shadowandy – my life stories

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Tech

The size of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) in my hand.
ReviewsTech
Andy

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) Review: Great budget tablet

Need a 10-inch Android tablet but don’t wish to break the piggy bank? Need a tablet so that your child can attend online classes? Perhaps the Amazon Fire HD (2021, 11th Generation) would be a good fit as Amazon recently refreshed the Fire HD 10 tablet back in May 2021. It runs Fire OS 7 (Android 9.0) and is decently spec-ed with octa-core 2.0GHz CPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage for the base model. At US$149.99, it is definitely a value-for-money tablet that is good enough for many. I got it at S$145 (after applying the shop and platform coupons) during the recent Lazada 9.9 sale.

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Inserting the security key to my computer and authenticating with DSM.
ReviewsTech
Andy

Synology DSM 7 – Improved Authentication Features

Every once in a while you will read news about data breaches and password leaks. Although strong passwords are great, majority of people use the same password everywhere. Once it is leaked in a breach, perpetuators would attempt logging in to other popular web services using the same credentials. This is where 2FA creates another barrier for them, rather than them gaining access right away with the credentials, they will be required to provide additional information from something you own (e.g. TOTP from Authenticator app) or something you are (e.g. fingerprint, facial recognition). Synology introduced these features in the latest DSM 7.0 release.

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Log Center showing the file movements via WebDAV.
GuidesTech
Andy

DSM 7.0 – DS Cloud broke; FolderSync & WebDAV for two-way folder sync

If you have been using DS Cloud to synchronise folders between your Android mobile phone and Synology NAS (on DSM6), you will be disappointed that DS Cloud is not supported on DSM7. The DS Cloud’s two-way folder synchronisation feature enabled me to free up storage space on the mobile by shifting dated files out of the Synology NAS sync-ed folder to another folder. This shift would appear as though the files were deleted on the server-side, prompting DS Cloud (on the mobile device) to delete off the files. It is a niffy trick to manage storage space on the mobile device but it no longer works on DSM7. Fortunately, I managed to replicate this two-way sync using FolderSync Android app and Synology’s WebDAV Server package. Continue reading the guide if you want to know how.

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GuidesTech
Andy

Automate mounting of external USB storage for Synology Hyper Backup

I have the habit of having additional copies of back ups (partial and not full) from the Synology NAS to an external USB storage device like the Seagate Expansion Desktop. However, I want the external USB storage to be visible (i.e. mounted) to the Synology NAS only when the Hyper Backup task is running and not visible (i.e. unmounted) at other times with the hope of mitigating ill effects of ransomware attacks. I managed to achieve it using Task Scheduler and careful planning of backup windows for Hyper Backup tasks. I have put together this guide to show you how it is done.

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