New Zealand meet up

[Gojoe]

Hell yes I am. I didnt buy a TB drive in the US, because the dollar was so shit, it wasnt worth it.

But i still get staff at DSE. I will totally buy one this week end. You have anyone else lined up besides us two?

[Jack Saladin]

Nope, I'll ask around, would be good to get at least 3 or 4.

For anyone in this thread who might be interested: Basically me and Gojoe plan to get a 1TB external HDD, and mail it around NZ, cycling through a bunch of people, each of whom load it up with cool stuffs (movies, music and so on are the obvious things, but basically anything you think someone else might want), DL what they want from the other peoples slots, and send it on. When you get it again, you replace what you put on last time with new stuff, everybody having a folder of their own on the drive.

We figure even with postal costs it'll be muchos cheaper than spending the money on bandwidth. I spend like 200 bucks a month for data usage, and that's limiting myself mostly to anime. ;_;

So anyone who wants in, speak up. I got a few hundred gigs of anime waiting for anyone who wants it (probably about 500GB by the time this gets going).

[Gojoe]

And I have about 1TB of random shows and movies. I will load 250 gigs, send it to the next person, the next person will take what he/she wants, then load on as much as they can (up to 250gb first time around), then they send it on. Then hopeully by the time it comes around to you again, you will have new things to put on etc. We would make only one person download say every episode of a current show. So our collective bandwidth will be greatly lessened.

[Jack Saladin]

Should really find out exactly how much it will cost to send... So long as we just send it through the post, it shouldn't be too bad, assuming HDDs don't weight a lot more than I think they do. Based on the cost we'll decide how often it'll roughly go around. If it's just a few bucks we'll plan it for more regularly than if it's 10 or 15.

Edit: OK, using the WD Elements 1TB external HDD for the specs, it looks like it may actually be able to be sent as a letter, as opposed to a parcel, unless I've fucked up my calculations. The only tight point is that the limit for letters is 1KG, and the drive is like 1.016KG or something... But that's so close it seems like it'll be alright. Hopefully with a wrapping of something soft, the drive will be alright in an envelope, considering it's already in an external casing.

If we can get away with it as a letter, it'll only cost 2 bucks to send! In which case we could cycle it around as quickly as we get it, pretty much.

[Gojoe]

According to the NZPost website (which still says send a card for valentines day as its banner...) it will cost $3.00, i used the weight from the Seagate website, and the dimensions from a random site that reviewed it. So it may be a little bit more because of packaging. But still... That is not much. I mean we could pay for shipping in golden coins.

[Jack Saladin]

I used NZPost as well. These are the requirements for a letter (which costs 2 bucks at most):

Maximum dimensions for Letters
Weight: 1kg
Thickness: 20mm
Height: 260mm
Length: 385mm
Note: These dimensions do not apply for sending via Registered Post, ParcelPost™ or Courier.

These are the specs of a Western Digital Elements drive:

Physical Dimensions
Height 8.02 Inches (Max)
Length 1.42 Inches (Max)
Width 4.90 Inches (+/- 0.010 inch)
Weight 2.24 Pounds

Maybe Seagate's are bigger? Maybe I screwed up converting all those inches and pounds? Uh, it's probably the latter.

But yeah, whatever it ends up being exactly, it sure ain't cost prohibitive, which is good. It shouldn't be too hard to find some more people to sign on, even if they don't have a huge amount to put on there. I mean, three bucks for several hundred gigs of yummy data delivered to your door every couple of weeks? Good deal.

[Gojoe]

I used google to convert everything. I used 1kg as weight
I had the dimension as 1.4*6.3*7.5
( I sent it from Christchurch to Auckland )

[Jack Saladin]

What part of the site are you using? I came to this page: http://www.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/ ... /SendingNZ

Then selected letter, and then the most expensive by post option, at 1KG, is $2.

[Gojoe]

The "Rate Finder" section... I might of screwed up lol, let me check

EDIT: Ah, I am choosing package while you are choosing letter. I should read what you are saying more.

[vslayer]

im in for that, i currently just send a 250gb to my brother in dunedin and back every couple of months, but provided i get a new computer(currently using ext harddrives on USB1.1) i would be in for that, i have about 6-700gb of movies and music sitting here.

[Gojoe]

awesome, i wouldnt even have to mail it to you, i could just meet you in town, give you hard drive, and we can take turns sending it to the next person.

[Daywraith]

I have around
500GB of Anime
750GB of TV
750GB of Movie

I would be interested in joining in.

[vslayer]

hmm, i may need to invest a a server and a few harddrives. just checked pricesepy and a 1tb seagate is going to set us back about $200, so if were going to keep it in circulation how about one of us purchase it then we all throw in our share of the $200 when we send it off until it gets back to whoever bought it?

[Gojoe]

Well I can lash out and get it now. And slowly get paid back. Also, we only need one going at the start, but if this gets any bigger, we might need to invest in a second one.

[Jack Saladin]

w00t, four people. That was quick. I didn't find anyone else interested anywhere else, but looks like the xkcd fora has got it covered.

And yeah at some point, if this works out well, we'll wanna get a bigger size, or start up two overlapping cycles or something like that... But we'll see how we go with four people sending around the 1TB drive a few times. If we end up using another drive for whatever reason, someone other than Gojoe can take a turn loaning it to the cause.

So vslayer, do you need a computer upgrade before you're in, or could you handle the first round now? If Gojoe gets the drive this week, would everybody else be able to start around then? If so we all better buy some envelopes and stamps and swap addresses (and prepare disc space...). I guess the order will probably go Gojoe/vslayer > me > Daywraith... That's from South to North, though it doesn't really matter since it's gotta go back anyway, so a big Auckland to Chch send is inevitable either way.

Oh and Gojoe, do you still have that humongous list of movies & shows that you have access to?

[Gojoe]

The huge share has been updated, I will make a new list in the next few minutes.

[Jack Saladin]

Guys, your brain will be blown out the back of your friggin' skull when you see this list.

[Gojoe]

Ok, I do not want to post this... but i will pm it to people

EDIT: OK, it is pm'd to the important people

[vslayer]

im in next round, just trying to find some parts for a server on trademe now.

gojoe, how did you go about populating that list of yours? HTML and BASIC are as far as i went with my computer science :p

[Gojoe]

lol i used a high tech method. Not really, I just used command prompt. A quick lesson.
Hold down the windows button on your keyboard, then tap the R button. Type in "cmd".

This should open up a command prompt. Change to the folder you want to goto, by typing "cd xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" where xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is the path of the folder you want to populate the list for. Then just type "dir" to print all the files and folders that are in the directory you are in. Right click, click select all. Then paste into a notepad file.

Have fun

[Gojoe]

OK, I just got paid. I have less money than I thought I would after I paid all the bills. Therefore I can not afford it atm. If someone wants to chip in, I can get it on staff. But I can not get it atm... I can ship my 500GB HDD around atm, once i backup all the non media stuff.

[vslayer]

well if you kickstarted it with that it would give me a chance to get a computer assembled. i can buy a harddrive next payday.

[Jack Saladin]

So how much space is there actually on a "500GB" drive? Like 460? So with four people, that'd be 115GBs each... And with five, since I've got a pending maybe from elsewhere, it'd be 92GB each.

That's still worth it, really, since it's so cheap to post (hopefully). So maybe we do a test run with a 500GB until we get a hold of a 1TB drive.

How much money would you need pitched in, Gojoe? Not that I could really help 'cause I'm a broke ass student... I could give you like ten bucks lul.

Is Daywraith still around? Are you in foshizzle?

[Gojoe]

Well, if we see how well this 500GB one goes, I will see how much money i have after eating for a while...
But yah, Jack, I can send this bad boy on monday. I just need to get addresses... How should we do this? Just PM them to each other?

[Jack Saladin]

Hrmm... I guess? Maybe we all PM them to one person (you?), and they sort out the order and handing out of addresses?

You can just hand it to vslayer instead of even sending it, right? That makes that step simpler.

[Gojoe]

right, well to start off, you just PM me your address, and you can get my address from the box when you get it. That OK?

[Jack Saladin]

Sent. OK, so you just gonna find a suitably sized envelope, slap on a $2 stamp, and see how that goes?

And Daywraith, if you wanna do this thang, PM me your address so I can send it up your way.

[Gojoe]

I plan on walking to the post office, with a harddrive in hand, and buying an envelope and postage there.

[Jack Saladin]

Sveet. I figure since this is the first go and a temporary vessel we can just wing it for the file structure and any guides on there.

[Gojoe]

well, I think just put in a text file saying what you have added, so people will know whats new.
I mean everyone can have their own folder, but just to help, a list of what is added, would be nice.
Other than that, we can wing it

[Jack Saladin]

Well pretty much everything on the drive every time you get it will be new, since we won't have space to keep the old stuff that's already been passed around on there. So to see what's new you just look at the folders.

Oh but we should have a list of who's downloading what for any ongoing stuff - just a text file where you can add anything you're following under your name so other people know they don't have to download it themselves.

[Gojoe]

True, I will pop in a text file, what work updates weekly, so noone will have to waste their band width.

[pollywog]

I'd be keen to be part of this, if it's not too much trouble. I don't have much stuff (60GB HDD on my laptop), but I could still put quite a bit of music on there, maybe a few movies. It depends what's on the desk PC. Is that alright for me to join in?

[Jack Saladin]

Sure. Little bit of data is as good as a whole lotta data, if it's good/hard to find (music especially). You might only be able to withstand a cycle or two of downloading from it, though, unless you want to upgrade your storage capabilities.

[Gojoe]

I agree with Jack, the only thing is that you wont be able to download much from the hard drive (becuse you dont have anything to put it on). But if you dont mind, I dont mind.

I suppose you could burn things to dvd. And as long as you can take enough to hold you on to the next rotation, you should be sweet.

Right, so am I still sending this thing to jack on Monday?

[Gojoe]

So... I had this plan to get home from night shift, take a nap, then send the package... The nap that was supposed to be 1 hour, ended up being like 5... I will send it tomorrow.

[pollywog]

I need to get a portable HDD anyway, so I'll go without alcohol for a fortnight and get one sooner. I hate deleting stuff.

Might have to start downloading a bit more, just to give a little more. Who's into glitch and Intelligent Dance Music?

[Gojoe]

OK, so... I just sent the package to Jack. It has tracking an shit on it, it cost me more... well really i didnt pay for it, so someone else paid more for it.

But anyway track and trace is UJ526479432NZ

goto nzpost.co.nz/trackandtrace to check on it

[Jack Saladin]

Sweet... No one's given me their address yet, though. Who's up next? Daywraith?

[Gojoe]

Oh yah, there is like... WAY more than my portion of media on that thing... Just delete crap to make room.