Computing, Hardware, Technology

Ultra Budget NAS build: 12TB for 300€

With the release of the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and me still looking to build a NAS this ultra budget build was something I came up with:

Components

  • 1x Raspberry Pi 3 Modell B+ ~35€
  • 4x Cremax Icy Dock MB559UEA-1SB ~8€ each
  • 4x Intenso SATA HDD 6513113 ~60€ each
  • 1x SODIAL Raspberry Pi case ~2€
  • 1x Official Raspberry Pi 2.5A micro USB power supply ~8€
  • 1x Kingston 16 GB micro SDHC card ~3€

Geizhals wishlist

Some additional cabling may be required.

Possible options

  • You can technically omit the case, an old phone charger with enough power should suffice as the power supply. A few more cents could be saved by going for an even smaller SD card.
  • While at the time of this writing, these 3TB Intenso HDDs offer the best bang for your buck, you don’t have to get four if you don’t need 12TB. Currently picking anything less than 3TB makes little sense, unless you have to save every last bit of money: The Toshiba DT01ACA 1TB HDD for 35€ each is the best 1TB option.
  • You should expect the USB bus to be the limiting factor here in terms of performance. While the Pi only supports USB 2.0, you might want to consider getting USB 3.0 cases instead, so you can load the initial data directly from your PC faster. The LogiLink UA0107 costs about 15€ and should be faster than the Icy Dock.

Definitely pick the new Pi 3B+. Because its Ethernet connection doesn’t use USB anymore, it should be much faster than previous models for this application.

Since these HDDs are not meant for NAS operation, you should probably set up a RAID 5 or 1 just to be safe.

For software you could go with just Raspbian or the more specialized OpenMediaVault.

Update: I only noticed just now, but it seems I’m one day late for World Backup Day. Shoot.

Fiction, Media, Movies, Opinion, Science Fiction

Huge plot hole in The Last Jedi makes the Death Star obsolete

Last night I finally got to watch the new Star Wars movie, and I must say that it blew me away. Though like all Star Wars movies it

had numerous flaws, this is still easily my favourite. It was a feast for my eyes and ears, and although there were pacing issues, the way it constantly surprised me with its unexpected twists kept me was more than welcome. There was however one serious plot hole that has sparked a major discussion on Reddit:

Why didn’t anyone think of weaponizing hyperdrives before?

In this movie, in a last-ditch effort to save the rebel fleet, we see a rebel commander turning her large cruiser towards the first order fleet.

Firing up the light-speed hyperdrive she then destroys most of the huge enemy armada with ease. The problem is, if that was ever a possibility, why aren’t we seeing this tactic used all the time? Sure, perhaps this involving suicide might not be extremely efficient. But why would remote controlled torpedoes or asteroids with hyperdrives not be a viable weapon? Why would the empire ever want to build a huge, expensive and vulnerable Death Star, if you could just shoot a small moon from an infinite distance away into any planet to destroy it? Light speed engines seem to be common place and comparably cheap. Such an attack would be unavoidable and highly destructive.

Too obvious

I have no answer for this, and neither appear the more hardcore Star Wars fans on Reddit to. The problem with this plot hole in particular is that it’s both massive and obvious. I’m surprised that this wasn’t addressed during the production process. This is the first time that any serious movie has broken my suspension of disbelief to such a degree with a plot oversight. But maybe it is indeed as stated by the OP:

…meanwhile we didn’t figure out we could put wheels on a suitcase until like the 80’s.

Meta

New site!

If you are one of the few readers who come visit from time to time, you may have noticed some changes. I decided that it was time for a fresh start and so I completely cleaned out the old blog, updated the backend, added SSL encryption and a new theme.

RIP Capture theme

From now on, instead of just posting photos, I want to do more writing about things I find interesting – while also posting photos, of course. If you hate text, you can just follow me on Instagram instead. I deleted all the old posts, though I’ll reupload some of my favorites over time. You can still see them over at our Facebook page. You should also totally check out my dad’s own site if you want to see some amazing portrait work.