Dying PC?

[Richard]

It is a pity that the same sorts of prices no longer apply to the slightly larger drives such as 3.5 and for IDE/Pata as well as SATA because I am scrapping a few PCs, several with very lightly used up to 500 GB drives. The prices I have found for enclosures make a new 1 GB portable external package appear to be a bargain.

[Les.]

About 10 mins ago I went after the 240GB Kinston linked to by Boris on the 2nd of this month. For some reason it would not accept my address as supplied by Paypal, so instead I used my credit card. Ordered!

This will be used for the complete install including Docs, Pics etc. I don’t save music, videos etc., so my storage needs are minimal.

My replacement Shuttle has arrived, and everything seems to work OK. There was nothing in the “slots”, so I added a WiFi card I have into the PCI slot, and my GP610 (?) into the PCI-Express slot. The new SSD will go into the replacement PC, and the 500GB HDD available for backups.

Just looked for a cheap enclosure for the two 500 GB 3.5″ HDDs, but nothing cheap, around £70 which is more than I want to pay. I still have a firewire enclosure for a single IDE HDD which currently has backup stuff. It used to contain the old 500GB drive that failed at Christmas.

My backup procedures are VERY CRUDE. Not got my head around SENSIBLE methods yet, I just copy my hidden .thunderbird plus my documents, but NOT often enough. I guess I need my ass kicking.

Les.

[Les.]

Comments on these please:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shuttle-X-PC-Computer-Silver-Black-Retro-small-form-factor/253950807231?hash=item3b20a5ccbf:g:0~wAAOSwAfVbxasH:rk:1:pf:0

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shuttle-PC-case-blue/302933627899?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D52543%26meid%3D2fb60ea72a794551b8da8fee134f74c0%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D253950807231%26itm%3D302933627899&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

The first would be gutted and I could stick the two HDDs in there, together with an adaptor for EACH HDD (one powered, one passive). A fair bit bigger than the £70 enclosure, but a damn sight cheaper. Or am I being stupid.

Les.

[Richard]

There is another one that you might have ignored currently at £16 and said to be working, the one you linked to is dead or seriously broken according to the listing. I think that the auction finishes quite soon so you might need to decide in a hurry.

[Les.]

Richard, I am only thinking of one of these as a suitable enclosure, one of which is already empty. In fact I now see another finishing tomorrow at £1.04, a worker but could similarly be gutted.

I gather the Pi has been used for backups somehow, but have no idea how. I do have a Pi which could live in such a case.

Les.

[Dave Rice]

My blog here https://forumite.co.uk/raspberry-pi-file-server/

 

[Richard]

Les. wrote:

Richard, I am only thinking of one of these as a suitable enclosure, one of which is already empty. In fact I now see another finishing tomorrow at £1.04, a worker but could similarly be gutted. I gather the Pi has been used for backups somehow, but have no idea how. I do have a Pi which could live in such a case. Les.

I found it but he is in Dagenham and does not want to post the item. It is almost interesting, though finding the time to go down there and facing the concern about whether it is on the level or not are real issues for me. What would be said when I arrived home with another box is a different issue! I have just had an old P4 running a semi pirate copy of windows 7, (loaded but not activated). It was good to have a don’t care mule for a few days and allowed me to try out a few old bits and pieces, but I finally stripped it down tonight and the remains will go to the PC promised land tomorrow. Along the way I did manage to get the USB function accessible from my normal Windows 10 PC for all of today – which was more than it would do before. I mapped the drive and since then it appears to lose its computer version of Alzheimer, forgetting its connections whenever it likes.

The Pi sounds like a possibly bitty solution with different boxes tied together and a deal of work if you are never sure how long you can devote at any one time. I do not know what motherboards you could fit into a shuttle case so the power demand is for me a totally unknown quantity, so is the issue of how many drives could be stuffed into the case, etc.

[Dave Rice]

Just thought I’d look up Tonido (Personal Cloud) again. There is a version for the RPI now, I will investigate when I get time.

However I think it’s more of a folder sync via a server than a pure network file share, like One Drive or Dropbox.

[Author]

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