Hurray for Backups

On Sunday I went for a motorcycle ride. Not that this has anything to do with the subject...

When I returned home and tried to open a file using Excel on my computer, I got a "File not found" error. I know the file is there - I had just edited it a few days before. The file is on a network drive on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. I checked, and sure enough, that drive showed as not connected...

My NAS is a smart piece of hardware, specifically a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, that runs a flavor of Unix and contains up to four hard disk drives (mine has three 1.5 Terabyte disk drives) in a RAID array for redundancy. Failure of any one disk drive will result in no loss of data. Additionally, I have a couple of USB drives connected to the NAS, and every night while I sleep, it backs up all new and changed data to these drives. I periodically swap one of the drives out and store it "offsite" in case of disaster, like fire or theft, so I have a copy of my data that's not in my computer room.

I crawled under the computer table, and found the NAS completely dark. And it didn't want to power up. Unplugging it and plugging it back in got it to where it would power up. Whew - must have been a power hit that knocked it out, I thought (although it's plugged into a UPS, so that doesn't really seem likely). A few minutes later I came back, and found it working its way through the file system check. However, there was this faint unmistakable smell of hot electronics in the air. I touched the NAS, and it was very warm to the touch - unusual, as this unit normally runs cool. And the hot electronics odor was very strong around it. Figuring I was watching a catastrophic failure getting ready to occur, I pulled the plug. Then got down and used my nose to isolate the failure area.

The smell was clearly coming from the NAS, around the power supply. I pulled the disk drives out of it, checked the fans and vacuumed the dust out. It was dusty, but not bad enough to stop the airflow. To cut to the chase about the NAS, I found out I had a five-year warranty on it, and I purchased it just a bit over four years ago. 45 minutes on the phone with Netgear on Monday arranged a replacement, which is on its way to me.

But, back to editing my file. I now have around 2 Terabytes of data that is inaccessible. :-( That's "2" with 12 zeroes after it. 2,000,000,000,000 bytes. That's a lot of missing data. But remember I said that the NAS automatically backed up to a couple of USB drives every night? And I haven't touched this file for a couple of days. The backup should be current. I plugged one of the backup drives (they're formatted as Windows disks) into my computer, and copied that file from the backup drive to my C drive, and was able to edit it with no hassle. Hurray for backups. Now I only need to remember to put that file back where it's supposed to be when I get my NAS back up and running...

Hurray for backups! Did I already say that? Double Hurray for backups that actually work!!

R-Ides of March Charity Motorcycle Ride

Several weeks ago I went on a motorcycle ride with Team Ride West. This wasn't the typical motorcycle ride, though. I would describe it more as a "Scavenger Hunt." It was a mixed-weather day. A little sun, a little rain, a lot of gray. Temperatures were in the low- to mid-40s. If you are dressed for it, pretty good riding weather (love my Goretex-lined waterproof motorcycle boots!). 

The ride was organized by my friend David Preston (http://www.davidpreston.biz/). This was his tenth "R-Ides of March", a charity ride for Riders for Health. David also organizes the Chilly Turkey charity ride each November - definitely on my list of something to do when the time comes. 

Rather than riding as one group, each rider's goal is to accurately follow the directions that you are given when you register and then answer a question at intervals throughout the ride. The directions are simple, sort of. Like, go 2.3 miles and then turn left at 132nd Avenue, then turn right at 84th Street. Proceed through the stop sign and answer question 3. Question 3 might be something like "What comes before boom?" (an actual question from this ride). IF you have properly followed the directions, you will find yourself in Log Boom Park. And IF you are in Log Boom Park, answering the question is a piece of cake.

Many riders hook up with another rider or two and do the ride together. I thought I was late getting started so took off on my own, thinking if I was lucky I might catch up with someone to follow. Apparently I was the first one out the door, so there was no one to catch up with. And, no one caught up with me. No points are awarded for completing first, however. I had an absolute blast following the directions, discovering roads I'd never been on before, and listening to my own drummer. 

The ride ended at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park where we all had lunch together, told stories, and got to know each other a little better. Door prizes had been donated, and every rider (over a dozen participated) "won". And Riders for Health won, also with about $1200 in donations. 

I didn't take many photos this day (somewhat unusual  for me), but above is one I took of most of the motorcycles and riders in the Third Place Books parking lot. A few people had already departed, but for those that were left the conversations continued as we geared up and prepared to leave. My photo and more information about Riders for Health can also be found at http://www.riders.org/us/n_details.aspx?nwId=286 . 

What to do with old photos?

I've shot photos for over 40 years. Only the last 10 years or so have been digital, so as you can imagine, I have thousands (actually 10s of thousands) of images on slides and negatives. The good news is that I actually have and can find most of those slides and negatives.

All of my digital photos are on my computer, and "cataloged" (at least imported, not all are well cataloged) in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I found that once the photos were on the computer and cataloged, it was rather easy to locate them, tweak them (improve cropping, exposure, or fix the many where the camera just wouldn't stay level), and print, upload or email them so they could be shared. My first joy of photography is seeing again the pictures I have taken through the years. And the second joy is sharing these with others.

But what to do with the thousands of analog images? What else? Scan them and put them on the computer! So I've been doing that, a few rolls at a time, for the last 5 years or more. My first attempt was with a flatbed scanner that didn't have sufficient resolution or dynamic range (difference from darkest to lightest areas that can be recognized). Then I bought a dedicated film scanner and that opened up a whole new world. I found that the prints that had been made from the negatives were lacking range and color. And I could crop photos to improve them, or adjust under- or over-exposed photos. Many photos that I had thought to be only so-so turned out to be much more.

There are a number of scanners now available that will do an adequate job of scanning your negatives and slides. I scan my negatives and slides at around 2000 dpi. That's about all the detail that is in most of them. And with that I can easily make 8" x 10" prints even after a little cropping. If you were shooting on fine-grain film with very good lenses, and you want to get all the possible detail, you might try scanning at higher resolutions, but for me at higher resolution I just saw more film grain!

So far I've scanned about 10,000 negatives and slides. It's been fun to look back through the years and bring back photos from the past. I have many to go, but limited time. I usually scan a full roll at a time. It's just easier that way. I catalog the photos as I go - I have marked most photos with the date they were taken, and so set the "create" time of the digital image on the computer to match. I have also scanned old family photos going back into the 19th century.

So now I can look at these old photos any time I wish. And I can easily share these with family and friends. Now all I need to do is scan those other 10 or 20 thousand photos. :-)

If you want a little different slant on this, and more detail, take a look at this article from Shutterbug magazine: http://www.shutterbug.com/content/it-may-not-be-cull-after-all-some-notes-my-scanning-experiences.

Test entry from cell phone

Yuck! Snow, hail and rain blowing sideways in downtown Seattle when I left work today. I'm ready for motorcycle weather (that's warm dry weather, in case anyone had any doubt about it).

Gary has a Blog

I've never tried to blog before. At times I seem to have a lot to say, but when it comes time to write it down I wonder if it is of interest to anyone besides me. 


I trust something will appear in this space. Probably not regularly, more likely when the mood strikes, when I have something to say, when I'm peeved, when I'm in inspired. I hope that is often.

So, to kick it off... 

Last weekend I was cross-country skiing at Mazama. Despite my concerns there wouldn't be enough snow (and hence my backpack full of books to read), the conditions were good, as always. 


I was there with a group of people I go to Mazama with every January. I guess I don't really go with them - it's more like I meet them there. The members of the group vary a bit from year to year, but it's always a good group of people. I only see most of them on this annual trip, but it's always good to see them again. 


Weather was decent - gray on Saturday, a bit of sun on Sunday, and blue skies on Monday (the day we left for home). Temperatures were in the 20's. A little snow still on the trees in most places. Trails were well-groomed with excellent snow, and not many people on them. 


Kind of perfect. 




Gary