Category: Life

Synology on End of Life

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

For those that might know me will know that I do want to back up my systems. I have an iMac with Backblaze, and my MacBook Air is using my Synology 2 bay NAS for Time Machine backups. I would have liked to use Time Machine for my desktop, but there wasn’t enough storage. With that said, my current system is working fine enough. The Synology NAS has two 4TB in RAID-1. RAID-1 is typically a backup of my backup. Anything written to drive 1 is written to drive 2. Therefore, if a drive failed, the system can continue operating, and should notify me of the failed drive so it can be replaced promptly. However, I have been having some problems with the drive, and with Synology’s current policy that their new NAS systems will only accept the overpriced Synology drives, it is forcing me to consider new options.

I have done some research, and found that UGreen provides NAS systems, and therefore something worth considering. Now, I could probably use my 2 drives in my current Synology and save a lot of money, I am at a dilemma where 4TB is simply too small. While it works for the backup of my MacBook Air, it is only because the Air has a 512GB (½TB) which is more than enough for backing up the Air. However, you should have at least 4 times the capacity of the drive for backup solutions. Therefore, my current 2TB desktop will not be able to use the current drives, and even after investing into a new NAS, it will not consolidate all of my backup needs.

So, what am I considering. While in a perfect world, I would get their 8 bay NAS, but that is simply too expensive at more than $1,000. Keep in mind, that I don’t even get that much in a month’s income much less discretionary spending. So, I will need as low cost of NAS as possible. I found the UGreen DXP2800 which will exceed my needs assuming that I also invest in drives. The DXP2800 will support 2 hard drives in either 2.5″ or 3.5″ sizes. There is also 2 NVME slots which I will like to use as well. I will also add 8GB of memory to make caching quicker, but this is a very small $30 cost to the system. All together, everything will cost me $2,500. This will be a problem as if my current Synology fails on me, I will have to draw on a credit card, and will take a year to pay it off.

So why do I need such a large amount of storage. Well, let’s look at things realistically. First, my iMac desktop has 2TB of storage. This is the primary PC, and the system that not only plays my music, but also where I conduct most of my activity on. I have an MacBook Air which as noted above is 512GB. I then have my Framework. I am not concerned about the OS drive, but the personal files drive is more important. That drive is 4TB. All together, backup solutions for all three systems will need about 26TB. Now mind you, that won’t be filled immediately, but there will be that initial backup, and then incremental backups to add to the backup file. This is why experts recommend 4 times the drive capacity. When you consider that, the 30TB drive now makes a lot more sense. I could technically buy smaller drives, but then I would have to upgrade them, and that would cost more money, plus downtime backing up the systems all over again. This too me just makes no sense. Next is the 8TB NVME. Again, I will need 2 and they will be RAID-1. The 8TB NVME will function as a cloud storage drive. This will eliminate the need to rely on Dropbox, iCloud, or One Drive. I currently am using the free capacities which is enough for the role they are performing for now, but there might come a time where I will need to upgrade storage. Dropbox 3TB option is about $20/month which will add up when you are paying $240 per year. The 8TB is simply much larger, and will likely pay for itself in a year.

I will use my current arrangements until I can afford to buy my proposed plan. However, if the Synology NAS was to fail in the near future, then my options will need to be more immediate. There is no point in buying everything in pieces as none of the components will matter without the NAS, and the NAS is no good if there are no drives. The drives are the expensive part costing about $550 for each drive. This is where the hit is very hard, and the reason of the high expensive of just a NAs with 4 drive slots.

New (Hopefully Better) Pharmacy

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

On April 9, 2025 – I decided to change my pharmacy. I been thinking about this for a while, and gave them opportunity to fix their issues. However, I am tired of holding CVS’s hand in them doing their job. I didn’t have the problem until I was moved to CVS after the last Downtown Rite Aid closed. This was a couple of years ago, and I haven’t been at all happy with them. With that said, I am going back to Rite Aid even if I have to take a bus to get there, and a bus back. Read more “New (Hopefully Better) Pharmacy”

UBI, and How It Could Work

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

This posting is my opinion on Universal Basic Income (hereafter referred to as UBI). The concept of UBI is that everyone deserves a certain minimum amount of money to live well enough. There are a few ways this can be done, but the most popular is that everyone gets UBI. My concept for this plan is that everyone qualifies, but is a means tested. If the person doesn’t have a certain amount of finances available to them, then they will qualify. Once they reached a certain threshold, then they won’t qualify for UBI. Read more “UBI, and How It Could Work”

Dropped Ooma

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

In late September, I had decide to drop Ooma. There was nothing wrong with the service, but since all of my telephone numbers do not ring the Ooma phone, it was becoming a waste of money. When I had Ooma, I had the premiere plan which was $10 + another $10 for taxes on something that is free. With the regards to dropping Ooma, I now rely on my Callcentric Account for all of my home phone lines including my primary home telephone number (begins with =1 855), and all of my international numbers. With that in mind, I will be saving $20 per month, and have one less service that I will have to deal with. Right now, all of my telephone services are either with my cellular provider (1 telephone number) or Callcentric (the other numbers). This will simplify things, and make life a little easier. Read more “Dropped Ooma”

Dropped Skype

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I have finally decided to completely drop the usage of Skype. There were only 2 people that had any sort of communication with me, and I notified both of them that I will be dropping Skype. I also gave them my IM Resource Site (https://im.fsp.contact) for other options in communicating with me. Neither of them have as of yet decided to reach out to me. Even if they don’t want to provide their telephone number to me, I support Telegram which can be used without disclosing your telephone number.

The reason I dropped Skype was because I was getting too many scammers trying to waste my time with “I Love You – give me money” scams. So far, the SPAM in Telegram has been minimal. I do not miss Skype, and it has not been a good application for the past few years. With that said, I will likely not go back to Skype ever again – considering it as a service that continues to degrade as time goes on. I am guessing there are many legitimate people who are thinking the same way as I do. With that vicious cycle, I don’t see Skype ever recovering.

Why I’ll Never Use TextNow!

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

For those outside of the US, you might not know what TextNow is. To keep things simple, it is an app/service. You get a free US number that must be used at least once a month. They can also send you a SIM card to get “essential” data for free. So, in some degree, you can get a free phone number, and free cellular service. So why won’t I ever use it? Well, there are a couple of reasons.

No eSIM

There is no eSIM capabilities. Most mid-range or better phones are dual SIM with a nano-SIM, and an eSIM. Let’s assume that you have a work cellular line, and you have to use your physical SIM card slot for the work line. Well, this will mean you would have to have another phone. Now, I am not in favor of having your “work” and “personal” lines in one phone, but that is not the belief for everyone. Some people just want to carry one phone especially if that phone is a higher end phone. I have the iPhone 14 Pro Max (US Version). So what does that mean – no SIM slot at all. Both of my SIMs are eSIM only. There is no nano-SIM option. This started with all iPhones 14+ (US Model). Because of that, anyone with an iPhone 14 or better simply can not use TextNow. Read more “Why I’ll Never Use TextNow!”

Soon to Drop Skype

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

I have been a glutton for punishment. I have used Skype off and on for years, and every time I use it, it has been a disappointment. Almost everyone that contacted me were scammers, or otherwise insincere people. There is one person which I known for years on Skype, but I rarely communicate with her any longer. This is disappointing as Skype used to be a good service. However, as you can see, my perception of Skype has changed dramatically. I do have Skype installed on my PC, and on my phone. The app on the phone is just to let me know if someone sent me a message. When I reply, it is exclusively on the PC.
Read more “Soon to Drop Skype”

Back With Ooma

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

About 10 days ago at time of writing this post (204-June-16), I have decided to sign up with Ooma again. The reason for this was to have a phone line that I could use if for some reason my cellular phone was not working. I have my old system which consist of the Ooma Telo (ATA and DECT base station, 1 DECT adapter, and 2 phones). All of these are being put to the same use as before, and even had an incoming call (wrong number). I have a 60 day trial of Ooma Premiere even though this not a new system. I intend on keeping the Premiere service when my trial expires. Since I already owned the hardware, I didn’t have to purchase anything new, although setting up an old system was more trouble than good. I will get into that later. I have used it to make phone calls out on my Ooma system which call quality was good. I still usually rely on my cellular phone. Read more “Back With Ooma”

Dropped Stamps.com

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

Earlier this month, I have chosen to drop Stamps.com. This is because the service was becoming too buggy. I had to log in with Brave Web Browser, and then even so – the printing was buggy. With that in mind, I have chosen to cancel my account with them. This was not something I took lightly. I liked the concept of the service, and felt it worth the price. However, with the issues I had, and the fact there is no desktop Mac application made things all the worse Read more “Dropped Stamps.com”

Dropped LibreOffice

Frank PiloneLeave a comment

I really wanted to like it, and I was hoping for the best. However, LibreOffice didn’t seem to want to work well on my system. This is despite that my computer is using Apple’s M1 chip, and has 16GB of memory. The big problem was that the cursor couldn’t keep up with my typing. I am no professional typist, but the office suite just couldn’t keep up. There is no blame with the system as the problem only arose with LibreOffice. Read more “Dropped LibreOffice”