2.5 Admins 298: Windows Postdate

People trying to return defective hard drives and RAM are finding out why consumer protection laws would be good, GoDaddy accidentally gave someone’s domain name away, and when and how to fix ZFS fragmentation.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Fast Dedup Economics: When Deduplication Beats Buying New Disks   News/discussion Toshiba refuses to replace large hard drive that was under warranty — company offers refund at the purchase price, not the higher current retail price GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation   Free consulting We were asked about when and how to fix ZFS fragmentation.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Microsoft is encouraging employees with the most experience to leave the company and letting users pause Windows updates forever, some of the best features you’ll get in the version of ZFS that ships with the new Ubuntu LTS, and backing up data from cloud services.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Extending ZFS Performance Without Hardware Upgrades   News/discussion Microsoft tackles quality control issues. Just kidding, it’s encouraging experienced workers to leave Your Windows update experience just got updated zfs-2.3.0 zfs-2.4.0   Free consulting We were asked about backing up data from cloud services.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.    

Hitting the limit for hard links, a parent struggles to get back into their teen’s compromised Discord account, the demise of tower PCs and general purpose computing in general, and changing the properties of existing ZFS pools.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Compensating for RAM Constraints with L2ARC on ZFS   News/discussion How Jennifer Aniston and Friends Cost Us 377GB and Broke ext4 Hardlinks Dad stuck in support nightmare after teen lied about age on Discord Apple’s last tower topples… and the others will follow   Free consulting We were asked about changing the properties of existing ZFS pools.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Microsoft locks devs out of important accounts, the foreign router ban exemptions make even less sense, Backblaze shows that “unlimited” never means that, and attempting to avoid software that’s written with AI.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Do More with Less: Cost-Efficient Storage on the New TrueNAS with Enhanced Fast Dedup The Hidden Value of CPU-Intensive Compression on Modern Hardware   News/discussion Microsoft locks out VeraCrypt and WireGuard devs, blames verification process Action Required: Account Verification for Windows Hardware Program Begins October 16, 2025 FCC exempts Netgear from ban on foreign routers, doesn’t explain why Backblaze has quietly stopped backing up your data   Free consulting We were asked about avoiding software that’s written with AI.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Why putting data center satellites in orbit is a terrible idea, Google might show people a made-up version of your website, and ZFS on really old Dell servers.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes   News/discussion Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right? 11 mins edited Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on really old Dell servers.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Arm announces its first CPU, Anthropic accidentally leaks the source for Claude Code and it’s terrible, and setting up a backup for a friend’s photos.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD and OpenZFS in the Quest for Technical Independence: A Storage Architect’s View​   News/discussion Arm expands compute platform to silicon products in historic company first Anthropic exposes Claude Code source by accident   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a backup for a friend’s photos.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Microsoft says Windows 11 is getting less rubbish but we are skeptical, vehicles with alcohol interlocks won’t start because the manufacturer’s server is down, and whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Five‑Year Storage Design with OpenZFS: Media Refresh, Rebalancing, and Hardware Independence   News/discussion Our commitment to Windows quality Microsoft fixes broken Windows update days after vowing fewer broken updates Cyberattack on vehicle breathalyzer company leaves drivers stranded across the US   Free consulting We were asked about whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

The US government is drumming up fear about foreign routers, a pretty serious supply chain attack might be state-sponsored, and the safety of filesystems inside VMs.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes The Real Cost of Technology Dependence: Building Independence with Open-Source Storage   News/discussion US bans any new consumer-grade routers not made in America National Security Determination on the Threat Posed by Routers Produced by Foreign Countries (pdf) 1K+ cloud environments infected following Trivy supply chain attack Self-propagating malware poisons open source software and wipes Iran-based machines   Free consulting We were asked about the safety of filesystems inside VMs.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Why passkeys aren’t the right solution to everything, Allan tells us why he loves his new Lithium Iron Phosphate UPS, Btrfs vs ZFS on root, and restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Designing OpenZFS Storage for Independence   News/discussion Please, please, please stop using passkeys for encrypting user data Allan’s new Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station   Free consulting We were asked about restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Microsoft Authenticator will delete Entra credentials on phones that aren’t running stock ROMs, Jim’s nightmare experience trying to get a user back into their MS account, tracking vehicles via tire pressure monitors, using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Fast Dedup for Proxmox   News/discussion Microsoft Authenticator to nuke Entra creds on rooted and jailbroken phones Jailbreak/root detection in Microsoft Authenticator Jim Microsoft MFA rant Vehicle Tire Pressure Sensors Enable Silent Tracking   Free consulting We were asked about purposely using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.