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How reliable/realistic is to use a laptop as a remote file backup server? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I have an HP pavillion 15-bc235nd that, quite frankly, I don´t really like that much (way too loud of a fan, cannot adjust the fan curve, keyboard and trackpad are terrible, etc).

I was planning to replace with laptop with something else, but in the meantime, I was thinking of something. Instead of getting this laptop in the landfill or give to someone else (no one needs an emergency laptop right now), I could potentially use this has a server machine to be used as an off site backup location.

Right now I am missing the off site backup part out of the 3-2-1 backup strategy. Since this laptop has more than enough horsepower to do the job, it could be a solution. But personally, I am not sure how reliable a laptop turned into a server can be. This laptop would be around 3000km away from me, so I have to be really sure it works at a distance without much problem.

For those who turned a laptop into a server: what is your mileage? Are there any specific considerations about this setup that a regular desktop/server does not have or specific issues?

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[-] navi@lemmy.tespia.org 2 points 2 years ago

Buy a KVM that you can wire to the power button if you can. Pikvm, nanokvm, Jetkvm, etc. Will save you when the device needs a reboot or a bios tweak.

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I did this with a regular rpi, one of it's io pins and a single npn transistor a while back.

Multimeter to check which power button pin on the mobo is + vs -. - to the rpi gnd, + to the transistor collector, gate to the io pin, drain to rpi gnd.

Whenever the io pin goes high (positive), the transistor shorts the mobo pins 'pressing' the power button.

Script pings the servers ip to check if its not responding; then pulls the pin high for 6 sec to ensure the mobo is fully off, then low for 2 sec, high for 2 sec, then low again.

This was for a system that kept locking up while I was away, so I needed a way to remotely hard-restart it.

this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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