using rsync:

why not btrfs send | btrfs receive? is there some advantage to rsync?

did you hotswap the drives after each btrfs replace or shutdown and then swap?

what’s your host OS and do the drives spin down if inactive?

thanks for the writeup!

I’ve set up a local mail archive with just dovecot + imap plugin. you don’t need the full mail server with postfix and whatnot, as it’s not intended to send anything anywhere, or even receive anything for that matter. it just sits there ready to be searched with thunderbird, no need for other complex solutions you’ve mentioned.

I wanted to write the same thing. have the notes app do the notes thing and handle encryption elsewhere.

as to apps, I suggest QOwnNotes. it’s markdown, highly configurable so you can make it minimalistic AF, stores notes in invidual files and folders. it also has a bunch functionality like syncing to nexctcolud and such, but I’d advise against it, just use it as a notes editor. you don’t have to selfhost anything, make it use the e.g. Documents/Notes folder and you can use syncthing to securely replicate it to other devices.

first off, if you plan to scan the storage for bad “sectors”, that’s gonna take eons if the disk is of any considerable size. what’s more likely is you running the SMART self-test and that will work over any medium.

the cables absolutely can and do cause corruption, whether it’s plain SATA-SATA cables or the USB-SATA with their own controller on it; however, if you don’t have reason to suspect this particular cable/adapter is faulty, it’s not a worry vector per se.

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any mods around? what’s this bullshit have to do with programming?

I have acknowledged that they’re that, but that’s not what OP asked for - they asked for a cheap setup (which the minis ain’t) and they intend to run a servarr instance, which implies large storage and those are both difficult and not cheap to cram into said minis.

I don’t understand the fascination of other commenters with mini-PCs, as the mini-ness was mentioned nowhere in the OP.

any used and decomissioned old office PC, any i5/i7 is way more powerful than you’ll need for that setup. you get everything you need right in the box and you can cram it full with cheap RAM and hard disks. you get to repurpose something that’s useless as a desktop workstation and not buy more future e-waste.

yes, the mini-PCs and the Rpis are more power efficient, but the operating costs of a $30-50 PC don’t come close to the price of buying one of these mini-things, not to mention - figuring out how to run large hard disks with it.

maybe there’s some way to filter out the stepmothers with the stepfathers on the stepladders…?

I’m really sorry for reiterating this, but what you wrote also implies that movies that weren’t on any list will also be deleted (don’t want that), along with the movies that were on a list and now aren’t (do want that). do you have first-hand experience with this?

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QOwnNotes (had to look up the exact name as it’s the stupidest app name ever). but compared to joplin it’s lighter, faster, simpler (no database but individual .md files and folders) and works well enough with syncthing.

sshfs and mount the remote fs locally. then you can use any editor/IDE you like.

Linux Mint Debian Edition 32-bit. but like there’s no way you’re gonna do anything useful with it. source: I have a C2D, so at least double as fast, max 4 GB RAM (doesn’t use all of it), X1600 graphics. that thing is unusable for anything.

granted, if you wanna enter your thoughts in some rudimentary text editor and just go CLI only, maybe you can have a whole week before you realize it isn’t worth it. huge power draw, terrible performance, a battery that lasts half a second and a screen that you can sorta-maybe-sometimes read.

quad core laptops with IPS screens that can run up to 16 GB are like $50 nowadays. throw it out.

enpass for password vault, it has integrated nextcloud sync. for me, adding another selfhosted app wasn’t worth it.

thanks for the link, explains it very well. how bout my activity, like IP address, up/down votes, clicks on links, favorites and whatnot, is that federated around or how does that work, i.e. who has access to it?