http://www.idkfa.com/v3 idkfa: syndicated http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2993 Amazon has a cloud app/storage. No need to download it all!! Governator@idkfa.com (Governator) Indiscernible from Magic Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:24:42 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2993 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2987 Don't worry. I just downloaded an album from Amazon. And then uploaded it to my cloud player. And now I'm downloading it to my phone. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:08:49 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2987 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2986 I see what you're trying to do here: save him money that he should be rightfully spending at Amazon. I'm going to file a petition to Amazon and see if they'll buy this domain name and shut down your website, or sue you into oblivion for undermining their complete internet dominance. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:06:26 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2986 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2985 I had a bunch of nice, technical reasons for my conclusions (and for keeping old computers), but... really, not particularly relevant. You want to buy a Macbook. I say buy a cheap, refurbished Macbook with full warranty (not just whatever warranty is left), store your Mini while you're gone, and spend whatever you save on a more reliable backup solution (SSDs aren't necessarily more reliable). Multiple, automatic, incremental backups are the way to go. Apple hardware may have the illusion of being higher quality, but all hard drives are made by the same few manufacturers, and laptop hard drives are notoriously unreliable. Assume your laptop's drive will catastrophically fail, and spend accordingly. Between music, movies, and photos, I'll assume you have 50GB, maybe upwards of 100GB of data you'd prefer not to have lost. Not only would it take years to get it uploaded, but a decent buffer of having 200GB of space on an Amazon Cloud Drive costs about $200 a year. It's a nice service, and allows you to not have to worry if your laptop is destroyed, broken, or stolen, but it's impractical for people to store the entirety of they want to have reliably backed up. Time Machine does a good job, but it doesn't work (or at least doesn't work well) over the Internet. There are other solutions, but they are slightly more technical... and might involve keeping computers / hard drives at Josh's house. Inquire further if you're interested. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:59:43 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2985 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2984 Bah, well, from those options, you have essentially discounted the first two. I would say that I love my macbook pro, but those things are incredibly expensive, and probably not worth it for what you do on the computer (or sounds like you do from the above lists). A macbook would probably be a great option, and refurb would make it pretty affordable. As for your files, upload them to Amazon's cloud service. It's free for 5gb I think. If not, I know it's free for at least a year if you buy ONE mp3 album. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:51:46 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2984 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2983 It's not a bad recommendation. Much as I can rely on free online services (Gmail, Reader), there are things that I need past those (encrypted tunneling, coding/scripting/data management interface, proxy services). Arguably, everyone should be interested in these things, but it's not everybody's cup of tea. Problem is dedicating the whole Mini to such a thing. Doing as such would take away a decent desktop/home theater machine, and make it somewhat inaccessible behind my (relatively) meager Internet connection. If Robbie (or other interested idkfa users) want a VNC, SSH, or RDP bastion, they need only nerd-snipe me into doing so. There's also that I think Robbie's traveling situation is temporary. He'd probably want the Mini back at some point, or at home, wherever home happens to be. Full recommendation to follow in reply to Robbie... kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:36:24 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2983 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2982 Send the Mac mini to Josh. Get an iPad 2 wifi that connects to your wifi hotspot iPhone. Get a program that allows you to VNC, SSH, or remote desktop into your Mac mini that Josh will have set up on his network. permanent online interactivity with your data. Voila. Now wait for Josh to destroy my recommendation. kitacek@idkfa.com (kitacek) Indiscernible from Magic Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:01:22 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2982 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2981 I need tech advice, so I figured you nerds were the people to ask. I'm ever so pleased with my Mac Mini. It is fast, has never crashed ever, doesn't complain about the things I make it do, and is cute on my desk. But I'm going to be traveling again, and I kind of want some portability. I figured my options were: macbook (or pro) in addition to my Mini, which seems silly, because I don't need that many computers. Keep the Mini (and put it in storage when I'm traveling) and rely on iPhone when out and about. I like this in theory, but I want a keyboard, a word processor, flash, all my music, and the ability to switch email accounts (which I could set up I know but I'm lazy). Get rid of my Mini (I'm thinking mac recycling program) and get a Macbook, or Pro, or Air. Probably refurb because I'm cheap. Also, keep in mind that I will probably plug it into external monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse when I'm using it at home. Option three is the strongest contender right now. If I go with option three, here's a quandary. I would send my mini in (to get a couple hundred bucks) before ordering my new laptop. I currently have all my stuff backed up using TimeMachine on an external drive (the kind that still has a spinning disk inside, which I understand is slightly more likely to fail). I could just keep the TimeMachine back up and then put it on the new laptop, but there is probably plenty on my computer that I don't need/forgot about/shouldn't have anymore. So then I'm thinking I reformat the drive and just transfer the stuff I want- files, music, pics, etc. Start fresh. This sounds appealing to me. I'm a little terrified, though, of putting all my stuff on one poor external drive, waiting for a new computer. Sooooooorry for the tl;dr, but thoughts geek friends? Wilber@idkfa.com (Wilber) Indiscernible from Magic Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:43:24 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=2981&msg_id=2981