Thanks. We’ll see how things are in a few months. I’m just so ready for this year to be over already.

Sorry for late reply, but totally. Laziness has done much the same to me on occasion. Actually, the most recent backup I did before last week was like two months previous.

And one of my external drives (more of an archive itself than an actual backup drive) is failing, but I’ve been too busy to send it in for a replacement. This thread has reminded me to get to that soon.

No prob, happy to help!

This might be a silly question, but when you backup, do you need extra storage space 1:1 with whatever you’re copying? Or does it compress the files somehow to keep those backups in a smaller form?

Not silly at all. I was actually going to mention it, but thought the comment was getting too long (lol). It depends on the backup being used, but Kopia and restic both use compression and store the data in archives.

I think, depending on the compression algorithm used, you can save a fair amount of space, but it does add up over time if you’re backing up new (large) files often.

The application I use (BorgBackup, sadly not on Windows) is very similar to Kopia and restic, and just as an example, I ran a backup of brand new files that added up to around 14 GB on my computer, but the archive was only about 10 or 11 GB. Might have some numbers a bit wrong (not at my PC right now), but it’s somewhere in that ballpark in terms of disk space saved.

They also won’t backup files twice unless the file has changed, so large files like videos should only be copied over once since they rarely ever change unless someone changes the metadata or something, which most people won’t do.

The only real downside is that you won’t be able to just browse the files like normal and copy them back over. You need to first open the archive with the application, but then you can pick and choose which files you want to restore.

I appreciate doctors, but I have trouble communicating my thoughts/feelings, which sometimes leads to misunderstandings. After a recent procedure, I’ve been prescribed three new meds.

This is really exacerbating my anxiety because I’m always extremely hesitant to fuck with my stable “cocktail” (even though I’m not sure it’s actually as effective as it should be) and it’s difficult to explain this to some doctors.

I know these meds will help, but I get overly concerned about stuff like QT prolongation, so I’m just doing an ECG before I start because I probably need that peace of mind.

Also they’re fucking expensive and there’s no copay because fuck me, I guess. It’s very frustrating. Like, things are a bit cheaper than they would be in the US (don’t know how people deal with that shit there), but it still comes with the caveat that cost of living is higher here than the US, so it evens out anyway.

EDIT: LOOOOOOOOL. Had ECG yesterday. Turns out my QT interval is actually borderline high. GP got in touch with a cardiologist, who said I could take the other meds (I’m taking one of the three, which I’m mostly fine with), but I’d need to get regular ECGs and, honestly, fuuuuuck that.

Don’t care if this shit annoys the doctor who prescribed it.

I understand “wants to help”, but certain trade-offs aren’t worth it to me.

I spent the last 2 days repairing my install of windows 11. I had attempted to uninstall the patch that was causing SSD failures.

From what I understand, this mainly affected people with Western Digital/SanDisk drives (which, lucky me, I’m also using). I updated the firmware for the drive listed on the SanDisk site and I’ve run a few tests and things seem fine so far (I haven’t bothered trying to rollback Windows itself, so we’ll see if it sticks).

However this gave me enough of a kick in the ass to try and take backups and file organization more seriously. Going to be looking into various methods for backups now. Ideally the quicker I can back things up the better as it would encourage me to do it more frequently.

It seems like Kopia and restic are pretty popular open source options which work on all major operating systems.

Kopia has a GUI, but restic is (as far as I know) command-line only, so if that’s important, just use whichever you feel comfortable with. I think you can schedule both to run automatically, so you won’t need to worry much about doing it manually (I personally prefer to do it manually, but I’ve been bitten by that in the past thanks to my stubbornness here).

When it comes to full disk imaging (basically cloning your drive), CloneZilla is (IMO) the best option. RescueZilla is a more user-friendly frontend for that, which is what I use.

For a closed source option, Macrium Reflect is/was also okay in my experience, but I haven’t used it in a while and I think they’ve limited the free option to an older version, though I might be wrong.

(Side note: I don’t know how well the full disk imaging ones work when it comes to Windows systems encrypted with BitLocker. I know it used to be a bit complicated, but may have improved by now.)

Lol, I’d love if the pun were intended. Made me laugh, so thank you for that and the well wishes.

Things are mostly okay, but exhausted beyond words. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow, but man has it been a day.

Thanks, I appreciate that.

I think the worst is over now and in about three hours I head to the hospital. No idea when the actual procedure is going to take place, though, but all should be smooth for now.

Right now, I just can’t wait until I’m finally sedated, lol.

The best thing I remember about both of my last procedures was that bliss.

Fucking motherfucking bowel prep bullshit.

I’ve done this before, but that was before I was always fatigued. I’m fucking exhausted after first dose and starting the next one in an hour.

Haven’t eaten in like 18 hours (I guess a cup of soup earlier counts as food, so maybe less because I had one earlier), and the appointment is in the morning (8 hours from now), which means by the time I’m ready to fall asleep, that’s when I go to the hospital.

I hate this shit.

Edit: Doesn’t help that it’s the middle of winter here and I can’t tell if I’m shivering because cold or because weakness.

Edit 2: Everything’s mostly fine, but I’m exhausted and I haven’t had this level of anxiety in years. Hopefully once I get some decent food in and a full night’s sleep, I’ll feel better.

Played and finished Spider-Man: Mile Morales (PC version) a few days ago. It’s gorgeous and it gets so much right when it comes to adapting the comics.

Yeah, that’s what I plan on doing. I have several drives from older devices and external enclosures. I never really see the point in selling or getting rid of still working drives. More storage, more backups, slightly more redundancy.

Marvel Snap.

I don’t even know why. I have no interest in spending money on it so I’m locked out of most decent cards and I don’t even like card games/deckbuilders that much.

Maybe it’s just because it’s quick rounds and with characters I love and am relatively familiar with.

Man, chronic fatigue is a fucking bitch.

Got a new PC today and I legitimately can’t even move it anymore. Just bringing it inside caused my energy to drain near zero (plus the lovely side effects of my body thinking it was exercising and causing pains and other discomfort because why the fuck not).

I’ll have to set it up on my desk and everything tomorrow or Friday. Chassis too heavy, also have to set up new UPS, even heavier.

Might have to do this over three or four days, actually. Rest day in between because also software setup and restoring some backups and getting all my system settings in order. At least some of it can be reliably automated with Chris Titus’ Windows utility, so that’s nice.

(Then I also need to replug the old one in and properly erase the SATA SSDs before opening that up and removing them, but that can probably wait until next week anyway since it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.)

I’d rather not wade into the larger “CDPR is transphobic” debate, but here’s an article from Polygon from a few years ago detailing some stuff, including the cosplay contest controversy:

https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/4/22058784/cyberpunk-2077-marketing-cd-projekt-red-transphobia

To save you from reading the whole thing, basically, during the run-up to Cyberpunk’s release, CDPR got very… edgelord with their marketing.

One of the more controversial pieces of marketing was an in-universe poster advertising a drink called “Mix It Up”, which depicts what appears to be a trans woman in a highly sexualized manner.

They then organized a cosplay contest for further marketing and that resulted in another controversy related to the poster, wherein a cisgender woman cosplayed as the depicted trans woman, CDPR made it one of the finalists in the contest, and it predictably led to outcry for being tone-deaf at best, malicious at worst.

The larger issues with the poster itself (and CDPR as a whole) are in the article, but the cosplay thing really comes down to this bit in the article:

CDPR also included a cisgender cosplayer as the Mix It Up girl among their cosplay contest finalists. Even if you buy the company line that the poster represents how queer bodies have been appropriated for marketing, their entire argument is negated when they have a cis person dress up in that queer body as part of their own video game marketing.

If you’re thinking perhaps the model was well-meaning, attempting to create a trans-positive cosplay, trying to further highlight queer commodification CDPR spoke of originally, or just a misguided ally who got it wrong this time around, I have bad (yet predictable) news for you. Yugoro Forge, the cosplayer in question, tweeted that her costumes are “beyond politics,” and when pushed on the fact her Cyberpunk 2077 costume dehumanized trans people who are already subject to violence so frequently, she replied, “many cis men and women face acts of harassment and violence on a daily basis as well.”

So you’ve basically got them saying the poster is satire, but then they’re not only doing exactly what they claim they’re satirizing, but doing it in a way that can be seen as rubbing salt in the wound for people who were already hurt by the initial depiction.

My personal opinion on the whole thing is that they really just fucked up and couldn’t read the room, but they do also have a history of being less-than-kind to the queer community themselves (seen in the article), so I can understand why people view the company as hypocritical in regards to the whole thing.

I’m thinking of going back and replaying the original Watch_Dogs with The Living City mod.

Looks pretty fun and breathes a bunch of life into a game I actually really enjoyed, which I know others found boring or disappointing.

EDIT: With the hindsight of having played WD2 with all its wacky antics, I forgot how seriously this game takes itself. Jesus.

I envy you. If you ever decide to get into the mods, I wish you well on your extended break from literally everything else.

Also, the Dawnguard DLC is pretty fun and you don’t have to do much of the main quest line to start it.

I say this mainly because Serana’s awesome and out of all the vanilla companions, she’s one of the few with an actual personality. And Laura Bailey always gives a great performance.

She’s just fun to have around. Plus you get crossbows and some cool armor not in the base game.

Lol, sorry, I just really enjoy that DLC. You play however you want, but I need to just point in her direction because I love her.

I mean, part of that popularity is the modding community (and also re-releasing it a dozen times). It’s not like Elder Scrolls has the best gameplay around. Always been a bit clunky. Narrative is hit or miss, but the lore and worldbuilding is what saves it, along with some great environmental storytelling.

But in general, Bethesda games live and die based on how strong the modding scene is. It’s why a fair portion of people are still playing Skyrim and Fallout 4 instead of Starfield. It has its mods, but the community isn’t as interested in it as they are the others.

That said, I’d say Breath of the Wild has some classic Elder Scrolls moments. The world has a lot of “hey, what’s that over there? Oooh, new unmarked side quest/cool thing to do!” experiences.

It can be a difficult thing to replicate.

Decided to replay Prey 2017 after… 8 years? Good lord.

Anyway, going in with New Game+ makes things so much more interesting.

Don’t forget about the great bonuses for participating in the community forums, such as classified documents, toxicity, classified documents, and classified documents.

Not For Broadcast, Day 296: The Heatwave.

It starts off with a slight shift in tone from the earlier broadcasts, you feel the tension ramping up, and then you know exactly what’s coming, but it’s still a fucking gut punch no matter what choice you make.

Honestly, that entire game has so many of these moments, but that’s probably the one that’s stuck with me most.

(The Lockdown episode also had a lot of “what the fuck is even happening” moments pretty much every time something new happened, so I want to just give that an honorable mention. I often find myself singing “Mr. Bear (What’s That Over There?)” for literally no reason whatsoever.)

Used to be my thing, but not really anymore.

Haven’t been super interested for a while. Occasionally I’ll find one that stands out, but I’m not out here looking for it anymore. I’ll take a tightly crafted linear game over that any time.

Usually, if I play open world games now, it’s a “point A to point B” situation. I don’t explore the entire world unless I’m really taken with it, and even then I’ll lose interest after a while. (And if there’s no fast travel or some equivalent in-game method to traverse across the map instantly, I very likely won’t bother.)

What I do enjoy, though, are kind of “open zone” games.

A lot of immersive sims fall into this category of “wide open levels, separated by narrative chapters”. Think Dishonored or Deus Ex.

I like that approach as opposed to “here’s everything, go anywhere”.