u/rklement22

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have positive experiences using a Hetzner Storage Box with Duplicati?

I’m considering getting the 1 TB Storage Box plan and using it specifically for backups with Duplicati. The initial backup would be around 350–400 GB, with more data being added over time.

I’d be interested to hear about your experience with reliability, upload/download speeds, Duplicati compatibility, and whether you’ve encountered any issues with this setup.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I recently started noticing that some Amazon products no longer allow us to retrieve the Amazon link in Stripe or use the ASIN (I believe that’s the correct term) when the product has a high return rate.

What’s weird is that these products are often among the best-selling ones.

Has anyone else been experiencing this? Could this be something Amazon is doing intentionally, perhaps to avoid paying commissions?

Just curious if others have noticed the same behavior.

Does anyone know if images generated with Midjourney contain any kind of invisible watermark or hidden digital marker, similar to the invisible watermarking used by Google for AI-generated images?

I’m curious whether Midjourney adds any metadata, watermark, or other invisible identifier that can be detected later.

Hi everyone,

Is anyone else experiencing issues with Google Analytics Realtime reports?

The realtime data on my websites has dropped drastically, and I can’t find anything wrong with the sites themselves. Everything is working normally, traffic seems fine, and I don’t see any tracking issues on my end.

Has anyone noticed a similar drop recently? Could this be a Google Analytics Realtime reporting issue?

Thanks!

Hey everyone! A friend gave me these three 2.5" mechanical hard drives for free, and they all spin up and work:

• WD Black 500GB (7200 RPM)
• HGST 500GB
• Toshiba 160GB

I want to test them thoroughly to check their actual condition, scan for bad sectors, and see if they are reliable enough to use as secondary storage in a mini PC.

Since I want to do a deep surface scan (I don't care how long it takes), what free software do you guys recommend to test these drives properly? Thanks!

I've been using Hubbub for quite a while to let visitors pin images from my WordPress site to Pinterest. Unfortunately, I've been running into constant conflicts with LiteSpeed Cache.

I've already excluded everything mentioned in Hubbub's documentation, but the issues keep coming back.

Can anyone recommend a good alternative for adding a Pinterest button? Ideally, I'm looking for something that:

• Works well with LiteSpeed Cache.
• Lets me disable the button for specific CSS classes (for example, aawp-product__image-link) or other specific elements.
• Is lightweight and actively maintained.

I'd love to hear what you're using and whether you've had a better experience. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Is anyone else experiencing issues with Google Analytics Realtime reports?

The realtime data on my websites has dropped drastically, and I can’t find anything wrong with the sites themselves. Everything is working normally, traffic seems fine, and I don’t see any tracking issues on my end.

Has anyone noticed a similar drop recently? Could this be a Google Analytics Realtime reporting issue?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently building my first homelab and I would appreciate some advice from more experienced users.

My plan is to use a mini PC with a Ryzen 5 7430U as the main server. For storage, I was thinking about starting with around 4TB. I was considering this setup:

• HDD enclosure: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Bay-Enclosure-Swappable-Tool-Free-Aluminium-black/dp/B0DD3GSZBP
• 4TB internal hard drive: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Plus-Internal-Hard-Drive-Inch/dp/B0GFFK7RSG

What do you think about this combination? Would this be a good approach for a beginner homelab?

My idea is to install ZimaOS and use some software (I’m still new to this) to automatically back up specific folders from my Windows PC and another Windows PC in the house every day.

Besides backups, I would like the mini PC to act as a small home server for storing and accessing movies, music, photos, and other personal files.

Do you think this setup makes sense, or would you recommend a different storage solution? Maybe a different HDD, enclosure, or even another approach?

Ideally, I would like recommendations that are available on Amazon Germany.

Thanks in advance!

I'm planning to buy a Mini PC to run a few lightweight services and leave it powered on 24/7.

At some point, I'd also like to add something like this:

2 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure with Fan for 2.5/3.5" SATA HDD/SSD (USB 3.0, no RAID/NAS):
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Bay-Enclosure-Swappable-Tool-Free-Aluminium-black/dp/B0DD3GSZBP

From what I understand, this enclosure just exposes the drives individually over USB (it doesn't have built-in RAID).

My question is: if I install ZimaOS (or a similar OS) on the Mini PC, would I be able to create a software RAID 1 (mirrored drives) for backups using those two USB drives?

Or is RAID over USB generally not recommended or even unsupported?

The goal isn't high performance—just a simple mirrored backup setup that's reliable enough for home use.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm about to buy a GEEKOM Mini PC A5 with the Ryzen 5 7430U to use as a small homelab running ZimaOS, and I wanted to ask current owners a couple of things:

1. Does it run hot, or is the cooling system efficient?
2. The extra SATA connector for a 2.5" drive: does it support 2TB SATA SSDs/HDDs without any issues?

If anyone owns this model, I'd also appreciate any other feedback or things I should know before buying.

One more thing: I found two listings for what seems to be the exact same model, and I can't figure out the difference. Did the seller just create two separate listings, or is there actually something different between them?

https://www.amazon.de/GEEKOM-Mini-A5-Ryzen-7430U/dp/B0F32NYQMF?crid=1KYMWM2YBM3Q9&dib

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/GEEKOM-Ryzen-7430U-512GB-Warranty/dp/B0CGJ4Y6H8?crid=1ZT8CK6SWWMB7&dib

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm about to buy a GEEKOM Mini PC A5 with the Ryzen 5 7430U to use as a small homelab running ZimaOS, and I wanted to ask current owners a couple of things:

1. Does it run hot, or is the cooling system efficient?
2. The extra SATA connector for a 2.5" drive: does it support 2TB SATA SSDs/HDDs without any issues?

If anyone owns this model, I'd also appreciate any other feedback or things I should know before buying.

One more thing: I found two listings for what seems to be the exact same model, and I can't figure out the difference. Did the seller just create two separate listings, or is there actually something different between them?

https://www.amazon.de/GEEKOM-Mini-A5-Ryzen-7430U/dp/B0F32NYQMF?crid=1KYMWM2YBM3Q9&dib

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/GEEKOM-Ryzen-7430U-512GB-Warranty/dp/B0CGJ4Y6H8?crid=1ZT8CK6SWWMB7&dib

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m about to buy my first mini PC, and I’m looking for something budget-friendly since I just want to learn and experiment with self-hosting.

My plan is to run a few basic services like:

• Gonic music server
• Immich (just to try it out)
• A WordPress server
• Plex
• Maybe a few other lightweight services in the future

Right now I’m thinking about something like:

• Intel N95 (or a similar CPU)
• 16 GB RAM
• 512 GB M.2 SSD
• 2 TB Seagate or WD HDD (SMR)

From what I’ve read, a good setup would be Ubuntu Server + CasaOS to manage everything.

Do you think that’s a good choice, or would you recommend something else? Maybe Proxmox, OpenMediaVault, or another OS instead?

This is my first time getting into self-hosting, so I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions before I buy. Thanks!

I was planning to buy a Raspberry Pi 5 to run Gonic, a torrent client, and other self-hosted services that I'd keep adding over time. The main goal is to avoid having my big, noisy desktop PC running 24/7.

Someone suggested that, considering the current Raspberry Pi prices, I might be better off buying a Mini PC instead.

The complete Raspberry Pi 5 kit I was looking at (including an M.2 SSD setup) would cost around 250 euros, but then I found this Mini PC for 256 euros:

BOSGAME E4 Home Office Mini PC

• Ryzen 5 3550H (up to 3.7 GHz)
• 16 GB DDR4 RAM
• 512 GB NVMe SSD
• Dual LAN
• HDMI / USB-C / DisplayPort
• Wi-Fi 5 / Bluetooth 5.0

Does anyone here own this Mini PC? Would you recommend it for a small home server?

My biggest question is how noisy it is. I'd like something that can stay on 24/7 without being loud.

Thanks!

It's been a long time since I last used a Raspberry Pi. The last time was back in 2019, and I only used it for a few very simple projects.

Now I'm thinking about buying a Raspberry Pi 5 (I think the 8 GB model will be enough for my needs). I also have a spare 256 GB M.2 SSD, so storage shouldn't be an issue.

My main plan is to run Gonic as a music server and a torrent client for downloading in the background.

Here's where I have a question. I want the torrent client to use Surfshark VPN. If I set it up that way, would Gonic also be forced to go through the VPN? If so, would that cause any issues with Cloudflare Tunnel?

Also, what other useful self-hosted services or applications would you recommend installing on a Raspberry Pi 5 to get more out of it?

I'm open to any suggestions since I'm basically getting back into the Raspberry Pi ecosystem after several years.

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to use SubStreamer with my Gonic server, but I can't get it to connect.

My setup:

• Gonic server running on my local network
• iPhone and server are on the same LAN
• Server URL: http://192.168.1.50:8080

The error I get in SubStreamer is:

"Fetch failed: UnexpectedException: The Internet connection appears to be offline. (ExpoModulesCore/Promise.swift:56)"

The strange thing is that other Subsonic clients (for example Amperfy) work perfectly with the same server URL, username and password.

Has anyone successfully used SubStreamer with Gonic on a network without Internet access? Is there any setting I need to change, or is this a known limitation/bug?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Today I installed Navidrome on my Windows PC to try it out. If I end up liking it, I'm planning to buy a Raspberry Pi and use it for Navidrome, along with a few other projects.

So far everything is working great, but there's one thing I can't figure out.

My music is organized in my Music folder the way I like it. Instead of organizing everything strictly by Artist → Album, I have top-level folders such as 80s Music, 90s Music, Country, ABBA, and many others. That's the structure I've built over the years, and I'd like to keep browsing my library that way.

Is there any way to make Navidrome display and browse my music using my existing folder hierarchy instead of relying only on metadata (Artist, Album, Genre, etc.)?

I'd like Navidrome to simply use the folders as they already exist on disk.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently struggling to create a new compute instance on Oracle Cloud's Always Free tier in the US-Ashburn region.

For the past few days, I have been trying to deploy a new instance, but I keep getting the following error regardless of which Availability Domain (AD1, AD2, or AD3) I select:

"No shapes are available for this image. Check your tenancy service limits or capacity to ensure required resources are available. Alternatively, select a new image or availability domain to see if shapes are available for thatimage."

I previously had an instance running, but I deleted it specifically to change the configuration, so my tenancy currently has zero resources in use.

Has anyone else experienced this issue in the Ashburn region recently? Is this a permanent capacity issue, or are there any workarounds to get an instance provisioned? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to figure out whether this is a Cloudflare-related issue or something else.

Starting today, two completely separate WordPress sites began experiencing the exact same problem at the same time.

Symptoms:

• The WordPress editor gets stuck on "Autosaving" forever.
• Image uploads to the Media Library fail.
• REST API requests to /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/... return 524 timeout errors after about 120–125 seconds.
• No WordPress core, theme, or plugin updates were made before the issue started.

I've already tried:

• Purging the Cloudflare cache.
• Clearing browser cache and cookies.
• Purging the LiteSpeed Cache.
• Testing with different browsers.
• Testing from a completely different internet connection (mobile hotspot).

The hosting provider says they can upload images from their side, but from my end the issue is completely reproducible on both sites.

Has anyone else experienced something similar recently? Could this be related to Cloudflare, an origin server timeout, WAF behavior, or something else I'm overlooking?

Any ideas or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Where do you usually buy PC parts in Bulgaria (SSDs, RAM, motherboards, GPUs, etc.)?

I've been looking at eMAG, but the prices seem really high, and the selection is quite limited. Honestly, that seems to be the case for many products there, not just electronics.

When I compare prices with Amazon Germany, I often find better deals, and many items even come with free shipping.

Are there any good Bulgarian online stores you'd recommend, or is it generally better to order directly from Amazon Germany?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Where do you usually buy PC parts in Bulgaria (SSDs, RAM, motherboards, GPUs, etc.)?

I've been looking at eMAG, but the prices seem really high, and the selection is quite limited. Honestly, that seems to be the case for many products there, not just electronics.

When I compare prices with Amazon Germany, I often find better deals, and many items even come with free shipping.

Are there any good Bulgarian online stores you'd recommend, or is it generally better to order directly from Amazon Germany?

Thanks!