Kurt Raschke
@kurtraschke.com
they/them
Transit and technology, mostly. Prone to ranting.
Reposts and favorites are not endorsements. Posts are solely my own.
ABATE NOXIOUS STIMULI.
Transit and technology, mostly. Prone to ranting.
Reposts and favorites are not endorsements. Posts are solely my own.
ABATE NOXIOUS STIMULI.
It was as if I were being followed by the infernal contraption.
December 6, 2025 at 12:55 AM
It was as if I were being followed by the infernal contraption.
These contraptions have no place on any road, anywhere, least of all on city streets.
But it is the HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY for a company whose goal is to "limit our impact on the communities we touch" to commission these monstrosities to roam around for a daft, insipid ad campaign.
But it is the HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY for a company whose goal is to "limit our impact on the communities we touch" to commission these monstrosities to roam around for a daft, insipid ad campaign.
December 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Quoting www.columbia.com/sustaining-p...:
As an outdoor company, we make every effort to respect and preserve natural resources. Our goal is to limit our impact on the communities we touch while sustaining the land we love.
As an outdoor company, we make every effort to respect and preserve natural resources. Our goal is to limit our impact on the communities we touch while sustaining the land we love.
December 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Quoting www.columbia.com/sustaining-p...:
As an outdoor company, we make every effort to respect and preserve natural resources. Our goal is to limit our impact on the communities we touch while sustaining the land we love.
As an outdoor company, we make every effort to respect and preserve natural resources. Our goal is to limit our impact on the communities we touch while sustaining the land we love.
Yeah, that feels like…not the framing I would have used.
December 4, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Yeah, that feels like…not the framing I would have used.
Bonus points if this causes my phone to make Airbus ECAM noises.
November 30, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Bonus points if this causes my phone to make Airbus ECAM noises.
Sure, my desktop browser can emulate a mobile device, but if I have a real live mobile device right in front of me, why not use it?
November 29, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Sure, my desktop browser can emulate a mobile device, but if I have a real live mobile device right in front of me, why not use it?
Of course, all of the usual messages about data management and backups apply here. RAID is not a backup strategy. You should have a plan for point-in-time restore, and you should have a plan for your _entire_ RAID array being wiped out, including off-site storage.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Of course, all of the usual messages about data management and backups apply here. RAID is not a backup strategy. You should have a plan for point-in-time restore, and you should have a plan for your _entire_ RAID array being wiped out, including off-site storage.
But, for hot storage, large drives create risks that are almost certainly not worth the benefit of needing fewer drives overall.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
But, for hot storage, large drives create risks that are almost certainly not worth the benefit of needing fewer drives overall.
Again, if you just want a big place to stash some data that you genuinely don't care about losing—a "convenience copy", if you will—then maybe a large high-capacity drive is worth it. Such a drive may also be worth it as part of a long-term archiving plan.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Again, if you just want a big place to stash some data that you genuinely don't care about losing—a "convenience copy", if you will—then maybe a large high-capacity drive is worth it. Such a drive may also be worth it as part of a long-term archiving plan.
But what if you actually have tens or hundreds of terabytes of data? You're going to need more drive bays in your NAS, period.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
But what if you actually have tens or hundreds of terabytes of data? You're going to need more drive bays in your NAS, period.
In short, you want to keep rebuild times down. You want to get the array out of a degraded state as quickly as possible, and that means that waiting to copy 12, 16, or even 24 TB on to a new drive can be an unacceptable risk.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
In short, you want to keep rebuild times down. You want to get the array out of a degraded state as quickly as possible, and that means that waiting to copy 12, 16, or even 24 TB on to a new drive can be an unacceptable risk.
If you're running raidz3, for example, you may be able to withstand this. Otherwise, you may find yourself testing your backup plans.
This effect is more acute when you have a smaller number of large drives, rather than a larger number of small drives.
This effect is more acute when you have a smaller number of large drives, rather than a larger number of small drives.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
If you're running raidz3, for example, you may be able to withstand this. Otherwise, you may find yourself testing your backup plans.
This effect is more acute when you have a smaller number of large drives, rather than a larger number of small drives.
This effect is more acute when you have a smaller number of large drives, rather than a larger number of small drives.
Rebuilding a RAID array necessarily stresses the remaining drives. Sometimes, this leads to cascading failures, where the stress of a rebuild takes out another drive before the rebuild has completed.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Rebuilding a RAID array necessarily stresses the remaining drives. Sometimes, this leads to cascading failures, where the stress of a rebuild takes out another drive before the rebuild has completed.
The trouble is, as drive capacities increase, so do rebuild times. And that's assuming you even have a replacement drive on hand (or even better, a hot spare in the array). In the worst case, the array runs in a degraded state for a while, before eventually beginning the rebuild.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The trouble is, as drive capacities increase, so do rebuild times. And that's assuming you even have a replacement drive on hand (or even better, a hot spare in the array). In the worst case, the array runs in a degraded state for a while, before eventually beginning the rebuild.
But here's the thing: while hard drive reliability has greatly improved since the days of 500 MB drives and stiction and IBM Deathstars, losing a modern high-capacity drive is still a possibility and would be enormously impactful.
"Don't worry, I'll put it in a RAID array!", you might say.
"Don't worry, I'll put it in a RAID array!", you might say.
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
But here's the thing: while hard drive reliability has greatly improved since the days of 500 MB drives and stiction and IBM Deathstars, losing a modern high-capacity drive is still a possibility and would be enormously impactful.
"Don't worry, I'll put it in a RAID array!", you might say.
"Don't worry, I'll put it in a RAID array!", you might say.