Susan\u2019s 27-inch iMac died. Our Synology network-attached storage (NAS) server died. The Tameri hosting service experienced a major \u201cglitch\u201d that blocked FTP access. Susan\u2019s iPhone stopped syncing with iCloud. The podcasting service I was using unceremoniously stopped working.<\/p>\n
Technology fails, and our daily lives get put on pause.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Sunday, we drove over to the Apple store and bought a new Mac Studio. It\u2019s a great piece of hardware, but we sure didn\u2019t want to be spending $2000 on a new computer.<\/p>\n When Susan\u2019s offline, that disrupts everything we do. She manages the household budget, Girl Scouts, school communication, medical appointments, and everything else. She is the CEO of the household.<\/p>\n It took two days to get Susan\u2019s iPhone, iCloud, and Mac Studio all on the same page. Synchronizing data seems to be a lot like kicking a vending machine to get the chips that don\u2019t quite fall after you pay for them.<\/p>\n Whatever killed the aging iMac might have downed the Synology DS1515+ as well. The motherboard failed.\u00a0Lousy timing since the Synology is home to our Time Machine backups.<\/p>\n Hoping the drives within the Synology NAS aren\u2019t dead, we\u2019ve ordered a new DS1522+ and I will try to migrate the 24 terabytes of storage to the new system. \u201cAnxious\u201d doesn\u2019t quite describe how I feel about this. And there goes another $700, plus tax and shipping.<\/p>\n Yes, yes, yes, we use a UPS.\u00a0<\/strong>The uninterruptible power supply is massive and only a few years old. But, we\u2019ve had a lot of electrical storms and power dips. Things do happen.\u00a0We also have two extra Time Machine drives, one for each computer.\u00a0Our current data are safe.<\/strong><\/p>\n What I\u2019m worried about are the years and years of data archived on the NAS. In particular, we had photos on those drives.<\/p>\n We need to buy two more external drives. I\u2019m going to buy new drives for our photos and other documents. Of course, that\u2019s assuming I can get the drives back online. Once the RAID is online, we\u2019ll buy new NAS-certified hard drives and replace the aging disks.<\/p>\n Keeping hardware for years and years might not be the best idea. Susan\u2019s computer was seven years old. The NAS was from 2016 and had been running 24\/7 for all those years. The RAID hard drives are the same age, with the same wear.<\/p>\n Susan\u2019s photos, genealogy records, and more were on the Synology NAS. All the homeschooling materials were on the NAS. All my audio and video projects were there. Our ebooks. Our media library.<\/p>\n Not being able to access our blogs and primary website? I\u2019m already anxious enough.<\/p>\n I spent two hours working with our ISP to get the server back to normal. Thankfully, everything is working again. (If it wasn\u2019t working, there would be no blog post.)<\/p>\n When the podcasting service failed to work, I switched over to Zoom the next day. I don\u2019t like Zoom, but it works well enough. I really liked the old service\u2026 when it worked! Unfortunately, my podcast guests also struggled to use the other system. Zoom dominates video conferencing and integrates with more tools. (I plan to write a post just on the podcasting issues I\u2019ve experienced this year.)<\/p>\n Our lives rely on technology. Paper was more reliable, though not as convenient.<\/p>\n I would love to mark Labor Day with all our technology back in order and online.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Susan\u2019s 27-inch iMac died. Our Synology network-attached storage (NAS) server died. The Tameri hosting service experienced a major \u201cglitch\u201d that blocked FTP access. Susan\u2019s iPhone…<\/p>\n