Storage - My Final Choice

I think I've made my final choice.

That being the 1400ish (via Amazon)> 4Big LaCie 8Tb.

Just for giggles, I had added the LaCie 4Big 8Tb unit to my wish list on Amazon just in case there's someone (LaCie??) who really loved Stepwise and wants to make my decision easy and is sitting on a pile of dough. I never expected anyone to actually do it, and I wasn't disappointed when nobody game me one. I would probably have had a heart attack had someone done so.

The solutions were varied

• Promise DAS - excellent box, but populating costs the same to achieve same solution.
• OWC
• an Ubuntu box (which would have cost more to build than a raid half the capacity, not to mention maintenance, etc..
• Drobo (largely by friends messing with me)

One reminder. RAID IS NOT BACKUP. All data still needs a solid backup solution. Fortunately I have a load of individual drives I've been using for storing this data I can use for just that.

Final Update

While I did end up going with LaCie 4big, I bought the 6Tb unit rather than the 8Tb. The price difference was close to $500 (almost 50% of the 6Tb) so it was a better deal. I can always toss an additional 4big into the mix if 4.5Tb (Raid 5) isn't sufficient.

Final, Final, Update

Wouldn't you know it. Three weeks after ordering the unit, and before I even get a system up and running, Amazon dropped the price of the LaCie 8 TB 4big Quadra $200, making it only $200 more than the 6Gb. Guess what I would have bought? Ah well.

Massive Storage Suggestions Needed

I've just purchased two 2Tb drives, one from Staples, one from Smalldog. Both suck because they're USB. The Macintosh tax at Staples was $200 for Firewire 800. Amazon didn't offer reasonable 2Tb drives with non USB interfaces. And I'm staying clear of WD for the moment.

Despite trying to help, SmallDog only had USB drives in 2Tb.

It took 2 days to zero out the sectors on the LaCie, which I did to hopefully find bad sectors, major failures, etc.

It took 20 hours to copy 700Gb from a Firewire drive to the Seagate USB.

It took 2 days to mirror that data to the LaCie USB drive. Unacceptable.

2Tb isn't going to last long. So I need to get something bigger. Raid 5 support. I've been considering the LaCie 4big 8Tb. 8Tb would last for a long time. and I could backup to the pleothora of drives I've got lying around.

Drobo is 100% out of the question. I've heard good and bad stories, and the bad are horror stories. I intend to load the drives once, and so I don't get any advantage. Promise DAS is another option. But about $700 for a 4Tb version. I'd rather spend the money and be done with it.

Any other good, safe, reliable, options? I'm only looking for solutions that attach directly to the machine preferably Firewire 800 or eSATA, no Network Attached Storage.

$1400 is my max budget. That's amazon's price for the 4big 8Tb model. Ideas?

What the hell, I even stuck a LaCie wish list with it on it here just in case there's someone who really loved Stepwise and wants to make my decision easy and is sitting on a pile of dough.

Suggestions for Drobo will be ignored. It simply isn't he solution for me.

Hit me up on twitter at @sanguish to give me your suggestions!

I'd never expect anyone to buy it for me, that'd be nuts. But then again, I know some nutty people via Stepwise.

Thanks for input

Loads of new HD content on AppleTV for purchase

Today a huge load of new HD content appeared on the AppleTV for purchase. Including many of the Pixar movies, in HD!

Many are also available for rent, or have dates coming up for rental in the next few weeks or so.

I purchased the Terminator 2 HD ($12.99, one of the rare films not $19.99) and a couple of other cheaper ones, largely to show that there is a market for slightly cheaper content.

The Terminator 2 HD was updated recently with the iTunes Plus content. That makes it just like a DVD (although no commentary track I don't think). Extra features, a menu, etc. It's an interesting approach. The featurette with James Cameron and John Knoll was especially interesting.

But price is what is holding me back. I'm already having to spend significant amounts of money for storage of all this data. $19.99 seems just at the brink of too high. I know that Apple doesn't set the prices, it's likely the studios. But twice the price of much of the SD content, and for HD that isn't the quality of BluRay, seems high. I think $15 is the sweet spot. $10 is my "I'll buy this DVD without thinking or guilt" level. Seems $15 for HD, that I still need to backup and store would be about right. I've bought BluRay disks on sale, and yet I have no player. (Now, these were things like Stargate, Blade Runner... for $10).

Mind you, everyone always complains about price. Me included it seems. :-)

Update November 13: I think more were added today. The biggest problem. The type is tiny. Apple clearly wants me to buy a new TV. Hear that dear? :-)

AppleTV 3.0.1 Update

I (and I assume other registered AppleTV owners) just got an email that there is an important update to 3.0.1.

If you've installed the Apple TV 3.0 software update, you should immediately update to version 3.0.1. This prevents content from temporarily disappearing until it is resynced.

For more information read the AppleCare article at

The Death of Stepwise

After 14 years+ I have deleted Stepwise.com. While the site had been stale for a while, many articles were still of use. In addition the daily news was updated on a daily basis. That will also stop.

Why?

Stepwise consisted of thousands of files. I didn't feel it was possible to locate and remove the files that were copyright by a single individual. That individual did not ask it to be removed. I simply didn't want it there anymore. So it all goes.

In addition, the Software, graphics, and other directories were deleted. This may have a negative effect on Erik Buck's EMBdirectory. If it does, I'll ensure that content (and that is the only content that I have archived) will be made available to Erik to post on cocoadesignpatterns.

This was not an easy decision. But I could not live with some of that content remaining on the site.

My thanks to those who advertised on Stepwise (although nobody had been billed in about 5 years, they were all just friends).

I'm sorry for the sudden notice. I did not want the site copied and mirrored elsewhere.

Sincerely
Scott Anguish

If you want to comment, @sanguish via Twitter. Or if you know me well enough, feel free to send me an email.

And thanks for all the compliments and well wishes. Write cool software, that's all I ask.

AppleTV 3.0

Apple upgraded the AppleTV today to version 3.0. This is strictly a software update with a whole new look.

Here is the new UI.

It's a considerable change over the existing 2.x user interface. You'll rely much more on search to find movies and TV shows. Podcasts are about the same. YouTube simply takes you to the existing YouTube user interface. And Genius mixes are also supported.

The one significant new feature is support for Internet Radio. I've never been a big fan of this, but I know some are and this will likely satisfy them.

The Web site also talks about iTunes Extras available for certain movies that are "available with select movies, gives you special features that let you go behind the scenes of your favorite films"

The biggest disappointment is that the ability to have multiple audio tracks (for example a commentary track and the normal tracks) on ripped DVDs is still broken.