#and there's also usually a bajillion ways to do the project so sometimes the hardest part is just picking the software/hardware

[starstruckpurpledragon]

Decided that since my old laptop is generally fine and not blue-screening when not in danger of being moved about (but, ya know, if it's jostled slightly wrong from my dog kicking it in her sleep, it crashes), I'm gonna use it to create an at home data backup system, aka a DIY cloud.

Currently looking at various freeware options and Syncthing looks super easy to set up and use. And it's open source, which is always a plus in my books.

It's got syncing between computers. It has the option for versioning (different types to choose from) so if a file gets deleted there is a copy to restore from. And you can choose which folders are synced between which computers.

And because it's an at home thing, I can add space to it over time for backing up my audiobooks that I striped the DRM off of so I can play them on plex, all my music, dvd backups that I also play on plex, etcetera. Seems like a good idea anyway and my adhd brain is always looking for new fun projects to play with.

But also, should be super easy to replace the laptop running the syncthing backup without losing data should my laptop decide crashing when it's just sitting in one place every day is cool too.

My other computer project I'm gonna work on is creating a pi-hole firewall because I've never been totally pleased with the firewall box I've got set up already. It's run fine for years but it's getting old and I dunno how much longer it'll be supported, while pi-hole seems more customizable/to my tastes. So it's getting to be a good time to update that setup anyway. Also I've just... always wanted an excuse to play with a raspberry pi and this seems like a good one.