hansolo77

I've updated the GOTM thread and pointed users to this thread. When GC creates the official thread, we should update that to point here. Since the plan appears to run the Christmas Comp the same way as the Halloween Bash (multiple games) I would assume the contest will be held in this forum rather than the official HS forum. Because of that, I've noted in the GOTM thread that we won't have December GOTM. However, we will have a January one, and that means we'll need suggestions for a new poll. Stay tuned!

@Adultery - Can you help me with my DLNA? I can't really get it to work right. I'm not sure if you use Emby or not, but needless to say I have it set up to use DLNA and blast announcements every 30 seconds (default). However, when I try to see it on my network from a connected BluRay player that supports DLNA, it doesn't show up. Strangely, what DOES show up is Media Player's "Digital Media Server". However, when using that, all I can see/play are AVI files because it's not performing any transcoding. The BluRay player is capable of playing mkv files, so it shouldn't even be transcoding. I suspect it's because the Digital Media Server doesn't recognize MKV as a video and doesn't include it in it's list of available streams. I used to use Serviio, but it was using too much system resources to have running all the time when Dad would only use it once or twice a month. Do you have any suggestions of what I should try? @tthurman - I have a "spare" Toshiba drive, but it's flaky. I started to notice the last 2 or 3 months I had it connected that the temps on the drive were increasing rapidly. Where they originally leveled around 38c, the temps gradually increased 3-4 degrees every 12 hours or so. I pulled it when it started hitting 50-55c. I put it in a safe place as an emergency backup and forgot all about it. When I rebuilt my server with the new 24-drive case I decided to reconnect it to add more storage, then I remembered the issues. Now it not only gets extremely hot, but the drive itself is constantly dropping connections. Either with the power completely dying or the data connection will disappear with the drive still spinning. I'm not sure if there is a way to RMA this drive, especially considering it's a rather old one (it has both SATA power and ATA power). Do you (or anybody else) know of any way I can try to replace this? @Everybody - So you guys all like WD huh? I've got my fair share of WD drives in my server. They perform just as well as the rest of them. My decision to buy Seagate, honestly, is purely based on cost. Time and time again, they're usually cheaper than WD. The NAS drives seem better quality than WD in comparisons I've seen, and they have extra business/enterprise features that I don't see with WD. Time will tell I guess, but if it'll make ya'll happy, I'll buy a WD next time.

haha

I've thought about that, but I've never had any issues with Seagate. There's that whole "your mileage my vary" thing, but honestly without any issues I'm happy with their products. I already own one of these 4tb NAS drives, and am really impressed with it. For my purposes of just media storage, they work great. Normal temps rarely go above 29c and high usage (moving files, not actually playing them) will spike at no more than 32c. That's awesome for a case that has 24 drives in it. The only time I've ever had an issue with Seagate was when I purchased a drive (labeled as generic on their website) a few years ago from a reseller. They guaranteed the drive would work for at least a year. It worked for 3 years then started showing wear signs. I was unable to initiate an RMA though because it was ripped out of a HP OEM computer, and Seagate requires the HP customer number in order to replace it (they tracked the serial number and know it came from an OEM). On the good news side of things, I got a reply back (instant?) saying they would reply back in 2-3 days. Woo. But I went back to refresh their page again, and it looks like they got more in stock. I was able to order one! This is a helluva good deal if you're looking for one of these drives. I'd like to get a bunch of 8tb's but they're too expensive right now. 1 drive at a time, when I can afford it, is good enough.

Here's my entry: Score: 31,840 Initials: HAN Stage: 4 Updated OP, DB, RSS

So get this. Newegg sent me their Cyber Monday ad in my email today. I took a look at their deals on storage, as I need to add some more space to my server. I've been waiting for a good price on the Seagate 4tb NAS drives. And boy do they have the sweetest deal ever. Normally $229.99, it is now $119.99. That's almost HALF the cost. When I clicked on it this morning, it was in stock. I initiated the order, and got to the final SUBMIT page, which I saw the final price and thought I'd better check my bank account. Sure enough, there's wasn't enough in there. So I got in the car and drove to the bank to transfer some money into it to cover the cost. Drove all the way back home and clicked the SUBMIT button. It craps out. Gives me an error about no items in the cart, or insufficient quantities (very generic error). I go back (thinking maybe the order timed out) and try to resubmit again, and it gives the same error. I go clear back to the original link, and see now that the item is on BACK ORDER. I could still click on it and initiate an order, but it continues to give me the same error. Now when I look at the item, it says OUT OF STOCK, and doesn't even allow me to place an order. What a bunch of BS. I had an order 99% of the way completed, but because I had to take like 10 minutes to get some more money I'm not out of luck? That's not right, not at all. I emailed NewEgg to see if they can do something. I doubt they will. What really pisses me off is that it's going to cost me 10% for that pay advance to cover the cost, and now I'm not even going to be able to get that. It'll probably go back up to full price after today too. And I had a fricken order already in place. UHG! Finger's crossed that the NewEgg guys have some Christmas Spirit. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178393&ignorebbr=1

I don't mind official releases.. it's the stuff that they DON'T want out that I don't want to see. This includes stuff like theories. The reigning theory at work right now is that Luke is actually the new bad guy's leader (think.. Emperor to Darth Vader, Luke would be the Emperor). The reasoning behind this idea is that you don't have any images of Luke in any released videos/trailers/etc. All you see is a robotic hand patting R2D2, which you're led to believe is Luke, but there's no face so you don't know if it is or not. By not showing Luke, you're mind begins to question why.. and this theory explains it. Interesting though. At the end of that clip.. it says [This film is not yet rated].

Yeah this is a great platformer. Updated OP, DB, RSS

oooh Sneaky! Updated OP, DB, RSS To everybody else.. LAST DAY TO ENTER!

Ahh that explains it then. I don't do multiple displays, and my card doesn't have that plug so... thanks for the clarification and explanation.

Consider it added! To everybody else.. only 2 days left! Updated OP, DB, RSS

Nice find, if I only had use for it. I've never even heard of "Mini Displayport". I'm sure somebody will cash in on that though.

Wow, almost to 1st place in the in-game leaderboard. I know you can make it there! Updated OP, DB, RSS PS - I'm on vacation this coming week. So if anybody has any last minute entries into this months GOTM, let me know and I'll get them added ASAP!

Hope everybody has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

You can definitely see your progression as you got more familiar with the game. I still need to play this one and submit a score before the deadline (which is only 4 1/2 days away!). Updated OP, DB, RSS

What? No way! Nice score too. Updated OP, DB, RSS

I hate Black Friday. The only day of the year to get the best deals of the year.. and I always have to work, and I never have any money saved up for it.

Dad's computer = Dad-PC My Media Center = MCE-PC My Server = Cerebro My Raspberry Pi2 Kodi - PiBox I originally had my Windows Home Server machine named "Sector-D12" and before that it was called "Tycho-Station".

Hahah great! I still love that trailer. The movie may bomb (please God don't let it) but that trailer is epic. I think it might be the music. John Williams is the best.

It all depends on your plans. DrivePool can essentially merge those 2 drives into 1 large drive. In my case, I have the C drive (Windows OS installation) and the D drive (DrivePool). The D drive is split amongst all the drives in the case, minus the SSD the OS is installed on. Without configuring redundancy, you can essentially have an 8tb drive. WITH redundancy it depends on what you want to do. You have the power to perform duplication on a drive level or down to the file level if you wish, with as many multipliers you want. For me, I'm doing a folder-level duplication of 2x. That gives me 2 copies of everything in my DrivePool's root path. DrivePool then does all the backend work as far as remembering which drive the folder/file I want is stored on, and with the 2x setting it guarantees that 1 copy exists on 1 drive and another exists somewhere else. That way if a drive fails, whatever is on it still exists on another drive. By using the 2x setting, I am also in effect cutting my storage space down by half. So even though I have about 40tb worth of drive space, only 20tb is available. However, like I said, you can set your duplication anywhere you want. So if you want to just have your /Music path set with 2x duplication, you can set the rest of your pool with NO duplication, and give yourself more storage space. But you have no way of knowing which physical drive your stuff is on, so if one drive fails, it may or may not have what you wanted. You could also set your /Music to 2x, and your Photos to 3x, etc. It's completely open to whatever you want to do. The way it works, DrivePool installs a kernel driver into Windows during bootup. So when you are looking at the Device Manager, it actually shows up as a device. The same is true in the Disk Manager, it actually shows up as a physical drive. Once you have it installed, you open up the DrivePool tab in the Server Essentials program (built into Windows Server 2012), and you see the pool and all the drives attached to the system. Select a drive you want, and just add it to the pool. Within seconds, that drive is now part of the pool. The neat thing is, you don't even have to have a clean/formatted drive either. It basically creates a hidden folder on the existing partition, where it stores any new files you put into the pool. If you decide you want to remove a drive from the pool, just click on it and select REMOVE.. within a few minutes (it has to calculate what files/folders need to be moved/copied to other locations) it's back the way it was before. It's really not difficult to use at all.

OMG the hype is so palpable! Too bad all the co-workers of mine are starting to get second thoughts on wanting to go see it in the theater. They're afraid ISIS is going to blow up the theater or something.

Best freaking episodes ever! Family Guy and Star Wars. That's why my avatar is so "Freakin Sweet!"

Meh, somebody just has too much free time. Why didn't R2 tell anybody about the history? Maybe because he's a droid who speaks in binary, or maybe because nobody asked him? Maybe sometime between Episode 3 and Episode 4 his memory WAS erased? Just because they don't show it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Maybe he was damaged in some rebel attack? Something else.. even if his memory was erased, that doesn't mean Yoda's and Obi-Wan's were. So in Episode 4 "lets find out what you are my little friend and where you come from" I think that was Kenobi really playing his part more to protect Luke. But Yoda.. unless he's gone senile and suffers from Alzheimer's, he should recognize R2. But again, he could be playing his part as well to protect his identity. And what about in the Death Star trench run.. Vader doesn't see R2 in the back seat? I mean, he shoots him! What'll really get you thinking is.. does Darth Vader recognize C3PO when they're on Bespin? If you recall, Boba Fett was going to shoot at Chewie, but Vader put his arm up to force his gun down. Did he do that because he didn't want C3PO damaged more than the junk dealers already did?

..not gonna watch!

* Updated OP, DB, RSS