HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread - Reloaded

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread - Reloaded

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

This only applies to the 2.5" mobile drives, FYI.

My lab just bought two USB 3.0 Seagate 2.5" portables that are in their entirety the same size (roughly) as a bare 2.5" SATA drive, so I don't imagine there are any SATA connectors on them, either, for whatever that is worth.

edit: set yourself up such that losing an external drive is just an inconvenience, not a data loss event.

sleepy gary fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Sep 16, 2014

# ¿ Sep 16, 2014 21:02

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:09

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

whatupdet posted:

I'm looking to sell some non-SSD hard drives and need to make sure everything is removed before giving to a stranger, years back I used DBAN but as each drive took 1-2 days to run multiple passes plus the fact I could not use my computer during this time I'd like a better option; if available.

Running Windows 7 if that makes any difference.

Thanks

You only need to do a single pass. There are probably some small freeware utilities that will fill the drive with zeros if you're in Windows. In Linux or MacOSX(?) you can just use dd.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 16:59

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

CloFan posted:

Does a USB 3.0 slot require a USB 3.0 extension cable to operate at full speed?

Yes

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 18:58

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Main Paineframe posted:

Are external USB enclosures for laptop HDs any good, or should I get some kind of adapted to connect them directly? I've got two laptop HDs from dead laptops that I want to pull data off (one about 3 years old, the other about a decade old) and onto a desktop, and an external enclosure would suit my needs except I vaguely recall reading somewhere that they're all barely-functional hot garbage, is that still true?

These vary wildly in quality, so stick with better-known brands and models with lots of positive reviews at newegg or amazon.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2014 17:05

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Nemesis Of Moles posted:

Ok, my hard drive issues are getting weird.

For reference here, I'm using an external enclosure to test these drives.

So far I've tested all but one drive, and all of them failed during the backup. Windows says they're corrupt and failed but the SMART stats say they're fine. The first drive I tested has Caution on its CrystalDiskInfo for Pending Sector Count and its Reallocated Sectors so I guess that's trash but the other two are Healthy and fine on both and work again after I format them, then fail during the backup process.

Am I missing something here? I kinda think maybe the enclosure is at fault, at least for the last two drives, but I can't really test the drives yet. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that these drives would keep failing so quickly but stay 'Healthy' on CrystalDiskInfo. They are old, and if all of them were failing just because of a natural lifespan issue I'd understand, but they're entirely unused. Any ideas?

I have some experience with extremely lovely USB to SATA/PATA bridges, and this sounds like exactly that to me.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2014 21:58

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Rukus posted:

I'd also be wary of it since it touts remote access features that could be exploitable. If your router has a USB port designed for storage, then a USB external plugged into that might be a better option.

To me, these are pretty much exactly the same thing, security-wise.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 11:38

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Torka posted:

The onboard gigabit LAN on my Asus desktop motherboard has a bogus MAC address in Windows 7 of 88:88:88:88:87:88. Other devices on the network also see that address for that computer so it's not just a display problem.

It's been like this for a long time and I've never cared because it works anyway, but lately I've been trying to get WOL to work without success and I suspect this bullshit MAC is the reason.

What could cause this and what can I do to correct it? The advanced settings for the device in device manager allow you to set the MAC address but the option has no effect. I've tried updating drivers too, naturally.

Seems like a common issue with a particular Intel NIC. Try this http://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/support/TechFAQdetail.aspx?formid=2993

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 08:11

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Surgeon General posted:

Can running bittorrent on a micro SD card kill it?

I bought a 128GB microSD about a month ago that I've been using on my phone. It wasn't used for anything taxing until a few days ago. I set the destination folder for a bittorrent app to the microSD card and downloaded maybe 30GB of stuff in the past few days. My phone froze and could not see the card after rebooting. When I plug the card into my PC it will only read. The card cannot be written to or formatted (the lock is set to off). The card did get very hot doing this and I just ignored it, probably stupidly.

Are you sure it's a real 128GB card?

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 16:25

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Surgeon General posted:

Yes. It's a PNY that I bought at Fry's. It wasn't from some shady ebay seller.

And I did all this through wifi.

Then what you did should not have killed the card.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 17:03

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

No Gravitas posted:

I'm a budding college/university instructor.

Can someone tell me what the hell do you call the device that you can plug into your USB port that lets you advance lecture slides / powerpoints / pdf pages remotely?

"Presenter" seems to be the most-used word.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2015 02:06

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

raging bullwinkle posted:

I have a 22" Benq T2200HD LCD monitor that's started playing up recently. When I turn it on, I stare at a black screen for about five minutes, and then it does this for another five minutes:

And then it turns on.

Anyone run into something like this before? I figured I'd ask here before shelling out money for a new cable/monitor/whatever. My actual PC is only about six months old. The problem feels like it's getting worse every day, if that helps.

It probably needs a bunch of new electrolytic capacitors.

# ¿ May 1, 2015 11:57

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

Alereon posted:

This also about the worst possible time to buy a cable modem because the switch to the new DOCSIS 3.1 cable standard is about to begin and all the models currently on the market are DOCSIS 3.0. Current models will still be supported for a few years but you won't have access to higher speed tiers. I'd just rent the modem and buy your own good Wireless-AC router.

Ehhhh. I think most people in the US are still within DOCSIS 2.0 speeds, and that paying $10/mo to rent a modem that is capable of speeds far in excess of the service you can get is a bad idea compared to paying $80 for one that is going to be more than adequate for several years.

edited for clarity

sleepy gary fucked around with this message at 22:38 on May 9, 2015

# ¿ May 9, 2015 22:24

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

A single zero pass will defeat any feasible attempt at recovery.

# ¿ May 13, 2015 00:21

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 17:09

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

It could be the motherboard, but you'll only be sure by putting in good RAM and getting clean test results.

# ¿ May 20, 2015 14:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread - Reloaded