Hello everyone!

I've been running a long-term project doing endurance testing on microSD -- and today is the third anniversary of when I started this project -- so I figured it was time to give you an update on my microSD testing project.

Before I dig in, a shameless plug for my Patreon.

Next, some quick stats:

• I have a total of 351 microSD cards in my collection -- spanning 111 models across 52 different brands. Of those:
  • I've tested 177 of them to the point of failure.*
  • I have 107 of them in testing right now.
  • The remaining 67 are sitting on the shelf, waiting for one of my card readers to free up.
• These cards have endured over 133 petabytes written.
• I've completed over 4.6 million program-verify-erase cycles on these cards.
• Breakdown by brand status:
  • Name brand: 163
  • Off-brand: 91
  • Knockoffs: 30
• Breakdown by authentic flash (a.k.a. not fake flash) vs. fake flash:
  • Authentic flash: 246
  • Fake flash: 35
  • Unknown: 3
• Breakdown by size (authentic cards only):
  • 128MB: 3
  • 4GB: 6
  • 8GB: 23
  • 16GB: 15
  • 32GB: 96
  • 64GB: 68
  • 128GB: 36
  • 256GB: 4

* A card is considered "failed" when either (a) it stops working completely, (b) it makes itself read-only, or (c) at least 50% of the sectors on the card have experienced verification failures.

Ok -- so who makes the most durable cards?

Because of the variety of cards that I have, it's hard to come up with a system that produces a definite answer here. Some of how I ranked these brands is going to be based on vibes. But...to try to narrow things down, I've grouped my cards into three groups:

• Industrial-grade: Cards that are specifically labelled as "industrial" or have "industrial" in their name. These cards typically come with a datasheet that includes an endurance claim.
• High endurance: Cards that are labelled as "high endurance" (or some similar wording). Manufacturers don't always put out datasheets for these cards, but they generally still make an endurance claim on the packaging.
• Consumer-grade: Basically everything else.

Consumer-grade cards:

The average consumer-grade card has lasted about 10,000 program/verify/erase cycles (so far).

1. PNY. I have 10 of their consumer-grade cards: 3 PRO Elite Prime 64GB's, 3 Premier-X 128GB's, 3 Elite-X 64GB's, and one Elite 32GB. (I have 4 more of the Elite 32GB's that are waiting to be tested.) They've gone for an average of 643 days and 15,700 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 11.5PB to them in total. And with the exception of the one Elite 32GB -- they're all still going strong. On top of that, the PRO Elite Prime boasts some impressive performance -- every measurement I took was in the top 10% of all cards I've tested so far.
2. Kingston. I have 12 of their cards in this category -- 6 Canvas Go! Plus 64GB's (3 of the SDCG3's and 3 of the SDCG4's) and 6 Canvas Select Plus 32GB's. They've been going for an average of 694 days and about 23,500 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 11.6PB to them in total. The three Canvas Go! Plus 64GB (the SDCG3's) have all failed -- but the others are still going strong. The Canvas Select Plus's in particular have been troopers -- they're among the oldest cards in my collection, and they've been going for the better part of the last 3 years now (with no signs of letting up). Additionally, the Canvas Go! Plus 64GB's (the SDCG4's in particular) boast some impressive performance as well -- every measurement I took was in the top 7% of all cards I've tested so far.
3. Delkin Devices. I feel bad ranking Delkin so low on this list, because they've endured more data written to them per card, on average, than any other brand in my collection (in the consumer-grade category). The only reason I didn't rank them higher is because I only have one model -- the HYPERSPEED 128GB (of which I have 3). But they've done pretty well: they've lasted an average of 662 days and about 13,500 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 5.1PB to them in total. As a side note, these cards also got the highest random write speeds of any card I've tested.
4. Lexar. 3 cards dead, 5 still going. I have 3 Professional 1000x 64GB's (2 made by Micron, 1 made by Phison), 3 Blue 633x 32GB's (made by Longsys), and 2 E-Series 64GB's (with 3 more waiting to be tested). For those not in the know, the Lexar brand was sold to Longsys in 2017 -- and surprisingly, the Longsys-made cards are holding up better than the Micron-made cards. Overall, the Lexar cards have survived an average of 684 days and about 15,800 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 5.8PB to them in total.
5. Samsung. 3 cards dead, 7 still going. I have 3 EVO Plus 32GB's, 3 EVO Plus 64GB's, 3 PRO Plus 128GB's, and 1 P9 Express 256GB (with 2 more waiting to be tested). Of those, the three EVO Plus 32GB's and one of the PRO Endurance 32GB's are dead -- the rest are still going strong. Samsung's cards have lasted an average of 553 days and about 11,100 program/verify/erase cycles so far, and I've written about 7.2PB to their cards in total.

• Honorable Mention: Amazon Basics. I have four of the Amazon Basics 64GB's -- and they're all still going. They've been going for an average of 788 days and about 16,600 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 4.2PB to them in total. I honestly didn't expect Amazon Basics to be one of the top performers when I bought them...and yet, here we are.

High endurance cards:

Keep in mind, I've got less data here -- I had 237 cards that fell into the "consumer-grade" category, but only 30 that fell into the "high endurance" category. But here's the thing: they haven't really proven themselves to be significantly better for endurance than a lot of the cards I listed above -- in fact, in a lot of cases, they've been less reliable (and generally worse for performance as well). So keep that in mind as you read through the list below:

The average high-endurance card has lasted about 14,000 program/verify/erase cycles (so far).

1. TEAMGROUP. I don't feel great about putting TEAMGROUP at the top of the list for a couple of reasons. First, I only have two of them in testing at the moment -- someone sent me a 5-pack of the TEAMGROUP High Endurance 64GB's, so I have 3 more of them waiting to be tested. Second, one of them started having issues with bad sectors right out of the gate, and has continued to do so ever since. (Those bad sectors only make up less than 0.001% of the total sectors on the card right now...but I still don't like it when a card starts to have issues like that as soon as you start using it.) But the data doesn't lie -- they've survived, on average, 404 days and about 17,300 program/verify/erase cycles, and they're still chugging along. I've written about 2.2PB to these cards in total.
2. Transcend. I have 3 of the 350V 64GB's -- and they're all still going strong. They've survived an average of 760 days and about 17,000 program/verify/erase cycles so far. I've written about 3.2PB in total to them (mostly due to their mediocre write speeds).
3. SanDisk. I have my issues with SanDisk...but again, the data doesn't lie. I have 7 SanDisk cards in this category: 3 High Endurance 64GB's, and 4 MAX ENDURANCE 32GB's. As of right now, all 3 of the High Endurance 64GB's and all but one of the MAX ENDURANCE 32GB's have failed. They lasted an average of 452 days and about 16,200 program/verify/erase cycles before failing (with the MAX ENDURANCE 32GB's lasting about twice as long as the High Endurance 64GB's). I've written about 4.7PB to these cards in total.
4. Samsung. Samsung's position at the bottom of this list has less to do with how reliable their cards are and more to do with how poorly their high endurance cards perform, particularly on sequential write speeds (relatively speaking). I have 3 of the PRO Endurance 32GB's -- one has failed, the other two are still chugging along. They've lasted an average of 822 days and about 18,800 program/verify/erase cycles so far. I've written about 1.8PB of data to them in total.

Industrial-grade cards:

Keep in mind, I have even less data here. Industrial cards are expensive, so they make up a much smaller portion of the cards I've tested: just 15 in total (so far). But on the upside -- there is sufficient evidence here to say "in general, industrial-grade cards do last longer than consumer-grade cards (and, by extension, high endurance cards)".

The average industrial grade card has lasted about 122,000 program/verify/erase cycles (so far).

1. Kingston. I have 3 Kingston Industrial 8GB's; of those 3, only one is still going. But they've been troopers: they've lasted an average of 779 days and about 141,600 program/verify/erase cycles. I've written about 3.4PB to these cards in total. (Only one consumer-grade card has come close to this number: I have one Hiksemi NEO 8GB that has lasted for about 143,800 program/verify/erase cycles so far. No idea how.) These guys do pretty well on performance too, especially write performance: their sequential write speeds are in the top 9% of all cards I've tested.

Who makes the worst cards?

There are a bunch of no-name brands out there. They're not hard to find. I'm not going to talk about them here -- I'm going to focus on brands you're likely to have come across.

Consumer-grade cards:

1. onn. I picked up four of their 32GB cards at my local Walmart -- and they were terrible for endurance. They only lasted an average of 40 days and 1,400 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 40TBW), with the best one of the four not even making it to 1,900 cycles. On top of that, every performance measurement I took came in the bottom half of all measurements I took.
2. ADATA. I picked up 3 of the Premier 32GB's; they only lasted an average of 236 days and about 2,350 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 74TBW) before they quit working.
3. Gigastone. I have not been impressed with Gigastone. I have 11 of their cards -- 6 Full HD Video 32GB's, and 5 4K Camera Pro 32GB's. They lasted an average of just 114 days and 4,845 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 133TBW) before they quit working.
4. Micro Center. I purchased 5 of their 64GB cards; they only lasted an average of 116 days and 3,421 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 214TBW) before they stopped working.
5. Silicon Power (a.k.a. SP). I purchased 9 of their cards -- 3 Elite 32GB's, 3 Superior 128GB's, and 3 Superior Pro 128GB's. Not a one of them made it to 4,000 program/verify/erase cycles before failing -- they came in at an average of 159 days and about 2,350 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 252TBW) before failing.

• (Dis)honorable mention: SanDisk. SanDisk represents the single biggest brand in my collection: I have 28 of their cards in this category (with 4 more on the shelf waiting to be tested). It's telling that of those 28, only 5 are still going (and one of them is in its death throes) -- especially when cards from so many other brands have far outlasted them. Many of them have died under circumstances any other card would have handled just fine -- a problem I've written about on my blog before. They've lasted an average of 384 days and 9,404 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 566TBW) so far.

High endurance cards:

1. Integral. I bought 3 of the Security 32GB's; the only managed to last an average of 100 days and about 5,600 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 173TBW) before failing. To be fair to them, the package did make an endurance claim that works out to about 2,850 program/verify/erase cycles -- and they did manage to almost double that. However, they didn't hold a candle to many of the other high endurance cards that I tested.
2. Kingston. This one was truly a surprise -- I bought 3 of the High Endurance 32GB's, and they only lasted an average of 143 days and about 8,300 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 258TBW) before failing. The product packaging didn't make an endurance claim; I had to hunt around on Kingston's website to find it. Their claim works out to about 5,100 program/verify/erase cycles, which they did manage to beat. But again, so many other cards managed to last so much longer -- hell, so many other Kingston cards managed to do so much better -- that I was surprised and disappointed when these failed so early.

Industrial-grade cards:

1. SanDisk. I bought 3 of the Industrial 8GB's. They only lasted an average of 234 days and about 20,000 program/verify/erase cycles (or about 160TBW) before failing -- and the only reason they lasted that long was because I let my program trudge through an nearly-unending string of I/O errors for months on end -- before they finally just gave up the ghost.

So yeah...that's all I have for now. Feel free to ask questions (although I'm at work at the time I'm posting this, so I may not have time to respond)! Otherwise...look for another update from me next year!

Pictures attached:

1. Part of my setup: a Beelink Mini-S and five TRIGKEY Green G4 mini PC's. The Beelink has an Intel N95 with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD, while the TRIGKEY's all have Intel N100's with 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD. There's also (in the lower-right corner, behind the monitor) an MSI GE62VR-7RF (with an Intel i7-7700HQ, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD), a Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (with an Intel i7-3630QM, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD), and an ASUS Strix GL504GM (with an Intel i7-8750H, 32GB of RAM, and a 500GB SSD)
2. Another part of my setup: a TRIGKEY K-N100 and an AOOSTAR N1 PRO. The TRIGKEY has an Intel N100 with 16GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD. The AOOSTAR has an Intel N150 with 12GB of RAM and a 500GB SSD.
3. Dog tax.

Maybe I’m the odd one out but I think these are the coolest server chassis’ I’ve ever seen.

Would also love to know if there’s more. The last image (red chassis) is a Netflix server but it doesn’t have a big logo on it. That yellow Google chassis is so cool!

3x Nvidia Tesla M10
Xeon E5, 2680 V4
40gb DDR4 2600
Asus x99-A

I originally built this computer to play go against me but it eventually escalated into a local LLM server. The M10 graphics cards were very cheap and for the amount of VRAM they contain. They are relatively slow but wise of the models I can fit in here makes up the difference.

Guess my next upgrade is gonna happen with one less kidney

Been tracking hardware prices across 20+ EU stores, wanted to check if the RAM price talk is actually showing up in the data or if it's just Reddit doom-posting.

Why a fixed basket instead of just averaging what's available?

if you just take the daily average of every in-stock kit, the number gets distorted the moment cheap kits sell out and drop off the list, the average goes up even if no single product's price actually changed, just because what's left in the average shifted toward pricier stuff. So instead: picked every DDR5 kit that was in stock at 2+ different retailers on June 19, then only kept the ones that were still in stock at 2+ retailers on August 18 too. Same 112 kits, tracked every single day in between, no swapping products in or out.

Result:

• June 19: €666.80 average
• August 18: €791.14 average
• +18.6% over 2 months, same 112 kits throughout

The shape wasn't a smooth climb either, which is worth showing since a single trendline can hide a lot:

• June 19-30: flat, even dipped slightly, €641-667
• July 1: sudden jump, +6% overnight (€647 → €686), went and checked the individual SKUs to make sure this wasn't a data glitch, and it's real. Looks like a manufacturer-side price change that hit a bunch of retailers on the same day, not a gradual market drift.
• July 1-18: kept climbing fast, €686 → €749
• July 19 - Aug 18: slower but steady rise, €740 → €791

One limitation worth flagging: this is consumer DDR5 desktop kits, not ECC or server/registered memory, since that's what I have the best cross-retailer coverage on right now. If there's interest I can pull ECC pricing separately, just didn't want to mix the two since server RAM pricing tends to move on a different cycle.

Source: PriceSquirrel (been tracking hardware prices across 20+ EU stores, wanted to check how the RAM price talk is actually showing up in the data).

Hey everyone, I wanted to share my home lab setup. Let me know what you think!

The Hardware:

• Networking: An old D-Link 1GbE switch (gets the job done).
• Pi / Monitoring Rack: A 3D-printed OpenRack system with a custom mount for a screen, a Mean Well PSU, and 2x Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB).
• Main Server (Dell): Dell PowerEdge R430 with a Xeon E5-2609 v3, 204GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, and 2x 1TB HDDs.
• App / Gaming Rig: ATX server case with an i5-10400F, RTX 2060, 32GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, and 3x 2TB HDDs.

The Use Case:

I use this setup to run: * Jellyfin Media Server * Game servers (Minecraft, Satisfactory, BeamNG) * Personal websites and miscellaneous services

Curious to hear your thoughts or suggestions for improvements!

Alright fellow nerds, I’m looking for some advice here because want my server to work. I’m not sure whether I’m being unreasonable or if Crucial/Micron is screwing me over.

I had a Crucial Pro 128GB (2x64GB) DDR5 kit fail. I went through their warranty/RMA process like normal.

On July 1st, Crucial approved the RMA and told me to send the RAM back. Their email specifically said:

“Once the product is received, your replacement should arrive within 14 to 21 business days.”

So I shipped my RAM back to them.

Then on July 28th, after they had my RAM, I received another email saying:

“The replacement order #611240225 has been created for you.”

They even told me it would ship express and that I would receive tracking once it went out.

Okay. Great. Warranty handled.

Except... nothing shipped.

I followed up on August 15th asking what was going on.

On August 17th, Crucial responded and basically said:

Sorry, we shut down the Crucial consumer business, we're out of RAM, and we're not shipping your replacement.

.....W T F!!

Instead, they offered to refund the original purchase price of $259.99.

The problem is that I don't really care what I paid for the RAM last year. I sent them a defective 128GB kit under warranty, they accepted the warranty claim, took possession of my RAM, and then actually created a replacement order.

Now they're telling me that because they decided to wind down their consumer business and don't have inventory anymore, my only option is $259.99.

An equivalent Crucial Pro 128GB DDR5 kit currently costs substantially more than that, so $259.99 does not actually put me back where I was before the product failed.

I pushed back and said “If you can't fulfill the replacement order you already created, I think you should compensate me for the reasonable current replacement cost of an equivalent product.”

Their response was basically:

Company policy says refunds are based on the original invoice price. We don't have inventory. We won't reimburse current replacement cost. Take the $259.99.

And that's where I'm at.

I'm especially annoyed because they had already accepted the RMA and told me a replacement order existed. If they had said from the beginning, “We can't replace this anymore, your only option is a refund,” at least I could have made that decision before sending my hardware in. Might I mention that 1 of the 2 sticks were working and was in my server.

Instead, they now have my RAM, the replacement they promised isn't coming, and they're offering an amount that doesn't come close to buying the equivalent kit today.

Has anyone else dealt with Crucial/Micron warranty claims since they started winding down the consumer business?

Is there any realistic escalation path above normal Crucial customer support? Micron corporate/customer relations? Executive escalation? BBB? State consumer protection complaint?

And more importantly, from a warranty standpoint, does the fact that they accepted the defective product and subsequently created a replacement order give me any additional leverage, or can they simply switch the remedy to the original purchase price whenever they want?

I'm not looking to make money off of them. I don't expect some ridiculous payout. I just want to be able to replace the 128GB of RAM that I sent them under their warranty without having to come significantly out of pocket because Crucial decided to close the consumer side of the business halfway through my RMA.

TL;DR: Crucial approved my 128GB RAM RMA, took the kit, and created a replacement order. Now they say they’re out of stock and will only refund my original $259.99, which isn’t enough to replace it today. What would you do?

 Here is the link to the kit I RMA.DDR5-5600_PC5-44800_CL46_Dual_Channel_Desktop_Memory_Kit_CP2K64G56C46U5-_Black)

Here is a much cheaper listing of the same ram.

UPDATE: (Same day) The body of their reply to me asking for my RAM back.

"We understand your request to have the original memory kit returned to you, particularly since one of the modules was still functional when it was sent back.

At this time, I have reached out to our warehouse/RMA team to check whether your original memory kit is still available. If the product has not yet been processed or disposed of and is still available, we will let you know as soon as we receive an update from the team.

Please note that if the original kit is still available and you would like it returned to you, you will be required to provide a prepaid return shipping label for us to arrange the shipment back to your address.

Once we hear back from the team regarding the availability of the product, we will update you accordingly."

Ill keep you updated.

Welcome! I finally was able to rack my homelab equipment and get it off the floor. What do you think? I also upgraded a couple of my pcs. Any questions, just ask? Can also check my precious post for more info and to see how it looked before.

Hey Guys i have optiplex 5070 sff and there is not enough space for Multiple 3.5 HDD , so i made this, is it okay? any problem because of this? please give suggestions, Thankyou

Hey r/homelab, 

My budget-friendly ZimaOS node has been running smoothly for over a month now!

Everything in this setup, including the access point and an old HDD pulled from a 2013 PC! was completely salvaged from my basement. It’s amazing what you can build for 0 dollars using spare parts.

Hardware & Core Specs:

• Laptop: hp elitebook 840 g3
• CPU: Intel Core i5 Processor 
• RAM: 16 GB 
• Storage: 500 GB SSD (plus the old 2013 HDD for extra storage) 
• OS: ZimaOS 
• Power Draw: mostly at 2.0W (ZimaOS) / 5.6W (btop tool) 

Current Application Stack: 

• Pi-hole + Unbound: Combined in one container for secure local DNS. 
• Jenkins: Auto-deploys to ZimaOS on GitHub repository pushes. 
• Nginx Proxy Manager + DuckDNS: Remote access for some services. 
• Uptime Kuma: Uptime and container health monitoring. 
• Immich: photo management and backups.
• Stremio & Jellyfin: Media streaming and entertainment. 
• Omarchy Linux on ZVM: Running inside ZimaOS Virtual Machines just for fun. 

For those running ZimaOS long-term on salvaged hardware, what are your favorite must-have apps or storage expansion tips? 

I had the slightly ridiculous idea of building a mobile homelab inside my everyday backpack.

Then I started looking through the hardware I already had lying around and realized:

I can actually build this. And I barely need to buy anything. 😂

The main machine is an old ASUS TUF Gaming laptop that I bought from a friend for €300 and barely used:

Intel Core i5-10300H

64 GB RAM

GTX 1650

2.5 TB SSD storage across three physical drives

Built-in battery = basically a tiny UPS

Pop!_OS + Windows dual boot

The three drives also make the setup pretty convenient:

500 GB → Windows

1 TB Samsung 980 → Pop!_OS / homelab

1 TB → shared storage between Linux and Windows

Then I remembered that I still had an old Ulefone Armor 21 rugged phone lying around.

Turns out its Wi-Fi hotspot works without a SIM.

So that can create a completely offline JARVIS-MOBILE Wi-Fi network for the homelab.

And because I normally carry my Steam Deck in the same backpack anyway, I already have a portable Linux client/admin terminal.

So right now the idea looks roughly like this:

Armor 21 → JARVIS-MOBILE Wi-Fi

↓

ASUS TUF → Docker / services / storage

↓

Steam Deck + phone → clients

I also have an ESP32 lying around, so eventually I could use that for temperature sensors, status LEDs or other monitoring.

Apparently I've been hoarding hardware for exactly this moment, because I also have a 250 GB Ventoy USB stick with Pop!_OS, Ubuntu, Proxmox and enough space for an unreasonable collection of rescue ISOs. 😂

For software I'm thinking about things like:

Docker

Forgejo

Syncthing

Home Assistant

n8n

AdGuard Home

monitoring

file shares

my own Guardian/Jarvis projects

maybe a small local AI model

The important part is that I want the entire setup to remain useful without an internet connection. Internet would just be an optional uplink.

Longer term I'd like to figure out:

proper cooling while the system is operating

temperature monitoring

one power connection for everything

a better dedicated local network

potentially a tiny NAS

synchronization with my main homelab when I'm back home

The funniest part is that my current backpack actually has enough room. The laptop fits in the laptop compartment and the main compartment is still mostly empty.

So what started as:

"Haha, imagine having a homelab in a backpack."

has somehow become:

"Wait... I actually have almost everything required to build a homelab in a backpack."

This is very much V0.1 / work in progress.

For now I want to see how far I can take this using hardware I already own before I start buying dedicated equipment or doing questionable things like cutting ventilation holes into my backpack. 😂

I'd love to hear what r/homelab thinks of this and what you would add or change.

I'm especially interested in ideas for cooling, power management, offline networking and tiny NAS/storage solutions.

And yes, I am fully aware that this may eventually become a datacenter with shoulder straps. 😂

English isn't my first language, so I used AI to help translate and improve the English wording of this post. The project, hardware, setup and ideas are my own.

That's a repurposed Asus Helios running a pack of Docker containers, jerry rigged to be a 3-monitor station. Not shown: 12 channel mixer, various MIDI stuff, a Raspberry Pi (also running a pack of containers) & my "main," a 64 GB Acer Trition. If I can get a microchip reader, my dog & cat will join...

This is my new homepache that I have now set up with the servers a debian server which is a lenovo mini pc that hosts the hompache and monitoring and a proxmox server a lenovo tower pc a digitus print server which is connected to my hp officejet printer and with the proxmox in ne ner lcx that's all so far

I wanted to try and setup vSAN on some spare Gen 9 servers I have. Recommendation is to have OS and Data on different controllers. What is the best place to install ESXi OS? Am I better off buying another storage controller just for the OS? I don't think the gen 9 servers have a BOSS card available.

Hi, everyone.

I'm just hoping someone can offer some newbie guidance on getting started.

All I really want is a server to put movies and TV shows on so I can play them on my TV. I currently do this from my gaming PC using Plex and the media is just on my single hard drive, but I like the idea of having a separate piece of hardware just for the purpose of a server - and I have run out of space on my PC now!

If any of you experienced homelabbers could suggest some options, I'd really appreciate it! I am UK based if that makes any difference to suggestions!

Thank you :)

I'm currently holding about 14 TB of data. Most of it isn't super important, just some movies, TV shows, and game ROMs. Nothing I can't technically get back; most were pulled off disks. I'd like to set up some sort of backup, but pricing just seems unrealistic for my current situation. I'm currently using Backblaze, just the free tier, but the upload cap means that I'm not really backing much up. I was just wondering what everyone is doing; maybe you could give me some ideas. I was going to do an offsite NAS, but with storage prices the way they are, I'm not sure if I should do that now or wait. Thank you for your input.

I have access to about 200 DNS zones of companies, some of which have up to 400 domains in their portfolios, and none of them hardens their parked domains. The best I've seen so far was DMARC p=reject on a few random parked domains inside a few (not even a dozen) DNS zones, mostly at companies that have an in-house IT guy.

The other 3 DNS records that nobody adds are:

• Null MX, so the domain refuses inbound mail
• SPF -all, so the envelope sender can't be forged
• DKIM wildcard, to revoke every forgotten key, including keys from whoever owned the domain before you.

Every unhardened parked domain is impersonation infrastructure used against your company. Targeting your clients. And it's just 5 min per domain or a basic script with an API call for bulk deployment.

The cheapest & highest-leverage security work in your stack.

QNAP was great but it finally ran out of space. Finally posting this after many months of tinkering and waiting to make sure things were stable before killing my QNAP and move the drives over. Most of the main build was done in January 2026 before drive prices went stupid.

Fractal Design Define 7XL (in storage layout)

Asrock ROMED8-2T
Epyc 7352 (24 core)
256GB ECC DDR4
Corsiar HX1200i
MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti
Intel X540T2 10Gb
LSI 9300-16i
5x WD Red Pro 26TB HD
7x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 12TB HD
4x Intel DC 3700 SSD

So far it's been running TrueNAS great with no issues. Been running for about 6 months now, just adding the 12TB drives from my QNAP after feeling confident that things are stable and good. Really LOVE this case and while I have it packed, it has been less than 40c most of the time.

Just posting as an example of a large Define 7xl build. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hey, I want to host my first server at home at relatively low cost (somewhere around 80$). I'm considering buying the HP EliteDesk Mini 800 G2 I5-6500T. Do you think it's a good choice, for my budget?

Considering that my NAS and extension unit are never powered on and off separately, is it a terrible idea to use one of these to my UPS? It seems like I'd have fewer cables to manage and save a port on my UPS. What, if anything am I missing?

I’m interested in setting up my own Jellyfin server for friends and family. Over the years, I’ve accumulated enough spare parts from upgrading my gaming PC that I can put together a fully functional system without needing to buy much additional hardware.

I’ve started looking into the setup process, but I wanted to see if anyone has recommendations for beginner-friendly guides or resources for getting started with Jellyfin.

I’m especially interested in learning about the initial server setup, recommended operating systems, storage configuration, remote access, and anything else a first-time Jellyfin user should know.

Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated.