60 Hzf (or 60 FPS), or 75Hz (75 FPS) – so not possible.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

OK, thank you. I tend to leave framerate alone, but wondered if I could be doing better.

Now, H.264 v H.265. My reading tells me H.265 should be more compressed. I’m not convinced. I’ve transcoded the same video to both, and whilst H.264 ended at 2.1Gb, h.265 came in at 8.1Gb, which pretty much contradicts everything I’ve read, or am I completely misunderstanding?

EDIT: For clarity. These are transcoded for a Plex server running on an RPi V4, with access outside of my local network.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Is AOL still a thing?

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I was thinking going to the pub, but jigsaws would work.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I’m sure we can find something to do indoors 😉

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

It is thank you 🙂 After nearly 40 years of off/on – we may finally be there. Maybe get two weekends this month. She’s coming over here on 9th, and all being well, I’ll be off there for BH weekend 🙂

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

dwynnehugh wrote:

I have no need for VAT registration, I do use an accountant (they will certainly know what you are entitled to claim for – heating, lighting in your office, re-decoration, wear and tear, mobile and landline etc. etc – worth the investment!)

I’m an accountant, and may be an accountant within traveling distance from Newport, Gwent by the end of the year. (hint, hint)

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

My Fan Shim arrived today, and no plastic nibbling required. They do seem to have upped the game a little. It no longer comes with plastic screws, but has little metal ones, and worked out of the box.

The software seems flakey (fan will kick in when stress testing, but doesn’t turn off again), but honestly, it’s pretty much silent, so who the hell cares if it’s running permanently.

And it has bought me a 20C temp reduction, so I’m happy.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I just hope that Trump and his military cronies are spending so much time spying on my social media detritus that they forget what they are supposed to be watching.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Have you fixed this, and could I get a step by step. It’s driving me mad, too, and there’s no option I can find to stop it. FF & Linux.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

NFS is a basic NFS share on a Raspberry Pi (now a 4b model which, honestly, is awesome for this), so no fancy imaging. What’s gone is gone. I’d forgotten most of my music was also stored on my phone, so nice recovery from there, and I’ve located copies of my most precious photos. Just Videos, which I can simply for the most part re-rip from DVD.

The more troublesome part seems to have been the PIs themselves. They all (apart from one) boot via NFS from the trashed drive, so I’ve been rebuilding the installs to allow each to do what I intend it to do. The one exception boots directly from the external HD (well, it did, it’s now the Pi4 which doesn’t yet support USB boot, so I have /boot on a MicroSD and it hands over to a dedicated partition on the connected drive, with sda2 being the NFS drive)

Nextcloud has been a proper PITA, though. No matter how manny times I rsync it to the drive, I get multiple failures on boot. It’s now set up and working from the MicroSD, so at least migrating means I always have a working setup to fall back on.

Lesson learned.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

The problem is the drives were ext4 formatted, which whilst more fully featured generally than, e.g. NTFS, lacks file recovery options. If you permanently delete a file, it’s pretty much gone.

On a positive, I’ve tracked down copies of the more important photos, I had most of my music collection on my phone, and so copied back, and a good time to trim my video library (as in, start again), so it’s not as much of a disaster as I originally thought.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Not so much a “Why not”, as a “why stick with slower”. I’ve migrated my NFS to the 4, along with PiHole, and my Plex server. Plex is still rebuilding the index, but it’s clearly doing it a lot faster, and streaming what has indexed is much faster, as is NFS access generally.

One of the 3B+ machines will soon be redundant, and so will get reinstalled with Amibian for a dedicated Amiga machine 🙂

Oh – I’m repeating myself.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Automated, so two weeks is still far too long. I called today regarding a cock up with two client’s 2017 Returns, where what HMRC had processed was not what was submitted. Corrected over the phone. 72 hours before it’s visible on the agent portal.

Now, given that HMRC expect realtime updates, it’s a shame that they fail miserably to provide real time updates.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Found 4G back in stock yesterday. Ordered, and arrived today. Playing with stock raspbian tonight (‘cos, y’know, Friday beer). Tomorrow, it get’s light installed to set up as my various server stuff. The 3B it will replace gets Amibian installed to be a permanent Amiga 🙂

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Personally (and as someone who has to consider GDPR on a daily basis) I have to say the legislation is poorly considered, and far too restrictive in many areas.

For example, explicit opt in to many aspects will be an inconvenience (and some times, an insurmountable problem) to end users.

The definitions of data controller and data processor can, often times, be too blurred (and it makes a difference to the potential penalties).

The demarcation between different categories is ill conceived (legitimate interest could be a “get out of jail free” card).

As with much legislation, especially that which applies across borders, politicians legislating for something they don’t understand is a bad move.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Order a thimble off Amazon. It should come in a box big enough with sufficient padding for anything.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Author]

Posts