Drobo systems flag SMR disks as failed within hours of installing them. Drobo specifically say their systems don't support SMR disks, so not knowing the recording method is a real pain.

I've already had three Seagate drives returned to the supplier for a full refund because it was not disclosed they were SMR and they didn't function with the Drobo.

I wouldn't use SMR in ANY raid arrangement. Just not worth it.

No,

see: https://drobocommunity.m-ize.c...

So, as a follow-up, it appears all major disk vendors are now using SMR on their higher capacity budget drives with various levels of openness about it.

As far as I know WD are the only ones shipping NAS certified drives with SMR, which is REALLY shady.

Another problem with SMR is that some RAID systems can kill them in a matter of days. Read the fine print of your raid system's supported disks section to see if SMR is supported.

Drobo systems, for example, don't support SMR.

So, for example, recently we purchased three new Seagate 8TB Barracuda drives to add to our Drobo system. Within three days two of the drives had completely failed and the third was flashing up warning lights leading to an urgent purchase of non-Seagate drives to replace it.

Checking with Drobo and SMR drives aren't supported - are these SMR drives? I checked the online support sheet for the drive, no mention of SMR.

I emailed Seagate and they claim they don't even know!

"Thank you for contacting Seagate Support. "Typically"the new Barracuda over 8 TB uses SMR, we do not have access to this kind of information, so I can't confirm this."

But more digging revealed they are SMR.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataH...

All three drives were returned to the dealer and a full refund received.

Since then I've been using Toshiba disks without any problems.

It is 2018. We now have to justify "illegitimate" protocols. "Illegitimate" because they work better, take so much less electricity, and are utterly democratic. Because the tiny book, movie, music, and TV industries didn't like it.
We nuked the protocol because it worked too well and it couldn't be easily surveilled.
We are idiots led by liars.

Canada has as many volunteers as they need. The have opposing sides witness the count. No mistakes get made with that many jealous eyes locking their lasers on that counter.

Somehow Canada manages a manual pencil-check paper ballot They have counters from opposing sides witness the manual count. Works fine and is done very quickly, and it can be recounted at any time. No way to cheat. No electrons necessary. If you suspect one side has figured a way to infiltrate both witnessses, increase the number of counters. No limit on the number of eagle eyed buggers that can watch.

And addressing the 2000 fiasco, that was one party intentionally sandbagging the audit, dragging it out so that the Supreme Court could find a way to kill the recount. Hanging chads weren't the problem. It was hanging Republicans challenging everything and anything - there was no penalty for false challenges.

Simple regulation is all that is needed, and what we can't get.

It was the free market at work in Adam Smith's time as well, as he observed. A free market always leads to emergent or direct collusion to fix prices as high as they can be. Applecart economics doesn't work at a macro level. The market is a pack of ruthless buggers who will steal your teeth when you're sleeping. This is why we have regulations, or we used to.

I'd worry more about the voting machine company, but yep, this lets the locals the votes. Whoever knows the passwords can sell the passwords. Or give them away to get their candidate elected.

There've been a lot of weird and close elections in the last 17 years. Far too many.

Chicago now offers a Chicago ID card for just this purpose. The right wingers oppose it: guess why.

I TOLD YOU SO GOD DAMN IT.

Why would you assume they wouldn't install a backdoor? WHY??? Changing election totals gave them trillions of dollars in tax cuts and complete power.
Don't talk about open-source replacements. Any solution with electrons will be hacked and controlled. Go back to paper, the way Canada does, or did before the Tories rammed e-voting in. I wonder why, I wonder.

I haven't bought a single piece of music since 1999, when the music industry shut down Napster.
Never will again.
Don't collect music, either. Don't miss it.
Please join me in refusnik.
Not a single centavo for the industry that steals every penny off of artists.

That was like six idiots on one video. It was a bullshit misrepresentation of Palestinians, fed into right-wing bigotry, and is a damned zombie lie.

Eric Ralph at Teslarati has an article up right now:
"SpaceX urges Congress to expedite commercial spaceflight regulation reforms"
https://www.teslarati.com/spac...
"Related to the focus of this particular hearing, namely regulatory reform, Representative Rick Larsen (WA-2) appeared to speak for everyone when he mirrored the four panelists’ sense of urgency for beginning the process of reforming federal space launch regulations by asking for an informal meeting outside the doors of the chamber once the session concluded, stating that “it’s that urgent.” In order for companies like SpaceX (and eventually Blue Origin) to be able to sustainably and reliably reach cadences of one launch per week in the near future, the currently cumbersome and dated launch licensing apparatus will almost invariably require significant reforms."

Blue Origin, SpaceX, the United Launch Alliance and the the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) are on it. Expect some rapid change, mostly in approval time for flights (right now: 200 days!) and a reduction in the huge time periods (90 minutes pre- and post- activity) of the no-fly restrictions around launches and landings.