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People claim to videotape UFOs in the sky above Earth. They also spot unusual-looking objects in NASA camera feeds at the International Space Station.

Now, a growing number of individuals insist they're using their telescopes and cameras to reveal UFOs around the moon, according to the International Business Times.

Many odd things have been seen by amateur and professional astronomers on the moon over decades, and YouTube affords the opportunity to look at alleged UFOs flying across, toward and away from our nearest astronomical neighbor.

Part of the problem with most videos like these is the lack of specific, helpful information to accompany the visual "evidence," so it's difficult to know what's real and what was created from a clever software app.

But, lunar anomalies are not new phenomena. They've been reported by astronomers going back to the 1700s. Strange things seen by the scientists of centuries past included mysterious bright lights or glowing spots on the moon. In 1869, Great Britain's Royal Astronomical Society conducted a study of unusual moving lights. After numerous observations of this activity, the lights just turned off.

On July 29, 1953, New York Herald Tribune science editor John J. O'Neill noticed, through his telescope, a huge bridge-like object spanning 12 miles in the lunar area known as Mare Crisium. Other observers, including Hugh Percy Wilkins of the British Astronomical Association, confirmed O'Neill's sighting on the lunar surface. The object that became known as O'Neill's Bridge, was eventually thought to be nothing more than a combination of lights and shadows.

The history of the Apollo flights to the moon in the late 1960s into the 1970s included countless tabloid stories of supposed UFO encounters experienced by the astronauts.

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin describes a UFO that accompanied them en route to the moon in 1969.

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I'm still under the impression that no matter what proof or evidence is presented, people will still scream fake. Buzz for instance was HIGHLY trained and would know what a panel from his own ship looked like. But all it takes in someone to say something that lines up with what a skeptic believes and the story is automatically "debunked" and the highly skilled professional is all of a sudden delusional.

I remember Buzz saying that there are monoliths on Mars. But he's nothing but a senile old fool...

  • Like 2

I'm still under the impression that no matter what proof or evidence is presented, people will still scream fake. Buzz for instance was HIGHLY trained and would know what a panel from his own ship looked like. But all it takes in someone to say something that lines up with what a skeptic believes and the story is automatically "debunked" and the highly skilled professional is all of a sudden delusional.

I remember Buzz saying that there are monoliths on Mars. But he's nothing but a senile old fool...

No matter how fake something is, how far out an idea is,regardless of what ever counter evidence may exist, someone out there will still believe in it. It goes both ways.

  • Like 2

I'm still under the impression that no matter what proof or evidence is presented, people will still scream fake. Buzz for instance was HIGHLY trained and would know what a panel from his own ship looked like. But all it takes in someone to say something that lines up with what a skeptic believes and the story is automatically "debunked" and the highly skilled professional is all of a sudden delusional.

I remember Buzz saying that there are monoliths on Mars. But he's nothing but a senile old fool...

I guess you missed this part:

Part of the problem with most videos like these is the lack of specific, helpful information to accompany the visual "evidence," so it's difficult to know what's real and what was created from a clever software app.

It's like the Cydonia region on Mars which people thought had a face on it and proved E.T. or Martians were there. Turns out it was just another case of pareidolia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_(region_of_Mars)

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast24may_1/

But, hey, maybe it's another cover-up.

No matter how fake something is, how far out an idea is,regardless of what ever counter evidence may exist, someone out there will still believe in it. It goes both ways.

I agree 100%! Problem I have is with people that swear everything is fake. That bothers me. Not everything in the skies is an alien craft from Venus, Mars etc. But some things that have been sighted are extremely convincing and the skeptics will still dismiss it as fake. Some things will never be good enough for some people.

I agree 100%! Problem I have is with people that swear everything is fake. That bothers me. Not everything in the skies is an alien craft from Venus, Mars etc. But some things that have been sighted are extremely convincing and the skeptics will still dismiss it as fake. Some things will never be good enough for some people.

To be fair "extremely convincing" is subjective. In this day and age of technology, visual evidence is no where near a standard that qualifies as actual evidence, which seems to be pretty much the only thing anyone can ever provide these days. Eye witness testimony is even further down the flag pole then video or picture evidence. Til someone can provide hard proof, such as something that is actually alien to us, then "extremely convincing" will remain subjective.

I agree 100%! Problem I have is with people that swear everything is fake. That bothers me. Not everything in the skies is an alien craft from Venus, Mars etc. But some things that have been sighted are extremely convincing and the skeptics will still dismiss it as fake. Some things will never be good enough for some people.

If there was any evidence for it then people would take it seriously but eyewitness accounts are inherently unreliable. People swear they see ghosts and that they can talk to the dead but I wouldn't give that a second thought. As for astronauts, they're under huge psychological pressure and tend to have very extreme personalities - it's not a surprise that many snap, just like so many soldiers do. I'm perfectly willing to consider what they say but I won't believe it without evidence.

Occam's Razor dictates that the theory with the least assumptions is the most likely to be correct. Which is more likely - that somebody mistook what they saw for an alien craft; or that an advanced alien civilization has travelled thousands of light years to fly around our planet undetected and without any attempt at communication? It's one thing to remain open-minded; it's another to believe in something without evidence.

  • Like 2

To be fair "extremely convincing" is subjective. In this day and age of technology, visual evidence is no where near a standard that qualifies as actual evidence, which seems to be pretty much the only thing anyone can ever provide these days. Eye witness testimony is even further down the flag pole then video or picture evidence. Til someone can provide hard proof, such as something that is actually alien to us, then "extremely convincing" will remain subjective.

That's fair and again, I agree with your train of thought as I have plenty of other times on a wide range of topics. Now, let's take the following video, can everything in that video be explained? Take out the parts of explainable cloud phenomenon and "Norway Missile Tests" and can every one of the things in that video be explained? You don't want to be so open minded that your brain falls out but you don't want to be so closed minded that your brain suffocates. There is even one scenario in that video that the Chinese government couldn't even explain and they shut down a Chinese airport. Can that be explained? Air traffic controllers and pilots had no idea what it was. My point is, while something?s can be explained, not everything can. So if ONE thing might not be able to be explained, that's enough evidence, for me at least that intelligent life exists. Should be for most scientists but personal opinion gets in the way.

If there was any evidence for it then people would take it seriously but eyewitness accounts are inherently unreliable. People swear they see ghosts and that they can talk to the dead but I wouldn't give that a second thought. As for astronauts, they're under huge psychological pressure and tend to have very extreme personalities - it's not a surprise that many snap, just like so many soldiers do. I'm perfectly willing to consider what they say but I won't believe it without evidence.

Occam's Razor dictates that the theory with the least assumptions is the most likely to be correct. Which is more likely - that somebody mistook what they saw for an alien craft; or that an advanced alien civilization has travelled thousands of light years to fly around our planet undetected and without any attempt at communication? It's one thing to remain open-minded; it's another to believe in something without evidence.

But that's what I'm saying. No matter the evidence it will never be good enough. When you have NASA officials, Air Force officials, the Mexican Government, hackers, released evidence from Britain and God knows what else, what more is needed? Before Photoshop, there was great evidence and people still never believed.

Take a look at Roswell, the Air Force put out a press release saying they recovered a flying saucer, after a few hours they corrected that saying it was a weather balloon. Do people really believe that? This is the Air Force, they deal with fighter jets and ****. They KNOW what a weather balloon is vs a flying craft. It's like if you go to a Mercedes Benz dealership and buy a S550 AMG but realize when you get home that it's a Kia Optima. That doesn't happen.

As far as staying incognito, reports have said that we have been in contact with other civilizations from different planets and have even sent people to other planets as a sort of intergalactic trade. How true that is, I have no idea. Then you have the Russian* PM saying that aliens exist among us but he would never say how many because it would cause a public panic.

But I know, even the Russian* PM is delusional and there are reasons they people I mentioned are wrong and their claims can be debunked. Doesn't matter how credible they were before speaking of UFO's.

These are just my opinions, I'm not trying to sway anyone either way.

A number of those in that video have been talked about on this forum in the past. Like the Jerusalem one was found to be a hoax. The spiral one and a few others (the China one) were rockets that gave a unique reaction look in the atmosphere, the hole in the cloud in Russia was a "Hole punch cloud" also called a "Fallstreak Hole". Most of these are identified later after the fact but people like this video creator still use them trying to make it out to be more then they are. The agenda is to make it seems like a conspiracy or alien related, nothing here identifies or unidentified equates alien or cover up as being suggested.

But that's what I'm saying. No matter the evidence it will never be good enough. When you have NASA officials, Air Force officials, the Mexican Government, hackers, released evidence from Britain and God knows what else, what more is needed? Before Photoshop, there was great evidence and people still never believed.

And none of that has reached the threshold of conclusive evidence. Most of it is grainy video, unreliable eyewitness testimony and hoax documents. It's no more credible than the birther movement or the 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Take a look at Roswell, the Air Force put out a press release saying they recovered a flying saucer, after a few hours they corrected that saying it was a weather balloon. Do people really believe that?

Even if it was a "flying saucer", there is no reason to believe it is of extra-terrestrial origin. It's far more likely a US or Russian experimental plane that was unknown to the people who found it.

As far as staying incognito, reports have said that we have been in contact with other civilizations from different planets and have even sent people to other planets as a sort of intergalactic trade. How true that is, I have no idea.

Oh, "reports" hey? Case closed then. Aliens are real. :rolleyes:

I honestly don't know how to respond to people who take this sort of nonsense seriously.

I'm still under the impression that no matter what proof or evidence is presented, people will still scream fake. Buzz for instance was HIGHLY trained and would know what a panel from his own ship looked like. But all it takes in someone to say something that lines up with what a skeptic believes and the story is automatically "debunked" and the highly skilled professional is all of a sudden delusional.

I remember Buzz saying that there are monoliths on Mars. But he's nothing but a senile old fool...

Not exactly. An object at a distance on the Moon can look completely different than the same object at the same distance on Earth. Our atmosphere distorts light, since there is no atmosphere on the moon, the light doesn't get distorted, and will throw off an observer's senses.

Same thing applies here, thanks to orbital mechanics, there's no telling how far these objects are from the moon, or what their size actually is. Take this photo as an example:

614349main_jsc2012e017827_full.jpg

That's fair and again, I agree with your train of thought as I have plenty of other times on a wide range of topics. Now, let's take the following video, can everything in that video be explained? Take out the parts of explainable cloud phenomenon and "Norway Missile Tests" and can every one of the things in that video be explained? You don't want to be so open minded that your brain falls out but you don't want to be so closed minded that your brain suffocates. There is even one scenario in that video that the Chinese government couldn't even explain and they shut down a Chinese airport. Can that be explained? Air traffic controllers and pilots had no idea what it was. My point is, while something?s can be explained, not everything can. So if ONE thing might not be able to be explained, that's enough evidence, for me at least that intelligent life exists. Should be for most scientists but personal opinion gets in the way.

Brilliant.

Can't be explained = evidence for aliens.

  • Like 1

So if ONE thing might not be able to be explained, that's enough evidence, for me at least that intelligent life exists. Should be for most scientists but personal opinion gets in the way.

UNexplained or UNidentified in no way equates alien life or "enough" evidence. And NO it should never be the same for ANY scientist, science should NEVER accept something that can't explain for any personal view of an answer. That's basically what you're doing, you can't explain something so you give it an answer that you WANT it to be. A true scientist would never let a personal opinion overrule scientific reasoning.

  • Like 1

Occam's Razor dictates that the theory with the least assumptions is the most likely to be correct. Which is more likely - that somebody mistook what they saw for an alien craft; or that an advanced alien civilization has traveled thousands of light years to fly around our planet undetected and without any attempt at communication? It's one thing to remain open-minded; it's another to believe in something without evidence.

Why is an Alien visit any less likely than some other explanation ?

Just because Earth assumes this or that theory, does not automatically mean that our Science is 100% correct.

The Universe is a very big space, with uncountable millions of worlds and other realities.

Earth isn't the oldest planet either.

There could very well be much older and more advanced Civilizations.

There can be other Dimensions which we don't even begin to understand.

Just because Earth people do not know how to travel vast distances of Space, or travel between dimensions, is no proof that it can not be done.

Humans have quite an ego, assuming that we are the one & only.

I don't know what you accept as evidence, but I personally do not believe that all witnesses are kooks, liars, uneducated.

Not all videos, photographs are faked.

People have witnessed non-Earthly craft and other Intelligent beings.

We are not alone. ;)

Why is an Alien visit any less likely than some other explanation ?

Just because Earth assumes this or that theory, does not automatically mean that our Science is 100% correct.

The Universe is a very big space, with uncountable millions of worlds and other realities.

Earth isn't the oldest planet either.

There could very well be much older and more advanced Civilizations.

There can be other Dimensions which we don't even begin to understand.

Just because Earth people do not know how to travel vast distances of Space, or travel between dimensions, is no proof that it can not be done.

Humans have quite an ego, assuming that we are the one & only.

I don't know what you accept as evidence, but I personally do not believe that all witnesses are kooks, liars, uneducated.

Not all videos, photographs are faked.

People have witnessed non-Earthly craft and other Intelligent beings.

We are not alone. ;)

Why can't a catch a leprechaun that will give me a pot of gold and 10k wishes? Why can't I also find a living unicorn Pegasus, Iv looked all over the internet for one and no one is selling them. With all these other dimensions, you would think one would pop into ours at some point. I want answers damn it.

UNexplained or UNidentified in no way equates alien life or "enough" evidence. And NO it should never be the same for ANY scientist, science should NEVER accept something that can't explain for any personal view of an answer. That's basically what you're doing, you can't explain something so you give it an answer that you WANT it to be. A true scientist would never let a personal opinion overrule scientific reasoning.

And this was the answer I was looking for. Now, I have to disagree with you. If 95% of sightings can be explained, does that mean the 5% never happened? What do you do with those? What scientist, in their right mind, would say intelligent alien life doesn't exist if 5% of sightings from credible people cannot be explained?

Take a look at Nick Pope, who worked for the Ministry of Defense for 21 years. Mr. Pope's job was to advise on the threat posed by other life forms. Why would he have a job like that if they don't think that alien life exists somewhere? For 21 years at that? Then take a look at Carol Rosin who was a part of The Disclosure Project. Look at her credentials and tell me she is crazy. These people are much much much more intelligent than the people on here and they believe that intelligent alien life exists. So why would any of you rule it out? That is what I call making personal opinions get in the way of logic.

Gary McKinnon had access to government computers for 13 months and said he found evidence of UFO's, non-terrestrial officials and zero-point energy. He wasn't trying to sell a book. What did he gain besides headache? Did he waste all 13 months just to trick the American Public? Wiki-Leaks were about to release UFO related documents but was shut down before they could. Why do those documents exist? Just to make fun of "tin-foil hat wearers"? If this stuff is so fake why are they stored on Government computers?

Back to The Disclosure Project. 400 of the most credible witnesses that you can find, say UFO's and alien life exists, are they ALL crazy? I'm not delusional, I don't rely on conspiracy theories, I'm highly logical and this is SIMPLE logic. If someone in a position to know more than me in a specific topic tells me what it is, I believe them. I'm not quoting lunatics, I'm quoting real life scholars and people with unimpeachable credentials but yet and still I'm crazy for believing them? Oh okay.

5% of unexplained does not in ANYWAY equate alien life, it ONLY equates UNexplained that's it nothing more. Also labeling someone "credible" is moot if that person can't explain something either.

As for people like Nick Pope, many govs have similar people/groups who draw up plans and scenarios for "what if" type situations. In one of History channels dooms day shows they showed how the gov even has plans for something like Yellowstone erupting. I think you can thank Hollywood and our history of science fiction love for our govs making such plans for the slight event of these "what ifs". We humans tend to scare pretty easily, its easy to be scared over some books and movies and think it's best to have a plan for such a case, plus it makes for good training at some point. Even the UN has a special group who's job it is to work up on what to do with first contact. It's better to have a plan and not need it then not have a plan and need it. If I remember correctly even the military plays out a zombie scenario for how they would handle some kind of strange outbreak that cause people to not be in a normal frame of mind. So the idea is not as far fetched as it first sounds once you start to think logically about it.

When wikileaks got all those leaks, some asked about anything relating to aliens, their reply "sorry but no alien leaks".

Back to The Disclosure Project. 400 of the most credible witnesses that you can find, say UFO's and alien life exists, are they ALL crazy?

Sorry but a few billion people believe in god and such, unless those 400 have actual hard evidence, their word is a meaningful as Harry Potter's.

And this was the answer I was looking for. Now, I have to disagree with you. If 95% of sightings can be explained, does that mean the 5% never happened? What do you do with those? What scientist, in their right mind, would say intelligent alien life doesn't exist if 5% of sightings from credible people cannot be explained?

Wait, what? :s

It doesn't mean 5% didn't happen, it means 5% have no explanation. That is like arguing most stories and claims about haunted houses are debunked, but some haven't been, therefore ghosts exist. That is not a valid form of reasoning.

A scientist, or any logically person, doesn't conclude anything from something unexplained.

Sc(k)epticism isn't about being closed or open minded, or taking a side, it is about having a basic standard which you compare claims against. If claims don't stack-up, that is, can't meet the burden of proof or are unfalsifiable then there is no good reason to put anything faith (confidence) in them.

Meeting an alien species is an entirely exciting idea to me, I would personally love it to be true, but the evidence just simply doesn't exist to support it.

  • Like 1
And this was the answer I was looking for. Now, I have to disagree with you. If 95% of sightings can be explained, does that mean the 5% never happened? What do you do with those? What scientist, in their right mind, would say intelligent alien life doesn't exist if 5% of sightings from credible people cannot be explained?

Not explained != Proof of aliens

Take a look at Nick Pope, who worked for the Ministry of Defense for 21 years. Mr. Pope's job was to advise on the threat posed by other life forms.

Preparing for the possibility that we encounter alien life is not proof that we have already encountered it.

Then take a look at Carol Rosin who was a part of The Disclosure Project. Look at her credentials and tell me she is crazy. These people are much much much more intelligent than the people on here and they believe that intelligent alien life exists.

Intelligent people are perfectly capable of being wrong, delusional or crazy. There are numerous scientists who believe in religion, for example.

Gary McKinnon had access to government computers for 13 months and said he found evidence of UFO's, non-terrestrial officials and zero-point energy. He wasn't trying to sell a book. What did he gain besides headache?

He has Asperger's syndrome, a condition "characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests". Oh, and here's another quote from the Wikipedia article:

"Pursuit of specific and narrow areas of interest is one of the most striking features of AS. Individuals with AS may collect volumes of detailed information on a relatively narrow topic such as weather data or star names, without necessarily having a genuine understanding of the broader topic."

So people with AS tend to become obsessed with particular topics without truly understanding them. Your argument is based upon people who have diagnosed mental health issues. Everything you have posted as "evidence" is more easily explained by human nature and common sense.

Back to The Disclosure Project. 400 of the most credible witnesses that you can find, say UFO's and alien life exists, are they ALL crazy? I'm not delusional, I don't rely on conspiracy theories, I'm highly logical and this is SIMPLE logic. If someone in a position to know more than me in a specific topic tells me what it is, I believe them. I'm not quoting lunatics, I'm quoting real life scholars and people with unimpeachable credentials but yet and still I'm crazy for believing them? Oh okay.

I don't mean to offend you, but you are not being highly logical here.

The Disclosure Project is utter drivel. The fact that they have a shop that sells promotional books, DVDs & new age mysticsm style training courses to contact aliens, should set off alarm bells.

Steven Greer, who runs the Disclosure Project, is a con-artist; a vulture who prays upon the gulible. Many of the witnesses are not credible souces, but known embellishers & outright hoaxers whom have been completely shuned by other UFOlogists.

If you're interested you should read this informative article on the long history of UFO disclosure, and the kind of personalities involved.

http://home.comcast..../disclosure.htm

^ Where did you get that rubbish ?

Since when has anyone proven that Greer is a 'con artist' ?

Simply because he talks about facts that you don't want to accept ? :laugh: LOL

Oh, there isn't any proof that Greer is a con-artist, at least none I've seen, but I have little doubt he is in this thing for his own finacial gain rather than because he is an avid believer. But that's just what I think.

I am not really surprised you take what Greer says as gospel. You've proven time & time again how suseptible you are to such gobbledygook. I'd be pretty surprised if you actually read the article in the link I posted.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
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The steps to get to the board are as follows: Remove the four smaller Torx screws on the bottom of the ZimaBoard 2; Remove the four larger Torx screws on the sides of the device; Carefully unstick the CMOS battery from the PCB; Remove two Phillips screws on the PCB; Lift out the PCB. Yes, as you can tell from the instructions, you need three different tools to remove Torx and Phillips screws (10 in total), and unhelpfully, one of the screws is located under the CMOS battery, which is stuck onto the PCB. Building Now comes the fun part. Because the ZimaSpace website does not provide any guidance on how to put the Starter Kit together. They only have guidance for connecting the CPU fan. However, they did upload a video to their YouTube channel that shows the entire process. To install the fan, first remove the four screws on the bottom of the ZimaBoard 2, then on the inside, there is a CPU FAN connector where you can attach the fan, reattach the ZimaBoard 2 frame, and feed the fan cable through the provided slit. Then remove the nearest screw on the side and attach the fan frame to the side of the device using the same screw. ZimaBard 2 screws Aligning the screws Bottom view Remember those four screws we removed to access the CPU FAN? Longer screws are provided in the box with the HDD Expansion Bracket, which is what you will now need to attach the ZimaBoard 2 to it. Helpfully, the orientation on how to attach it is made obvious when the frame can only be screwed on at the same overall length as the ZimaBoard 2. If you do it the wrong way around (which is what I did initially) one side hangs off the frame, and it becomes difficult to attach the PCIe Adapter Card cable. PCIe card frame Other side PCIe slot connector Next, it's time to attach the PCIe card frame, which is fastened with the help of 3.5-inch SATA HDD (3 screws). These are toolless screws that you can just use your fingers to fasten them with. Then it is time to connect the provided PCIe cable with the slot connector on one side of the ZimaBoard 2, feed it through the bottom of the HDD frame, and fasten it with two standoffs. Both bracket options 2280 standoffs with 2x 4TB MP44Q The PCIe 3.0 X4 card comes with a short bracket option, handy if you decide to place it inside a different NAS or rack server, but here we need the long bracket. Oddly enough, the M.2 standoffs were preinstalled into the 22110 position, but extra standoffs are included in the box, which I installed at the 2280 position for our use. I added a couple of MP44Q M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs (2 x 4TB) that can be availed on Amazon for $478.99 (the lowest price for 3 months) that TEAMGROUP supplied us with Then we have the almost completed build, you just need to push the card into the PCIe slot. Unfortunately, IceWhale Technologies did not provide a screw for the PCIe card frame (this is also apparent in their own video). Here it is at several different angles, with the last pic showing the SATA Y-Cable connected to the two WD Red Plus 4TB drives. Setup and Usage Next, you connect your cables to the I/O, and the ZimaBoard 2 powers on automatically, as there is no power button on the device. Power is controlled through the Settings in ZimaOS. BIOS The ZimaBoard 2 includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2, 3], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to a SATA/USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the ZimaBoard 2 can be reached by navigating to the IP address (shown if you have a monitor connected), or you can find it using the ZIMA Client desktop application, which is essentially a Zima device finder. Initializing the ZimaBoard 2 The ZimaOS setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full above, it basically consists of setting up an account and some handy tips, and that's that! Post Setup (ZimaOS update) Upon first boot, you are alerted that there is a ZimaOS update from 1.5.0 to 1.6.1, which I applied; the full process is shown above with the changelog. ZimaBoard 2 Storage Setup Next, it is time to set up the storage. ZimaOS actually throws everything onto the eMMC flash drive; it is also the default location of AppData, which is definitely something to be wary about, as the 45GB available storage could fill up quickly. HDDs I first attempted to create a Storage Pool using the two 4TB WD Red Plus NAS drives, and got an error message: After several attempts and then looking online, I discovered it was a bug with ZimaOS where the fix was simply to reboot ZimaOS and then try again, this time I was able to create a RAID mirror using the two drives. SSDs I did the same for the SSDs, as you will see in the above gallery, when I created the second Storage Pool, it only allowed me to select available drives. ZimaBoard 2 AppData ZimaOS comes with an App Store that includes a repository of almost 400 apps, so you will be able to find most of what you'll need for a NAS (although after a quick search, I wasn't able to find a Surveillance Manager), and now comes the important part: moving the default AppData location off the 45GB eMMC and onto a larger volume: Open Settings Then Apps Then, in the Select a new location field, click on the new Storage volume you want to move it to (in my case, the Apps Storage Pool), which is the SSD RAID mirror. Confirm the Migration warning Be praised! You can also do this for Docker (which by default installs onto the 45GB eMMC flash drive) and the User database. Plex Setup Next, I tested the configuration by installing the Plex Server app from the App Store. The library folders must already exist (which I placed into the Storage Pool). Plex Server setup is straightforward and requires very little configuration. In my case, all I had to do was add the media path I just created, which you can also browse to using the folder icon in the path field. In addition, you can now map the new Media library in Windows Explorer using the Zima Client. Oddly enough, it is not possible to access the ZimaBoard 2 over the Network Neighborhood; you must map drives using the client, which is shown in the last image in the above gallery. I watched one of my Blu-Ray rips, which is Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos, and the content played fine with no stuttering or buffering, which is what anyone needs in this scenario. ZimaBoard 2 Zima Client mobile app There's also a client for mobile. It is pretty barebones, as shown in the above gallery, for example, the Apps screen launches the WebUI for that app, and the Backup must be done manually. On opening Backup, you can select internal storage folders on your phone to backup to the ZimaBoard 2's storage, and although this is constantly scanned, the backup action itself must be manually triggered. There is an option to allow foreground backup (last image in the above gallery), but this basically means the queued backup gets triggered when you manually open the app. Benchmarking SATA PCIe 3.0 X4 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 2.5 GbE was well within acceptable ranges. Writes were generally better on the SSD RAID mirror. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 2.5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 2.5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. Thermals Top PCIe card SATA HDDs Next, I measured some hotspots while playing content on Plex. It's fair to say this will perform better than a NAS that is enclosed in a metal or plastic case, as almost everything storage-wise is exposed! Anyway, the ZimaBoard 2 did not break a sweat with Plex streaming or disk benchmarks. ZimaOS Factory Reset ZimaOS does not include a factory reset option. Instead, you have to download the ZimaOS image and flash it to the eMMC manually. The flashing process is shown in the above gallery. The steps to do so are listed below: Download the ZimaOS image here; Open BalenaEtcher (Run as Administrator) and select the image; Select your inserted USB drive (min 8 GB) Flash to it; Connect your USB drive, monitor, keyboard, USB hub (optional), mouse (optional), and network cable (recommended) to the ZimaBoard 2; Connect power and press F11 continuously; Select your USB drive starting with UEFI in the boot device menu; Press Enter on the Install ZimaOS option; Select /dev/mmcblk0 (MMC) flash drive as target; Confirm with (three times) to wipe the target disk; Wait a couple of minutes while ZimaOS installs; Remove the USB drive and confirm with a reboot; Your ZimaBoard 2 has been factory reset. However, you don't have to stick with ZimaOS, in fact the company also offers official CasaOS images, that are based on Debian; or as they say themselves, put anything you want on this "hackable single board server" it's up to you. Conclusion I had a lot of fun putting this together. I've custom-built all my own PCs and servers since the 90s, and this is the first time I have had to put a NAS together. Even if the actual base ZimaBoard 2 was already a completed build, it still feels pretty custom. I just wish that IceWhale Technology included a getting-started guide in the box for the Start Kit, which would have really completed this kit. Instead, I had to search for the official video on the YouTube channel to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. So who is this for? Definitely the hobbyist who is comfortable building their own PC and servers. It also has a much smaller footprint than its nearest equivalent (in terms of specs), like the Beelink Me Pro, which is another NAS I will be testing soon. Although the Beelink does not come with the PCIe 3.0 X4 expansion, the ZimaBoard 2 Starter Kit suddenly looks to be a great bargain, even if it only offers the two 3.5-inch bays over the four in the other example. It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N150 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the ZimaBoard 2 is intended for, media streaming and backup. It also looks like the IceWhale Technology staff are quite active in the official forums helping people with issues they come across with ZimaOS and the devices, peer support seems to be good as well, I was quickly able to find why I was not able to create a new Storage Pool in ZimaOS v1.6.1 even though that is quite a serious bug, hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. If you are comfortable with the command line and Docker, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. This was my first time with ZimaOS. It seems a bit barebones in comparison to the likes of Synology DSM, TOS, and UGOS, but it has a ton of apps to get you started with your home or small business NAS. Where to buy As of publishing, IceWhale Technology is running a discount of up to 5% for the Starter Kit. If you opt to get just the ZimaBoard 2 itself, it does come with a SATA Y-Cable, so you will be able to connect up to two 3.5-inch HDDs to it. ZimaBoard 2 1668 Starter Kit for $534.50 on Amazon US (was $548.60) ZimaBoard 2 832 Starter Kit for $372.88 on Amazon US (was $390.60) Zimaboard 2 1668 (16GB+64GB) for $419.90 on Amazon US Zimaboard 2 832 (8GB+32GB) for $359.90 on Amazon Disclosure: IceWhale Technology provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Good to know The Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. 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    • It's in the Insider's group so yes it's technically beta, though these days it's hard to see much of a difference unless you opt for the most extreme beta builds, which I don't. When I moved here from the Release Preview channel I did so primarily because I wanted to see how well the restored taskbar functionality (restored from Win10, and earlier) is working and whether it was time to finally abandon SAB--and it is--working fine, so far. Not as polished as SAB, but it'll do for me.
    • I've been using MWB Premium for a number of years so that along with Windows updates and updated browser should be fine. Thanks for that.
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