PC Tech Thread

amazon fire tablet + the fire toolbox

This thread on Twitter was quite good

https://twitter.com/Jontafkasi/status/1523346155119120385?t=cWeBQ6GJkAa1toQvkT2SRg&s=19

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I think one of my hard drives is making a bit of a noise. Regardless, some of those drives have been in use for a long time so I should probably check the health of them. Any suggestions on tools to do this? I think it's a mix of Western Digital and Seagate drives.

Probably people better qualified than me but if it is making a noise that suggests it is old school HDD with moving parts and wouldn't moving to SSD be more effective /less likely to fail?

Which OS is the device they're in running?

That would be nice but there's 28TB of HDD so would be a bit expensive to replace.

@ectoplasmosis running Windows

Grab CrystalDiskInfo and read your drives' SMART data: https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

I like the Huawei laptops for build vs value proposition. They have terrible webcam placement though if that is valued by you, it looks up at your chin from the bottom of the screen

Thank you, I'll have a look. I've not yet decided about whether to switch camps.

You can do this in the command line, you don’t need an app

wmic diskdrive get status

I like the Huawei laptops for build vs value proposition.

Another +1 for Huawei. Screen quality is superior in particular. I also like the 4:3 aspect ratio for work purposes. Availability of the best models is a bit mixed in the UK though.

wmic diskdrive get status

...will only give you an ‘OK’ or a very basic error output.

Something like CrystalDiskInfo (there are countless others) will read out all SMART values, which can help shed light on wear/errors that would otherwise be obfuscated by the WMI command.

Cheers. Everything shows up OK on the SMART, although I did notice one of my drive has been powered on for over 3,500 days so we'll see how that goes.

The noise has got louder so I suspect it's actually a fan rather than a HDD. Need to open it up and have a look.

Any recommendations on short (1m/0.5m) USB C cables with 90 degree connectors on both ends? Only reliable looking ones are by Ugreen, but don't seem to be in stock. Alternatively, a decent 90 degree USB C adapter?

don't seem to be in stock

Ugreen reporting in stock on Amazon in either 0.5m or 1.0m USB-A 90° to USB-C 90°
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Degree-Charge-Samsung-Nintendo/dp/B07PHRG274/

Ah sorry I meant USB-C to USB-C. For some reason I thought both the 0.5 and 1m were out of stock for this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083Q68D52

But turns out the 1m is still available, sorry for the useless query!

Yes make sure it actually is a HDD before worrying about it. If it's not an OS drive you should be able to do this by unmounting one drive at a time.

I have never found SMART data very useful for telling me if disks are going to fail.

@Velocio You still using a Razer Death Adder mouse? I've got a flash Logitech Wireless that randomly slows down and gets 'weird'. Was just gonna get another wired Razer because they just work, but thought I'd check to see if you've found anything better.

Still using it. It's flawless, but steadily getting dirty and worn.

You took too long to answer. :P

But I bought another one anyway :)

Now what I need is replacement teflon pads for the old one.

I've been traveling and working long days... London to Whistler to Vancouver to London to Madrid to Valencia... Currently at an airport waiting to return to London.

So I've barely been online 🤷

Yeah, you're usually quicker. I suspected you were on the move.

I'd say "lucky bastard" but it's for work, so I'm not sure how lucky that is. Don't you lot know how to teleconference or something? :P

Yeah but we have to get together and party at some point. That was last week and this week has been Kubecon and lots of customer meetings and such.

I think I've had one "social" meeting with my colleagues in the last 2 years and I'd rather eat nails than meet customers again. But, would I do it if someone paid me to fly overseas? Hmm. Depends how much time I got off to smash around on bikes.

Whistler has a pretty good mountain bike area.

They claim it's the best in the world, but North Americans love such lofty claims.