Finally a way to enjoy the internet at home across all devices without the overwhelming onslaught of Ads! When I say all devices, I mean ALL devices; Apple 4k TV, SMART TV, Andriod, iPhone, iPad, laptops, desktops, servers, and virtual machines. Let’s eat!

This all started because Final Cut Pro X does not (currently) support H.265 videos. So, thanks to Apple, we have now created a server that will automatically encode or transcode video using watch folders with Handbrake. The most important thing about this server, is having all work done automatically on it’s own. That way I can drop the videos into the watch folder and work on something else while Handbrake does all the work. Hmmmm, where to start…. prepare for word walls!

I really needed SQL to get anything useful out of this. Laziness got the best of me and nothing too cool was found. But come on, Toys R Us was running Windows Server 2008 R2….

This is essentially the unRAID do everything build. This is my unRAID NAS server, Plex Media server, Unifi controller, Unifi Video, PiHole, and virtualization system. I’ve really put a lot of eggs into one basket with this build but sometimes it’s just very convenient to have a system that can do it all.

Updated 2020 - I recently just shucked my first WD 10TB Easystore and as far as I can tell it is a Helium filled hdd, with a 256MB cache and runs at 5400 RPMs. Perfect for a home NAS.

I got mine from Best Buy early Black Friday (BBBF) sale for $179.99, which seems like a good deal when compared to other 10TB hard drives and the $299.99 shelf price. Now this was the BBBF edition that came with the SanDi… WD 32 GB Flash Drive and not the “Normal” EasyStore.

After a long wait, a great deal of debate, and my wallet shriveling up and turning to dust... I bought a 2018 MacBook Pro.  Did I need one?  Well, sort of but mostly no.  Despite all of that, let's actually explore my justifications and uses for the MacBook Pro.

I recently just shucked my first WD 8TB Easystore and despite what I have read on the internet, I don't believe my "White label" 8TB drive is a WD Red drive.

I've been wanting a rack mount UPS(un-interuptable Power Supply)  for quite sometime now, I have easily been looking at options for about 2 years.  It seems like the go to recommendation is an APC Smart-UPS 1500 LCD RM 2U 120V (SMT1500RM2U), from RefurbUPS.com.  Which on it's own is a great option, and boy oh boy, did I ever eye ball the hell out of one of those. 

The hunt for a Dell R330 from Toys R Us was wildly successful. Just waiting for the call to pick them up.

With unRAID 6.0+, this is incredibly simple.  Literally, unplug the USB thumb drive and all the drives from the existing server and put them all in the new one.  For me, unRAID immediately recognized the drives and put them back in there original disk order.

Recently I have had hard drives consistently becoming "disabled" on my new AsRock EP2C602-4L/D16.  At first I figured it was because I ripped out the unRAID USB drive from a Quanta S210-X22RQ and into the AsRock motherboard.  Probably not the wisest move but it worked out, well, unRAID installing itself on the new hardware and working it's magic to recognize all previous devices part worked out.

In this "guide" you will find exactly everything I used to make this happen.  Some things can be changed to fit your specific needs BUT I haven't tested anything else beyond what you will see and find in this guide.

Update for the rack mounted gaming rig / server and using USB Type-C 3.1 on the EVGA X99 Motherboard.

The homelab is dying!  How do I go on!?!?

Found this 1TB M.2 NVME SSD on Craigslist for $150 USD.

Little post about my second attempt at virtualizing Bitcoin Full Nodes.

I've gotten a few requests on how to do this.  It is pretty simple and straightforward once you figure it out.  So here it is.

Finally, the long awaited update for my experience.