PotNoodleTech

WDS and MDT are really easy to set up and really easy to use and scale to building thousands of PCs. I would stick with this idea watch a few youtube videos and they create a windows server install those roles and go for it!

I archive off our Veeam backups to hard drives plugged into a USB caddy too. Does about 20-25MB/s which for 3tb takes a while I usually leave it overnight but it does copy and is reliable copying i.e i never come back the next day to find a failed copy?. Not taken home - stored in a safe the other side of the school. I hope you guys have encryption enabled on all these external hard drive backups that some of you are taking home!

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-emails/report-spam-emails/ jus sayin

I'd be more than happy to learn more about enterprise automation and if it would make my department better! Get the camera out mate and log into youtube!!

I agree with above - still using MDT/WDS here to deploy hundreds of PCs and it works 100% of the time every time, entire it suites built in 20 mins with apps installed etc. Why move to something 10x more complicated that doesnt give you a 10x improvement in outcomes? We should only be using hideously complicated enteprise software if it actually imroves something. I know a school down the road who've gone down the full automation thing using SCCM and all sorts of other jazz - they've literally got between 0.5 and 0.75 of a member of staff constantly on automation and SCCM all the time - it's going on towards a full time job! And do their PCs really build any better than mine in the grand scheme of things? Not really. personally I think DMJs posts were very rude when you consider the OP is basically trying to help us and give us some free training.

Do your screens have a "freeze screen button" to pause the image so the teacher can do something else and then unfreeze the screen later Royce?

How about you give me an enterprise level budget then so that I can implement all of this enterprise technology? *checks budget again* Ah yes it's a small business budget.

Always had promethean activboards but went to see a couple of schools interactive Tvs - and the school with Smart screens impressed me the most. Could only afford 6 Smart GX 86 this year but those 6 teachers are happy as larry!

Sadly I went though all this with Prowise chromebooks (unreliability, very poor spare parts avaialblility, mass faliures after year 2 and 3 etc). So when someone said about prowise screens I was like "nope that company is dead to me".

Dont worry - all of the rest of us will pay for all the future treatment you need via our lovely NHS taxes.

The reason I use Raid 5 on SSDs is to reduce unneccasary writes and write speed isn't a problem on SSDs generally anyway.

Agreed. I do use Raid 6 on the backup servers (3+tb drives) but Raid 5 on my Hyper V servers which all have 400-800GB SSD's. That being said - I've never lost data on Raid 5 in 20+ years but I've always used good servers with good raid controllers. If your using 8tb drives on a £500 server using Software raid built into windows server you will no doubt have a much worse experience than me.

The banks etc thought they could get away with misselling PPI too and look where that got them. ESS will get it's karma at some point, either that or they simply won't have any customers left.

Don't worry, I have not deleted everything. I am however a bit concerned as GDPR states you should only be holding data whilst it is required - so once those pupils leave and the coursework and the appeals process is finished - technically we should be deleting the data, right?

This is what ESS were banking on schools doing all along - good luck getting out of that contract I recon you got SIMS till 2026 in those schools!

Doesnt sound like a good idea to me!

List them as one lot with one price?

I've been told work only needs to be kept by the letter of the law for the duration whilst the appeals process could be underway - i.e just a handful of weeks rather than years. I was quite suprised as I'd been keeping everything for years!

Your plan is much better than your Missus's plan - don't be like everyone else and still be paying your mortgage credit card bills and a couple of PCP car payments when your 60. I know someone exactly like this who is constantly moaning they want to retire. STOP FRIGGIN REMOTGAGING AND HAVING A NEW CAR EVERY YEAR THEN!!! There's like a 20% chance one of you dying by 80 - it's a good idea to arrange your life so you can actually enjoy your retirement 55-80

Yeh I tested this - leaving it on 24/7 is more expensive than just using the normal hot in the morning hot in the evening tequnique. In gas but also in electricity as when it/s on 24/7 the pump runs a lot more and that uses 100-150 watts on a normal combi boiler. I was quite suprised!

It's difficult for them rather than for you - but I understand the reluctancy to cause a fuss. (personally, I am a fuss causer as the school is the priority not how easy/hard it is for LA financial staff)

I guess it depends if the OP needs the space or not I've never found that - Raid 5 has very good read speed especially if your using a decent raid controller with cache.

I am sure the information commisioner would be happy to know that they are not compliant.

Cool this is what I need for me and my techie! Thanks for putting the time in!!

Why stick with FMS when there are so many modern finance programs around? It's absoloutly archaic? It's literally EXACTLY the same as it was 20 years ago.