u/QuestionAsker2030

what is the best place to buy reliable USB sticks that aren't made in china? and are legit? should I physically buy them in person at best buy, to make sure I'm not getting a compromised usb stick? Or is it ok to buy off bestbuy.com or amazon or some other website?

I just want some USB sticks to create images of my computer state, stuff like that, a clean install. or random stuff in my homelab. Or should I just be saving those image files onto my NAS?

https://preview.redd.it/uee5ccotomjh1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=91cbae103062bffc7535baa035e52b2500e967ae

https://preview.redd.it/7zcwaxyxomjh1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7f7733d05d5229252899896ae617914b50a867a

https://preview.redd.it/cw9skh6zomjh1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=fed9600cc7c55a950f180773773db72bb9bbeaac

https://preview.redd.it/zdk2jrs0pmjh1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=2aa515c24d82b36fe6bc4fe1ddd5345462345718

what are the coolest homelab projects you‘ve come across?

I ordered all new Noctua fans, and saw that the A12x25 G2 PWM fans I got have these return labels on them.

Looks like someone had previously ordered them.

I opened them to check and they look new... but since I'm paying a premium for these fans, should I just return them to Amazon and request new fans just in case?

--------------

(It's odd because I also ordered a new NH-U9S and the fan on it is DOA - it wouldn't spin up at all, and confirmed another fan spun up on the same Fan Header on my motherboard. Was surprised to find all 3 Noctua items in my Amazon order have something going on with them).

Was hoping to buy a LG WH16NS40 for Quality Checking (LDC/BIS) my M-Disc burns, burnt on a Pioneer drive.

Would the best place to buy one be ebay? Or is there a known reputable seller of these drives that sells them on here maybe?

I know Pioneer is the best, but for quality scanning (LDC/BIS), I know they can only be done on LG or LiteOn drives from what I hear.

I'm building a archival PC with 2 x 5.25" bays, and plan to install:

• One Blu-Ray drive for burning 25GB to 100GB M-Discs (Pioneer)
• One Blu-Ray drive for Quality Scanning the M-Disc burns from the Pioneer (LG or ASUS)

Does anyone else here Quality Scan their M-Disc burns?

Background:

I read that since I'm using my M-Discs for long-term archival (on-site and off-site), I should not only be verifying them post burn... but also scanning them for LDC/BIS (error-correction workload / margin)...

...and tracking those numbers to check when my Pioneer burner might need to get replaced (error numbers consistently going up).

I'm debating on using the Noctua NH-U9S or the NH-C14S, and was wondering:

• Will getting the NH-U9S make working inside the GD08 way easier? Or almost the same?
• How much more powerful is the NH-C14S, compared to the NH-U9S? (And quiet at idle, or low usage)?

My rig won't be super powerful, but just thinking about it from the viewpoint of having the extra headroom there if I ever did want to upgrade this rig into something more serious.

I'm using spare parts to build a second PC that will function as a:

• Archival workstation (2 x BDXL burners, the GD08 has 2 x 5.25" bays)
• Occasional Test Bench (to open up 2 or 3 times a year to test PC components in).

Figured that way could use this as a second PC from time to time, and since it opens at the top, I could open it up to test any spare CPUs I come across about twice a year or so.

The Silverstone GD08 seemed like a great case to meet these needs.

(PS - Does anyone have pics of the NH-C14S inside the GD08 case? I couldn't find any online).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current parts list:

Case Silverstone Grandia GD08

Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus (manual)

RAM 2 x 8GB KingSpec DDR4 3200MHz 1.35V KS3200D4M13508G

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U9S (or NH-C14S?)

NVMe Drive 1 TB NVMe

GPU ASUS Video Card GT1030-2G-CSM GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64Bit PCIE 3.0

PSU Corsair 850W

3 x Case Fans Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM

(Note: The Mobo, RAM, and PSU are spare parts I have laying around).

I'm debating on using the Noctua NH-U9S or the NH-C14S, and was wondering:

• Will getting the NH-U9S make working inside the GD08 way easier? Or almost the same?
• How much more powerful is the NH-C14S, compared to the NH-U9S? (And quiet at idle, or low usage)?

My rig won't be super powerful, but just thinking about it from the viewpoint of having the extra headroom there if I ever did want to upgrade this rig into something more serious.

I'm using spare parts to build a second PC that will function as a:

• Archival workstation (2 x BDXL burners, the GD08 has 2 x 5.25" bays)
• Occasional Test Bench (to open up 2 or 3 times a year to test PC components in).

Figured that way could use this as a second PC from time to time, and since it opens at the top, I could open it up to test any spare CPUs I come across about twice a year or so.

The Silverstone GD08 seemed like a great case to meet these needs.

(PS - Does anyone have pics of the NH-C14S inside the GD08 case? I couldn't find any online).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current parts list:

Case Silverstone Grandia GD08

Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus (manual)

RAM 2 x 8GB KingSpec DDR4 3200MHz 1.35V KS3200D4M13508G

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U9S (or NH-C14S?)

NVMe Drive 1 TB NVMe

GPU ASUS Video Card GT1030-2G-CSM GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64Bit PCIE 3.0

PSU Corsair 850W

3 x Case Fans Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM

(Note: The Mobo, RAM, and PSU are spare parts I have laying around).

I'm debating on using the Noctua NH-U9S or the NH-C14S, and was wondering:

• Will getting the NH-U9S make working inside the GD08 way easier? Or almost the same?
• How much more powerful is the NH-C14S, compared to the NH-U9S? (And quiet at idle, or low usage)?

My rig won't be super powerful, but just thinking about it from the viewpoint of having the extra headroom there if I ever did want to upgrade this rig into something more serious.

I'm using spare parts to build a second PC that will function as a:

• Archival workstation (2 x BDXL burners, the GD08 has 2 x 5.25" bays)
• Occasional Test Bench (to open up 2 or 3 times a year to test PC components in).

Figured that way could use this as a second PC from time to time, and since it opens at the top, I could open it up to test any spare CPUs I come across about twice a year or so.

The Silverstone GD08 seemed like a great case to meet these needs.

(PS - Does anyone have pics of the NH-C14S inside the GD08 case? I couldn't find any online).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current parts list:

Case Silverstone Grandia GD08

Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus (manual)

RAM 2 x 8GB KingSpec DDR4 3200MHz 1.35V KS3200D4M13508G

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U9S (or NH-C14S?)

NVMe Drive 1 TB NVMe

GPU ASUS Video Card GT1030-2G-CSM GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64Bit PCIE 3.0

PSU Corsair 850W

3 x Case Fans Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM

(Note: The Mobo, RAM, and PSU are spare parts I have laying around).

I'm debating on using the Noctua NH-U9S or the NH-C14S, and was wondering:

• Will getting the NH-U9S make working inside the GD08 way easier? Or almost the same?
• How much more powerful is the NH-C14S, compared to the NH-U9S? (And quiet at idle, or low usage)?

My rig won't be super powerful, but just thinking about it from the viewpoint of having the extra headroom there if I ever did want to upgrade this rig into something more serious.

I'm using spare parts to build a second PC that will function as a:

• Archival workstation (2 x BDXL burners, the GD08 has 2 x 5.25" bays)
• Occasional Test Bench (to open up 2 or 3 times a year to test PC components in).

Figured that way could use this as a second PC from time to time, and since it opens at the top, I could open it up to test any spare CPUs I come across about twice a year or so.

The Silverstone GD08 seemed like a great case to meet these needs.

(PS - Does anyone have pics of the NH-C14S inside the GD08 case? I couldn't find any online).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Current parts list:

Case Silverstone Grandia GD08

Motherboard MSI X470 Gaming Plus (manual)

RAM 2 x 8GB KingSpec DDR4 3200MHz 1.35V KS3200D4M13508G

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U9S (or NH-C14S?)

NVMe Drive 1 TB NVMe

GPU ASUS Video Card GT1030-2G-CSM GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 64Bit PCIE 3.0

PSU Corsair 850W

3 x Case Fans Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM

(Note: The Mobo, RAM, and PSU are spare parts I have laying around).

I have RAM sticks that are chunky. I'm not sure where to measure from (the bottom of the motherboard?), but the RAM sticks seem to stick about 40mm above my motherboard (MSI X470 Gaming Plus). (Possibly a tad more than 40mm).

I'd have to run the NH-C14S with the fan on the bottom (low-clearance mode) as otherwise it won't fit my case (Silverstone GD08).

I hear with the NH-C14S, the bottom clearance is only 40mm.

That makes the Noctua NH-C14S a no go correct?

And I should most likely go with the Noctua NH-U9S?

Using spare computer parts for a PC that will be dedicated to burning archival disks.

I was thinking of getting a case that can install 2 x 5.25" BDXL drives, so I can either:

• burn two 25gb archival m-discs at a time (one onsite copy, one offsite copy), or
• burn disk B on one drive, while the other drive verifies disk A

My questions are:

1. Is this a good approach?

2. What would be a better drive combination?

• Pioneer BDR-2213 (primary burner) + Pioneer BDR-212UBK (secondary burner)
• or
• Pioneer BDR-212UBK (primary burner) + LG WH16NS40 (secondary burner)

3. I know most of those drives are super hard to find these days... so also looking for guidance in that regard. (Open to other drive suggestions.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

Using spare computer parts for a PC that will be dedicated to burning archival disks.

I was thinking of getting a case that can install 2 x 5.25" BDXL drives, so I can either:

• burn two 25gb archival m-discs at a time (one onsite copy, one offsite copy), or
• burn disk B on one drive, while the other drive verifies disk A

My questions are:

1. Is this a good approach?

2. What would be a better drive combination?

• Pioneer BDR-2213 (primary burner) + Pioneer BDR-212UBK (secondary burner)
• or
• Pioneer BDR-212UBK (primary burner) + LG WH16NS40 (secondary burner)

3. I know most of those drives are super hard to find these days... so also looking for guidance in that regard. (Open to other drive suggestions.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

(Asking here as I originally planned to install a M-Disc burner in my first TrueNAS build, but learned it's very hard to get it to work... so building a 2nd computer from spare parts, to have a M-Disc archival rig. Asking here since my TrueNAS box and PC archival box will work together in a 3-2-1 backup scheme).

Using spare computer parts for a PC that will be dedicated to burning archival disks.

• (One onsite 25 GB M-Disc, and one offsite 25 GB M-Disc, for each dataset.)

I was thinking of getting a case that can install 2 x 5.25" BDXL drives, so I can either:

• burn two 25gb archival m-discs at a time, or
• burn disk B on one drive, while the other drive verifies disk A

My questions are:

1. Is this a good approach?

2. What would be a better drive combination?

• Pioneer BDR-2213 (primary burner) + Pioneer BDR-212UBK (secondary burner)
• or
• Pioneer BDR-212UBK (primary burner) + LG WH16NS40 (secondary burner)

3. I know most of those drives are super hard to find these days... so also looking for guidance in that regard. (Open to other drive suggestions.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

Using spare computer parts for a PC that will be dedicated to burning archival disks.

I was thinking of getting a case that can install 2 x 5.25" BDXL drives, so I can either:

• burn two 25gb archival m-discs at a time (one onsite copy, one offsite copy), or
• burn disk B on one drive, while the other drive verifies disk A

My questions are:

1. Is this a good approach?

2. What would be a better drive combination?

• Pioneer BDR-2213 (primary burner) + Pioneer BDR-212UBK (secondary burner)
• or
• Pioneer BDR-212UBK (primary burner) + LG WH16NS40 (secondary burner)

3. I know most of those drives are super hard to find these days... so also looking for guidance in that regard. (Open to other drive suggestions.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

Using spare computer parts for a PC that will be dedicated to burning archival disks.

• (One onsite 25 GB M-Disc, and one offsite 25 GB M-Disc, for each dataset.)

I was thinking of getting a case that can install 2 x 5.25" BDXL drives, so I can either:

• burn two 25gb archival m-discs at a time, or
• burn disk B on one drive, while the other drive verifies disk A

My questions are:

1. Is this a good approach?

2. What would be a better drive combination?

• Pioneer BDR-2213 (primary burner) + Pioneer BDR-212UBK (secondary burner)
• or
• Pioneer BDR-212UBK (primary burner) + LG WH16NS40 (secondary burner)

3. I know most of those drives are super hard to find these days... so also looking for guidance in that regard. (Open to other drive suggestions.)

Thank you in advance for your help.