Good practices for backups on DVD

DVDs are good and cheap media for middle term backups of old files, or periodical snapshots that fit into 4.37 GiB space. Best example of mine is storing old photos.

Choose you disc

Choose good quality discs from known brand/manufacturer relying on reliability statistics

Choose DVD+R over DVD-R - +R uses better writing method and has better error correction, check this article for long explanation. Do not use rewritable discs that use erasable data layer, that could be more easily damaged.

Burning speed - the lower the best - higher speed means potentially more errors to correct during writing and reading. Most hardcore safe backup setting will be x1 , but 4x or 8x should be quite safe when today DVD writers give you x16 writing speed.

Handling

DVDs are fragile to physical damages, specially vulnerable to scratches. So discs should be handled with care, without touching recorded surface. Discs surface should be clean to avoid scratching by hard dust particles. Blank discs should be perfect clean before writing, as any speck on surface will block laser beam.

Do not place adhesive labels and use special CD/DVD markers for labeling. The best place for tiny label is not recordable small middle ring. Why is that? Label side of CD or DVD is separated only by thin layer, that chemicals could easy get through and damage data layer with recorded pits.

Recorder DVDs should be stored in dark and dry place. Here is nice list of DVD handling recommendations on a NIST page.

Additional backup safety measures

Redundancy increases probability of data retrieval. For critical data it makes sense to make more copies. Other copy could be placed off-site, for better protection in fire and flood proof place.

Another option would be additional error correction data created by ECC software like dvdisaster. The best option is to write additional ECC data scattered on the same disc with data. It's a trade-off of disc capacity for additional data safety.

Every media has limited life span even stored in best conditions. Some manufacturers give even 30 years (or even 100 years!) for DVD discs, but I'm not such optimistic. Stored archives should be periodically checked for errors (dvdisaster has that functionality), and then moved to new media. It makes also sense in case of technology change and migration. Today next popular optical format is Blu-Ray Disc, but its still young.

Brand server machine means no cheap storage space

I've been looking for server machine, with lots of storage space. It's purposed to be specialized Intra-net web server, running some PHP applications, with constantly growing content. It should last at least for 5 years, and low failure rate is a issue, so CTO considers only branded and supported machines.

Funds (about 5000$) are suitable only for one decent machine (entry level) or two "outdated" at "sell" price ones. I'm even not mentioning specialized storage server with brand because of a tight budget. Quick comparison shows that is better to get one better server with quad core Intel Xeon processor, if not load balancing but peak performance is a goal.

Second important goal is storage space. Most vendors sell servers only with their own branded and expensive hard disk drives. It is really annoying, because they offer disks that are 2 times smaller (best like 500GB) and 2 time more expensive that analog hardware from Seagate or Western Digital.
That makes decision hard. It's hard to cut the price down.

There was an option to buy disk-less machine, get disk frames from 3rd party chinese vendor and put hard drives of your choice, but everything without warranty. After reviewing ready configurations, I have to make a compromise.

I've bought a server with minimal acceptable storage capacity, with option for future expansion of both hard disk drives and RAM. In future there should be low funds for upgrade and disks should be cheaper, so it should work.

Moral of the story: If you want good and cheap machine there is always compromise between those two assumptions.

Using simple drawing tools to unlock creativity

One day I have played with my kid's sketch pad toy. It's about 15 inches diagonal - almost like smaller PC monitor or laptop screen size. After drawing funny pictures I started to draw and solve some of my work problems. It was astonishing easy to work in that way, and soon I get simple solutions. I realized it is really good device to unlock creative possibilities.

I rethinked that again and spot some interesting factors that helped me to enter into that state:

• playing mood (it's almost as important as all other factors together)
• everything you draw or write is temporary, unless you try to save it in some way, otherwise you make one sweep and you have clear area ready for new ideas
• comfortable drawing with pen and handwriting unlocks physical obstacles slowing your work (like using keyboard)
• all factors shorten interaction on path brain - drawing surface
• the next similar tool is notepad with pen - loosing some of the play joyfulness

If we could transfer those features to laptop.. wait a minute there are laptops- tablet PCs! I've never used one but I'm really interested if is it as easy to work as simple sketch pad or notepad.

My own HTPC v0.5

Before weekend I have bought tv tuner and gfx card with tv out connector, get my new small form factor low profile case PC with Windows XP, and initially assembled my HTPC. I called it v0.5 because of unsolved hardware and software problems.

I have low profile PC case, and low profile cards - unfortunately with long brackets only. I have asked local retailer about short brackets, but without luck. To check if everything is working I plugged cards without brackets. (Don't do try it at home - I had damaged two cards in that way in past). I will try to get short ones, or just cut the long I have and remake it into low profile standard.

I planned to connect tv-out to crt tv via scart connector using RGB signal. Unfortunately it seems that Radeon supports only YUV standard on tv-out. YUV to RGB converter is an option, but its extra cost and resulting picture quality may be degraded (it depends on converter). There is also more exotic option for some cards like Radeon 2400, to make simple VGA-SCART connector for RGB and sync signals, and force graphics card to work with TV frequencies. I have decided to use more popular S-Video connection- it should give almost as good quality as RGB. In near future I plan to upgrade my tv to some kind of HDTV LCD/Plasma set - most of current connection problems will be irrelevant.

I have tried to set display native tv resolution mode. I have now PAL 768x576 60hz resolution but it seems like it's interlaced. I have "100hz" TV set with internal picture scan, but it probably works only for standard 50hz PAL signal. I have tweaked TV driver with Powerstrip but still no luck.

TV tuner is Leadtek Winfast 2000 XP Expert - cheap and simple analog tuner cart without hardware encoding with remote control. Many reviews recommended that model. There is a lot of newer hardware, but it's hard to get reliable review for it. I'm still have most of programs in SDTV standard so it's sufficient for my needs. That plus separate tv and radio antenna input gives good integration with lasting analog sources. Picture quality is good enough- the same signal connected directly to tv gives noticeably sharper picture and more crispy details. It may be caused by tv tuner or graphics card tv-out mode.

Leadtek adds to tuner its software Leadtek Winfast PVR2. It has basic (and my priority) PVR functionalities like recording, time shifting and scheduled recording. It has it's own design - not so simple and aesthetic like Windows Media Center, but quite good and usable. Most used functions like channel switching, viewing and recording, can be operated from Leadtek remote. One sad thing I realized that separate application Winfast radio wont work with remote (maybe it's something with configuration). I hope I will also find way to use remote for other applications. I'm going to buy small wireless keyboard also, to get comfortable control over HTPC.

I'm planning to fix hardware problems and add more software features in future. Stay tuned.

DVR or custom built PC media center?

Under pressure of family I extended subscription of cable network. That means more potentially interesting programs to view. I still have the same amount of time for all my activities. I agree with the term somebody coined, that is "TV - the weapon of mass distraction". I want to take my time on my way, so I thought about some kind of DVR (Digital Video Recorder). On the other side I have seen cool media center box placed in my friend's living room.

There are many DVD recorders with hard disks and DVR functionalities for good price, but I'm not sure about its usability. I tempted to build my own media center/set top box connected to Internet, but it will probably take more time and money. But it also gives more fun. I have to rethink my needs and choose something useful.

Alternative Human Computer Interface for cheap (Wiiiii)

More efficient or just possible with computer interaction in hard cirtcumstances is one of my dreams (so tech geeky). I specially like input methods without standard keyboard. It's good to have touch screen and/or some kind of wearable pointing device.

I've been trying to get some results using web cam and motion analyzing software- to move mouse cursor or activate functions by waving hands. I haven't enough time to get it succesfull.

Then I saw some of Johny Lee Wiimote projects results- it's really impressive. All thanks to internal processing inside wiimote- all you get on output are coordinates of tracked points and values from accelerometers.

I've never been into wii- just another game console. One positive- it was introducing new kind of games. I'm reading about wiimote possibilities and it looks it gives a lot of possibilities for affordable price.

Probably I give up my web cam attempts as Johny Lee wrote on his blog:

The wii remote contains a 1024x768 camera with built-in hardware for IR blob tracking of upto 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly outperforms any $40 webcam I'm aware of. It'll work with a webcam, just not as well and not as easily.


I'm thinking to get one of these to hack it into something usable.

Broken mobo and OS

At last, I have new replacement mobo for my desktop PC. It's budget GA-M61P-S3. The old one was hanging occasionally and causing hardisk data corruption. It was older GA model M55Plus, still having warranty. So far so good.

I booted my Ubuntu linux and then came first insight- both mobos look similar but have different onboard gfx, ethernet and audio chips. And that caused that my nvidia driver is hanging at boot time. I switched temporarily to generic vesa driver, and tried to fix OS. Then I've realized that ethernet and audio isn't working either. I used available ubuntu stricted driver packages with previous mobo and it just worked. That was good experience- no time waste, desktop linux for the people etc.

I've tried to use nothing more than that existing Ubuntu packages. After day of searching and trying to find working solution, I gave up.

So here comes plan B. I downloaded drivers from nvidia and realtek site. After checking prerequisities I started instalation scripts. It worked like charm. But I still don't have sound. I had to download the newest alsa sources and install it manually too. Now everything works fine except onboard ethernet port. I've used old PCI card in that place. Maybe new forcedeth driver will fix that in future.

I have to admit it took me some time, but it was good time. Everyone who sometimes hacks linux system knows that feeling. Linux newbies or just usual desktop users may have other opinion. Let's think about alternative situation- how much time would I spend fixing windows system. Probably it would require windows reinstalation or repair action, then calling microsoft rep to get new activation code, then installing new drivers from mobo packet cd. It's slightly easier and faster way. There is still a little work to do to make linux desktop more user friendly. I believe that linux instalation and upgrade will be easier than now in near future.

The sign on the mobo box says: "Vista ready". But I'm not vista ready yet- It's still not solution for home use. But milions of early adopters will test it and maybe next release will be better. I'm happy that I can choose OS that suits my needs. Do only nerds think in that way?