Builds, repairs and small experiments from a home workbench. No sponsors, no launch dates — just what worked, what did not, and what I would do differently next time.
A second-hand tiny desktop with two 2 TB drives now holds every file I own. It sits under the desk, draws about 9 watts idle and stays completely silent.
Weekly snapshots run on a schedule, and the second disk is only used for those copies, so a dead drive costs me a day rather than an archive.
My phone now uploads every shot straight to the box at home instead of a monthly cloud plan. Duplicates are dropped on arrival, so the library stays honest.
Once a month I grab a spare drive, copy everything onto it and leave it at a relative's place. Dull routine, but it has already saved me once.
My first full build: a compact 65% board with tactile switches that I cleaned and lubricated by hand over two evenings. The case got a layer of foam cut from an old mouse mat.
The difference is mostly in the sound — a lower, drier thock instead of the hollow rattle it shipped with. Total cost came in under a store-bought model.