I just had to replace a 4tb drive with a mfgyr of 2016 from a customer’s Synology box.

I couldn’t get SMART data off it because it wouldn’t initialize to do a test, but the thing was damn reliable right up until it went kaput.

PiHole on old laptops started the journey for me

Now I’ve got all sorts of things, most visible are Plex and Audiobookshelf. The most useful to me personally is Headscale for what at I assume are obvious reasons.

I’d like to use Matrix more but that requires some buy-in from friends.

I ostensibly use this as a means of continued education for myself, but really it’s because I enjoy using/learning about open-source software and creating my own ecosystem outside of “big tech”

I’ve got it all set up in a way that really works for me, which is all that really matters in the end.