$6 external drive from Goodwill shucked. $1.33/TB isn't too bad!

https://redd.it/1py63y7
@r_DataHoarder

Largest amount of storage I can fit in my DeskMini 310w?

Currently i'm running 2x 2tb SSDs as a mirrored NAS in my ASRock DeskMini 310w, and its serving me well. Only half used so far. I don't go out of my way to get as much media as possible, only ones Id like to either rewatch or do watch and maybe eventually delete.

But then I looked into 4K, which is... alot would be an understatement... not that I am looking to change it anytime soon, but I am curious to know in MY use case where I do not want to invest in an external NAS (for now anyways), what do you guys think I am able to go up to max if (and a big if) I wanted to upgrade storage within the PC?

Please humor me and suppose I used 2 drives to combine them instead of mirror them.

https://redd.it/1py6gy1
@r_DataHoarder

A Holiday Miracle - My CD-RW Works Again!

I have this old CD-RW that I used to backup my files when I was a kid. It had stories I wrote, homework, photographs of family and friends, and music. Life got busier as I got older and I forgot all about this backup.

It wasn't until a few years ago, I remembered it and tried to view the files, but it took my computer a long time to read it and sometimes not all files would appear. When I took the disc out and tried again, File Explorer couldn't read it at all. If I right-clicked and viewed the properties, it showed the disc contents as 0 bytes. Multiple, subsequent attempts all failed.

I think I might have actually posted a thread here or maybe a tech support forum about this problem. I learned that different brands of CD-RW have different lifespans, that humidity, temperature, the dyes, all played a role, and eventually the disc would degrade. As it was unreadable, I was certain it was dead. Despite this, I couldn't throw away something that had once held so many memories so I put it in a box in my closet.

Fast-forward some more years to this Christmas; I was going through my belongings in preparation for an upcoming move and came across my CD-RW. Maybe it was some lingering hope, or maybe just dealing with grief motivated me to make another attempt at recovering something from my past. For whatever reason, my CD-RW is working normally again! I haven't done anything or installed any special software to read it, it just works somehow. I've copied all the files to an HDD just in case the CD-RW fails again.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this story here. I'm so happy to have those old files back.

https://redd.it/1pyaj1o
@r_DataHoarder

Which of these two external drives should I use for "cold" storage while I work towards affording a proper NAS?

tldr; Brand new 2.5 external 4 TB Seagate Expansion HDD vs 3.5 external 4 TB Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive from 2021. Which is better to use for storing some stuff I don't want to lose and keeping it (mostly) unplugged? More info below.

____________

Hello,

I'd like to get a big storage solution in the future but it's not going to happen overnight (due to the cost, research etc). I've always kept my stuff on a variety of external drives which I am sure is something this community balks at. Sorry, haha, I'm hoping to change that.

My short term goal is to put some important (not life critical) stuff on a few of these drives until I can get a proper NAS or similar running hopefully in a year or two. At the moment I have two available HDDs to use. I won't need access to it frequently so I was going to just have it on a drive which I will spin up a few times I year but otherwise keep unplugged (in a cool dry place etc).

The drives are both the sort of thing you just get off the shelf in a PC shop so I suspect neither would be great but I'd like to know which one would be the more reliable for saving, storing and being unplugged for a decently long period.

Drive 1: \~4 year old, 4TB "Seagate Expansion desktop drive" and based on the enclosure size a 3.5 inch drive with a USB and separate power cable . Had it since 2021 and it's done some storage but mostly backing up videos, photos and other random bits and pieces. (model no. STKP4000400)

Drive 2: Brand new, unused 4TB "Seagate Expansion drive" which is one of the smaller 2.5 HDDs with just a USB cable. (model no. STKM4000400)

I did enough reading before posting this to see that the general consensus is that 3.5 drives are better (although factors like CMR are more important). However in this case where it's an older 3.5 vs a brand new 2.5 and also in a situation where they won't be spinning all the time has me unsure which is the better one to use.

Thanks for your patience in dealing with what is probably an obvious question to an expert, but please do let me know.

Thanks!

https://redd.it/1pya18l
@r_DataHoarder

Looking for cloud storage to share videos with password protection (view-only, no download)

Looking for a cloud service where I can upload a video and share it with a password protected link.

View only access, no download option, just watch/stream. Free or paid, both are fine. Any suggestions?

https://redd.it/1pycuhn
@r_DataHoarder

What are these flat black circles for?
https://redd.it/1pydc6d
@r_DataHoarder

Best way to take daily snapshots of various subreddits?

Basically noscript. I'd like something I could set up to run automatically that will take a snapshot of a subreddit, and archive the threads and comments from the first page of that subreddit at that moment in time (sorted by "hot" or whatever the default reddit sorting method is), then puts it into some kind of browsable archive.

Any suggestions?

https://redd.it/1pyfeqh
@r_DataHoarder

The faceseek proving that deleted sites never actually die.

i just ran a faceseek myself and it was a massive wake up call for why we hoard data locally. it found photos of me from a defunct hobbyist forum that i thought was wiped from the web years ago.

it proves that even if a site goes dark, the crawlers have already indexed the biometric data and linked it to your current identity. it made me realize that unless your data is on a cold-storage drive in your desk, it’s basically public metadata for any ai to find. is anyone here working on a local facial-recognition index for their own archives?

https://redd.it/1pyhaib
@r_DataHoarder

Storage strategy

Hi guys,

A few years ago, I started to build a nice homelab for my own use that I wanted quiet as hell and as low power as possible. I invested in a JCVD 12S4 case with 12 slots that I populated over time with 8TB SATA SSDs and been using them with TrueNAS Scale (passed to a VM through Proxmox and a dedicated HBA). It made me very happy on every aspect of it. Everything is backed up on a 2nd NAS with mechanical HDDs.

But yesterday, I ordered the 12th SSD meaning the enclosure is now full. Data has grown up quickly since I opened my Plex server to my family and friends as I wanted to please them with content they ask for. Videos are basically 90% of my storage use.

Since I don't see 16TB SATA SSD being sold at large scale and no hint that they will in the future, I am questioning myself about how to continue adding storage to my homelab while keeping my initial quiet+lowpower quest in sight (budget is less of a problem).

My future data strategy could take many paths:
- Invest in a 24 slots chassis and dedicate such box for TrueNAS and continue hoarding until I get to the same point later. Basically, pushing the problem to later.
- Start to delete useless data and recover some free space. This will be a continuous job. This will be exhausting and not rewarding as much as expected.
- Begin to do some tiering with a dedicated slow/mechanical vdev for data that I nearly never access. In other mean, expect such mech disk to be powered off most ofnthe time.
- As SATA might not be futureproof, start to migrate to M.2 storage on PCIe cards (i.e. 8x8TB NVMe on one) and fill a server with such cards. This would be a radical move with lot of possible problems (compatiblity, heat, etc.).

Which route would you take?

https://redd.it/1pyh60w
@r_DataHoarder

Zero Loss Compress: Reduce Photo Library Size Without Data Loss!
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zero-loss-compress/id6738362427

https://redd.it/1pyldnm
@r_DataHoarder

Is the WD Elements 10 TB Desktop External HDD a good choice for long term storage?

Ive been looking for a HDD that prioritizes reliability and longevity. I wanna use it for storing lots of old mp4 files and photos. Currently i have been eyeing WD Elements 10 TB Desktop External HDD, but i still want to hear other peoples opinion that have more knowledge on this topic.
I plan on getting 2, one for general use and one for backup.

Are there any better choices for long term storage? Ive looked into M-DISC Blu-ray but that seemed to like too much trouble for what its worth.

https://redd.it/1pyjn93
@r_DataHoarder

What enclosure for 3-5x 3.5" drives in a 10" rack?

Hi, I'm trying to build a backup NAS in a 10" rack to host at a secondary location. I need 50Tb of usable storage so using 2.5" drives seems like an issue. I'm thinking about something like the Icy Dock FatCage MB155SP-B.

Has anyone had any success mounting this in a 10" rack directly or with a 3d printed enclosure?

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!!

https://redd.it/1pynqbd
@r_DataHoarder

Probablem with Data Corruption.

I've been messing with getting sonarr/radarr up and running for the last month. I've just had some issues with data corruption that I don't know how to fix.

Right now I just have the one pc running all the arrs with 2 harddrives(one as a backup) in a [Vantec Dual Bay Dock](https://www.canadacomputers.com/en/hdd-docking-stations/255906/vantec-jx-usb-3-2-gen1-dual-bay-dock-for-sata-drive-clone-function-nst-d258s3-bk.html). Now we've had some brownouts a handful of times in the last month because of snow storms. Everytime this happens and the power goes out a harddrive corrupts. Luckily it hasn't knocked out both so I can restore it. I was about to send back one of the drives since I suspected it was the harddrive. But this morning the same thing happened with a new drive.

What can I do to stop this from happening? Is it because of the enclosure I'm using? Or is it because the arrs are usually in the middle of writing something which causes the corruption?
I'm at a loss.

https://redd.it/1pyptvu
@r_DataHoarder

Anyone else have products from orico or sharge?

I see the ads all the time, so misleading. They never say how much the actual product is, let alone how much the storage is.

I have seen the ads for the tiny NVME Sharge. Looks amazing, until you realise the 2-3TB NVME is, at least for me, super expensive.

https://redd.it/1pynikn
@r_DataHoarder

Ohara: An open archive of verifiably timestamped video hashes

Hi everyone, I'd like to share a small project of mine that I thought, given that there have been discussions about the Internet Archive, some members of this community might appreciate. The main idea is to "label" videos that have not been AI manipulated in a trust-minimized way by timestamping them before massive AI edits become too cheap, which we're not far from. It's a way to protect historical videos against rewrites and thus manipulation. The project is an open archive of such timestamp proofs, which can be verified by anyone and contains proofs for a bit more than 2M Internet Archive identifiers that had the "movies" media type. The software also allows for checking which files were timestamped from a given identifier. It would be good if the archive replicas were spread around, so if you find 1GB of free disk space, consider cloning the repository. This can be done by visiting the page below and clicking on the green button "Code" and then "Download ZIP". I believe the proofs should stay open and available to anyone, and replicas are the best way to achieve this.

The details of the project are described in the project's README.md file.

Github: Ohara repository

Hope you had a great 2025, and may 2026 be even better than 2025.


I'm including the project's motivation section below:

## Motivation

Creating a digital copy of real-world signal is easy, we can read the writings on a stone from an ancient civilization and publish a copy on the web. But how can a reader know the copy is authentic? The problem lies in how cheap it is to edit that copy. Text is trivial to edit; we just open a file and type. We have to find a signal that's easy to copy, but harder to edit. Editing sound is quite a bit harder. Trying to edit a sound file such that from 3:47-4:09 Joe says something different is not an easy task. But it turns out that AI has become an efficient and cheap edit function, turning what was a strict 1-1 mapping between real-world sounds and digital captures into a 0-many relationship. A single digital sound "capture" can now have zero real-world equivalents and infinitely many variants in the digital world. Consequently, we lose the ability to tell which sound copy is real, if any at all.

Video remains the last widespread signal that's still hard to edit convincingly at a massive scale. Given the fast advancement of AI, we're likely just years away from cheap, indistinguishable video forgeries flooding the internet. For the first time in history, civilization will have to question the signal we see and hear that supposedly describes real world events. Note that the (raw) signal being a lie is different than the interpretation of the signal data being a lie. The latter lies have a long history, it's only the former that's new to us. While some fakes will be obvious, countless others won't be.

### A world of false copies

The low cost of editing will not affect only new videos, but we'll also become unable to tell what videos from the past were the "correct" ones. Why would anyone flood the world with false copies of past data? To manipulate collective thinking, create knowledge asymmetry (only the forger knows what's original e.g. for AI training), or many other reasons we haven't yet imagined. Cheap edits enable history rewrites through modified videos.

Can we do something about it? Can the civilization of today point a finger at a video from today and say "This is the real one."? Perhaps a bit counterintuitively, the answer is that we can. We want to bring back a signal we can trust, but we don't want to assume trust in any particular individual. What if we proved a video existed before the cost of editing dropped low enough to fake it? For this we need a trustworthy timeline. Bitcoin fits this criterion since creating an event in its timeline requires immense energy, but more importantly, editing an event requires the same energy because we need a new, equally hard block. This makes history rewrites

too energy-intensive to see them happen in practice.

We can use Bitcoin as a timestamping server to label original video data before we enter the era of cheap fakes. Not only does this show us and future generations which past videos were untampered, but it also preserves our ability to analyze them and reach correct (i.e. untampered) conclusions. A simple example is AI analyzing the murder of a celebrity from different unmodified video sources and finding lies in reporting due to new observations that the human eye/mind missed.

https://redd.it/1pyrice
@r_DataHoarder