I recently added a mirror to a very simple zfs pool and decided to document it here for posterity. This worked flawlessly in a FreeNAS 10 system with two 4 TB drives.
How To Remove Raw Images From Apple Photos and iCloud
Apple Photos isn’t the best application to manage a large digital photo library, but the integration with iCloud, iOS, and macOS is extremely useful. But even though Photos can process and store raw images, it is severely lacking in terms of library managemen. I have developed a workflow to remove raw images from Apple Photos and iCloud and thought I’d share it. Hopefully Apple will do better in future releases.
Recalling An HP MediaSmart Server To Active Duty
I was recently given an old HP MediaSmart EX470 server along with some other junk hardware. Although it has no graphics, a slow single-core AMD Sempron CPU, and just 512 MB of RAM, I was able to revive it quite satisfactorily. Here’s how I upgraded the hardware and software.
Featured Posts
Co-Processors, GPGPU, and Heterogeneous Computing
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about microprocessors, from the many-core CPUs that AMD and Intel introduced recently to the massively scalable GPGPU processing that’s taking machine learning by storm. After years of consolidation on commodity x86 CPUs, it seems that the computing paradigm is turning again to specialized offload processors. This trend towards heterogeneous computing will change the face of hardware, from mobile devices to the datacenter.
My Core i7 Macintosh SE
I recently built the biggest, clunkiest iPad mini case ever, transforming my old Macintosh SE case into an iPad stand. But what to do with that empty case? Why, it’s the perfect size for a custom Mini-ITX PC! Introducing my liquid-cooled Core i7 monster Mac SE!
My Videos
Veritas Company Introduction with David Noy
Enabling Clouds with SDS and Appliances with David Noy
Veritas 360 Data Management with David Noy
Veritas CloudPoint Overview with Amit Sinha
More Featured Posts
Aerobie AeroPress Review: The Hacker Coffee Maker
Computer geeks like me love coffee, the stronger the better. We computer folks are also known for experimentation and a do it yourself ethic. Some of us even love to get outdoors and toss around a flying disc or football. What happens when you mash up all of this? You get the Aerobie AeroPress, the hacker coffeemaker.
It’s Fine To Mount Hard Drives On Their Side Or Even Upside-Down
Have you ever wondered if mounting a hard disk drive on its side or even upside-down affects its lifespan or reliability? According to every drive manufacturer, it’s perfectly acceptable to mount a hard disk drive in any orientation as long as it’s not tilted and has sufficient cooling.
My 2012 Project: Improving Energy Efficiency
I am in the process of upgrading my own home to make it more energy efficient. I do this mainly as an exercise of faith and science, since my electric and gas bills are not currently all that expensive. But I just can’t countenance burning 10 times more electricity than I need to, even if I can afford it. It’s also an exercise in geekiness, since today’s lighting alternatives and appliances have an undeniable techno-cool factor about them.
The I/O Blender Part 1: Ye Olde Storage I/O Path
This old-fashioned, predictable storage I/O path was deterministic and decipherable: The server, the switch, and the array all had enough information to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
EMC Redefine Possible (TL;DR Edition)
EMC made quite a few announcements today at their “Redefine Possible” event in London. There’s a lot of coverage out there already, so I decided to present a summary of the whole thing in “too long; didn’t read” (TL;DR) fashion.
Sony NEX-7 Hands-On Review Part 1: The New Super-Camera
It took over five months, but Sony finally delivered my NEX-7 kit on March 8 (my birthday, natch!). After using the camera for a few weeks, I can say it’s exactly what I hoped it would be: A worthy upgrade over the NEX-5, and perhaps the best enthusiast camera on the market. But it’s not without flaws, including some surprising shortcomings. Here’s my hands-on review!
Why I Am Biased Against FCoE
I am biased against FCoE because it’s too new to be blithely and broadly recommended for production enterprise use. That’s all. Yes, the standards are standardized and there are products extant. But that’s not enough for me.
The Four Horsemen of Storage System Performance: The Rule of Spindles
Why do some data storage solutions perform better than others? Mechanical performance, RAM caching, I/O capacity, and the intelligence of the system all have a part to play. Today we examine the rule of spindles: Adding more disk spindles is generally more effective than using faster spindles.