rostasi

Wow. OK, I don't get that at all because, for me, Backblaze is incredibly easy. I can't see the interface getting any easier. The moment I opened it up, it began reading the drives and began the back-up. I never have to look at it ever again, but I just might every few months just to see that it's still working by clicking on the icon in the menu bar at the top. It tells me what's recently happened: I just can't imagine it getting any easier than that. Speed? I started it with a huge amount, so I knew that it would take a long time, but I just go on doing what I do and it handles the rest without me even having to mess with it. If I were a laptop user, I could still pick up where I left off at any time (unless it's been over 2 weeks, then they send you an email asking where your drive is). [I just checked: my initial backup was a bit over 1TB/day. - which, for me, was fine - considering I didn't need to always be aware of it. I could easily do all kinds of other things while it was doing its thing]. So, yeah, for me, it's an incredibly simple, reliable solution (with extra benefits at an incredible price).

This goes out to JSngry for his birthday today.

Don't know which service you're talking about, but mine actually uploads it for me. I don't have to do a thing.

Big band brassy jazz-rock was a thing in those days. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, and a slew of others. My uncle, was an agent for Chase and Ides of March and worked with Woody Herman too during that time. Other labels jumped on the bandwagon as well, so you had Chase on Epic, If on Capitol, those Don Ellis sides, Maynard, Buddy Rich, and so on. I was swept up in it as well. Watrous got a lot of play on my radio show in those days because people called in and asked for him.

I think the next year's "Tiger of San Pedro" made a bigger splash IIRC - especially the chart heard 'round the world, "Sweet Georgia Upside Down."

Looks promising. I usually just follow what the drive manufacturers say, but I haven’t bought a new one in quite some time, so maybe they say it’s OK to use hubs now. OK, so I stand corrected. I’ve never looked into them before even tho they’ve been around for a couple of decades. I guess I was just going by the things I’ve read in manuals a long time ago and just never needed to look further.

I hope this works. At least, it'll get you going in a forward direction while you mull over all of our various suggestions. Still, it's weird because if you're actually engaging the drive by listening to something on it, then I would think that it wouldn't register as "inactivity." Also, I forgot to mention that your drive shouldn't be connected to your computer thru a USB hub (if that's the case). That might cause some unexpected problems as well.

Yup, I'm sticking with my setup until I feel that SSDs are more reliable. They last a long time, but large data backups are iffy - even with using a UPS to stave off the power flux we often have here. Still, my favorite, most reliable drives, have been the Seagate Ironwolf. I use them inside a Mediasonic bay enclosure that fits 48TB of storage. Cloud storage is thru Backblaze. I try to read their very thorough reports on drive tech. I can get a free zip file instantly for smaller downloads (if I have to, let's say, retrieve that folder of files I tossed nearly a year ago) or: For music, I keep the restore drives. Yes, they are on "My Book" drives, but they aren't used - just physical backups: I'm on the plan that saves everything for one year, so I'm very happy with that setup. Music: it's like having your very own radio station pruned and curated to your personal taste.

There's also a new(ish) kind of SSD (well, to me, anyway) that's shaped like a stick of gum that's supposed to be better, but that's all I know until the time comes when I need to know.

I haven’t moved forward on SSDs for that reason … plus cost, years ago … but, also, that SSD circuits work on the capacitors and power supplies, which can fail and corrupt your data during a power surge or failure, so that’s why I haven’t yet gone over to them. Even as a boot, what I’ve used for the last decade is so quick - on the rare times I’ve needed to reboot - that it’s kind of a non-issue for me.

I have clunky “My Books” on the floor in my office that I’m no longer using - usually because they’ve just given out and you can’t just open them up and get the drive out (believe me, I had to give up a number of times), so they’re doorstops now. I’m more partial to drives that are not closely encased, so if you want to stick with something other than an SSD, then either go with bare drives in a docking station or bay enclosure … and if you do stick with an enclosure, then, yes, I’d second the “My Passport” idea. Also, I’d add: the only closely encased drives I get now are ones sent to me filled with music that I’ve saved ”in the cloud.” The cloud service I use will send me them in 8 TB encased drives if I want to safekeep. This means that they’re filled drives in storage - unused - so I don’t have to be worried about “wear and tear” on them.

Also, is it not possible to load tunes on a cell phone? I've often thought that if my iPod ever goes, I can probably buy a phone to do the same job. I've never had a cell phone, so I don't really know the answer to this, but it seems like this could be the case?

Did you check your settings on the WD Utilities app that comes with the drive? It works the same way as the settings on the PC that was just recommended, but is in the prefs of the Utilities app. I mention this because a very long time ago, I had a similar problem. I now have a different setup because of the size of my collection (28 TB of drives).

After watching John Oliver on the terrifying state of America’s freight train industry and the funny/sad tale at the end narrated by Matt Berry, I discovered this funny bit about Mats Gustafsson written by R. Crumb:

For most of my life (so not just “these days”), I’ve had access to a large number of books from various local libraries … tho, I have to say, I’ve never felt the need to comment on the fact that I’ve not read most of them. It’s kind of a given.