This is something I’ve thought about too. I have some rare items on old DVDs that should be preserved. I’d love to upload it to Archive.org, but I’m hesitant because I don’t know if personal identifiers get attached to the media.

If I use a program like MakeMKV to rip my DVD to a computer, how do I check the file if there’s any personal identifiers? I’m aware I can right click and pick “Remover Personal Information” or whatever in Windows, but is there anything else that would attach any hardware identifiers to it? I want to preserve some of these discs since they’re long out of print and the company that distributed it is no more and you can’t buy this anywhere. I just don’t want my uploads to be linked back to me.

I own most of my games on GOG these days. I still lease my games on Steam on occasion, because I do love the ecosystem and that my spouse can play my games easily.

But now I’m thinking of the end game. One day after Gabe steps away from Valve and appoints his replacement, that replacement will also need to step away. Eventually, Steam will go public, and their vision will change.

For now though I’m not too worried about Steam, but it does make me reconsider where I buy my games from. Ever since Ubisoft had that server shutdown notice a few years ago that would have rendered some of my digital DLC for my physical disc of Splinter Cell Blacklist on Wii U unplayable, I’m now very cautious about ownership of all my media.

Check your local library. I used to visit my local library a lot before the pandemic when I lived closer to one. I borrowed audiobooks all the time and ripped them to my PC.

Fair point. There is temporary obfuscation, and certainly not end to end encryption when torrenting.

The creator of BitTorrent himself has this to say:

“The so-called ‘encryption’ of BitTorrent traffic isn’t really encryption, it’s obfuscation. It provides no anonymity whatsoever, and only temporarily evades traffic shaping. There are better approaches to obfuscation, and I’ve got a great team of engineers who are quite eager to fight that battle, but I’m hoping that everything can be resolved amicably without getting into a serious arms race.” Source: https://torrentfreak.com/interview-with-bram-cohen-the-inventor-of-bittorrent/

In my opinion using a trusted VPN not just for torrenting, but also for sourcing pirated software or other content is just a best practice.

While people sometimes suggest ignoring it because they say that your ISP is only sending you those notices because the laws compel them to and you downloaded something that was tracked, you may want to evaluate your risk.

Nothing has happened so far. Could something happen in the future?

Your ISP has built an entire portfolio of the things you’ve done online and which content you pirated. Who know how long your ISP retains that data, or which companies or regulatory bodies it shares this data with?

Laws may change.

Up to you on what you want to do with this information.

I set my VPN to Russia. Russian viruses are known to not infect their homeland, by design. They promised they wouldn’t, so you know it’s good. I then run the program, and sometimes my CPU starts heating up and slowing down my computer a bit. It happens anytime I turn on my computer now that I think about it. Computer is always running slow. I guess that’s the CPU checking if the viruses are Russian and then rejecting their requests. I can verify this because when I open Task Manager, I don’t see anything showing high CPU usage. It’s probably my imagination since the thing is doing what it’s supposed to be doing and stopping the viruses.

Only downside is I occasionally get a random command prompt pop up that disappears immediately before I can read it. Plus, my identity has been stolen several times and I’ve had to get ahold of Macrosoft Support (they built Windows so I trust them) and buy their premium $500 virus total scam defender package that I pay for monthly, but I don’t think those are related.

My favorite Zelda. I need to revisit this one.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater! After what feels like 20 years, I realized how bad I am and how I barely remember where anything is. I will say I happily landed a 900 today.

I gotta practice, but I’m having a great time with it. Just wish it didn’t have always online for single player.

True. I didn’t think about it, but I guess that should have been obvious since 2230 isn’t a common standard - manufacturers won’t spend for that.

Meanwhile, i’ve had lots of WD drives without any issues. And some of my SSDs are TLC and QLC (before I knew about QLC longevity). I can’t imagine I’ll go wrong with these upcoming SN770 drives.

I decided to bite the bullet and preordered two 2 TB SSDs, which release officially next Friday on Sep 22nd. I haven’t used a Steam Deck, but the two Steam Decks I ordered just arrived today for my spouse and I (yay!). They’re a gift for us next month, so I’ll install them next month and have impressions by then.

While doing research, I only found that there was an SN740 model from WD that was only sold in some regions that Steam Deck users were using. People were happy with it so I figure the higher spec model is probably fine to use. Reddit link here (served through Libreddit privacy front-end): https://libreddit.kavin.rocks/r/SteamDeck/comments/y9yg9i/2230_sn740_nvme_ssd_for_steam_deck/

So far though, I only know the SN770 is TLC NAND and basically similar to the published Corsair MP600 specs. I’d love to get my hands on MLC or SLC, but I don’t think it exists for that capacity (nor would it be affordable). My guess is by the time an affordable MLC or SLC arrives in 2280 config, Steam Deck 2 will be out and probably use a more common SSD form factor.