PC Tech Thread

Two identical monitors.

Arms can't be at different heights on the one I have (that I linked to), but you could get two of the single monitor mounts ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-DM351X3-Single-Monitor-Bracket/dp/B00AUTTBPQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1448368594&sr=1-2&keywords=duronic+arm+monitor ) and then you'll be able to arrange them as you want.

Ah yes that would do it, looks like I could also use the spring loaded version, but thats £65...

I never have any luck buying monitors for personal use. Every single time they have dead/stuck pixels and it takes 3+ returns to get a decent one.

Order one for work ? No problem, is fine straight out of the box.

Cheers all. The monitor support looks a nice idea and cheaper than I expected.

Here's my (messy not all thanks to the small person) setup.

Yes, that's two dodgy Sky Sports feeds going on there, one for the Ipswich v Fulham game (for her) and the other monitor has England v India at Old Trafford (for me).

I also have my work laptop on the desk, and a USB switch to swap the keyboard/mouse between the two without constant unplugging.

1 Attachment

4-bay RAID NAS packed in, I need to connect 4x 2.5" laptop drives to a Linux box to recreate the RAID. I'm happy with the software side, it's the hardware I'm struggling with. I don't have access to anything with 4x sata slots on the mobo and don't really want to buy hardware specifically for this purpose.
can I buy 4x of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/251929863836?adgroupid=13585920426&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=kwd-131843278386&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=207297426&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80
and mount via usb? I have a machine with 4x usb slots, however I'm envisioning power being an issue. how can I power these externally?

USB ports push out a maximum of 500mA, which is enough to power a single laptop HDD (they typically draw ~400mA when running, there's a bit of a spike upon startup but that should be ok).

Your machine may provide 500mA on each USB port, or it may have a lower limit (say 1A total over the 4 USB ports) no way to guess until you try unless you can find the specs.

If you've got a second machine then using that to power two of the drives (those cables from eBay have a separate USB plug for extra power) might work. Any mains USB adapters could be put to use too (like the ones from a Garmin or an iPhone).

Otherwise a powered USB hub (that's rated for 500mA on each port) would be necessary.

rep. thanks @Greenbank. the machine I'm going to use is in a rack with a bunch of other hardware, so sharing the power across USBs should work if I run into power issues.

It's 500mA per USB hub unless it supports USB Power Delivery. On-board hubs typically carry a pair of ports.

I have accumulated a large number of internal hard drives I've removed from desktops and laptops over the years when I've upgraded. Unless they've been knocked about or magnetised they will mostly still have their OS installed (various flavours of Windows and Mac OS) along with bits of data. I'd like rid of them but first want to check to see if there's anything on them I'd like to keep (probably not but just in case...)

Is there a way to do this easily? In an ideal world I'd imagine just getting some kind of USB to SATA connection and opening up a finder/explorer window and drag keep-worthy files across to the current OS, but the fact that they have an installed OS on them probably makes that a non-starter.

I can view from either a Windows 10 or El Capitan machine. I have USB 3, Thunderbolt, Firewire, and possibly eSata connections across both of them.

What else do I need? Is it even possible or will I need to replace the drive each time and copy to a thumb drive?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bipra-SATA-Adapter-Power-Drive/dp/B001A5SK56/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1448473617&sr=8-12&keywords=usb+sata

I have a similar problem.

Something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SATA-IDE-to-USB-HD-DVD-RW-Converter-Power-Adapter-Cable-/160623039145?hash=item2565e112a9:m:mJq7SP7sNaDoVaA-zL1HyYA

(I don't have one of these, it's just a suggestion, no idea if it's any good but for £10 it's worth a punt.)

Allows you to get data off 2.5" laptop HDD (PATA), 3.5" HDD (PATA) and SATA HDDs with handy power connector too.

That allows you to plug the drive in to a USB port, hopefully mount it (Windows or OSX) and copy the data off.

When you're sure you've got everything you can then use something like DBAN to overwrite the entire drive and then get it recycled properly.

I've got about 15 drives lying around that I need to inspect, copy off files and then recycle. I should really try and do one a week whilst working from home.

In fact, just ordered one of them, may as well try and clear out my collection of old HDDs.

Reminds me, need to sort out offsite backup with my brother using rsync.

@CYOA I got one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AZF83QI/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item I only paid £15 at the time so there are probably cheaper alternatives.

Drives fit in with a postive action, it has an external power supply and is USB 3.0 if you end up copying across decent amounts of data. You'll have to view each drive on their respective OS, although you can probably install additional drivers, I know I had to do that for reading Linux drives (ext4) on windows.

This may be a neater solution for sata drives
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLTECH-CE-6013-2-5-3-5-HARD-DRIVE-DOCKING-STATION-USB-3-0-SATA-III-/161878812507?hash=item25b0baa75b:g:MTkAAOSwQoFWOifN

Thanks all - I've seen that Coltech one before but will check 'em all out. Glad to hear it doesn't sound like there will be any problems reading files on an OS install drive from an OS install drive. That said I'll keep the receipt... :)

^ Got something similar a while back with an E-sata connection as well
that allowed me to access (personal) files on a hard drive that Mrs mespilus
managed to snafu.
Make certain you keep the power supply somewhere accessible,
mine had a power connector like an old DIN socket.

Can anyone recommend a decent/affordable 1TB external HD? Regular whirry kind please.

i hate throwing away HDDs....Its so sad wasting electronic space like that. Its like a commodity that needs to be kept forever.

Who's got a Surface Pro 3? Do you find it's always on? Mine doesn't seem to go to sleep ever, which means if I leave it about not plugged in the battery kills itself.

update. raid reconstructed, now backing up the data. in the end I used the extra usb connector to power from an adjacent machine.
thanks again for the advice @Greenbank.

oh hai

so I have a coolermaster 120 and its quite crowded internally with the 5.25 bay empty. I have 2 SSDs and 1TB optical 3.5; is there a bay that will slot into the empty 5.25 and accommodate all the hard drives?

That will make room for some sweet silent liquid cooling ..

Answered my own question: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IA63JQ8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

anyone on here got coolermaster elite 120 case built into a machine?

re Surface Pro 3 .... I tend to just let mine sleep when I close it (I leave the type cover attached pretty much all the time). I'd have to leave it a good few days before it went flat....generally I've been really impressed with how low power it is when its alseep...

Yeah, that's the thing. I don't think mine goes to sleep.