Update 2018:
Note that these tests are up to 9 years old. Use as a guide only.
What is here is what is here. I don’t have any other testing routes.
(source: Whirlpool “On The Road” forum and Hienz Driving School)
Carlton (2016)
Start of test –> End of test
So Resilient File System (ReFS) has been for 6 years so it should be stable for use with a backup drive, right?
Nope:
“Because ReFS was designed not to fail, if failure does occur, there are no tools provided to repair it”
When it does fail, you might just end up with a 2TB backup drive that you cannot read.
🙁
I found one third-party tool which does work, ReclaiMe.
Seems to work well. If I need to pull data off this backup drive, I’ll purchase a license.
was something I wrote about 8 years ago, in Detecting inactive computers in your AD domain.
So it was time to update that*.
Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties Name, LastLogonTimeStamp | Select-Object -Property Name, CanonicalName, @{ n = "LastLogonDate"; e = { [datetime]::FromFileTime( $_.lastLogonTimestamp ) } } | Export-CSV -NoTypeInformation "C:\temp\lastlogontimestamp.csv"
will give you a handy list of computer name and the last time they were seen on the network#.
* The Quest product is no longer free.
# within the last 14 days.
Reference:
PowerShell: Get-ADComputer to retrieve computer last logon date – part 1
Converting LastLogon to DateTime format
Script: LastLogonTimestamp export csv
I downloaded the latest Citrix Receiver product, and after the download, I was greeted with this:
It’s a quality product you have there Citrix.
I use VeraCrypt to create a encrypted hard drive. That way, if I lose the drive, the lucky finder won’t be able to read the data.
The steps are as follows:
I needed to ZIP-up some log files in a number of subdirectories. In the past, I have used the PKZIP utility.
I couldn’t find my copy of PKZIP 
“Doesn’t PowerShell have a compress-archive command?”
’Why, yes it does!’
Two commands later:
$files=get-childitem *.log -Recurse
compress-archive $files -DestinationPath c:\data\AllTheLogFiles
I had my AllTheLogFiles.Zip file.
My backup tool of choice is SyncBackPro. It’s a quality product at a reasonable price.
One of the things I backup is my Apple iPhone and iTunes folders. I take a snapshot of these by using the Compression feature, with a custom filename.
You can generate a custom filename this by creating your own variable in the Profile Setup/Variables area.
In the screenshot (about) you can see that I’ve created the Variable Name DATETIMENOW with the Value %YEAR%%MONTH%%DAY%_%HOUR%%MINUTE%%SECOND%
In the screenshot, this translates to 20180717_213656
I then use this in the Profile Setup for the actual backup:
As simple as that.
So the Dell Precision 7520/7530 has a USB-C port. Which you can plug a Dell USB-C dock into it.
And it works well. Until you close the laptop lid and the laptop decides to Hibernate.
“It’s faulty”, I say to the Dell Engineer.
Some thinking later, the Dell Engineer responds
The Precision laptop requires 180W of power to charge the laptop.
The USB-C output is at a maximum, of 100 watts. Notice how the battery icon shows that it’s not charging?
The solution, in the words of Dell:
“Systems docked via USB 3.0 Type-A connections or systems that require more than 65 watts power input to power the system and charge the battery will require a separate AC power adapter to power the system and charge the battery.”
Dell Universal Dock (D6000) system charging limitations
Plugging the USB-C dock into the USB-C socket will still allow you to use the dock.
Just not charge from it.
I read “somewhere” that being jolted awake isn’t good for your health.
I’ve noticed that it does make my heart rate spike, so there’s something to that.
I’d heard of gradual alarm clocks being a better way to wake up. The alarm goes off quietly, and the alarm volume increases over time.
So I looked around and couldn’t find a alarm clock which did this.
“What about an app?”, I thought.
Progressive Alarm Clock was the first iPhone app I found.
So I’ve tried it for a week, and I’ve found that it is relaxing to be woken up each morning with the ringing of a Tibetan Singing Bowl. My only dislike is that the user interface looks dated.
“There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other. To those who have never lived through its turnings and walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.”
? Suzanne Clothier, Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs