Filed Under: Tech
Simple File/Backup “Server”
I am constantly worried about data loss (and as my friends point out, a little unnecessarily), so I set up a simple file/backup server this weekend with a spare copy of XP Pro I had lying around. You basically just need a low power PC, two hard drives (one for file server, one for backup – in my case a 1TB WD Black and a 2TB WD Green), and an OS (Ubuntu will work, but is much more annoying to set up, so I’d stick to Windows).
1) Install Windows XP (or Vista, or 7, or a server OS, whatever OS you want)
2) Set up users on the “server” PC to match accounts on your other PCs. For example, HTPC is the account on my home theater PC (clever eh?) and I recreated an account on the file server with the same credentials. This allows share permissions to function transparent to the OS/user.
3) Enable blank passwords from accounts in Local Security policy
4) Add whatever shares you want, and give proper access. For shares that will be public, like my pictures, I want to make sure no one could delete them – so I restrict them to read-only. This allows friends to browse the shares when they visit while securing my piece of mind that they don’t accidentally delete something (no offense!).
5) Install some sort of backup solution (I use Syncback Free), and set your jobs up.
That should do it – you now have a simple file server that guests can access, without destroying things, and that backs itself up!
p.s. And when you’re trying to figure out why your end to end gigabit connection is only transferring around 100 megabits, check to see that you didn’t plug something into a 100 megabit port…sigh
Windows Media Player Library Location
Since I didn’t know where this was, here is how to find your WMP library (if you have legacy stuff in it or want to delete it). I have since moved to Media Monkey.
Windows XP:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player
Windows Vista/7:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player
Fix Strange Mouse/Display Problems at 120+ DPI
So yeah, after banging my head against the wall trying to get Red Faction Guerrilla working on my HTPC (which was then disassembled out of frustration) I found out how to finally fix it.
Seems Red Faction is coded like a game from 1998 (Starcraft) and is one of only two games I have EVER had not work on my PC. Long story short in compatibility (under properties) you have to select “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” to get it to work – otherwise you’ll have one of the following problems:
- Display blinks black repeatedly, never loads
- Sounds are COMPLETELY messed up (way loud, or distorted)
- Moving the mouse will spin you around in a circle
- Moving the mouse wheel will turn your character
Starcraft is also somewhat affected. DPI at 120 or higher will cause the minimap to no longer let you click in certain areas.
Glad they took the extra months to make sure Red Faction Guerrilla worked at 120+ DPI. This trick should work in both XP and Vista (and 7)
Low Energy User Processors/GPUs for a HTPC
So I did some googling (so lazy) and found a crapton of reviews trying to figure out low power use PC parts for possibly redoing my HTPC (and moving the “fast” parts back to a tower).
If you’re looking for minimal power consumption, and less than 720p HD: get an Atom 330 based mini-ITX board (29 watts idle, 36ish at 100% load)
If you’re looking for respectable power consumption, and 1080p HD: get a Celeron E3200/3300 based system with a Geforce 9400 based motherboard (35ish watts idle, 60ish watts at 100% load). Add an ATI 4670 to that and you can game at 1080p at the cost of 10 watts idle, 40 watts at 100% load.
If you’re looking for over the top performance and gaming, well, Grab a i7 965, 12 GB of RAM, triple SLI GeForce GTX 285’s, and a SAN.
Links to sources? BAH. Google it.
Change a Logical/Extended Partition to Primary
I googled for hours, I tried disk tools from GParted to Partition Magic to all sorts of weird ones. It’s not possible, don’t waste your time.
(Please someone prove me wrong)
Simple File/Backup “Server”
I am constantly worried about data loss (and as my friends point out, a little unnecessarily), so I set up a simple file/backup server this weekend with a spare copy of XP Pro I had lying around. You basically just need a low power PC, two hard drives (one for file server, one for backup – in my case a 1TB WD Black and a 2TB WD Green), and an OS (Ubuntu will work, but is much more annoying to set up, so I’d stick to Windows).
1) Install Windows XP (or Vista, or 7, or a server OS, whatever OS you want)
2) Set up users on the “server” PC to match accounts on your other PCs. For example, HTPC is the account on my home theater PC (clever eh?) and I recreated an account on the file server with the same credentials. This allows share permissions to function transparent to the OS/user.
3) Enable blank passwords from accounts in Local Security policy
4) Add whatever shares you want, and give proper access. For shares that will be public, like my pictures, I want to make sure no one could delete them – so I restrict them to read-only. This allows friends to browse the shares when they visit while securing my piece of mind that they don’t accidentally delete something (no offense!).
5) Install some sort of backup solution (I use Syncback Free), and set your jobs up.
That should do it – you now have a simple file server that guests can access, without destroying things, and that backs itself up!
p.s. And when you’re trying to figure out why your end to end gigabit connection is only transferring around 100 megabits, check to see that you didn’t plug something into a 100 megabit port…sigh
Windows Media Player Library Location
Since I didn’t know where this was, here is how to find your WMP library (if you have legacy stuff in it or want to delete it). I have since moved to Media Monkey.
Windows XP:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player
Windows Vista/7:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player
Fix Strange Mouse/Display Problems at 120+ DPI
So yeah, after banging my head against the wall trying to get Red Faction Guerrilla working on my HTPC (which was then disassembled out of frustration) I found out how to finally fix it.
Seems Red Faction is coded like a game from 1998 (Starcraft) and is one of only two games I have EVER had not work on my PC. Long story short in compatibility (under properties) you have to select “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” to get it to work – otherwise you’ll have one of the following problems:
- Display blinks black repeatedly, never loads
- Sounds are COMPLETELY messed up (way loud, or distorted)
- Moving the mouse will spin you around in a circle
- Moving the mouse wheel will turn your character
Starcraft is also somewhat affected. DPI at 120 or higher will cause the minimap to no longer let you click in certain areas.
Glad they took the extra months to make sure Red Faction Guerrilla worked at 120+ DPI. This trick should work in both XP and Vista (and 7)
Low Energy User Processors/GPUs for a HTPC
So I did some googling (so lazy) and found a crapton of reviews trying to figure out low power use PC parts for possibly redoing my HTPC (and moving the “fast” parts back to a tower).
If you’re looking for minimal power consumption, and less than 720p HD: get an Atom 330 based mini-ITX board (29 watts idle, 36ish at 100% load)
If you’re looking for respectable power consumption, and 1080p HD: get a Celeron E3200/3300 based system with a Geforce 9400 based motherboard (35ish watts idle, 60ish watts at 100% load). Add an ATI 4670 to that and you can game at 1080p at the cost of 10 watts idle, 40 watts at 100% load.
If you’re looking for over the top performance and gaming, well, Grab a i7 965, 12 GB of RAM, triple SLI GeForce GTX 285’s, and a SAN.
Links to sources? BAH. Google it.
Change a Logical/Extended Partition to Primary
I googled for hours, I tried disk tools from GParted to Partition Magic to all sorts of weird ones. It’s not possible, don’t waste your time.
(Please someone prove me wrong)