Musings of an Uber Geek

Eureka!

I get excited abut geeky things -- especially when it involves big computers. I get especially excited when I can make 'super' computers out of the spare parts that I have lying around. Just look through my archives, and you will find many posts involving me trying the breathe new life into an old laptop that refuses to start up.

I have my iMac desktop, which is serving me well. Also at my disposal is a 13" MacBook, which still operates, though it has taken numerous trips to the local Apple-Authorized-Service-Center to get all kinds of repairs that I would otherwise not attempt while the computer is still under warranty. What I like about using the MacBook is that I can work on it anywhere: The couch, the dining room, the back yard, and yes, even the toilet. What I don't like about the MacBook is that all my personal files, my photos, my music, my bookmarks, and other necessities all reside on the iMac's drive. In order for me to use both machines requires synchronization, which gets messy. Furthermore, the number of files that exist on the iMac is so large, that it would overflow the poor MacBook, rendering it virtually useless. What would be perfect, is if I could access all my personal files that exist on the desktop computer from the laptop. All changes would be made and saved on the desktop computer.

In other words, enter the server. I need a central point in my house (perhaps even worldwide), that I can access my files quickly, and securely. This may mean that I will require a dedicated server sometime in the future, but at this point, I can make do with what I have.

Today, after some experimentation, I have begun a transitionary phase, where my desktop computer is becoming a server, at least within the confines of my residence. The first trivial step was to find a way for the laptop to access my iTunes files on my iMac.

This is simple is one sense. iTunes allows users to "share" their playlists with other connected users. I have been doing this since the MacBook arrived last May. This however, does not update your playlists, play counts, ratings, and other metadata. Today after some serious web sleuthing, I managed to get my experiment to work. It's not quite perfect, but it is a big step in the right direction.

Now I just need to do some further reading in order for the MacBook to automatically mount the Desktop machine upon login. This will require some more reading and searching on the web, but as I said, it's a step in the right direction.

Once I get this working a little more reliably, and automatically, then I can think about ensuring that my other documents can be accessed from the server. This would include my photographs, calendars, email, and documents.

Of a more serious nature, is you can probably tell, I take my digital information very seriously. I have, over the years -- at least since the "crash of 2000", tried to keep backups of my digital information. But manually backing up is only as good as your habits, and I have noticed that it takes time and effort to keep backups of my personal information.

So finally, after several years of deliberation, I will be acquiring the infrastructure necessary to ensure that my data will always be reliable.

Enter the RAID. For the uninitiated, RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Drives. The are collections of hard drives that can offer the user vast amounts of storage, and offer the user redundancy, which is the digital work means security. You see, it's never a question about if your hard drive should fail; it's more of a question of when.

What are so cool about RAIDs, is that even if a drive fails, your data remain intact. Remove the failed drive, plug in a fresh one, and the RAID array automatically backs up the data to the new drive.

So what exactly, did I order? It is an external drive with removable bays. This way, I can always store a copy of my data off-site in a secure location. This way, if there ever is a disaster of sorts, be it flood, fire, or theft, I won't be destroyed if ten years' worth of digital memories happened to disappear into a meaningless string of 1's and 0's.

Since the advent of the internet, the majority of computer users are under the false assumptions that our (essential and personal) data is safe and secure. For the most part, that is true. But our data is easily manipulated and destroyed, and therein lies a big problem. We need to ensure that in the wake of disaster, we can recover what is lost. In the computer world that means backing up often, redundancy on many levels, and storage of those redundant copies in a secure off-site location.

What are you doing to protect your essential digital memories from evaporating?