harrynfr.xyz Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700:3034::6815:d80  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Home My linux stuff My hardware Contact Updates/Blog


WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE

This website is mainly about the hardware I use and how it occasionally breaks.
Unlike most people today, I don't like broadcasting every aspect of my life on
the internet for everyone to see. So, this website might be a little boring. I
made this website myself, but I do not consider myself a developer. I'm
currently in college studying computer science. That's about all I'm going to
say, so enjoy the rest of my awesome website.

See system statistics here.


MY LINUX SETUP

I use Arch Linux (technically Artix). I initially installed it after seeing
memes about so-called Linux elitists who believe they are superior to others
because they use a "harder to install" Linux distribution. In reality, the truly
superior ones are those who don't have to spend half an hour installing their
operating system. Anyway, I still drive Arch Linux because I like the DIY
approach. It's also very lightweight, so it runs on practically anything.

To fit the #FOSS #butistillusediscord theme, I went with DWM as my window
manager. All jokes aside, I think using DWM is one of the best experiences I
have had when it comes to desktop environments/window managers on Linux. It's
very lightweight yet extremely customizable, thanks to
https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/, where users can submit addons to provide
further functionality to the software. There are no config files, so you edit
the source code directly. Yet even I, a big idiot who wouldn't consider
themselves a developer in a million years, still managed to pick it up and start
customizing the environment within minutes.

As for my configurations, I use picom and transparent terminals to fit in with
the Unixporn community, custom color themes to fit in with the Unixporn
community, useless gaps to fit in with the Unixporn community, and so on. My
config only aims to make the environment look nicer, and I have applied little
to no extra functionality whatsoever. I also use feh to randomize my wallpaper
every few minutes. I stole a big repository of nature wallpapers off GitHub, and
that worked for me. Sadly, I have no idea where I got that repository from.


MY HARDWARE

My desktop is very powerful, and I do not use it to anywhere near its full
potential. I have an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G paired with an AMD RX 6800 XT (16GB). As
you can imagine, Arch + DWM doesn't really use my GPU all that much. But I do
occasionally use Windows 10 for gaming.

I don't use my laptops for their intended purposes. I have a ThinkPad X61T (my
beloved), which is currently a server under my bed. I also have a ThinkPad T560
serving the same function. Sure, I could probably use them like any other normal
person (as normal as you can be running Arch Linux), but my college campus
already has computers, so I just use those.

This server is currently running on a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB model. Unlike my
laptops and my desktop, I am certainly getting my money's worth out of this
thing. It's running qBittorrent (for Linux ISOs, obviously), Pi-hole, a web file
manager, Plex Media Server (for viewing said Linux ISOs), OpenMediaVault, and
it's also a NAS. It also has an active cooler, so it doesn't overheat while my
desktop melts my floor.


CONTACT ME

Email: harrynfr@mailfence.com
Discord: harrynfr
Mastodon: @harrynfr@tech.lgbt


UPDATES/BLOG

These are in order from oldest to newest. I'm not sure why but it would feel
weird if they were the other way around.


THE DEATH OF PLEX (FOR NOW). 15/6/2024

To give some context, I was previously using a 2TB Western Digital external HDD
to store my Linux ISOs. I used Plex alongside that to view them on multiple
devices. However, upon reaching 90% capacity (with 200GB still remaining), the
drive froze.

The drive was formatted in EXT4, and I tried multiple times on different
machines to use cfdisk to delete the partition, but every time it froze my
terminal session. I then used dd if=/dev/urandom on the drive, formatted it as
NTFS, and plugged it into a Windows computer.

I could now access the drive, or so I thought. Upon creating a folder and
attempting to torrent to the drive, nothing was writing. When I tried to open
the folder in File Explorer, it crashed. At this point, I assumed it was an
issue with Windows, so I plugged the drive back into the Raspberry Pi and tried
remounting it with no success. Whenever I tried to mount the drive back to its
old folder, it just froze my terminal session again.

After a recommendation from a friend, I installed Stremio with the Torrentio
plugin, and I now stream my torrents instead of downloading them. This works and
is currently my replacement for my Plex server. Whether I buy a new drive or fix
my current one, I don't know. But for now, Stremio works just fine, with the
minor exception that the app has less support for iOS devices, meaning I'm not
currently able to watch torrents on my phone. But I rarely used the Plex app on
my phone anyway.

Thank you for reading my first, and probably last, blog/rant. Download Stremio
and Torrentio here.


THE.SOPRANOS.S01.1080P.BLURAY.X265-RARBG. 16/6/2024

Welcome back to part two of the faulty external HDD adventures. I am confused.
The Sopranos is breaking my drive. Last night, shortly after posting my last
rant, the drive fixed itself randomly. "Great," I thought to myself, "I can go
back to hoarding Linux ISOs." But no.

Last night the drive became writable again. I created an NTFS partition on it
and began to torrent again. I installed Jellyfin as I had somehow managed to
convince myself that Plex was the issue. I torrented a few Linux ISOs, and
everything seemed fine. I could view them on multiple devices, locally and
remotely. However, I got greedy. For context, the last time my drive decided to
break itself, it was while I was torrenting The Sopranos (.iso). Until today, I
thought the two were unrelated. That was until I tried again, and to my
surprise, the drive completely seized up and is no longer writable. This is no
coincidence. The Sopranos is breaking my drive.

My plan now is to leave it plugged into my Raspberry Pi and hope it randomly
remounts itself and fixes like it did last time. And if this does happen, I will
just have to watch The Sopranos elsewhere. Of course, I could've done this
anyway, but I am a bit of an idiot. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed another epic
update/rant, and I'll be sure to keep you updated when my drive eventually gains
sentience and runs away.


DO NOT TORRENT THE SOPRANOS ONTO WESTERN DIGITAL PART#: WDBYVG0020BRD-WESN.
18/6/2024

Nothing really new here. The drive fixed itself, and I tried a third time just
to confirm. The Sopranos (.iso) is now 100% the reason.

What I discovered, however, was that it doesn't matter where the torrent comes
from. If it's The Sopranos, it will break the drive. I have torrented The
Sopranos from three separate sources now, all in different qualities and file
types, and without fail, it freezes the drive.

Again, it's not like my drive is broken. Because before I try to torrent The
Sopranos, I make sure to torrent other files first and test them. These other
files always work, but when I try to torrent The Sopranos, it breaks.

Anyway, that's the update. Nothing new, just wanted to triple confirm that it's
The Sopranos which is the issue. So if you have a Western Digital Part#:
WDBYVG0020BRD-WESN, don't download The Sopranos on it. Or, if you do and it
works, please tell me how.


DEFEAT. 20/6/2024

Welcome to the fourth, and final, part of the faulty external HDD adventures.
Yesterday, I torrented The Sopranos directly onto my desktop. This worked, and
playback was seamless. I then tried transferring the files to the external HDD,
which at this point was plugged into my desktop. All was going well until around
30%.

Transfer speeds dropped to around 300KB/s, and File Explorer crashed. For
context, I had convinced myself Linux was the issue, so I resorted to fixing
this issue in Windows. In a panic, I attempted to eject the drive, to no
success. I then shut down my computer, only for it to freeze. I waited 10
minutes and eventually decided to unplug the external HDD, and my computer
immediately unfroze and shut down properly.

After rebooting, I plugged the drive back in, then it started clicking. It is
now refusing to cooperate with any of my machines, whether it be Linux or
Windows. In Windows, when I do plug the drive in, all my applications freeze and
only fix themselves once I unplug the drive.

So, after everything, this is it. The Sopranos has won, and my drive is now
dead. What I find funny about this is that at any point, even after having
confirmed for a third time that The Sopranos was the reason, I could have just
streamed it. But I didn't. And not because I wanted to have a copy of The
Sopranos, but purely because I wanted to win. This issue is so bizarre, I
couldn't not attempt to investigate and fix it. Anyway, the drive is dead now.
Whether I fix the drive or stream The Sopranos like I should have done in the
beginning is a story for another potential faulty HDD adventures.