Hi /u/El_Pinguino_Maldito, you're not shadowbanned, but some of your comments/submissions were removed. Comments/submissions may be removed automatically by spam filters and not necessarily by human moderators.

Reviewed most recent 250 comments/submissions. Found 10 removed.


Comment: /r/me_irl, 2018-11-16, "me irl", 1pts:

> REEEEEEEEEEEPOST





Comment: /r/u_Lexiehewitt007, 2018-11-14, "Can You Find What's Wrong In This Picture?", 1pts:

> 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😩😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😩😂😂😂...





Comment: /r/me_irl, 2018-11-14, "me_irl", 1pts:

> I guess I’m gay then





Comment: /r/me_irl, 2018-11-13, "Me_irl", 1pts:

> Jigglytrump





Comment: /r/AskReddit, 2018-11-11, "- Serious How old were you when you realized you were gay?...", 1pts:

> Not gay, but I figured out I was a furry at about 14. I just found that floofy anthros were more attractive.





Comment: /r/AskReddit, 2018-11-11, "Reddit, whats your most biggest and most recent first world...", 1pts:

> Buy a USB extender on Amazon. [Here’s one that’s 16 feet long and costs $13.](https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Extension-Extender-Repeater-Booster/dp/B0179MXKU8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1/135-8523871-4760609?...





Submission: /r/explainlikeimfive, 2018-11-11, "ELI5: How do bitwise operations work?", 1pts





Comment: /r/AskOuija, 2018-11-10, "This bitch is going into the dungeon until she _____ and...", 1pts:

> Goodbye





Comment: /r/me_irl, 2018-11-10, "me_irl", 1pts:

> I’m reposting this to r/furry_irl





Submission: /r/Showerthoughts, 2018-11-09, "Running in the 90’s was a meme on two separate occasions", 1pts








^^I'm ^^a ^^multi-function ^^bot. ^^My ^^home ^^is ^^at ^^/r/CommentRemovalChecker ^^- ^^find ^^out ^^if ^^your ^^comments/submissions ^^have ^^been ^^silently ^^removed ^^without ^^your ^^knowledge!

Warning: long post, but you asked, so... ;-) Note: Recycling some of my older comments with specifics for your post.

What CPU and GPU do/will you have? Do you have enough room to walk around, or just enough to swing your arms? What kind of games do you prefer? These answers have an impact on the "best" headset (HMD) for you. Think of it this way: what's the best car? The answer is different if your priorities are fuel economy, cargo space, towing capacity, or top speed/acceleration.

"Best" Games:

"Best games" is really subjective. Do you like puzzle games? Action? RTS? "Experiences" Racing/flying/space simulators? FPS? (Note: FPS in VR is very different from FPS on a screen.) Each platform has enough good games that this shouldn't impact your buying decision much. I have favorites on each, but Oculus has the most exclusives. (Often considered a bad thing for the VR industry.)

I own the Vive (non-Pro), Rift, and Samsung Odyssey, and I've used the PSVR (briefly) so my comments are based on use of all three.

Easiest to use for a newbie:

The Rift is slightly easier to use than the Vive (though not by much) due to its streamlined and consumer-oriented user experience, at the cost of capability and options. The Vive has more options flexibility but can sometimes be a little more hassle to troubleshoot if things go wrong. Then again, fixing it when things go wrong is less likely to require a complete reinstall like Oculus does. Windows Mixed Reality setup is easy but it's clearly a Microsoft experience. It's like the Rift was designed by marketers, the Vive by engineers, and WMR by a project manager. Winner: Rift, by a hair, with WMR limping along in the rear.

Oculus Rift:

Lighter and easier to deal with. Has built-in audio. Some really nice platform exclusives, though there is a way to play those on the Vive. (More on that shortly.) Cheaper than the Vive, and cheapest option in general other than some Windows Mixed Reality HMDs that you should probably avoid. Tracking is slightly inferior to the Vive, but not much. Seated/standing experiences work slightly better than roomscale. However, roomscale is feasible on the Rift with only two sensors by mounting them in opposite corners of your play area. Requires at least 3 USB 3 ports, 4 if you add a 3rd sensor. Games/apps purchased through the Oculus Store won't work on another HMD (barring 3rd party hacks/apps like LibreVR/ReVive, limiting your future hardware upgrade options so buy any non-Oculus exclusives through the Steam store. Touch controllers are the current king for controllers, but Knuckle controllers for Vive/SteamVR are pending. (More on that shortly.) More pronounced "god rays" than the Vive. The business practices and politics of Facebook/Oculus are questionable, if you care about that sort of thing. HTC just opened its VR store to Oculus users so you have more buying options than you used to, though I prefer buying through Steam.

HTC Vive:

The Vive Pro is more than double the Vive's cost and isn't that much better, so I won't go into it much here. The Vive has somewhat better tracking than the Rift and Roomscale works slightly better, in my experience. No built-in audio on the regular Vive but this is resolved with the Deluxe Audio Strap, albeit for $100 more. Games are (usually) purchased through Steam, which means you can take advantage of Steam sales, buy games at a discount (sometimes 80-90% off!) from third-party sites like Humble Bundle, Green Man Gaming, etc. Note, however, that the Rift is compatible with most VR games on Steam, too. You can also play Rift exclusives using free, third-party software called ReVive, but that this is not officially supported and not every game works. (Tricks Rift titles into thinking a Rift is connected.) Controllers are meh but work fine; just not as intuitive or comfortable as the Rift's. When (might be a while) the Knuckles controllers finally come out, they'll probably be the best. The Vive is more glasses-friendly but those who are just nearsighted won't necessarily need to wear glasses at all. There's a new wireless adapter that's nice but only applies if you're driving it with a desktop PC because it uses a PCIe card rather than USB. For non-wireless, one nice thing about the Vive is that the HMD only uses one USB 3.0 and one HDMI port. The Lighthouses (base stations) only need power and don't require USB.

Samsung Odyssey (WMR):

Higher resolution display, on par with the Vive Pro, which equates to a much less pronounced "screen door effect" (gridlines between pixels) than others. This is very nice for detailed games like racing games or flight/space sims with small dials or text. Significantly lesser support for games and experiences. That said, just because an app doesn't explicitly state it works with WMR doesn't mean it won't... but it might not. Controllers are pretty bad compared to the others and it's easy to accidentally end up in a menu. Tracking is also worse (uses inside-out tracking, so no sensors), but still significantly better than I thought it would be. This won't matter much if at all for seated or standing experiences; just for roomscale. The benefit is that you can do VR on the go with a gaming laptop. (At least a 1070 Max Q, though a full 1070 or 1080 is recommended.) The cable is significantly shorter than the others so roomscale is somewhat limited. There are specific cases (for example: archery games) where the controllers will end up out of view of the HMD's cameras, breaking tracking. While tracking isn't perfect, it's "good enough" and I bring it with me regularly.

Other Windows Mixed Reality HMDs:

The Lenovo Explorer gets some good reviews and sometimes goes on sale for as little as $170 with controllers. (Note: it can be found cheaper without controllers but you need controllers for most VR experiences.) It's important to note that the Lenovo Explorer (and all other WMR HMDs other than the the Samsung Odyssey) lacks IPD adjustment to save cost. IPD means interpupilary distance and is the distance between your eyes. However, using an HMD without the right IPD can cause nausea, blurriness, and headaches and can ruin your VR experience so I'd recommend one that has it. The Samsung Odyssey and Lenovo Explorer are the only WMR that I've heard consistently good things about. The others are cheap but lack features, perform poorly, or both. Note: WMR requires Windows to be completely up to date and will hang upon installlation (when you plug in your HMD) with no apparent reason why. Update Windows before using.

PSVR:

Poor quality lenses and tracking that isn't on par with the others, even WMR. This is what you buy if you own a Playstation and can't afford/aren't interested in buying or building a gaming PC. Some nice exclusives, though. IPD adjustment isn't great.

A note about VR graphics:

To avoid nausea, VR generally has to run at about 90 Hz, which can reduce model/texture complexity. However, people have done amazing things with VR so you simply don't notice. Lone Echo (Oculus exclusive), for example, has stunning visuals. (Story, mechanics, and pure immersive feeling are also excellent.) Lone Echo is VR done right, and feels like an AAA title. The Climb is another example of incredible visuals and reasonable immersion. The Climb is currently making the rounds (again) of Reddit via this GIF. Skyrim VR is another example of impressive visuals in VR. Skyrim is somewhat dated, but yes; those incredible photorealistic immersion mods from desktop Skyrim work in VR and you can totally play Skyrim VR seated. Follow this guide and remove Immersive Armor (buggy), replace WICO with TCM, and you're set... after 6 hours of setup. ;-) All of that said... you're looking at a 1080p monitor magnified by relatively cheap optics no matter which rout you go. You are going to notice the pixels, but you'll forget about it pretty quickly as you get distracted by the experiences and visuals. The only exception will be games with small details like flight/space sims. These really need higher res than VR can realistically provide though this may change with 20-series GPUs. For everything else, you'll mostly forget about the issue.

Cable lengths:

All VR HMD cables are too short. You can buy extension cables, but some work and some don't... sometimes with no apparent reason. I've found this HDMI cable and this USB extension cable works to extend the HDM for both the Vive and the Rift, and this USB extension cable works to extend Rift cameras. If you buy both a Vive and a Rift at some point, the extension cables I linked for the HMDs can go to the Vive's breakout box and then either the Vive or Rift can plug into that with success. The Samsung Odyssey does NOT work when plugged into the Vive's breakout box but I haven't yet tested the extension cables so it might work if the breakout box isn't present.

TL;DR:

My recommendation for first-time VR on a budget is the Oculus Rift unless you can afford the Vive (so long as you can also afford the Delux Audio Strap), in which case I'd recommend the Vive. The Samsung Odyssee is also a decent solution but at its price point I'd generally recommend the others unless the majority of your usage will be seated, in highly-detailed simulators or similar games, or unless you bring it with you a lot.

Literally copy-pasting from your pastebin because it'll look better here and I don't have to worry about looking like I'm hijacking because I didn't write it, aha! Having more resources in one thread can only be a good thing. Aim your upvotes at /u/senichi

~~

What game should I speedrun?

You should speedrun a game that you love to play. If you're serious about speedrunning a game, that could mean practicing for possibly upwards of hundreds of hours to beat your time. You might be playing the same segment of a game over and over again before you're finally happy with your performance in that section, and you could be playing for many hours before that happens. For this reason, you want to pick a game that you won't get bored of quickly. A game that you're happy playing for possibly hundreds of hours so you can get a time that you're happy with before you get bored of it.

How do I start speedrunning?

Once you pick a game, there are different ways you can start speedrunning. Here's the method I like to use after picking a game.

1. Figure out if other people have run the game. If they have, figure out what categories exist. Some games have multiple categories that you might like or not like. For example, if you would prefer a short run, you probably don't want to do a 100% category.
   
   
2. Pick a category. In the rare case that nobody has run the game you want to run before, you get to pick your own ategory. This can be something like "any% - beat the game as fast as possible" or maybe you want your run to focus on collectibles or completion. If other people have run the game you want to run, then you might want to pick a pre-defined category so you're not completely in the dark.
   
   
3. Look into runs that people have submitted in various places. You can check Speedrun.com or YouTube, or just Google your game and the category to see runs of it. Watch the world record run, then look for a runs with worse times that might use a different route. The world record run often uses strategies that are risky and hard to do, so you might not want to jump into a game using that route.
   
   
4. Find guides. When you think you've seen enough routes, you want to either start looking for tutorials (this is usually only an option for the popular games to run), or if you picked a game that isn't a popular speedrun game, you might need to just use any submission videos as your "tutorial".
   
   
5. Play the game. Run the the game slowly using the strategies outlined in any tutorial you found, or by copying what you saw in a video. If possible, try doing any tricks or strategies that are new to you multiple times before moving on. Stay on this step until you feel fairly comfortable with your game. If needed replay the game slowly a few times and use the speedrun tricks.
   
   
6. Do a run. Make it official. Find a timer, for this run any timer should do fine, and time your run from start to finish. Don't worry about your final time. A lot of people have terrible times in their first run, but that's totally okay, it just means it'll be easier for you to beat it later on.
   
   
7. Practice. When you finish your timed run, you should have a pretty good idea on what you need practice with. Some things you thought you were confident on might be more difficult in an actual run. Practice anything you had trouble with in your first run.
   
   
8. Repeat. From here on, you pretty much just repeat steps 6 and 7.
   
   

   I'm getting bored of my game! What do I do?
   

   
   Don't worry, that's not abnormal. Since speedrunning requires so much dedication towards a single game to get a good time, it's common for people to get burnt out or bored before they're happy with their personal best. If you're getting burnt out, I recommend simply taking a break. There's no harm in leaving your game alone for a month or longer and playing other games. Maybe even learn a new game for fun if you still have the speedrunning itch you want to scratch. If you continue to play a game that you're starting to get bored of, you risk getting bored of it on a much longer term, and possibly resenting the game or even outright start to hate it. Who knows, maybe when you come back to the game feeling refreshed, it might be even easier to get a new personal best.
   
   

   What capture device should I use, and how do I set it up?
   

   
   First ask yourself this question: Do you want a cheaper capture device, or would you rather have a good quality device?
   
   If you want a cheaper device, many people recommend the GV-USB2. It's considered the best SD capture device on the market, so if you're recording the older consoles that don't need HD video, then this should work perfectly.
   
   If you want a higher definition device, I recommend the Elgato GameCapture HD. It's very easy to use and the output is excellent. Keep in mind that, at the moment, if you use the GameCapture HD, you might have to use XSplit instead of OBS to stream. OBS currently has an issue with the GameCapture HD that causes it to desync, and in my experience XSplit doesn't have this issue
   
   In addition to the capture device, you will need TWO Composite Video Cables, and you will need THREE splitters.
   
   Here's a picture of how to set up your capture device using the GameCapture HD and a Nintendo 64 as an example. The setup would be the exact same using the GV-USB2 and any other console that uses composite cables. If using the GameCapture HD and HDMI cables, the GameCapture HD has an HDMI in and HDMI out port, so you would just use two HDMI cables, one going from your console to HDMI in, and another going from HDMI out to the TV.
   
   

   Who currently holds the world record for <game>? How can I find more information about <game>?
   

   
   There are multiple ways to figure this out.
   
   

9. Google it. Just Google "<game> speedrun world record" and see if anything pops up. Look for the fastest time and there's a decent change that's the world record.
   
   
10. Check Speedrun.com. A lot of smaller communities and even some larger ones use Speedrun.com because it's easier than making a whole new page. Check this site for the game you're curious about and see if you find anything.
    
    
11. Look for Wikis. This subreddit has a wiki that lists a lot of different sites that might host leaderboards. Check to see if the game you're looking for has a wiki on that list, and if not, try Google again to see if there are any wikis not listed in there.
    
    
12. Ask around. Go to Twitch and look to see if anyone is streaming the game you're curious about. You might find someone speedrunning the game right now, and then you could ask them or see if their Twitch bio has any information about it. If that doesn't work, you could check out the weekly noob question thread and ask about the game. Someone else might know where you can find the information you're looking for. You could also send a message to someone that runs the game on Twitch if you know anyone that does, even if they're offline. Speedrunners are generally happy to spread information about their game and would be happy to answer any of your questions.
    
    

    Can I use an emulator?
    

    
    This varies a lot from game to game. Different communities deal with emulators in their own ways. The usual answer to this question is yes, but it's considered a different category. The reason for this is because emulators are often not perfect in their emulation, so there might be differences in framerate, which affects your time, or sometimes even entire tricks are possible only on emulator.
    
    Some games don't accept emulation at all, but that only means that any runs that you do on emulator won't be able to go on the leaderboard. You still might want to use an emulator for exclusively practice because emulators let you use save states that make it easier to repeat the same part over and over again. Just keep in mind that while using an emulator you might be practicing at a different framerate than on console, or you might be dealing with slight input lag.
    
    The FAQ on SpeedRunsLive has a list of emulators that are commonly used and banned.
    
    In the end, the answer to whether or not you can use an emulator is specific to whatever game you're playing. These are only general guidelines and may vary on your game.
    
    

    What's that timer program I see on peoples' streams, and how can I get it?
    

    
    There are multiple timer programs that are listed on the Tools sections of SpeedRunsLive. The most popular timer program at the moment is LiveSplit, but in the end it's personal preference.

>-Previous threads here-
>
>
>Objective:
>Going back to the original - The $500 build from /u/JDM_WAAAT. Since then, many of those parts prices have drastically increased in price or are unavailable. So new objective, build it better, for less! And oh man did we ever.
>
>
>Rules for buying used server-grade parts on eBay:
>
>1. Buy from highly-rated, reputable sellers
>2. When "Or best offer" is available, use it. Sellers will likely discount parts, often up to 30%.
>3. Shop around. There are many resellers selling the same exact parts on eBay, find the one with the best price.
>4. Scrutinize the details of the auction. For example, make sure CPU stepping / revision is correct to what you need. Make sure components are listed as functioning and not "for parts only".
>5. Do not, under any circumstances buy QA/QC/QS/ES labled CPUs. Only buy official used / refurbished Intel Xeon CPUs. Chips with this label are not guaranteed to work, and might break functionality with something as simple as a BIOS update.
>6. Check sources other than Ebay. /r/buildapcsales can be a huge help with this. Amazon or Newegg often have huge sales on some of the new parts. Shop around people!
>
>Build
>
>http://i.imgur.com/X1NzK7Z.png
>
>http://i.imgur.com/r2d3lQp.png
>
>http://i.imgur.com/AHQJmto.png
>
>Type|Item|Price (eBay) | OBO? | OBO price
>:----|:----|:----|:---- |:----
>CPU | 2x Intel Xeon E5-2650 2.00GHz, 8 core 16 thread | Incl w/ MOBO | |
>Motherboard | Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F+ Dual Socket | $281.98 | YES | $260
>RAM | 16GB (4X4GB) DDR3 ECC REG x 2 | $29.89 ea | YES | $25.00 ea
>CPU Cooler | 2x Arctic Freezer i11 CO | $19.22 ea | |
>PSU | EVGA 450W BT | $24.99 | |
>EPS Splitter | 8 Pin to Dual 8 Pin EPS Splitter | $6.00 | |
>24 Pin Extention | 12" 24 Pin Power Extention | $9.99 | |
>Case | Phanteks Enthoo Pro | $79.99 | $15 MIR | $64.99
>Thermal Compound | Gelid GC Extreme | $12.99 | |
>Other | Tax, shipping, fees | $3.60 | |
>Total | | $517.76 | after OBO | $471
>Optional Extras | Sata cable 6 pack | $7.49 | |
>Optional Extras | Sata power splitter | $6.27| |
>
>---
>
>About this build:
>
>There you have it. If you recall, the original $500 build actually used this same CPU. BUT ONLY 1!. Here, we used 2, gave it more RAM, and all for over $50 less!
>
> General: I recently completed almost this exact build, same mobo, case, etc. Just ended up with different RAM config, and used dual E5-2630L CPU's that i got for a steal. This build will be using two Intel Xeon processors on Intel Socket 2011 motherboard with Quad-Channel DDR3-ECC RDIMM memory. It does not include specifications for SSD or HDD.
> CPU: The Intel Xeon E5-2650 is a high power, 8 core, 16 thread CPU that came out Q1 2012. 2.0Ghz clock, 2.8 Ghz turbo. It has a counterpart, the E5-2600L series who are also 8 cores, but low power. If you don't need quite as much Passmark power, these are also a power saving option at a slightly lower price point. MSRP when it was released was around $1100.00 USD Each. Plex Transcoder has true multi-threaded support and will take advantage of all 32 threads. So while this CPU might not be clocked as fast as what most of you are used to, the sheer amount of cores/threads will more than make up for it. Dual E5-2650's will score 15000 on passmark. Another thing to consider is that since the CPU is so cheap, you won't have to worry about it when it comes time to upgrade in the future. You can replace it with any V1 or V2 E5-2600 series cpu's. Dual E5-2660 V2, 10 core 20 thread, 2.20GHz base / 3.00 Ghz turbo in the future for about +4000 extra passmark score.
> Motherboard: Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F (Link to Supermicro Product Spec Page) This motherboard has dual 2011 sockets with a whopping 24 DIMM slots. With this build we'll be using only 8 of those available DIMMS, so there's a possible future upgrade. 6 SATA ports are standard, along with 2 SAS ports, for a total of 14 available SATA connections. Quad Gigabit NIC is also standard, plus IPMI.
> RAM: Here, we're using 8x4GB DDR3 ECC REG for quad channel support, and a total of 32GB of available memory. 32GB is a good value here. Another 2 sets would fill all 24 slots, for a total of 96GB.
> CPU Cooler: There's not much to say here. It's compatible, it's quiet, and it works. We won't be overclocking, so there's not much to worry about so long as it works. Also designed for continuous operations.
> PSU: It's cheap, powerful enough, and works. Not much more to say.
> Case: This case has full SSI-EEB+ (E-ATX with specialized mounting) support. Supports 6 3.5" hard drives two 2.5" SSDs, and two 5.25" bays natively. It's an all-around wonderful case, and it's really well-constructed (I have one, it's great). Also, one of the few cases that actually will fit this massive MOBO. In the front is a MASSIVE 200mm intake fan. Didn't even know they made them that big.
> Splitter/Extension These are necessary with the parts listed above to work. The power supply listed only has 1 8 Pin EPS connection for the CPU. Since we have 2, need a splitter. If you use a different PSU, check on the # of EPS connections. If it has 2, this part is not necessary. This board BARELY fits in the case. I know, I have both! Here's some pictures to show. Because of this, wiring the power can be a bit tricky, and to get it done in a clean way, need the 12" extension.
> Thermal Paste This is the best non-liquid metal thermal compound out there, hands down.
>
>Cautionary notes, other details
>
>1. Server equipment is stripped down to the bare minimum for compatibility and reliability. Because of this, features you are used to having might be missing - for example, some server motherboards don't have onboard audio. Also, most will use VGA onboard.
>2. Use a SSD for your host OS. This is likely where your Plex metadata will live, so if you're going to generate thumbnails and you have a sizeable library, make sure to get an appropriate size. I have about 20TB of media with thumbnails turned on, and 500GB is starting to feel tight. About 250GB is a good start for most people.
>3. Familiarize yourself with the BIOS options. Some may be different than consumer models. Make sure Hyper-threading is turned on in the BIOS. When in doubt, clear the CMOS / reset to default. You should verify that all 24-threads are showing in your host OS.
>4. Almost any OS will work. Includes ESXI, unRAID, FreeNAS, Linux, and Windows of course.
>5. Evaluate your RAID options. This motherboard has capabilities for onboard RAID, but that isn't for everyone.
>
>Upgrades, other parts
>
>1. Cheap storage in the form of $33 refurbished 2TB Hitachi Ultrastar hard drives. These are Enterprise level drives, great for use with RAID arrays.
>2. Sell the pair of E5-2650's & get Dual E5-2660 V2, 10 core 20 thread, 2.20GHz base / 3.00 Ghz turbo for 19,000 Passmark score. At time of posting these were $249.99 OBO w/ free shipping, extremely great value currently. If you're more concerned about power consumption, consider a pair of E5-2650L's for $41.50 each OBO at the time of this post, for a sweet ~14k passmark at only 70w TDP each.
>3. MORE RAM!
>4. Liquid cooling - If you plan on upgrading to V2's this is a good idea. Can get Corsair H55's for $60 each.
>5. DO IT ALL! If you want more power right now, sell the CPU's that come with the mobo for ~80 and grab a pair of E5-2660's for $240. Triple the RAM for an extra $100. Liquid cool the PSU's for an added $80. Finally, upgrade to a 550w semi modular 80+ gold psu for an extra ~$30 (one's on sale @ Newegg for $55 after MIR currently). Grand Total: around $840.
>
>FAQ
>
> Q: Aren't used parts unreliable?*

I have this same laptop and it's working perfectly well after upgrading both the RAM and the SSD. Upgrading to an SSD will greatly decrease the boot time of the laptop and adding more RAM will help to make the laptop snappier overall. The first step I would take would be to put an SSD in the laptop, especially considering the horribly long boot times you're experiencing, but both will

Adding RAM will be the easiest change for your laptop, as it doesn't require any transferring of files. I personally have 16 GB of ram in my laptop (2 x 8GB) but in the interest of saving money, you may want to get one 8GB stick of RAM and upgrade again down the line if you desire. When shopping for RAM, you want to make sure that you have a SODIMM sized stick, and that it's running at 1600 MHz speed. Here is an option from Amazon, but you may be able to find other options for cheaper (this was just the first thing I found). You just want to ensure that the RAM you buy is a SODIMM module and is running at 1600 MHz. Assuming the 4GB is in the form of 2 x 2GB sticks, you will have 10 GB of RAM total after installing the new module.

You can easily find videos on how to install RAM on the internet, but as a quick explanation:

• Turn your computer off
  
• Remove all the screws from the bottom of the MacBook, there should be 10 and they're all Phillips.
  
• Pull off the back of the laptop
  
• You should see RAM modules above the battery at the bottom of the laptop
  
• There are two tabs that you can pull on to release the RAM from its socket, it should pop up at an angle and you can pull it out. There will most likely be another stick of RAM under it, you should leave it be.
  
• You want to put the new stick of RAM in at the same angle that the old one came out at, aligning the notch of the slot to the notched hole in the RAM stick, and then push it down so it's sitting as the original RAM stick was.
  
• Put the back cover on and rescrew the screws. Note that the 3 long screws go in the part of the back nearest to the screen hinge.
  
  You should now be able to go to "About the Mac" then to Memory, and see a 2GB and 8GB (if you get an 8GB stick) module show up.
  
  
  As for the SSD, it can be a bit more complicated depending on how you want to go about doing it. If you care about all of the data on your old drive, you can clone it using a cloning software. If not, you can copy important files onto a flash drive or external hard drive to paste back into the new installation of macOS.
  
  But first, you need to get the SSD itself. The Samsung 850 Evo is very well liked across the internet and the drive that I personally used. You can get it in whatever capacity you need. That being said, there are other options of SSDs that will be less expensive while still being a massive upgrade over the spinning disk drive that you likely already have. If you do searching around the internet, the only thing you need to be careful of is that the SSD has a SATA connector and isn't a m.2 drive. You'll also need a SATA to USB cable like This
  
  The way I would recommend replacing the drive would be to do a fresh install of macOS, keeping a backup of your important files.
  
  You want to start by plugging the SSD into the SATA to USB cable and the cable into your laptop. Then, open Disk Utility (either by using a spotlight search or finding it in the "Other" folder of the application display (hit the F4 function key)) Once you have disk utility open, you want to find the SSD on the left drop-down menu and erase it. This will format it to be usable as a boot disk for macOS. Note: it's possible that it will work without doing this but I am unsure and think it would be good to be safe here to save the time of having to change it.
  
  As with the RAM, you can probably easily find a video showing how to do it, but I will also list the rest of the steps as I remember them.
  
• Turn the laptop off
  
• Unscrew the screws of the back cover
  
• Take off the back cover. The hard drive should be beside the battery at the bottom and held in by black brackets on the top and bottom. To unscrew them, you just need a small Phillips screwdriver.
  
• Once you've unscrewed them, you can pull off the top of both black brackets and pull out the drive. Be careful not to damage the ribbon cables!
  
• Disconnect the SATA power and SATA data connectors at the end of the ribbon cable on the drive.
  
• Unscrew the four screws holding the drive in the bracket.
  
• Pull the drive out and put the new drive in and screw it back in like the old one was
  
• Do the steps taken to remove the old drive in reverse to secure the new drive into place.
  
  Once the new drive is in, you can reboot the laptop and hit the Option key to bring up a boot menu. You should see something that says "Choose a Network" and you can sign into your WiFi to continue. From there you will able to use network recovery to reinstall macOS.
  
  
  I hope this is helpful and good luck! I'm glad I'm not the only one still using a 2012 MBP :)
  
  edit: formatting, a word
  

The standard elgato may not be a great choice for twitch, since there is a ~2 second delay that can be a bit of an annoyance.

You basically need:
A capture card
GV-USB2 is pretty great quality for SD, but installing the drivers is entirely in japanese. They're pretty easy to figure out by just hitting random buttons and guessing, but people have made guides for "hit these buttons in this order". Once you set it up, it'll work perfectly from then on. The Dazzle DVC 100 used to be a pretty common choice, but I think the GV-USB2 is honestly better (I have a Dazzle, and even I'll admit the GV-USB2 is better).

As far as a splitter/switch, unpowered splitter cables would be fine, such as these plugged into the side of your NES, just make sure you get RCA cables that match up to go to your TV and to your capture card. If you want to get the best picture quality, a powered splitter/switch like this one will give a slightly better picture and will give you room to hook up more consoles as well (since it is a switch as well).

As for software, the standard entry-level streaming software is OBS, and for free software, it honestly is pretty great. If you want to spend money, there's some other good stuff out there, but OBS does everything you'd probably want to do. If you want something a bit better for a timer than your iPhone, try LiveSplit. You can setup splits to keep track of your pace (though considering how short the WR is, just a basic timer is probably fine, this will just allow you to let people watching on youtube or twitch see your timer too).

If you need any help otherwise, let me know.

The 1391401 is considered the quintessential Model M. It is usually what people are thinking of when they think of Model Ms. Generally, the earlier 1986 - 1988 Model Ms are the more highly desirable ones as they have thicker backplates and a more solid construction. (btw the 1391401 began production in early 1987) A few of my most prized Ms are from this 1986 era, especially the ones that have a barcode label on the back.

They then went through a few stages of cost cutting, so the case and the backplate are a little thinner as the years go on but the buckling spring switch mechanics were relatively unchanged. The keyboards are still quite nice, and there are quite a few from the later years that I really like a lot.

In 1993, some employees bought the keyboard division of IBM and renamed themselves Lexmark. The backplates and case become thinner still. Although they definitely feel a little "lighter," they are still nice keyboards and really fun to type on. That being said, it is apparent as you become familiar with them, that the molds that were used to stamp the parts out started getting rougher and less precise, and the keycap legends are not quite as sharp and bold.

One of the things I love most about Ms, is that they are tremendously durable and easy to clean up and make look new or near new. Just takes a 5.5mm (or 7/32) nut driver with thin walls to remove the case (I bought this one and it has served me nicely - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQ4XP6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Lots of guides on cleaning up Ms to be found on the web.

As a first M, I think a 1391401 is a perfect one to look for. There are a lot of Ms on ebay, however a lot of sellers seem to think theirs are worth hundreds of dollars and most aren't. There were millions of these keyboards sold, so most standard models are not rare at all. With some patience and persistent browsing, you can find a nice one for a very modest amount of $. I have found more than a few (often quite dirty) from between $30 - $50, which I think is a good range to aim for - depending on age, condition etc. You probably want to avoid a Terminal M as your first, as it will take a bit more work/money to get working with a modern computer.

Also, you will likely save money by finding one that has a SDL - PS2 cable, as buying one on its own will likely cost a few more dollars. When you do, if you don't have a PS2 connection on your pc, you will need an active adapter. The Sanoxy blue cube is perfect -

https://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-PS2-Keyboard-USB-Adapter/dp/B000BSJFJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493617382&sr=8-1&keywords=sanoxy+blue+cube

It's cheap and works well and is endorsed by clickykeyboards, the foremost restorer and expert on Model Ms. He has written my favorite buyers guide on them:
http://www.clickeykeyboards.com/model-m-buyers-guide/

• I couldn't have a repair kit without these cables. Need to hook a hard drive up but don't want to put it inside of a computer? Done! You can also get a usb 3.0 if you're so inclined!
  
  
• Everyone loves magnetized screwdrivers..so I bought this set and it seems to be of good quality so far.
  
  
• Need to do some fine adjusting and use a strong tool? I bought this and love it! It fixes iPhones, has a flathead and philips bit with it as well!
  
  
• Need to do some prying for phones or laptop screens? This is the perfect tool for it! bends when it needs to, but doesn't lose its form or shape!
  
  
• Drop a screw or need to do some fine tuning? Perfect! These tweezers are amazing and I would recommend them to anyone, including you.
  
  I also bought a 128GB flash drive to keep some common repair program on and it has saved me a lot of time and trouble.
  
  Put it all in a small backpack and you have a nice repair kit on the go!
  
  
  edit/
  
  Software! I use these weekly and it saves me a lot of time and trouble. I am open to suggestions on what you can also use, and would recommend using google for tutorials if you need help :)
  
  
  
• Seagate File Recovery Have missing files or wiped a hard drive that you weren't suppose to? Use this to recover those files.
  
  
• SeaGate Discwizard Need to clone a drive, format or mount an image? This is the tool for you! Simply download and you're on your way!
  
  
• Malwarebytes Need to remove a virus, spyware or adware from a computer? Here you go! Simply run it (quick scan and full scan do the same thing!) and you'll be able to remove those violations after.
  
  
• CCleaner A system cleaner all in one. I wouldn't recommend using the registry cleaner as it shouldn't do too much, but this is a streamlined way to remove all app data and computer files in one swipe.
  
  
• BitDefender Free I don't use antivirus on my personal computer/devices, but I do install this on my customers computers. Easy to manage and low interference, makes it the perfect solution for those who don't know much about computers.
  
  
• Hirens Boot CD This is an amazing tool that has endless capabilities. Forgot a windows password? No problem! Google guides for this to use it fully :)
  
  edit//
  
  If anyone else has suggestions on programs/tools to use i'm all ears. I've been doing repairs for the past 6-10 years (personally and for business) and these are the best things i've found so far. You can never have too much info/tools though :)
  
  And make sure you upvote everyone else who is giving you ideas/suggestions. A community that grows together knows more :)
  

I'm in the same situation as you. My WD My Book crapped the bed. It still spins up but the computer sees no writable partitions. The I/O light doesn't even blink anymore. Just stays solid. Although, I got the cable just right once and I was able to slowly copy a few files over before the problem started repeating again. So this leads me to believe it is a port/cable issue. It was even still under warranty. But you have to ship it back to them and they ship you a NEW one. If you want your data recovered you have to send to to a third party first. WD says they destroy your data but I don't trust it.

The WD My Books are just HDDs with a shell so you should be able to swap the HD with another working WD Mybook

You can also take the case off and it has an adapter on the HDD to change it from 2.5SATA to USB 3.0 micro b that you can slide off and make it a normal HDD. So if you have an extra PC or trust yourself installing a second HDD in your current PC you could try that. I attempted this and failed. But I contributed it to trying to install a 4TB hd on an old dell with 2GHz processor and 2gbs ram. Even when I set my bios to boot to the Dells original Seagate HDD, the dell still tries to boot from the 4tb WD drive that never had an OS on it. And plugging it into an already booted computer failed too (risky move but I was desperate).

I've got three more solutions I'm gonna try. Gonna email WD an ask istead of replacing my drive if they will send me a new SATA to SS adapter and a new cable that comes with it. If not, Hopefully a USB 3.0 to 2.5 SATA cable does the trick.

And if all else fails. An HDD dock seems like my favorite and an all round better solution than external WD my books.

You shouldn't have to solder anything. But I haven't been successful at recovering the data so what do I know hahaha

Good luck.

Here is a gift from me to you. I know you have the 3rd sensor but the rest of the information is good. This is my setup and what I recommend to friends and family. Check it out.

1st GET A THIRD SENSOR IF YOU WANT TRUE ROOMSCALE "they are on backorder at the moment"

2nd Get three of these for your sensors to make sure they can reach anywhere you want them too. USB 3.0 is better than 2.0 because the cameras run at a higher resolution and fps thereby increasing tracking and with your USB add-on cards this will be the perfect setup.: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0179MXKU8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

3rd Get 2 of these to completely isolate all of you VR components from the sometimes janky unreliable USB ports on A LOT of motherboards that cannot supply enough power and/or bandwidth for all of the cameras and HMD to work properly I chose this card because it only has two ports and both of those ports work no matter if you plug in 2 sensors or 1 sensor and the HMD. The Inatek card DOES have issues for somewhere some ports work and others do not and are still only being able to run 2 sensors off the Inatek card and having to run the HMD and 3rd sensor off the motherboard. The Orico card just works and you don't have to think about experimenting with ports just plug everything into the two Orico cards in any configuration and go. Also use the default Windows drivers whether you go with the Inatek or Orico card only upgrade after trying the defaults drivers without success: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AVSN2YG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4th This is optional. One of these for extending your HMD HDMI cable by 15ft for a total of 28ft: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008D5EUD2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

5th This repeater is required to make the HDMI cable above work, but with this repeater, the extension is flawless: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GHL72XS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

6th To extend the Rift HMD USB I use the USB 2.0 Active Extension Monoprice Repeater Cable that comes with the 3rd sensor it is 16ft long, works perfectly. Then I used a small piece of electrical tape every 6 inches from the HMD to the PC to make the extended HMD cable one piece leaving about 2 ft of cable loose at the end to be able to plug in wherever I want.

I did a lot of research bought the Inateck and Orico USB add-on cards, multiple active USB extensions, multiple different HDMI adapters and extensions of varying lengths, Display port to HDMI adapters, DVI to HMDI adapters, and did all the experimentation and testing required to make all this work. The list I listed above works every time on multiple systems in different environments, rooms, and households.
If you need clarification on anything and/or want more information, feel free to respond or message me. I will gladly help.

Without knowing more about your ingest workflow it's had to say, but you might be well served with a Pegasus R6/R8 or similar. That'll give the bandwidth to be ingesting a few cards at once and be duplicating to a portable drive that can go back to editoral. The fewer volumes I have to manage the easier I find staying organized. One 30TB volume seems a lot more manageable than 6 4TB drives floating everywhere. If you go the RAID/NAS route make sure you don't go too small.

A RAID could also be easier on the AEs if the DIT cart can be connected to the SAN and ingested that way. Instead of a couple hundred Mbps you could get in the Gbps range. Remember that standard gigabit ethernet won't be the answer for high speed transfers.

I know you have three laptops for ingest, but I'd try to build the cart around one laptop copying footage. Again, fewer moving parts is easier to manage. Having a utility laptop that can tackle other tasks is often useful. If you need to make proxy files in the field look into a NAS solution instead of a RAID so you can get two, three, or more computers hitting the storage concurrently.

---

On top topic of a DIT cart, put some thought into a cart. What it should have. I'd be looking for a big heavy UPS on the bottom to give the thing some stability. Maybe an APC2200? Not sure how worried you are about weight...don't use that if you're flying with it. Get your own network going on there if you have multiple computers. Also add a Thunderbolt dock and power strip on the top to give you more USB ports and power for all the travel drives that will show up. I'd connect drives to a laptop in the middle and look for a way to put a laptop on an arm on the side of the cart too. Needs to collapse down so the whole things is self-contained for transport. I'd use the middle laptop for copying and the side laptop for proxy creation.

Make sure you have all the cables on hand. Thunderbolt 2, USB2 B, USB2 Mini-B (old GoPro charging), USB2 Micro-B (old Android charging), USB3 B, USB3 Micro-B, and finally USB C. I'd have 1 each on the USB2 variants, 2 each on the USB3 variants, and 3 of the Type C variants. Gauge your own need for Firewire 400, Firewire 800, HDMI, Ethernet, and the requisite dongles. Might be wise to have a USB-A dongle and maybe an Ethernet dongle on hand for the Touchbar laptops. Even if you don't have a Touchbar they're coming. It isn't that much money (comparatively) to keep these kinds of things in a drawer, but it can make a huge difference if you have it on hand.

I'd probably trick my cart out with a mass charger and some Lightning and Type-C cables. Hit all the cables with some orange gaff or some sort of mark so that people don't carry them away. Might even tape the phone cables to the cart. Might seem excessive, but if you set that up people won't be filling up your power strip with their chargers or plugging their phones into your ingest station. 10 ports might be more than you need, especially since people shouldn't be using their phones too heavily on set, but the goal is to make sure your power strip isn't used on phones.

---

As for software, you'll have to consider your needs and what fits them best. I'm not a lot of help on that front. Haven't messed around with the options too much.

Easycap clones ($5-10~)

If you're extremely short on funds you can play the easycap clone roulette and hope you get one that kinda works maybe.

You might end up getting one that just happens to suite your needs fine.... or you might not.

Not Reccomended, but cheap

Used Dazzle DVC100 ($20~)

Dazzles can be somewhat cheap used, they're still not the best capture cards money can buy and have some driver issues, but it's a popular choice and works for a lot of people well enough. Can be found on ebay for pretty cheap.

Probably the cheapest option aside from the "Easycrap" clones

KWorld ($30~)

/u/TLoZSR mentioned a while back that he was a fan of This KWorld Capture card.

I've seen a few of his videos with it and they look perfectly fine.

EZCaps ($30-$35~)

I've heard ok things about the legit EZCaps (not the cheap clones)
If you go this route make sure you're not ending up with a fake!

I don't have any personal experience with them.

GV-USB2 ($50~)

This defiantly deserves an honorable mention, although isn't anywhere as cheap as a used dazzle. Default settings out of the box are great, picture quality is very good, good drivers, and pretty much no complaints. Oh and here's an amazon link I guess (can be hard to find elsewhere). Box / driver installation is in Japanese, but not too difficult to figure out.

I use it personally and I really like it

These are all SD capture cards with composite/S-video, composite will look not so great regardless of a powered splitting setup, however it's defiantly recommended if you use S-Video (powered splitters can cost $30-50~), alternatively you may be able to get by without splitters if you have a video cable with both S-Video and composite (s-video would go into your capture card), but you may also lose a bit of quality that way if the cables aren't too good.

https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Splitters explains a fair bit

Good Luck!

Definitely - though I can literally take 0 credit for coming up with anything myself....but I am happy to write a quick summary here with the relevant links that helped me out and then if people want something more formal I can do that somewhere too and hopefully u/MrChromeBox will be kind enough to link to it on his site.

​

so here goes

​

Step 1: Drink a beer or two

You need some steady hands for this but also need to give yourself some confidence before potentially destroying your beautiful £1000 glorified web browser....

​

Step 2: Make sure you have the right tools for the job

​

Specifically you will need:

​

- 2 USB C / USB 2/3 Flash drive (or an adaptor plus 2 flash drives)

- something like the basic tool kit from iFixit

- BUT you will also need a stupid T3 Torx screwdriver for 3 of the screws which isn't included, still it is cheaper just to buy that seperately rather than spring for the full 'ultimate repair kit' from iFixit

​

Here are the links for what you need on amazon:

​

Basic iFixit kit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MRNIFR6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_0fV5BbX0RZQS4

T3 Torx Screwdriver

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013703EG6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_CjV5Bb0ZWXH04

​

Or this kit actually probably has everythign you need, the ifixit one just has a few nice extras for any future repaires

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00445Y48G/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_WiV5Bb3S6AT6

​

Flash Drives

- You need two flash drives, 1 for the elementary os iso to install on the pixelbook at the end and a second one for when you use the awesome UEFI firmware developed by u/MrChromeBox to backup your chromeOS in case everything goes to shit...

​

You may be able to use regular USB 2/3 flash drives with a USB C adaptor, but in my opinon since the Pixelbook only has USB C ports, you might as well invest in dual USB C / USB 2/3 drive now as you will end up needing it at some point (I used this for the elementary OS iso and a regular USB flash drive with an adaptor for the firmware backup)

Amazon links:

​

- USB C/USB 3.0 Flash drive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H24MCRQ/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_etV5Bb6JP78KC

​

-USB C / USB 2/3 Adaptor

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015Z7XE0A/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_muV5Bb0Z1KDDQ

​

Step 3: Download Elementary OS Juno and donate some money to the developers

You can get the iso from www.elementary.io and if you don't know how to flash it to one of the flash drives mentioned above, you should probably stop now - but there are instructions on the website and Etcher is a good cross platform tool for the job (www.etcher.io)

​

Step 4: Pray to the linux gods, drink a beer and back up any data you care about on your pixelbook

​

Step 5: Put your pixelbook into developer mode (fairly safe)

Again, I can't take credit for this but there are great instructions for how to do this on https://mrchromebox.tech/#devmode

​

Enabling Developer Mode

>Entering Developer Mode requires you to first boot into Recovery Mode. For Chromebooks, this means pressing [ESC+Refresh+Power];
>
> Once at the recovery screen, press [CTRL+D] to enable developer mode, then confirm when prompted. As a security measure, transitioning to/from Developer Mode will wipe out all ChromeOS user data, essentially powerwashing (resetting) the device.
>
>Exiting Developer Mode is as simple as following the instructions on the Developer Mode boot screen (usually pressing [SPACE]), but may require resetting the firmware boot flags if you've changed them. As with entering developer mode, exiting will wipe all ChromeOS user data, so if you plan on keeping your device in developer mode, it's a good idea to set the firmware boot flags to prevent accidental exiting and loss of data.

​

​

I'm going on a cruise in May and would like a way to backup my pictures and to edit on the fly, preferably with my tablet. My camera doesn't have Wi-Fi capabilities, but even if it did the Wi-Fi on a cruise ship is so amazingly slow (think dial up speeds lol). I know I may need two different things to do both of these. Any suggestions?
Right now, I'd like to look into a cord to transfer to my tablet, can I edit raw on an app on an Android tablet (Lightroom?).


I'm also looking at an external hard drive for the main backup, do they make ones that hook up to the camera (sl1) or that accept sd cards?


I don't want to spend too much, but I'll probably have $100-200 or a smidge more if necessary.
Any suggestions would be great!


Edit: For anyone who's interested, I did end up getting a card reader and I had an OTG cable that was recommended to me previously to connect my camera to my phone so I could do a time-lapse (I should have realized it would have worked fine, but I had tried my dad's cable that looked exactly the same before that and it didn't work for what I wanted it to). So, it worked perfectly! Nothing else needed and I can transfer pics from my SD card to my phone/tablet. I'm still looking into an external drive or something for storage, but as long as they're on the SD and tablet I feel a lot more comfortable. Thanks everyone for your help!


What I purchased:


OTG Cable $4.99 USD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LN3LQKQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00


SD Card Reader $6.29 USD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009D79VH4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00


Not expensive at all!

I'm going through some old family tapes myself and though I would share what I'm doing.
I'm totally not sure this is the best way to do it, because there seems to always be a better way to squeeze more quality out of it the more I look, but what I did is use a capture card like this:

https://www.amazon.com/DATA-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539027006&sr=8-1&keywords=i-o+data+usb+connection+video+capture+gv-usb2

Some people buy really good old VCRs with time based correction, but that is just out of my league at the moment, in both money and effort, and I'm happy with the quality I have so far.

I personally capture it using virtualdub with the lagorith lossless codec, though I think there are better ones out there that require more processing power. The files still tend to be quite huge though as raw files tend to be I think. I then use Staxrip to finish it up by trimming it up and applying QTGMC, which is supposedly a very high quality deinterlacer that bumps it up to 59.98 fps, and it denoises the video fairly well too. At the end of this process I have a decent MP4 that I can watch and relive some memories.

At the end of the day though, there is only so much you can do with VHS, and this is just the culmination of me spending way too much time scouring the internet for ways to preserve VHS footage. Its probably not the best way to do it, as I'm continuously finding posts that say one way is better, some its evidence based, some of its subjective. Its a huge headache, depending on how far you want to jump down the rabbit hole, but I hope this helps you if you just want to see how some else has done it. If anybody has any questions, or has found a better and simpler way of doing it let me know though! Still learning. This video got me started

Your motherboard probably doesn't have 8 sata ports for the 8 bays, so if you want to populate all of those you'll need Forward Breakout cable(s) and a HBA card. You'll also probably need a power splitter to daisy chain power to the HDDs. For now though you could just use what sata ports you have then buy these things as you run out of room. The Forward Breakout and power splitter cables can be reused in the future. If you have the physical room then the 8 bays can also be connected to a cheap NAS/DAS. Most start small then improve and upgrade as time passes. With another processor you avoid potential VM mess and just run it directly baremetal. Ebay does have some slight gotchas here and there, especially shipping costs. There is great value in buying used, but it does suck to look for deals every few days or weekly until you find something what you are looking for and at the right price. A cheap NAS works well with OMV4, but FreeNAS/ZFS might need a bump up in hardware. If you have different sized drives then you have to do some extra planning because I believe a ZFS vdev requires all the same size HDDs and Snapraid (Windows or OMV4) will require you to use your biggest drives as parity. ZFS raidzs can be costly to expand, that is why some recommend mirrored vdevs but then you lose 50% capacity and that is where Snapraid and Snapraid parity comes in. With most of these setups, if too many things go wrong then you lose everything. With Snapraid, everything is JBOD so all is not lost (unRAID is JBOD but it has a catch on what OS can read the disks I believe); however Snapraid isn't a data pooling solution so you'll need Stablebit, OMV4, etc. The other option is minimal onsite storage and Rsync everything to G Drive then once uploaded delete the local storage then you use a VPS with a media front to host everything (Risky but the cheapest method in the long run). There is a decent post on how to set that up (it's a lot to read and some thing changed), plus some people are leaving Plex and moving to Jellyfin so there is that also.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086OGN9E/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/d0187f/i_need_a_nas_suggestion/ez6ze4z/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/cztdnm/jdm_loves_dell_t110_ii_case_for_nas/
https://www.serverbuilds.net/the-original-nas-killer-v10
https://www.serverbuilds.net/145-nas-killer-v20
https://www.serverbuilds.net/nas-killer-v30
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/cvbs8y/mediasonic_hd_enclosure/
https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das
http://www.snapraid.it/faq#howmanypar
https://forums.plex.tv/t/local-plex-cloud-with-google-drive/335018

There is lots of good info already posted on here over the years but it gets buried fast. Some have posted neat projects and setups, but ironically enough it's tough to find these things. You pretty much gotta get lucky with searches, on top of hours and days worth of reading... Different setups fall out of favor and others rise up, as time goes on and projects get abandoned and others get fixed up. Plus combining that with lots of good information on other site's forums...
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/cetqis/the_flexraid_site_is_down_now/
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6vgaz7/unraid_vs_freenas/
https://blog.linuxserver.io/tag/perfectmediaserver/

CloudDrive is $40 or in the bundle sale with Stablebit Drivepool for $60... I've also seen NASLite posted some (and that Tonido looks interesting). Both look like an automated-like Rsync. Rsync is the best, however it does require more time to learn.
https://stablebit.com/CloudDrive
http://www.serverelements.com/?target=Introduction_to_NASLite_Disk_Mirroring

It might seem like Snapraid is the clear way to go, but there is still a moderate learning curve to wrap your head around, plus tweaking that setup, getting a system down, and automating what you can. There are different methods to manage it: manually editing the config file, using Elucidate GUI, or swapping over to OMV4 OS (VM or baremetal). OMV4 might even be the easiest way to manage it.
https://github.com/Smurf-IV/Elucidate
https://www.reddit.com/r/Snapraid/comments/d3ezb5/unsure_about_snapraid_setup_would_love_some_help/
https://sourceforge.net/p/snapraid/discussion/1677233/thread/e683d40e0a/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/adcqor/snapraiddrivepool_best_practice/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/a4vvx5/question_for_all_you_drivepool_snapraid_people/

I'd also recommend looking at some screenshots and videos. FreeNAS and unRAID youtube content seems more dispersed, so you'll have to go fish.
https://www.freenas.org/about/screenshots/
https://craftassets.unraid.net/uploads/featured-image/_1200xAUTO_crop_center-center_95_none/unraid_screenshot.png?mtime=20180827231443
https://www.openmediavault.org/screenshots.html
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX2Vhc0LIzSS9aMzhGFZ7PA/videos
https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Screenshots
https://stablebit.com/CloudDrive

Fellow broke college TO here. My weeklies average around 15 too so i feel like we're in a similar situation. My venue doesn't have good enough internet in the basement to stream to Twitch, so we only record and upload to youtube.

For my laptop, I use a pretty ok, free laptop my college gave me. You don't need anything fancy if you're not streaming.

I use this as a capture card, I got it on sale for like $15. It's far from the best but it really gets the job done and serves its purpose.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/315700/USB_20_Video_and_Audio_Capture_Device

I've also had one of my players recommend me this capture card. I've never used it but I hear it's cheap and it's good.

https://www.amazon.com/I-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y

For the player cam, I use a used camera on got on sale for $11. Once again, it's not great. But it gets the job done on a budget.

For the actual stream layout I found free overlays online, and my homie who's good with photoshop hooked us up with a logo for free.

If you wanna see what we're working with, how it looks, and what the quality looks like here's our Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1bW6_nKMnvljeFXHpogkhw/playlists

If you have any questions just hit me up. I'd love to help another little local scene like mine grow!

There are some things you could try out, if you haven't already.

1. My most important point, choosing a "High/Ultimate Performance" or equivalent setting (use your best option) on your battery power. I shouldn't need to say this, but you get better performance with the powercable attached.
   
   
2. Remember to deactivate USB selective suspend and do the same in your Device Manager, so that your computer doesn't hibernate or adjust USB power-settings. I know the OculusTrayTool does the same/similar, if you use it, but I've not been lucky enough to have that work when I need it to.
   
   
3. Also, make sure you've removed as many USB-devices from your computer as possible. For example; external harddrives, mouse, keyboard, headset (if USB), even memory sticks, so that they don't draw power away from your USB channels. You might actually want some of these connected while you play, but try without first, to figure out whether or not it works. Your ports share channels, you see, so they are affected by each other.
   
   
4. You probably don't want to go looking for further extension cables at this point, but I use these ones, and they work very well.
   
   
5. Remember to update your USB drivers. Feel free to check your Asus website first, but Windows 10 might have new and better drivers, or the manufacturer of the chip could have even newer. There are ways to discover the manufacturer's name and model of your USB device in Device Manager, if you know where to look. Google it. ;) Mind you, keep your Asus drivers ready as backup, because the computer might not "officially" support it, though it's easy to roll back drivers. After driver-update, you might have to repeat option [2].
   
   
6. If you have software that controls USB-ports to an extent (like apps looking for USB devices), disabling them could help, but you need to restart and ensure they don't start automatically again. There're some split opinions out there on whether or not it helps, but I'm including it just in case.
   
   I advise you to restart your computer after you've done your adjustments and connected your Rift, so that the computer will prioritize the USB power-draw correctly on startup.
   
   Chances are you've tried these options already, but if not, give them a try. Unfortunately, I can't think of any other alternatives. The VR-tests I can find of your laptop seem to have been done without extensions. Feel free to contact Asus support - they might have some recommendations, as I doubt you'll be the first with the issue.
   
   Good luck!
   
   
   
   
   

Ok, I really like the advice of /u/zottelbeyer

, but I will try to give my own. Just remember: There is never enough storage space.

My current setup: TS-673 with 2x512GB M.2 SSD RAID 1 as system volume + 4x10TB HDD RAID 6 ad storage volume, with intention of expanding up to 6x10TB as I need more space. Synology DS218J with 1x10TB+1x3TB HDD JBOD used as backup unit.

First: I personally don't think I'd use RAID 10 when I can use RAID 6. RAID 6 offer better drive protection than RAID 10, so yes, I'd also switch to RAID 6.

Second: Backup in the same machine is not considered backup. There are tons of things that can destroy all drives in a case at same time. For example:

https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/dc8hda/nearly_lost_all_my_data/

So, The fact that you are backuping your main RAID 10 data into a different 8TB drive inside the same NAS means that you are in fact not performing any backup at all. One ransomware infection will destroy the totality of your data.

Ok, now, let's dive in.

Currently, the sweet spot of cost/storage are located in 8TB drives, but slowly switching to 10TB. Personally, I'd go with 10 or 12 TB drives. You can get 10TB WD red drives for 189€ (WD element drives shucked). With 5x10TB drives in RAID 6 you get 30TB (27.3 TB of usable space). If you use RAID 5 (more about that later), you can bump up to 40TB (36.4 TB of usable space). That is 5 times what you currently have, and without need to buy a new enclosure. That is leaving your 6th bay as offsite for the other user.

Right now, IMHO there is no reason to stick with lots and lots of low storage drive. Get fewer with higher capacity. Prices have dropped enough.

You have also to take into account that bay space is also an important issue. That makes in the end bigger drives more valuable that small drives.

You can start increasing your drive count slowly, and adding more drives as your space needs increase.

About backups: I really encourage you to move your backup outside your TVS-673. If you go the bigger drive route you will have 4TB drives spare (your current RAID array) that you can use to perform backup. I used this:

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B0099TX7O4/

or a cheaper version:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB/dp/B00HJZJI84/

Connect your drive, then you can create a backup job to store your important files on it, and then disconnect it and store it away. Repeat with each drive you want. Perform a new backup once a week. In case of NAS destroy, you have full backup available.

I personally prefer to use another cheap NAS to automatically perform backups, but that means spending some more money. About RAID 0 backups, it's not ideal, but it is doable. RAID is not backup, is intended to reduce downtime. Strictly speaking, you don't need RAID if you are willing to assume downtime while you restore from your backups. So, RAID 0 (or JBOD) is acceptable as backup plan. Yes, if one drive of your backup fails, you lose everything, but it is a backup. All you have to do is switch the failing drive and recreate the backup from scratch. Pretty straight forward and it doesn't risk your data. Since your main data is a RAID array, in case of failure of your backup RAID 0, you still have tolerance for at least another drive failure (RAID 5) or even two (RAID 6) in your main array.

• Main RAID 1, 5 or 6 + Backup RAID 0 or JBOD: Ok
  
• Main RAID 0, JBOD or non array + Backup RAID 1, 5 or 6: OK
  
• Main RAID 0, JBOD or non array + Backup RAID 0 or JBOD: NOPE
  
  Finally, if you decide to go "full datahoard mode" (rack server, +10 bays, ZFS or BTRFS , etc) then by all means, go to /r/DataHoarder and /r/homelab. Tons of useful advice there.
  
  In case you go this route, then yes, get a nice rack, set ZFS, and use your TVS-673 as an expensive backup NAS to keep your data safe. I personally use borg backup, but ZFS has a nice snapshot backup utility with incremental copy.
  
  Sorry for the wall of text. I think I addressed most of your concerns, right?

I was pretty nervous too about the upgrade, but just take your time watch a bunch of youtube how-to's and I would suggest taking a look at this walk through: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Hard+Drive+Replacement/5895

Things you'll need that aren't on that page are one of these, SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable

the tools I bought this one. Comes in a nice case and has everything you need

the hard drive. I already linked to the one I chose, but there are other options

and if you want to keep the old drive as a back up, you'll need one of these

I got my ram a while back so I don't have a direct link, but make sure you're getting the kind that will work with her machine. There are plenty of online guides and the question has been asked/answered here more than a couple times, but if you get overwhelmed just throw up another post. People here are generally great.

Not really endorsing any of these things over the competition, just trying to be helpful. Good luck. It's an AMAZING improvement once it's done!

First off, inserting an SSD into the iMac is not easy by any means. In fact, I recommend that you let an expert technician do it (e.g. professional repair service), unless you are one yourself. I strongly advise against replacing the original HDD with an SSD, as you‘ll need to replace the thermal sensor in this case! Do you realize that there is another SATA port behind the DVD drive? You could use that one as well and keep your original HDD in.

Should you still decide to replace the original HDD, then you‘ll need this item (thermal sensor):

• https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD11/
  
  Furthermore, I assume you want to clone your current OS to the SSD or create a Time Machine backup before installing the SSD, don’t you? In this case, you are going to need a SATA-to-USB adapter like this:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84
  
  There are two different ways to go about this:
  
  
• Put the SSD into that adapter, connect it to your Mac while inside that adapter, and clone your current OS setup to it via a program like Carbon Copy Cloner. Adapter needed in this case.
  
• If you have an external HDD somewhere in your house, create a Time Machine Backup onto that external HDD. Then remove your internal HDD / use the SATA port behind the DVD drive, insert the SSD, do Internet Recovery, and restore your data from that Time Machine Backup to the new SSD. No adapter needed in this case.
  
  I repeat: Firstly, think long and hard about replacing the original HDD with an SSD instead of just using the SATA port behind the DVD drive. Secondly, think long and hard about doing it yourself. Exchanging the SSD in an iMac 2011 is abhorrently hard for a non-expert. It is a true pain!
  
  As for the RAM, your iMac will need RAM modules that match the following specification:
  
  PC3-10600 DDR3 1333 MHz, 204-pin
  
  Those RAM modules should work, for example:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Certified-Laptop-Memory-CMSA16GX3M2A1333C9/dp/B006ON5KZC
  
• https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-10600-SODIMM-LAPTOP-MEMORY/dp/B0067GGPXC
  
  Your iMac supports up to 32 GB RAM (4 x 8 GB RAM modules). A higher amount won’t work due to a limitation in the logic board. In case you wonder, Apple officially states that your iMac only supports 16 GB RAM, but this is due to the fact that 8 GB RAM modules were not commonly available back in 2011, so Apple could only test with 4 GB RAM modules, and 4 x 4 GB RAM modules = 16 GB RAM in total. Yet your iMac has been proven over and over again to support up to 32 GB RAM - Apple simply never went back and updated their information sheet.
  
  For general purpose computing, 12 GB should be enough, albeit 16 GB is better of course.
  
  The RAM upgrade is trivially easy and can be done by anybody, this video shows the RAM upgrade:
  
  
• https://youtu.be/k8Sj10wYXAI
  
  Last but not least, are you aware that macOS 10.13 High Sierra is the last macOS your iMac is going to run? It is not supported anymore by the new macOS 10.14 Mojave. Security update support for macOS 10.13 High Sierra is going to end in mid-2020. So in terms of software, your iMac has only two years left (unless you want to install Windows or a Linux distribution as primary OS). Do you really think investing further money into that machine is a good idea?
  
  
  
  

Man, I just did this a few weeks ago. I got rid of the DVD drive and moved the 1TB HDD that it came with over to where the DVD drive was at and installed the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD where the 1TB drive is now, that's because the connector where the HDD is now connected to is SATA III vs SATA I where the DVD drive is at. In other words if you want to better speeds remove the HDD and put the SSD in, then if you want the extra storage space (1TB) remove the DVD drive and put in the HDD there using a caddy.

I found myself needed the DVD drive ZERO (0) times since I've bought the laptop but everyone is different. By the way I highly recommend upgrading the RAM as well, it cost an extra $58 but it's totally worth it. My laptop, fully loaded with Norton 360, Office 2013 Pro, Adobe Acrobat X Pro, and all my other programs boots up in about 7 seconds. Here is the parts I used..

USB to SATA III cable

RAM

You need a T5 screwdriver to remove the screws to get into where the components are, I bought this set because it's handy for other things as well. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU LOOSEN AND TIGHTEN THOSE SCREWS, THEY STRIP EASILY. Don't tighten them like the lug nuts on your car, TRUST ME!
Just use the cable and the software that came with the SSD to migrate the OS over from the HDD to the SSD, it's that easy!! If you want I can find the caddy that I used to replace the DVD drive, mine fits perfectly but I had to buy 2 because the first one was the wrong one. The outer plastic shell would not fit on the first one, but the second one fits perfectly. I can even post pictures showing you where the parts are located once you open the laptop.. Let me know, and I hope this helped!

*Edit - Found the Caddy

No, RS232 and USB are completely different. RS232 transcievers can be connected to a computer using USB, but the USB protocol is its own thing.

The Arduino actually has a serial port in that other Atmel chip mounted near that USB connector. The other Atmel chip is a USB enpoint that presents itsself to the computer as a USB-connected serial port. This is then used to talk to the actual Arduino micro that you're programming when you upload your program, and is used when you're running the Serial library on the Arduino.

Referring to this schematic, the Atmel USB-connected micro that acts as a serial port is U3, and the actual Ardino-programmed micro is ZU4.

The serial port is carried across RN4A and RN4B, right at the bottom of the schematic. You can talk to the Arduino by grabbing hold of the serial port at the pins labeled 0 and 1 of the IOL connector.

Now, to be clear: this is a serial port but it is not RS232. This is what's called a TTL-level or Logic-level serial port. There are USB-connected serial ports that you can buy for either of those things. Here's a tutorial on the difference.

So you can buy a logic-level serial port like this one and plug it right into the pins (the TX and RX pin on the port I mentioned above, and the ground pin) and after you get the Baud rate correct, you should be able to use this to communicate with the Arduino instead of the normal on-board USB connected serial port.

Then you should be able to extend the wires. However, this TTL level serial signal is not as robust as the RS-232 carried serial signal.

To use the real RS-232 serial signal, you'd need to buy an RS-232 type USB-connected serial port (if your computer doesn't have one already, this is the protocol that's almost always carried on a 9-pin D-style connector). Then you'd need a transciever for the Arduino. This tranceiver shield looks easy to use. This would work with a USB serial adapter such as this one.

So either one of those, if operated at a low bit rate such as 9600 baud or even slower, should go over quite a long cable. I feel like the RS-232 serial adapter may go over a longer haul, but honestly it's quite possible that the TTL adapter would be just as good. And that way you don't have to put a shield on the Arduino, which is nice.

FYI if you chose to use the RS-232 signalling scheme, you only need three of those nine wires: TX, RX, and ground. You don't actually need to use the DB-9 connector and the 9-wire cable to get it to work. All the other stuff isn't actually used on the bare-bones serial link that we want to set up here.

To add to the other two suggestions, I'll add what I believe are two far better solutions: The GV-USB2 and USB3HDCAP

The GV-USB2 is a USB dongle-style capture card that only captures composite/RCA video and S-video, which is the best you'll get from the Gamecube without expensive cables. It's about $35 USD.

The Startech USB3HDCAP is more expensive, but it will capture HDMI for newer consoles and PCs, as well as composite, S-Video, Component (the best video signal out of a Wii and easy to get cables for), and even RGB. It's probably the best quality card there is at its price and it's offered me a far better user experience than Elgato's devices have for me. I also know PJ DiCesare uses it for his runs and he has excellent capture quality. It's currently on sale for $182.

Importantly, both will capture video at 60fps which I'm not convinced the standard def EZcap will do, and without the added noise and delay I find Elgato devices tend to add.

Hopefully this helps.

I don't run that game, but looking at the leaderboards, you need the actual console to run (no emuator) and it seems practically everyone prefers gamecube (instead of Wii) so this should be your list:

• Gamecube + game + whatever else you need to play (you probably have all this covered)
  
  
• Some kind of timer program. You can find a list on this page under "Timers". I would personally recommend LiveSplit.
  
  Those are the bare minimum you'll want to run the game. Just the game and the timer. However you will most likely eventually want something to record the run if you get serious about it, or want to share your runs with other people, or if you want a record of your runs, or if you want some way for your runs to be verified (there are lots of reasons to want to record your runs) so you'll also need:
  
  
• Some sort of capture device. The go-to for SD consoles like the Gamecube is the GV-USB2. There are others, but this one will give you the best performance for its price and you don't need any HD equipment to record a GameCube. If you do want an HD capture device, I have an Elgato GameCapture HD and I'd recommend it.
  
  
• 2 double sided composite cables. They look like this.
  
  
• 3 splitters. Specifically ones that look like this.
  
  And that's it. When you have all those things, you set up the capture device like this. That's a picture with the GameCapture HD because that's all I have, but it would be the exact same setup with the GV-USB2.

The GV-USB2 is probably one of the best cheap cards out there. If you want an example of the quality, here's a recording from back when I was using it. I'm pretty sure it can look even better, as I was only using the RCA cables, and not the S-Video input. Just make sure you get a powered splitter like this or this (for S-video) so you can send the signal to both the TV and the recording device without lag.

Just make sure you set the device up properly and use some kind of deinterlacing. For ease of use I'd just recommend using the built in de-interlacing options in OBS.

Edit: If you're short on money and don't want to spend extra on a splitter for live capture, then you can just save your match replays using Legacy TE, and then record them through the recording device using your computer screen to navigate the menus. This requires extra work though, and it can be easy to forget to save your replays. I'd just recommend getting the capture device and the splitter so you can record it all in one go.

I third this, but to be honest this might be a little daunting for some people....even if it is easy for us. If you want step by step instructions on how to do this using a USB thumb drive I can help.

Another thing you can try is buying one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ/
You have to take the HD out of the computer, then plug one end of the cable in the HD (the HD will also need power, so plug in the power too) and the USB end in to a working PC. If you are lucky the HD might show up like an external HD with a drive letter. If it does, just download everything you need and you are done. Ive done this a bunch of times and it has always worked for me, but the issues I had may not be the same as your friend.

Good luck

Here's an updated guide that's more user-friendly than what I've written in the past. This is a slightly involved process, and I spend about an hour before leaving for BRC configuring the GPS, and 2 hours after the burn downloading the tracks and stitching everything together in Photoshop. This is my 4th year doing this.


Note: I've only been able to do this via Windows. There may be ways via Mac or Linux, but I've not been able to figure them out yet.


Step 1: get a GPS unit that can autolog your tracks. I use a Garmin eTrex Legend. Find it used online for less than $50. It's very durable due to rubber gaskets on all buttons which prevents dust issues. Long-life with 2xAA removable batteries last 2 days on average. Mine has lasted 4 burns with zero issues.


Step 2: turn on "Track Log: Auto" if using the Garmin eTrex Legend, and start walking/biking/flying around BRC! This is turned on by default on my unit, so do is a factory reset of your GPS if it's the eTrex Legend. When this GPS is on, it's tracking movement.


Step 3: after the burn, download your tracks to your PC. You need 2 cables (Garmin to serial port - Amazon, and Serial port to USB adapter - Amazon), and software from Garmin (MapSource - free from Garmin). The port on the GPS for the cable is on the top-rear under a rubber flap. Plug in the cables to your PC, turn on the GPS, and open MapSource. Click on "Transfer" in the menu, and download all tracks from the GPS. The tracks look like this - imgur in MapSource. To change the color of your tracks, on the left hand side double click on any track, and select the color you want it to be. I pick one color per day, and set it for all tracks on that day.


Step 4: screen shot and stitch the maps together in Photoshop. Start by zooming in on your tracks in MapSource. Take a screenshot, scroll a bit, take another screenshot, and repeat this process until you have 10-15 screenshots of portions of the map, like this example - imgur . Next, open all the screenshots in Photoshop and stitch them together. Next, open up google maps in a web browser and search for "Black Rock City". Zoom in, and take 10-15 screenshots of the entire city like this second example - imgur, stitching them together in Photoshop. Now you have a high-res version of your tracks, and a street map for BRC from Google Maps. Next, select just your tracks without the gray background by going to the menu "Select > Color Range" on your tracks image. Click on the gray area of the map thumbnail, set the fuzziness to 32, and hit "Ok". Then go into the menu "Select > Inverse" to select just your tracks. Copy this (Edit > Copy), go to your stitched together image from Google Maps, and paste your tracks over it (Edit > Paste). Then, using the Edit > Transform > Scale tool, resize the tracks until they fit exactly with the Google Maps image.


(optional recommended step): Before leaving for the playa, load your Garmin with the GPS map for BRC that comes out a week before the event from http://www.wkeller.net/BRC-GPS/ . William Keller does a fantastic job of putting these maps together, and it makes the GPS unit useful on playa, particularly during dust storms. It has waypoints for all potties, health services locations, roads, etc. Load this into the Garmin eTrex Legend using Sendmap. To do this, first plug in your GPS, then open MapSource to determine which Com Port your GPS is connected to when plugged into your PC. Open SendMap and select the Com Port you saw in MapSource and set the speed to 9600, and the rest is easy to follow using Mr Keller's instructions from http://www.wkeller.net/BRC-GPS/

Then don't get the one I linked. Search microusb otg adapter instead since you don't have USB c. There are some options I could think of.

A. Buy something like this along with a normal external hdd of whatever size. This has advantage of getting lots of storage and cheaper than the filehub. But it has downside that you have to plug the HDD into power and use a cable. So kind of bulky and inconvenient, but you get more storage

B Buy smaller USB otg like this and plug in a flash drive. This is smaller than an external hdd and no extra power needed. But a flash drive has less storage for more money. And you still need a cable

C But the wd I linked earlier. It has upside of being less bulky, more simple, and has plenty storage, but it is expensive and not great reviews. It could work great for you, maybe not. Up to you if you want to take chance. You'd also have to charge it.

D. The file hub the other guy said is good too. Less bulky. More trusted to work. You'd plug in a big flash drive or external hdd without needing extra power and can stream to your phone. But you have to buy the actual storage separately, so more expensive. You also have to charge two things.

E. You have microSD slot, so you could buy the biggest microSD card you can afford. This is by far the simplest, least bulky option as it's inside your phone and always there. But the max storage your phone supports in the slot is 200GB. If that's enough for you, you could get one for like $40. If not, I'd do the other options.

Hope I helped.

GameCube and Game Boy Player is the standard setup. The startup disc for the Game Boy Player can be a bit pricey these days, but you can softmod the GameCube and use the free Game Boy Interface software as an alternative.

From there, you can get an HDMI adapter and HDMI capture card (lots of those to choose from). Or if you need to save some money, a good S-Video capture device like the IO Data GV-USB2, an S-Video splitter, and a GameCube S-Video cable will still get you a pretty decent-looking capture. Either way, set it up in OBS and you're good to go.

I'd suggest also getting an SNES controller adapter. I find it way nicer than using the GBA as a controller. There's also one for Wii Classic Controllers if you prefer.

The 1st thing I would do is upgrade the hard drive to a SSD. Since you want to keep all the current data that means cloning the HDD to the SSD.

Generally speaking, buying a Samsung 860 EVO is the best option for cloning because Samsung's proprietary cloning software can be described as "bulletproof". Samsung SSDs generally also have better performance than other SSDs, though you would not really know that unless you run benchmarks. Because of it's popularity and overall performance the Samsung 860 EVO tends to be more expensive than other 2.5" SSDs.

Below is a link to a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO for $140.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=1tb+2.5%22+ssd&qid=1569532694&sr=8-3

Alternatively, you can buy the following 1TB WD Blue 2.5" SSD for $110 that "only" has very good to excellent performance. They do not have their own priority cloning software, I think they provide Acronis True Image which is very good 3rd party cloning software.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-1TB-SSD-WDS100T2B0A/dp/B073SBQMCX/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=1tb+2.5%22+ssd&qid=1569533139&sr=8-7

You will need to purchase a USB to SATA cable for the cloning process like the one linked below. It allows you to attach a 2.5" drive to the laptop.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=usb+to+sata+cable.&qid=1569533431&sr=8-3

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When it comes to RAM... 8GB should generally be enough for most people. The laptop has 4GB onboard (soldered) with a 4GB RAM stick in the only RAM slot it has. Because both RAM are of the same capacity, the RAM is operating in dual channel mode; otherwise known as "full speed". If it only had the 4GB of onboard RAM, then it would be operating in single channel mode; otherwise known as "half speed".

Installing an 8GB or 16GB stick of RAM will mean the RAM will be operating in asynchronous dual channel mode; in other words, faster than single channel mode, but slower than dual channel mode. For best gaming performance you want to keep the RAM as is since it is running in dual channel mode. However, if the game is being bottlenecked by not enough RAM installed where it has to constantly copy data between RAM and storage, then increasing the amount of RAM to 12GB or 20GB is a good idea.

This almost sounds like a broken hard drive. If you need the files off of the computer, then try getting the hard drive out of the malfunctioning computer. Then get a converter like this: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=HDD+to+usb&qid=1558640049&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Be careful not to touch the green PCB on the bottom of the hard drive. And be sure to take care when plugging in and unplugging the hard drive, the connections on these things are not the strongest. Hard drive are pretty tough though, just don't drop them mostly. xD

Anyway, when you get the hard drive out, go ahead and plug it into the converter then into the working computer USB port and extract the files you need or want. I would suggest copying the files rather that moving them, by default it should be set to copy, just be mindful of this. When you're done, you can plug the hard drive back into the malfunctioning computer and continue to try and fix it with no worries of losing the files you want. Be sure open a picture or video after copying to make sure their not corrupted or broken in some way. A video is best as a single picture is significantly easier to copy without issue, so you should be fine if a video works.

You can check if the hard drive is working sometimes by listening and if you can hear a spin up the hard drive might still work. It can be hard to hear with laptop fans and such.

Here's a video that can help with the hard drive location and the take apart and put together process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YatNrUHN3c4

There are other videos on this too, if you want to to make extra sure.

There are risks to all of this, and it may end badly, but if you're careful the whole time then you should be okay.

I hope you like this book I wrote! And good luck!

--Wolfgang.

That card you linked has 2 sff-8087 connectors if thats what you have you can use that if you wanted. Each sff-8087 sas port has 4x sata ports basically. Both of your SSDs (and 2 more) should be able to hook up to just one of those ports. The breakout cable that goes from 1 to 4 looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC

You can get a sff-8087 to sff-8088 adapter that converts the internal 4x connection to a external one to connect something like that ds4243, but for about the same money I'd still recommend the LSI adapter if you can verify you can use one more of the pcie slots. Its better to have a non raid card if your going to use something like zfs file system.

What i mean about the eSATA is that its a single sata port, vs the sas ports that are 4x sata ports. The DS4243 and others like it have a multiplexer that lets all 24 connect with that 4x connection. Those istar esata boxes have some kind of multiplexer or a controller as well, but how good/reliable are they vs something enterprise grade i dont know.

There are lots of other used SAS disk shelfs around as well (dell etc) its just about finding a good deal on one that has all its caddys etc. If your lucky maybe you can find one local on craigslist since they are so heavy and shipping is usually half the price.

You have a couple of options. These are the things you will absolutely need:

1. A capture card - For PS2, I highly recommend this one. It is the best SD USB card for the price.
   
   
2. The right AV cables. For a sharper image, use S-Video instead of the yellow composite video. For S-Video, you'll need a cable such as this one You don't have to use S-Video, but if you're going to stream, I recommend it.
   
   
3. A powered splitter - This is to take the video from the console and pipe it to two different sources, your capture card and your TV. I have two of these splitters and they work wonderfully. You will only need one. It is a one-in, four-out splitter, so two of your outputs will remain unused unless you have another source you need the video to go to.
   
   
4. AV cables to go from the outputs on your splitter to the TV and capture card. For the connection from the first output to your capture card, you can use a standard male-male S-Video cable. For the second output that goes to your TV, it just depends on what kind of TV you have. If you're playing PS2, I recommend using a higher-end CRT, in which case you can just use male-male composite cables. If you TV has a native S-Video port, then just get a second male-male S-Video cable.
   
   
5. A PC that can handle streaming - I know this sounds vague, but you wouldn't believe how many people attempt to stream even SD consoles with a GV-USB2 on laptops pre-2010. When OBS or XSplit is open and streaming, your processor will be in use. If you do not have a decent processor, streaming will bog your PC down.
   
   That's about all I can think of. It's daunting at first when you're trying to imagine how everything would be set up, but I promise it's not as difficult as it sounds. If you have any other questions, just reply here and I'll do my best to answer.

Believe it or not, the 2509 is actually cheaper than the module you're looking for.

The module that would support what you want to do is an HWIC-8A. On eBay, they range anywhere from $250-$1k. Not only that, but you would need a compatible router (basically, an 1841, 1941, or any 2800/2900/3800/3900 series ISR) as well as the appropriate cabling (CAB-HD8-ASYNC, about $20-$40 on eBay).

You might be able to use a smaller module (like an HWIC-4A/S or an HWIC-4T), but the wiring is going to be a pain (meaning, you're going to effectively be making your own cables using serial-to-RJ45 pinout adapters, then using rollover cables to connect to your devices) and the cost isn't much better than going with an HWIC-8A or 8A/S.

Why so expensive, you ask? Well, think of it from a business perspective. You're the netadmin for a medium-sized business, and after a network outage that cost the company $100K+ that was prolonged partially because you needed to drive 45 minutes to the datacenter to console into your core switch/router, you need an out-of-band management solution. The HWIC-8A/S is in pretty high demand because they allow any old ISR to suddenly be used as an access server. Furthermore, I believe it has two ports for a total of 16 connections. Throw four of those babies in your old 3825, and you have 64 individual connections you can console into. That means a single terminal server will allow you to console into the top-of-rack switches across your entire datacenter. Let's assume you want some redundancy, so you get a second terminal server to plug into the Aux ports of your network devices - you've solved a $100K+ problem for less than $1k in equipment costs.

You might be able to come up with a homebrewed solution using a physical Linux server and some USB-to-serial connectors, as described in this blogpost. However, if you need thirteen devices to have console access, and USB-to-serial converters are $10 a pop, and rollover cables are $5 a piece (maybe more, maybe less), you're getting close to access server-levels of cost anyway. So, might as well go for the "proper" solution and save yourself potential hassle in the future.

That’s pricey, but I have to say it’s worth it.

My setup is:

• this USB to SATA III cable
  
  
• this cheap 256GB SSD drive
  
  Improvement is seen when the game is searching for DLC, though my main motivation was loading times in “The Witcher 3”
  
  That cable I can’t recommend because after a couple of years, it needs a replacement, apparently it broke internally and it works only when placed in a certain position.
  
  Your solution looks like a better idea if you don’t mind the price. Make sure the cable for that device is easily replaceable.

Great! Okay, so according to a quick Google search, you can run both the DVI and VGA ports concurrently.

You CAN go from DVI-D, which is what you have next to the VGA port, straight to HDMI, with a cable like this.

Now, the only thing to worry about is that DVI cannot carry audio, whereas HDMI can do both audio and video. There are some TVs out there with a PC input that allows you to have audio come over a separate cable (3.5mm stereo mini, optical, RCA, etc).

If your TV does not have that, you might be better off using your PC speakers, or looking at something like this. (I have never used that part and can't vouch for its efficacy, although Monoprice is perfectly fine as a parts seller) If you can just use your PC speakers (as it sounds like the displays won't be far apart), then that would certainly be the easiest solution.

This is what you want to get audio to your speakers, it's called a DAC, (better, more expensive options are available, but that's the best you're gonna do for under $100 lol) and this is the cable to connect the two devices (you'll also need RCA cables)

This will get you video to your projector.

Unfortunately since it looks like you're using powered monitors, you'll need a pre-amp to control the volume.

You may be thinking wow that's a lot of stuff, and it doesn't even come with a remote! And you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, the only thing that does all that is a full blow receiver, which get quite expensive and are usually aimed at surround sound systems. Most receivers don't like powered monitors though, so you'd have to get a very special one.

This is where you realize that passive speakers are what you really want, and you blow hundreds of dollars on speakers and equipment and you become an audiophile. Luckily there's a bunch of guides to get you started over on /r/zeos. But the stuff I listed earlier should let you jerry-rig a working set up while you save up :P

I did a group test on USB3 extenders here is what I found out :

I tested using an Asus z170 Deluxe motherboard it has both Intel and AsMedia USB3 ports. I also used the Oculus recommended Inatek 7 port USB 3 Card.

——Worked——

Cables in this category mean the sensor detected as USB3 in Oculus devices and didn’t lose connection and provided solid tracking testing with the headset on, no matter what brand of USB3 port it was connected to (Intel, AsMedia,Inatek).

MutecPower 5m active USB3 extension cable £22

(picture seems to be wrong on amazon website, also note this cable seems to be sold as various brands but I'm pretty sure its all the same cable, it should look like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BLPSU2W/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

CableCreation 5m active USB3 extension cable £12

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0179MXKU8/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Amazon Basics 1m Passive USB3 extension cable £4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NH13UFQ/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

——Sort of Worked——

Cable Matters 3m Passive USB3 extension cable £7

Detected as USB3 when using the InatekCard (which has extra power from a SATA power connector)

Detected as USB2 when using motherboard Intel or AsMedia USB3 ports

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MPMFKSI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cable Matters 5m Active USB3 extension cable £11

Only worked as USB 3 in one of the AsMedia ports and only when everything else was disconnected. Was USB2 or has an error in other AsMedia or Intel ports. Detected as USB3 in the Inatek Card and seemed ok testing in Oculus home loading area.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MPMFKSI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


——Didn’t work——

Belfen Superspeed 5m active USB3 extension cable £7

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0179EPUEK/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

detected as USB2 on every USB3 port including Inatek card

I have my rift extended by 25 feet with no issues. (Room scale) I have a ASUS 1080 close to your ASUS 1070.

You must have active cables. Regular HDMI cables are horrible at carrying a signal that requires a certain level of power through it.

Don't use a DVI to HDMI dongle. You need to give the rift a HDMI native port. Move your monitors around or buy DisplayPort to hdmi cables for your monitors if needed.

My connection is as followed:

Video card -> active hdmi cable -> hdmi booster -> rift (rift plugs into HDMI booster)

Active USB MUST be plugged into motherboard or pci card USB and NOT USB hubs. I've had nothing but issues with a few hubs.

Here's my setup


HDMI:


Cable Matters Active 4K HDMI Cable with RedMere Technology (ARC and Ethernet Support) - 25 Feet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N2VREA8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_5w-LzbA9W4WRE

I also use an HDMI repeater which helps boost the signal

J-Tech Digital HDMI 2.0 Repeater Coupler Extender Signal Booster Support 1080P, 4Kx2K@60HZ HDCP EDID Bandwidth up to 18Gbps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQQHOB8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_az-LzbVBBRY6A

Here's my USB cable

Cable Matters SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Type A Male to Female Active Extension Cable 5 Meters/16.4 Feet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMFB5OK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Kz-LzbFSJ01KH


Hope that helps! I have ZERO latency issues and no disconnection problems. I play a lot of echo arena.

Things to do while your waiting.

• Clear a space
  
• Figure out light house mounting
  
• Get floor mats for your designated space that you can map to the VR playspace
  
• Verify you have an open HDMI or Display Port for your Vive, as well as an open port available for your secondary display
  
   
  
  Keep in mind, you'll want at least a foot around your playspace with no obstructions. It really breaks the immersion when you reach out and hit the wall!
  
   
  
  If the 15 foot cables that come with it are not going to be enough, start planning for your extension now.
  You'll need an additional USB extender cable, and an additional HDMI or Display Port to Mini Display Port cable of the same length to extend the vive connection from your PC to your breakout box.
  
  This is how I successfully extended my vive 15 feet.
  
   
  
  Extension Kit:
  
  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00C7RM2TG/ref=twister_B00HG1N6OS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
  https://www.amazon.ca/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Female-Extension/dp/B00DMFB5OK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467058952&sr=8-2&keywords=Cable+Matters+SuperSpeed+USB+3.0+Active+Extension
  
   
  
  Play space (9 Packs of these work out to 9.6 X 13.6 , pretty darn close to the perfect max playspace for the vive):
  
  http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/red-and-black-connect-a-mat-4-pack/6000016933486
  
   
  
  Good luck, and be prepared ... because you wont want o be missing out for any longer than you already have :)
  

That's probably the cause, win10 try to do too much stuff at once and the system lose responsiveness waiting for the hdd. I had the same problems with a brand new Nuc with a powerful i5. You can try to disable telemetry, indexes, cortana, delay the antivirus etc... but they will return after any major windows update. Upgrading to a ssd is probably the thing that can grant you the most benefit. Duplicating your old hdd is quite easy on a software level. Install some utility like Backupper, and with a few clicks the new SSD will be a bootable copy of your old HDD.

On an hardware level, it depends on your case, your motherboard and your psu. You must open the case and plug the new SSD to the motherboard and the PSU, so you may need some extra cables if they did not come with the SSD/psu/motherboard.

Most ssd use sata interface , while the older hdd still have pata, you should first check if your motherboard support sata for the ssd, but it is quite common since a decade or more.

You can even duplicate it using an USB adapter for the ssd like this , without the need to open the case.

After that you have to decide if replace the hdd or still use it as data drive.

In the first case, just unplug the cables from the HDD and plug them to the sdd, win10 should be able to start like nothing has changed. If you want to use both but boot from the ssd, you may have to tinker with the bios (something on the motherboard that start before windows) and manually choose the ssd as booting disk instead of the hdd.

No problem.

Yeah, that would work. I've mocked up a (very) rudimentary design of the solution for you:

https://imgur.com/gallery/SsLMTsi

​

Imgur cut off my text but the color code is:

Black = Product

Blue = Connection

Pink = Item To Buy (see below)

​

Products (including suggestions):

1. USB Computer Toggle Hub: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXXQKGM?ie=UTF8
   
2. Mac Type C Dock With Charging and Display Out: https://www.amazon.com/QGeeM-Delivery-Compatible-Thunderbolt-Chromebook/dp/B07QXMNF1X/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=type+c+dock+mac+charging&qid=1574116707&refinements=p_36%3A1253503011&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-6
   
3. HDMI to DVI: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014I8UQJY/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=techlens0e-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B014I8UL8U&linkId=707a16198e0572f08d2e77944f3adfb7&th=1
   
4. Mini DP to DP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013PWQPFS/ref=twister_B01B1B67RG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
   
   ​
   
   With this, your mac will be one cable connected to it for both charging and connecting to the monitor as the charger connects to the type c dock :-)
   
   Thank you for the sub!, didn't expect that. I hope to make some enjoyable content for you and spark some ideas! - speaking of my first video with the webcam kill switch includes how to mount the switch to the underside of the desk (which would be perfect for the USB hub - item 1. Will be super discrete and clean)
   
   PS - if you get this setup - post a pic here for me? :-)
   
   ​
   
   ​
   
   As for keyboard, i have always liked mechanical. Aukey do one that's pretty unoffensive looking:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Mechanical-Keyboard-Anti-Ghosting-Resistant/dp/B06XKV8R9Z/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=mechanical+keyboard&qid=1574117032&refinements=p_36%3A-4000&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-11
   
   ​
   
   The Logitech G203 is on sale at the moment: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Prodigy-Wired-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B01M26YUKO/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=gaming+mouse&qid=1574117290&refinements=p_36%3A-4000&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-5
   
   ​
   
   But so subjective - I have a corsair K70 Mk2 Low Profile with a Mionix Naos (will take a lot to make me change!)

If you want >60 fps @ 4k you'll need to shell out for the titan. your cpu also plays a huge role in this as well.

the 1070 will do all right in terms of 4k. you will reach >60fps but you will have to tone down settings. Again, cpu matters.

Try to use DDU to uninstall your current nvidia drivers and then reinstall the latest (if you do not know how to use DDU, all the information necessary is on the sidebar to your right).

After you have used DDU and installed the latest drivers, try it with just your 4k monitor first. Since you're using a display port, it should support this resolution.

But please, use DDU first :)

EDIT: Please give me the full name of the monitor. Make sure you have a display port 1.2 cable as well. Looking at some of the 4k monitors with that brand, they only support 4k @ 60hz with a DP 1.2 cable.

Here's a link to a fairly inexpensive one: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Gold-Plated-DisplayPort/dp/B005H3Q59U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481154713&sr=8-1&keywords=displayport+1.2

Sort of depends what you mean by "stream well", what content you're streaming, and how serious you are about the whole endeavor. Some top streamers that play modern competitive PC games use two computers, both with very high specs, because it gives them the best FPS to eke out a competitive edge. On the other hand, there are people who just buy a $30 capture card and use whatever old PC to stream themselves playing analog console games. They don't get famous, or a ton of money (usually), but they have a good time.

If you just want to stream for fun, it's very easy to get started. If you want to build an audience, a name for yourself, cashflow, etc., then it's much harder. Being a professional streamer is essentially running a business - you're an independent celebrity and video producer. But if you're not worried about all that, all you really need is a capture card (if you're playing games) or camera (if you're vlogging), and any reasonably modern computer.

I don't know that there is an official "proper" way to back up data from a hard drive after a failed update/install. In this case, you have several options available. You can use something like a Linux Live distro to read the files on the drive and copy over anything important to an external hard drive or usb/thumb drive. You could also remove the hard drive completely and put it in another computer to copy files over or use a SATA/USB device like this to hook the hard drive up to another computer/laptop via USB: https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1485921299&sr=8-6&keywords=sata+usb+adapter

As far as doing a fresh install, that part should be relatively easy. You can download Windows 10 and either install it to a USB or burn the ISO to a DVD using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool: https://www.google.com/#q=windows+10+media+creation+tool

As far as reformatting, Windows 10 will give you an option to do that on install. I think by default it just asks if you want to save files or do something else and you can pick to format. I usually just delete/format then tell it to install when that window comes up during install.

As far as backing up data after everything is set up - a good online backup and a local backup are pretty standard and usually easy to set up. Even using Windows you can schedule file backups to either remote networked drives or just other hard drives attached.

RAID setups are pretty popular as well, just note that Mirrored raid is more for protection against drive failure (hard drive crapping out) than it is for data protection as data is written to both drives at the same time RAID 1.

Hopefully this helps you out a bit.

In reality, you don't need most of it anymore. Serial port? Small USB-to-serial adapter, job done. Optical drive? Basically never need one, when you combine stuff like server iDRAC and IPMI with remote management, and OS installs can be done off USB sticks.

The one thing I do wish my Surface Pro had is an Ethernet port, but I've managed to work around that also (usb3 to gigabit adapter).

Battery life? Well, a HP Spectre X360 15 inch - what may well be the best laptop of 2016 in my book - will have all-day battery life, and 4 USB ports (one USB-C, 3 A), plus HDMI and DisplayPort.

Arguably, a 15 inch slim ultrabook like that and a serial port adapter and USB3 bluray will still be less to haul than some ugly old brick. And if you find yourself standing in a data center needing to operate it one handed, it flips into tablet mode with a touch screen.

https://www.amazon.com/VicTsing%C2%AE-playback-Blu-ray-External-desktops/dp/B014OSZF4Y

https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Converter-Prolific-Chipset-TU-S9/dp/B0007T27H8

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B00BBD7NFU - or better yet this, if you want more USB3 ports also: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B01J6583NK

But, in answer to your actual question, no, I'm not aware of an old school brick with tons of ports that's worth buying. A few accessories you can keep in the bag until you need them makes more sense anyway - in my opinion.

Well, unless you go to rugged or semi-rugged designs. They have to be so bulky anyway that they toss in a ton of ports.

http://en.getac.com/notebooks/S410/features.html perhaps or machines of that style.

Dell also makes semi-rugged. Panasonic Toughbook etc. But all these rugged models cost a premium. Then again, if you get stuck in a snowdrift, you can use them as shovels, so... :)

Or else, you can go all out! :) http://en.getac.com/notebooks/X500-Server/features.html

I'm glad you asked!

• Change default apps for ones most suited for their use
  
• Customize their home screen launcher, down to the icon packs and animations
  
• Place widgets (if they want) to simplify actions straight from the home screen
  
• Buy an on-the-go adapter to actually have a full USB port on their phone - and then use it to connect things like a flash drive or another phone to transfer files on the go, as desired (great to carry movies on a trip or make a quick offline copy of your photos)
  
• Use shortcut gestures, either simply from their home launcher or system-wide
  
• Automate common and repetitive tasks using apps like Trigger or Tasker
  
• If wanted, use NFC tags to trigger specific actions like switching to Car Mode or Work Mode - can also use them as a mean of turning off your alarm in the morning (you have to get up and tap the NFC tag)
  
• Change their keyboard to the one that fits them best, and change the settings for that keyboard accordingly
  
• Download a file manager app to browse all files that are stored on their device (the stock file manager apps aren't that great)
  
• Manage their schedule on it using calendar apps - and start actions automatically when calendar events start, e.g. silent mode when a class starts
  
• Mess with fun stuff like connecting a keyboard, a controller or even a mouse using Bluetooth or an OTG connector - can get very useful when writing text without a computer nearby
  
• Sync their phone with their computer, using apps like Pushbullet, AirDroid or SmartSync - yeah, iOS does have a pretty good head start here if you own a Mac
  
• Control their computer from their phone using apps like Unified Remote
  
• Optional: get accessories like a Chromecast to control their TV, an Android Wear watch to get into wearables
  
• Get to use features that make their phone stand out - if you have a LG flagship, use that IR blaster! If you have a Note, use the S Pen! If you have a Nexus, try the next Android version previews! If you have a Samsung flagship, try the Gear VR!!
  
  I could list more, but I think that's a pretty good start.

I know this does not directly answer either one of your questions, but it will address both of the concerns you have.

Just use something like SuperDuper to copy your current drive onto the drive you want to replace. The free version should do the job just fine.

This way, when you install the new drive it will be like nothing has changed. It's the least amount of hassle.

In order to be able to write to the SSD before you physically install it, you will need either a disk enclosure, or a SATA to USB cable. Should not cost more than $15.

1. Plug the SSD to your Macbook using the cable mentioned above or an enclosure.
   
2. Format your SSD using Disk Utilities to match the same settings as your current drive.
   
3. Use super duper to copy your current HD contents onto the SSD.
   
4. Power off the Macbook and replace the HD with the SSD.
   
   Let me know if that makes sense and if you need any help with any of the steps.

That depends on the model you plan on getting. You'll need a Soarer's Converter if it's an XT or 122. For an AT you can use the same XT Soarer's Converter, or just use a dummy DIN 5 to PS/2 adapter and an active PS/2 to USB converter like the Blue Cube.

The Soarer's Converter is more expensive, but it has more features like full programmability, macros and NKRO. That's just external converters though.

Pretty much all Model Fs, except for the XT, can use the xWhatsit internal replacement controller, but it's more of a process to get working. You Have to open the board up, desolder the original controller and replace it with the xWhatsit. It has pretty much the same features as the Soarer's Converter, but it's an internal solution instead of external.

Onboard video chip or an APU.

An APU can save you from having an onboard video chip or using dGPU (and loose the lone PCIe on mITX). But being an APU that means less CPU power. This will be okay for most NAS usage, but when someone wants more then more cores are better. I've always asked here about an 8C/16T mobile APU with very small iGPU for high-end laptops and such applications. These applications either doesn't need a powerful GPU like a server/NAS or it will already have a dGPU like AIO, high-end laptops or SFF systems.

​

Zen actually support ECC, but it's up to the motherboard maker to implement it to fully support it or not.

​

8x SATA ports on mITX can be hard (although they exist). But things can be compact if we go for more server'y like two mini SAS port, each can handle 4x SATA with simple & low cost adapters.

​

These board should really have at least 2x 1GbE or better a 1x 10GbE + 1x 1GbE, or 2x 10GbE for more high-end versions.

Pretty much no power supply is going to have enough connectors for a substantial number of drives. That's hardly important, though. 4:1 or 5:1 splitters are cheap and easy to come by. (That one is $6.69 right now.)

Also, one of the advantages of using a chassis with a backplane is that it saves you dealing with an enormous wiring harness.

You may, however, eventually run into other limitations of your power supply. (This is unlikely with 15 drives and a 650W PSU, however.) For example, how many rails does your power supply have, and what are their individual maximum wattages? (3.5" hard drives primary draw from the 12V rails.) There may be less than the full 650W available to your hard drives.

You will also see large current spikes at boot, when all of the drives try to spin up at the same time. The machine may fail to boot if this draw exceeds the power supply's capacity (again, either on those particular rails or overall). This can be mitigated by using staggered spin-up, which requires either controller/OS support or MacGyvering. (One of the pins in the SATA connector tells the drive not to spin up immediately when power is applied.)

All of that having been said, though, unless you have other complaints about your PSU, a few cables is probably the right fix.

If you're dead set on replacing it, then you should be most interested in power supplies with high efficiency at the load that you expect. (Do some math but also take some measurements, and then look at the PSU's datasheet. The single efficiency number that will be advertised on the product's website or box assumes that it is almost fully loaded.) Power supplies are also differentiated by features like active PFC (power factor correction).

If you're looking for a specific suggestion, I've had good luck with the EarthWatts series.

Good luck!

that is NOT an SSD drive, imho that's one of the cheaper/slower drives you can buy. just because it's branded doesn't make it ideal :) remember ANY drive works fine.

so you're locking the price point at around $90 no problem. that's what I was referring to in my original post... HDs get much more capacity for the same money, SSDs are a lot faster.

Here are some ~$90 SSD on Amazon, I just searched for "usb3 ssd 240GB":
https://www.amazon.com/MyDigitalSSD-240GB-SuperSpeed-Portable-Support/dp/B00EZ2FRP2
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-240GB-Portable-Solid/dp/B01GQPXBQC
https://www.amazon.com/KINGSHARE-USB3-0-External-Portable-Support-Silver/dp/B077FV4DDH

anything along those lines should work.. those are self contained SSD drives with a USB enclosure so the drive is more protected. Personally I got one of these which would let me connect any SATA (the data connector) drive to usb: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-USB3S2SAT3CB-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84
and then bought a nice fast 240GB SSD drive when it went on sale... this deal is already over but here's an example:
https://slickdeals.net/f/11538691-240gb-crucial-bx300-sata-2-5-solid-state-drive-58-40-free-shipping
or this: https://slickdeals.net/f/11535383-patriot-burst-2-5-sata-iii-internal-ssd-240gb-55-120gb-36-free-shipping?src=SiteSearch

so theoretically if you got the drive for around $50-60 and the $10 cable you saved around $20-30 from your $90 price point. all depends on how much you care about having a nice enclosure. Personally I have no problem sitting the raw drive attached by cable on my xbox in my entertainment center it's pretty secure. If you have kids or dogs or the xbox is exposed I'd get one in an enclosure

.

When you finally get a drive and plug it in to your Xbox, the Xbox should prompt you asking what you want to do with the drive... if not just go into settings / system / storage. You need to tell the Xbox that you want to use it for GAMES (as opposed to just media) so it will need to format the drive. At that point, you can move games (via the Manage Game dialog) from wherever it is currently installed to the external drive. Since it's Windows, there's also a "default install location" you can change if you want things you download to automatically go the external drive.

I don't have a specific brand as I get mine from a local distributor but i'd look for the following;

• Shielded cable - Great but often times you may need larger terminated ends because of the shielding
  
• Cat-6 or Cat-6a, 6a if you can spring for it.
  
• Solid cable vs Stranded; get the solid cable,its more durable for permanent installations.
  
  To make your life a bit easier I'd recommend an Ez crimp and ends for Ethernet terminating. They are a little more costly but will help you quite a bit during the installation.
  
  ​
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100010C-Connectors-Clamshell/dp/B000FI9VU2

I recently got my system up and running, and then proceeded to move. Several weeks later, I got my surround sound up and running and moved my equipment around.

Now I'm seated around 8' from the TV, and 10' from the PC. I am set on games that use controllers, but for mouse and keyboard games, I'm trying to figure out the best course of action.

My searching on this subreddit and online has indicated that around 10 feet is okay, and as long as I used powered USB, I should be fine.

So i'm trying to decide if I want to run two lengthy active USB cables: http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Female-Extension/dp/B00DMFB5OK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453851656&sr=1-1&keywords=active+usb+3

Or run one USB 3.0 hub: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-usb-hubs/

Any thoughts on what might be best?

You don't need an enclosure, but you will need a power cable. You could improvise if you have a spare power supply lying around, but it sounds like that's unlikely. Your best bet is probably getting something like this.

Do not trust that drive as far as you can comfortably spit a rat, though. Just get what you can off it and discard it. Depending on how important the data is, if you can find a circuit board for exactly the same model disk (eBay can sometimes help here) that might help it hold together longer and/or let you get more data off the disk. They are usually pretty east to swap.

For sure dude get after it, I've been having a ball with a stack of 170GB 15K RPM drives that I won from /u/storagereview over on the /r/homelabsales sub, still getting my post together for them like 3 months later lol.

Picked up one of these for the machine housing everything: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C5TG82C as a hot swap rack, it's pretty excellent. Then you just need something like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012BPLYJC breakout cables and you're ready to rock. Do yourself a favor and get the 1.5 ft. ones though, 1 meter is too damn long.

Have been having so much fun with this project and I don't even store any data on this array lol, just building and breaking and rebuilding RAID configs.

> Is there a way to quickly connect the HDD to my laptop,

You'll need something like an external enclosure or a SATA to USB adapter to be able to connect it to your laptop. The enclosure/docking station I listed is a bit overkill as it works with both 2.5" and 3.5" disk drives. You can save almost half the price if you get a dedicated 2.5" OR 3.5" dedicated enclosure.

> permanently delete the already deleted files, then disconnect it and put it back where he had it?

Assuming you can get the HDD connected to your laptop, the free version of CCeaner has the capability to permanently remove those "deleted" files that still reside on the drive. Here's a youtube video showing how it's done (sorry the guy is a little hard to understand, but I think you'll get the idea). Good luck and feel free to ask questions should you have any.

Hello!

These setups are using what's called a capture card. The way it works (in most simple cases) is a signal comes from a console, goes into a splitter, then one of the outputs goes to the TV, another to the capture card.

There are many many MANY video standards and when it comes to capture you're most likely either going to be working with composite, S-video, and HDMI. There's YPbPr and RGB too but you're most likely not going to use those.

For composite / svideo (pretty much all home consoles up from the 1990's (where most used RF) until the mid 2000's): I'd recommend the GV-USB2.

Sadly I don't do much HD capture so I don't have any resources for that.

So you get your console, split the signal into two using some of these (and something like this for s-video) have one output going to the TV for the yellow/s-video (video) and audio (red and white).

Here's a visual I made for a friend a few years ago, very similar.

Then there's the capture software, sadly I really can't go to in depth in this small reddit post. Some people like doing all the image processing necessary right in OBS, some people (like me) use amarec because it allows better control over the image.

Sorry this is rushed, can't really write too much right now. I found this video which seems to have good information.

My capture set up is huge now (multiple consoles modded for better video, matrix switches, component (not RGB because SCART is mad expensive) setups) but I'm just gave the bare essentials for how I started streaming on my consoles.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions

I can't vouch for the quality of that particular capture card, but I do know that the one many speedrunners currently recommend is the GV-USB2:

http://www.amazon.com/DATA-connection-video-capture-GV-USB2/dp/B00428BF1Y

Very easy to set up, and the recording quality is good.

Here is some S-Video footage I've captured from my own setup, resized to the correct aspect ratio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRRJ3HTr7kM

Keep in mind the quality is likely slightly less than the originals, because I've had to re-encode once to gain the correct aspect ratio, and because youtube may implement additional compression.

I could upload a video that's only been encoded once(For resize purposes) from a lossless file, but only if there's interest. Quality would be slightly higher.

TL;DR - but made it through the first 3 paragraphs.

From that, I can say for certain that the drive is dead - the fact your system slows to a crawl once it is connected is a good identifier of this.

Now, I have had some luck in the past with the following steps:

• wrap the drive in very absorbent paper towel
  
• seal the wrapped drive in air tight ziplock bag
  
• freeze the drive for 24 hours (providing a nice long deep freeze)
  
• unseal/unwrap frozen drive and connect EXTERNALLY (This is a great tool for this - but only works on 2.5in drives)
  
• quickly start pulling files (once the drive thaws, game over)
  
  The details behind this method is that when you freeze the drive, the components constrict slightly, providing some buffer space for the heads to move along the drive without contact. If this does not work for you, then your only option is to send it in for professional recovery. My method here is fairly "safe" from doing further damage to the drive, since, you know, the details behind the method.
  
  BE CAREFUL the paper towel and air tight sealed bag is a must or you will get moisture in the drive during freezing - and this will mess it up good.
  
  
  ALTERNATIVE (and you must be really good, and very precise)
  Find another drive of the EXACT make and model of the drive that has failed. Dismantle it and swap the platters (alignment of the platters must be exact, and be careful not to damage the heads) The dead drive's platters with the good drive's components will allow you to recover the data - in fact, you can leave it like this since it's basically a new drive. This is essentially how professional data recovery is done (although they pull the platters and mount them on a special machine to read the raw data and recompile it)

#1, Upgrade to Windows 10 right now. There is ZERO reason to be using Windows 8, It's all but deprecated at this point. It will detect your Windows 8 key and convert it to a 10 key. Download the iso, do an "In Place Upgrade" by mounting the iso (double click it) then run setup. Download HERE. Make sure you have a good 60GB of space for rollback if needed.

#2 Since Windows 7, drivers and libraries are cached. What you see as 4.5GB in use is not correct at all. There is likely less than 3GB actually in use, the rest will dynamically move out of RAM the MOMENT you need the RAM for something else.

#3 Don't use antivirus, there is no need these days. Windows Defender is fine. Install Malware Bytes if you need to do some cleaning, then uninstall it. (which will free up more memory)

#4 open up task manager, go to the startup tab, and see what you have that opens on startup. Disable crap you don't need.

#5 RAM is astonishingly cheap right now, but because of chinese tariffs, may be going up. You can grab another 16GB for $60. you have two slots free, Do it up. Looks like 1333Mhz DDR3. $60 for 2x8GB DDR3

Edit: #6 and if you don't have an SSD get one now, they are also astonishingly cheap. Get a Samsung, use the live data migration utility with a USB to SATA adapter. You can literally copy the entire OS to the SSD while the computer is running. Then just rip out your mechanical drive, and install the SSD in it's place. Done. Lighting fast computer. Samsung 860 Evo 500GB/ USB to SATA/ 2.5" to 3.5" adapter / Samsung Data Migration Utility

I just got this one, seemed low profile, inexpensive enough, and decent reviews. I think I definitely needed the one for sure but only because I play my PlayStation on it.

nonda USB Adapter CAD store, but I believe you can get it in the USA

I don’t recall having damage to the screen back then with the keyboard cover. Just the it was more work than it was worth. If I do do it again I may opt like the other person who said they just use it when the laptop was open.

I’ve always been against hard shell cases for the safety of the hinge. I’m happy with how my 2011 aluminum withstood the test of time. So I likely won’t opt for either when my 2019 gets delivered. I did check out dbrand though out of curiosity. They look pretty cool but personally skins aren’t for me anymore.

The disk that came with the SSD is probably a data migration tool to help you make the process easy by directly transferring the files to the SSD from the HDD. In this case, you do need a SATA to USB connector (https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486406967&sr=1-3&keywords=sata%2Bto%2Busb&th=1) in order to transfer the files (Windows OS will be included so you don't have to have a separate install). The following video is great in telling you how to go through the process of using the Samsung Data Migration tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Mu5TuXgXo) (plug in the SATA adapter to the SSD and computer, then use the software, then remove the old HDD after you turned off the computer, then put in the new SSD in and you should be good to go [remember to read through the description box for the YouTube videos I link because there is IMPORTANT information there, especially the video on using the Samsung Data Migration tool]). Good luck!

Thank you so much for the response and info!

I saw this review on Amazon. What do you think?

That person also links to the following products. How essential/necessary do you think they would be to the node-804? I've read some other review that don't highlight suggestions as the review above does. What are your thoughts?

• SilverStone Technology 3.5-Inch to 2 X 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive HDD / SSD Bay Converter, Silver (SDP08)''
  
  
• Monoprice 108794 24-Inch 4-Pin Molex Male to 4 15-Pin SATA II Female Power Cable Net Jacket
  
  
• StarTech.com 4x SATA Power Splitter Adapter Cable (PYO4SATA)
  
  
• SilverStone Technology All Black Sleeved 1-to-2 Sleeved PWM Fan Splitter Cable (CPF01)
  
  Unfortunately I'm in a strange situation where I don't have as much time as I'd like to review/research for the absolute best route to go -- and I'm in need of making a decision very soon.
  
  I'm totally cool with building, although I must say that I'm not as experienced as I would like -- however, I will have time on my hands to learn what is needed to build the setup I decide to purchase.
  
  Any and all info/feedback is most welcome! Thanks!

That'll work fine. Brands don't matter much - they're all going to be a big step up.

For installation you'll need a small (P1) phillips screw driver, and a Torx T6 driver. I'd also recommend a can of Compressed Air Duster - if you're in there, clean it up. Any semi-good multi-bit precision screw driver set will have both. If you want to keep your data, you'll also want to have a USB SATA cable (something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Adapter-Optimized-EC-SSHD-USB-3-0-SSD-SATA-2-5/dp/B011M8YACM/ref=pd_sbs_23_3/258-6658474-5826456?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B011M8YACM&pd_rd_r=bb016fd2-3304-11e9-88d3-9bfb40e6fdf8&pd_rd_w=OEqZv&pd_rd_wg=5R3O5&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=HSN8B74MBPD7Z1J2SCSJ&psc=1&refRID=HSN8B74MBPD7Z1J2SCSJ) which will let you migrate your data back after you install your new drive.

On a clean surface shut down the machine and flip it over, undoing the 8 screws on the bottom (3 will be longer, and 5 will be short) on the bottom case. Should just pop off then. On the right-hand side of the device closest to you is the battery - a short cable with a black plastic cap on the top right is the battery connector. Disconnect the battery. (Not absolutely required, but safer).

Once open, give the inside a dusting, then look for the hard drive in the lower left hand corner. Right above it will be a small plastic holding bar, held in with two locking Phillips screws. Remove them and the bar and set aside.

Slide the drive out of the IR bracket on the opposite side and disconnect from the Hard Drive Flex SATA Cable. Be careful - break this cable, and you're adding another 25$ cable to your repair.

Remove the 4 T6 Torx screws from the original drive and put them into the matching holes on your new drive. Attach to the flex cable and reseat into the IR bracket and settle in. Replace the holding bar and screw it back in, making sure it's secure. Reconnect the battery.

Replace the bottom case and replace the screws. The 3 long ones are on the top right as it's sitting in front of you. The short screws you might need to angle slightly - they should sit flush.

If you have an OS install disk you're good - if not, reboot holding Command and R to get to Internet Recovery to install a fresh copy of mOS. It will let you connect to wifi (or auto-connect to your Wired network if you have an ethernet connection). When it boots (it will take a while, it's downloading most of an OS) open Disk Utility, format your new SSD (choose Mac OS Extended Journaled for the format) and you'l be able to then install mac OS.

Once installed, if you have a SATA cable you should then be able to go into macOS setup and use Migration assistant to copy your data - if it gives an error saying it was created on a newer version of macOS, you can back to the point, create a temporary user called Administrator or Update or something like that, then update your system. With a Mid-2012 with an SSD there's no reason not to be on 10.14 Mojave, so create a temporary user, update your system using the App Store to Mojave, and then you can go into Migration Assistant again (it's in the Applications/Utilities folder).

I hope this helps you out!

It would really be more beneficial to just shell out 300 buck for an r710. I'm pretty sure you'll save more money in the long term since like you already know, that thing uses a ton of power. Around 300w idle which depending on your electricity that adds up! r710 can idle at a 3rd of that.

If you insist on keeping it, the h200 is a great card and can be crossflashed if needed. You'll just need some breakout cables like these https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-Mini-SAS-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC

Seems kinda janky. Some games run well and uh some really do not lol

Not faulting anything since well AMD isn't supported to begin with, and well it's a beta that JUST came out, but I'm hoping that it gets ironed out as the beta goes along. Really see the potential and it could be a great thing once it all gets sorted out.

Oh I should probably list specs? We're all probably running around trying to figure out exactly what cable to get so figured it'd help posting em.


GPU: PowerColor Red Dragon RX 5700

CPU: Ryzen 2600 OC'd to 4.1

Cable: JOTO USB Type C Cable Extra Long 10ft, USB-C 3.1 Type-C to USB 3.0 Type A Charging Data Cable [Heavy Duty Nylon Braided] for iPad Pro 12.9/11 Galaxy S10 S9 Note 10+ 10 9 Tab S4 Nintendo Switch (Black)

Extender (which is just for extra length both cables work): CableCreation Active USB Extension Cable (Long 16.4 FT), USB 3.0 Extender Male to Female Cord with Signal Booster Compatible with Oculus Rift, Xbox, PS4, USB Printer etc, Black

Nice, congrats on the sweet attic find! PS/2 keyboards always require a reset after being plugged in/out. To avoid that, you can get what's commonly referred to as the blue cube PS/2 to USB adapter which will make your Model M behave as a modern USB keyboard. I hope you enjoy the board, it'd definitely a great first (and for some final) step into the world of mechanical keyboards!

So being commo I know some good gifts for us nerds. I know you are going to spend some time making cables, so check this shit out RJ-45's that let you pull the wires though the RJ45. Well now that you got that, might as well buy the crimper with a cutting edge designed for those RJ-45's. I keep the Crimpers in a old PRC-127 radio pouch for easy attachment to my gear if needed too.

If you wanna feel like a cool guy with a gerber, but also need to run some cables? Well we got the Gerber Cable Dawg. Great thing about this thing is it has MAN's for you to get that supply guy who you have been nice too order them and comes with a MOLLE pouch to attach to your gear.

• UCP: 5110-01-598-2253
  
• Coyote Brown: 5110-01-598-2254
  
• MultiCam: 5110-01-598-2248

Get yourself a Hard Drive Transfer Kit, this little guy has saved me more times than I care to remember! It allows you to plug any HDD (IDE or SATA), into a USB port on any PC, and transfer files as needed. Now the HDD has to be functional for this to work, but it's great for situations just like you are in, best $20 I ever spent!

Alright your instructions are great and were followed to a T. This was also my understanding and that's why I am at my wits end with this because I did everything just as you stated and have double and triple checked things. I also installed a boot splash in the root folder and installed the boot splash mod to test it out and it has never seen that either.

-------------

The OTG adapter again is the same one patton is using in the videos on his youtube channel:OTG: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LTHBCNM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

the USB stick I'm using is a 64gb sandisk from the approved list online here:USB: Sandisk64GBSDCZ33-064GYES - u/Negativitee------------

The NES boots with the OTG cable connected and you see the USB drive flash so it is getting power. I've tried all three ports on the OTG and same result. The folder structure matches my last flash and is not seeing what is on the USB drive.

It should be pretty simple to ensure the information is pulling from the drive. Why is this so difficult for hakchi?

It should be as simple as a dropdown or checkbox. :USB ACTIONS-Format USB-Store games on USB-Store cores on USB

etc... This needs to be added to the program*

​

How does one ensure they are wiping their system and filling up the USB drive?

It really seems like this program wasn't designed for this and further development is needed to add it to some menu somewhere. There is nothing I can check or verify in the gui to make sure things are in place for this to work. I noticed some older tutorials tell people to hold shift while syncing and the words change on the sync button to "sync to USB" and this does not happen with my system. The words don't change and although the program has no problem seeing and exporting to my drive it does not link up whatever is needed to actually work.

Is there something to look for in the hakchi2 folder where the file structure is stored for the program? Can I add a file to a folder manually? Or is there a workaround for this?

​

The OTG adapter again is the same one patton is using in the videos on his youtube channel: OTG: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LTHBCNM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and the USB stick I'm using is a 64gb sandisk from the approved list online here:

USB: Sandisk64GBSDCZ33-064GYES - u/Negativitee

​

Thanks, That PI zero w seems pretty decent, never seen it before but it has everything we would need.

HDMI, USB, Low Price, SD Slot, Small size and etc.

The only thing I am wondering is how it is powered and whether I would need a USB power bank of some sort to use the keyboard/mouse to set it up, either way having on board WiFi is neat and costing that much is perfect, Thanks for the help.

​

Edit:

https://www.amazon.com/TUSITA-Adaptor-Charging-Adapter-Raspberry/dp/B00LTHBCNM

I have found this connector and it uses a Micro USB port and is said to be compatible with the PI Zero, it will allow me to use a keyboard & mouse simultaneously while also powering it.

>trim to proper length

EZRJ-45.

http://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100010C-Connectors-Clamshell/dp/B000FI9VU2

http://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100054C-Clamshell-EZ-RJPRO/dp/B00939KFOU

I will never go back. You can't make me. NO ONE CAN MAKE ME GO BACK.

On the real though, these save you SO MUCH TIME, and if you're like me and just hold your hand over the wires while you crimp/cut the cleanup is super easy.

Cutting, stripping, crimp/cut. Best things I've ever used.

Even has the pinout for A/B on there so you really shouldn't screw it up.

The "screenshot" you are talking about is called an image. An image is like a giant file that you can copy and paste onto another hard drive. Later if your ssd becomes corrupt or something else happens to it, you can boot into the windows recovery and restore the image.
Go into the control panel and look up "backup and restore". Once you are in the "backup and restore" settings then you will see an option to create a system image on the left sidebar. You can click it and select the disk you want to save the image to. Once you are done windows should ask if you want to make a recovery disk. Make the recovery disk, and later if you need to restore the image you just made you can boot from the disk and restore your image.
You can find more info on creating and restoring the backup here.
Note: You made need equipment to connect the hdd to the computer with the ssd if they are not already connected. Something that connects USB to SATA like this would probably work.

For anything with the traditional red, yellow and white plugs, this thing here is king. I-o DATA USB connection video capture GV-USB2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00428BF1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_1bNMzb9C8YEM9

You will need this, a splitter, and two extra sets of cables (look in the "frequently purchased together" section below). Plug the console into the splitter, then run the extra cables from the splitter to your tv/monitor and to the capture card. The capture card is USB, just plug it in to your computer.

All the software instructions will be in Japanese, but just Google the name of the product and you will find some very easy to use installation guides.

From there, just use your choice of recording or streaming software! I'm an xsplit guy, but OBS is popular because it's totally free.

EDIT: Also, if you're going to run Mario 64 specifically, make sure you have the proper version of the game! I'm fairly sure it's primarily played in Japanese, and I'm not sure if there are glitches missing from the US release.

1. I don't think so. I have the AOC monitor and it's great, definitely would recommend.
   
   
2. for 144hz you must use displayport. Get a displayport to display port wire like (this)[https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Gold-Plated-DisplayPort/dp/B005H3Q59U/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480287388&sr=1-3&keywords=displayport+to+displayport+cable]
   
   
3. For 144hz it's very easy. If you have AMD GPU you can use Radeon or even just going into the advanced display settings of your displays (you can pm me and I can walk you through if you go through with buying this). As for colour I can't really say much as I have just settled with the default settings without changing much as it doesn't matter much to me ( I have two monitors, other one is IPS which is beautiful for watching movies on).

Would something like this work? https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Gold-Plated-DisplayPort/dp/B005H3Q59U

I dont have a displayport cord but Im happy to order one and give it a shot!

Thanks for the help =)

You have a few options that would allow you to test Linux without giving up Windows in the first place. It's easier to go back to Windows later, if it was never gone.

That being said, if you use a virtual machine [like VirtualBox], or install Linux on a USB flash drive, then you're not getting the completely native experience with Linux.

Running in a VM won't give Linux direct access to devices. Linux not having hardware level direct access to your video card may mean that some visual effects won't work right, and/or that it could be considerably slower.

If you install to a USB flash drive, then your disk access is going to be very slow, compared to HDD speeds, slower yet compared to SATA or NVMe SSD speeds.

If you configure your system to dual boot, then you have the option [at boot time] to boot into one operating system, or the other. This can be done non-destructively, by resizing your Windows partition down [free space allowing] during Linux install, then installing Linux partitions in the newly created free space.

I would recommend a dual boot system, personally. That's what I do, so I can go back and forth between them.

You can even set up virtual machines afterwards that allow you to access one from the other in a virtual machine, but that's a whole different fun thing to get into.

EDIT: I see now where you mention the lack of space on your current machine. You can grab a SATA SSD and a $10 USB3/SATA adapter and use that. Not really elegant, but neither is 32GB of storage, or using a slow USB flash.

I got 3 of these. They work great, fast, and they are compatible with smartmontools in Linux, so you can access the SMART system of a HDD, or SSD for testing and troubleshooting.

I bought this exact drive for my mom's laptop on Amazon 2 weeks or so ago when I saw the good deal. It's a great SSD but NOTE!!

It does NOT come with any cable or peripheries besides the manual and CD of Samsung's Cloning software and SSD Magician. I would recommend buying a SATA adapter to USB 3.0 for each. I bought this and it worked like a charm for cloning her old HDD to the new SSD - http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Adapter-Optimized-EC-SSHD/dp/B011M8YACM/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449613719&sr=1-5&keywords=sata+to+usb+3.0

I just recommend that one because it's USB 3.0 and just $9.99 on Prime. But there are many others, simply type "SATA to USB adapter" on Amazon.

You seem to misconstrue what a smartphone actually is. A smartphone is a computer in your pocket. So:

1: Can a computer be used productively without becoming a distraction?
This is on you. If you load up a computer with games and browse facebook all day you can do the same thing on a smartphone and be just as time wasting.

2: In terms of being used for work, how useful are computers?
Extremely, especially a small handheld computer you can take with you to lunch in case of emergency calls at work, or on the train when you're traveling you can respond to emails, or even tether to your laptop if you opt for that in your plan.

3: What are the things that I probably don't know a computer can do for me?
Remember, you are holding a fully functional computer that just happens to be very small in your hand. If you get a USB host adapter for your phone (either USB-C for the latest phones, or MicroUSB for older phones, or Lightning for an iPhone) then you can literally plug in a keyboard and a mouse and go to town. Actually, you can even plug in USB external monitors on Android devices and use a bigger screen!

That is the premise of the Superbook, which is coming out in a few months. I plan to completely replace my laptop with my cell phone and the Superbook, which is just a fancy dock for a cell phone.

4: What's the point of a computer if I do everything on a sheet of paper?
This is the Galaxy Note 4. See the fancy little pen right there? It lets you write on the screen, just like a piece of paper. I have this phone and love it so much I refused to upgrade to the (famously explosive) Note 7.

This is the OneNote app. It's free. There is a similar app available for your computer, both Windows and Mac. You can literally do the same exact thing you do right now, what with the binder and calendars and whatnot else, only with a device that weighs less than a pound. What happens if you don't have your binder with you? What do you do if you need to add something to your calendar right now but don't have the binder handy? Have you ever misplaced the binder? OneNote syncs all of your notes up to the cloud. You could throw the phone in the shredder, get a new phone, install the app, log in, and have all of your notes handy.

The point of a smartphone is to do everything a computer can do, in a small and portable form factor. That has always been the point of the devices. If you do not know how to efficiently use a computer to organize yourself, you probably won't see a lot of benefit out of it. But if you spend some time learning to use the (mostly free) software out there designed for the workflow you have, you will find them to be invaluable.

I can do everything I need to do while traveling from my phone. Email, phone calls, calendar, checking into flights, google research, chatting, everything. To the point where I'm buying that Superbook I mentioned above simply so that my phone is easier to use if I need to write a long email.

Okay, so I dug my adapter out and it is an older style adapter, not SATA 3, so it won't work with the HDD I took out of my Pro when I upgraded to a 2TB drive. Sorry!

However, I did a bit of digging, and this cable on Amazon has reviews from people who say they bought it specifically to work with an external HDD on their PS4 and had no issues.

BUT, I would recommend simply buying an enclosure. This enclosure is actually cheaper than the cable I linked above, and your HDD will look neater and stay cleaner if it's inside a case instead of having a bare drive connected to the PS4's USB ports.

This is the exact enclosure I am using right now with the PS4 Pro's 1TB drive. It costs a bit more, but I like that it includes a place to plug in an AC Adapter in case the HDD you're using needs more power than the PS4's USB ports can provide.

I'm sorry I have outdated cables and couldn't test that for you after all, but I hope you find something that will work for you. Good luck!

I've already purchased several USB-C cables and power bricks in anticipation for the Switch. Went Anker for their manufacturing quality, so it wasn't the cheapest, but the fact that it will be more common in the coming years made me feel less skittish about investing in it.

I hate the fact that my 3DS is so difficult to charge, and I just know that solving that issue will greatly improve my love for the consoles.

 


In case anyone is interested, I purchased this charger as it is 2.4 amps per port, which is close to what the Switch spec is. Essentially it is enough to charge the console in a timely fashion in a room away from the dock.
I purchased this cable since flexibility is more important when gaming plugged in versus the external protection that braiding provides.

Beep codes mean there is most likely a hardware issue, this website here supposedly can help you identify where the start looking https://www.acerrepairblog.us/aspire-5920g/phoenix-bios-beep-codes.html

Honestly with a laptop that old there is bound to be some part of the board or memory giving out. The good news is that it sounds like the hard drive could still be perfectly fine. You can buy something like this https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3 that can take your hard drive and mount it on someone else's PC to recover data.

moderator removed this post but it's connected with one of these. did not use the [Tech] tag so the auto bot could post the reboot your xbox support message.

anyways thanks, yes I'm pretty sure it 3.0

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=pd_sim_147_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41RlR-Q1siL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1TZ3ZYE3CKY2Y8EGH9DD

If you have another Mac with either FireWire 800 or Thunderbolt 2 (depending on the model of your borked Mac - can't really see from the GIF) you connect the two with an appropriate cable and use Target Disk Mode to grab the files you need from it for safe keeping. From there, you can use recovery mode to reinstall macOS with the peace of mind knowing your files are safe.

Alternatively, if you don't have another Mac, you can simply try reinstalling the OS in recovery without backing up first, as I'm fairly certain that will retain your personal files by default provided you don't format the drive yourself (the installer will not do that).

Or, again depending on your Mac, you might be able to remove its 2.5" drive by removing some screws on the back like this and attach it to a USB to SATA cable like this one to read the files on another Mac. This won't work on Retina MacBook Pros because they use a proprietary drive that can't easily (or at least cheaply) be adapted to an external device. Good luck!

I've seen many choose this one too, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYoghrQH4MI
Watch this, and remember the plus goes with plus, minus with minus and so on.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1995782/144hz-asus-vg248qe-monitor.html
There's a reason the best answer was chosen as the best answer. I'm getting it too, and I have tried to look fir all problems.
My friend has this one and all you should do is just to configure it to your liking. https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Gold-Plated-DisplayPort/dp/B005H3Q59U/ref=pd_sim_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KP6RM0SB2AMVXQ9H5YGQ
These were recommended, just choose the length you'd like and you'd be good to go. And don't ask reddit next time.

Awesome, thank you for the detailed response.

So if I'm doing my math correctly, one SATA cable from the PSU would have four connectors. Splitting it with the 4x SATA splitter would put me at 7 connectors total. Let's say I run a high estimate of 9W per HD, that's still only 63W which is well under the 192W calculation. I was thinking about running a blu-ray drive on the same line which would still only be (9W6)+30W=84W total. So I would be safe in my instance is that right?

The AMP connector route you mentioned would still be well under since the molex to 4x SATA would be the only thing connected to that cable. 9W4=36W or (9W*3)+30W (BD drive)=57W.

Would you recommend one route over the other (SATA to 4x SATA vs molex to 4x SATA)? Looking at either one of these guys..

https://smile.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Power-Splitter-Adapter-PYO4SATA/dp/B0086OGN9E/

https://smile.amazon.com/Monoprice-108794-24-Inch-15-Pin-Female/dp/B009GULFJ0/

Thanks!

I dual boot Ubuntu 18.04 with Windows 10 and have an Oculus Rift.

I really just use Windows for gaming, and it takes make a minute to get over there. I mean, to me it's not a huge hassle.

If I were you, if it's not too out of the ordinary for you to ask, ask his thoughts on dual booting and using a Windows 10 for gaming. If he says it's not a bad idea, and he REALLY wants the headset, I would highly suggest getting it. Worse comes to worst, if he doesn't want it before he opens it, you can simply refund it and get another gift.

I recommend getting the rift with a third sensor, as well as an HDMI extender and USB 3 Active cable. It'll run up your costs to about $530-$550 after tax, but the third sensor is essential if you want the tracking to work well.

Edit: This is the active cable I got that I have not tested yet. I will return with a response, just remind me if I don't have it up by tomorrow afternoon.

And this HDMI female to female looks good paired with this HDMI cable.

If you have any other questions just let me know. I'll try to help out best I can.

Thank you! Wish I could take you up on that offer but in Texas. My current home I bought a spool and did all that myself. I did this deal...

Platinum Tools 100010C EZ-RJ45 Cat 6+ Connectors, Clamshell, 50-Pieces https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FI9VU2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_7B39BbXKNCKAG

So it crimps and clips the wires all in one. It just took forever and I felt like my RJ45s were kind of oversized and some didn’t fit in the switch right. Eventually I got the hang but that was 6 years ago so I was thinking maybe take the easy way out this time, ha.

Also in the networking closet I want to make it look pretty but out in the house I’m going to run cables to, AC-PROs, IW-PROs, or cameras. And all of those take RJ45 for input I think.

Maybe I just need to suck it up and terminate the bulk wire or hire someone just to come do just that part who is good at it.

I don't know of any guides, but for the home user, it's really not expensive or difficult.

What you need, besides HBA in your host machine, is just a bunch of cabling. If you don't have an HBA...cheap and available on ebay.

Just an FYI: Most hard drives don't use a lot of power. (you can look up the max power requirements for specific drives through their manufacturer spec sheet) A 500 watt power supply can often supply the vast majority of that over the 12v rails. Your power supply can run many more disks than it has provisions for, so splitter cables are often the only way to maximize your chassis disk space. As I mentioned before: don't use cables with molded connectors. Cables like https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086OGN9E - you can see they are plastic and snap around the cables themselves and aren't a molded piece.

The super quick and dirty to expand your storage past your server computer's space or power capabilities is:

• A second computer case or disk chassis with it's own power supply
  
• A way to trigger the power supply to turn on with the machine, such as: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074DGPL85/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1 (when the molex port receives power, it triggers a relay to power on the power supply connected to the 20/24 pin)
  
• A way to connect the drives, which is just SFF-8088 from host to disk chassis. You can install a bracket like https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-SFF-8088-SFF-8087-Adapter-Bracket/dp/B01GPD9QEQ - or you can just pull an SFF-8088 to Sata through a hole to the chassis. Depends on how cheap you are. (I'm pr gd cheap) You can route an internal sff-8087 out of your host chassis with that kind of bracket too.
  
  GL fellow data hoarder
  

>Could I use a micro sd card with one of these:
link1
>plugged into the NUC, and install Ubuntu on the micro sd card?

Yes, Ubuntu is very flexible with the location of your install as long as it remains plugged in while the device is on.

>Also, could I buy an SSD (but not an SSD meant for the NUC), one of these: link2

Yes, but you could also put that SSD in some models of NUC like this model.

>and plug it into the NUC with one of these cables:
link3

>And then install Ubuntu on that?

yes, but you could have better success with an external enclosure that stores the whole drive rather than that model that is meant for hotswapping. Like this.

LOL, I love that you admit you need to recover porno. I have clients dance around this all the time. "Can you backup this folder... but don't look in it please"

ANYWAY, If you only other computer is a laptop you will need an adapter to connect a desktop hard drive to your laptop. This is my favorite. If you have USB 3.0 on your laptop then this may be a better option.

Once you have it hooked up you should be able to copy onto/off it like a flash drive. If not, you may need to use some recovery tools. Recuva is free, but somewhat limited. Use it and see what you can get.

If you still can't get anything, you can use GetDataBac as a trial to see if it can find anything for you. If the demo finds stuff you want you will need to buy the full edition so you can copy it all onto your hard drive. You want the NTFS version BTW, it should be $79.

You should get the USB adapter regardless. That is a handy tool to have. Just get a universal one, then you can connect pretty much anything by USB (laptop or desktop hard drive, CD drive, even a floppy disk drive)

If they didn't delete the windows partition or format it, then bringing it up as an external drive on another Windows system should work. Everything should be accessible, although you may need to take ownership of the directories you need access to.

I like to use Rich Copy or Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier for this kind of thing because it retains the file metadata (modified date, etc) but can drop the security information so you don't have issues with it on the machine your copying to.

If these guys did format or delete the partition then you'll need a data recovery tool. Bootmed, like most other Linux based rescue CDs, uses TestDisk and PhotoRec for data recovery. Bootmed is designed for users who aren't familiar with Linux, so it's supposed to be a bit easier to work with, which is the only reason I recommend it. Ubuntu, GParted, etc all have these tools too.

EDIT: The thing with Bootmed or some other Live CD is you can use it right now with the drive in place. These all have File Explorers too, so if there's a readable NTFS partition, you'll be able to see your files and copy them to an external drive (even though it's not Windows). As long as you can download a live CD image (ISO) and burn it to a CD (as a disc image - please ask if you don't know what this means), you can work on it as soon as the CD is burned. No waiting to get an adapter.

Well you could but adaptors like that are directional. There is an active conversion chip in them that only works to convert one to the other.

So a DP -> HDMI cable can't be used for HDMI -> DP.

DP can also do passive conversion if it is a DP++ port (basically the GPU is outputting HDMI not DP to begin with then). Again those passive adaptors will really not work the opposite way.

So you could use what you have, a DP -> HDMI adaptor and then one of these to do HDMI -> DP on the other side. I think you will agree that it would be much simpler (not to mention better for the signal), and far cheaper, just to use a DisplayPort cable.

First I think it's a waste of an NES, but only if you are destroying the electronics (assuming they are not already dead). I hope you'll keep the electronics or give them away to someone so that the actual system won't be dead. Maybe your next project could be building a custom NES.

Anyways, I think I know some parts that might help you.

First, A slim 7750

For something like this you should also want a pci-e riser cable/ribbon/kajigger.

Here's another thing you'll definitely want/need for a build of this size. The largest pico psu I can find and an appropriate power brick/adapter to go with it.

However, if you are going to use this for old NES games and such, you won't need the graphics card. The onboard graphics will be more than enough.

There is a significant issue though The pico psu is meant only to run at 160 watts, 200 peak. I pretty sure that pcpartpicker.com is going to estimate power usage to be at max, but the issue is that at max, this system draws 163 watts. Now, I don't know if this would be sustained for long periods of time if you ran the system under full load, but I feel like it would be an issue.

When I say this system, I am referring to this. The psu is not on pcpart picker so it isn't on that, but you can imagine it being there.

Order some wall mounts (generic tripod thread - tons of amazon) - a USB 3.0 Extension cable for each sensor (5M Cable Matters active model for $16 works great) and you'll be good. This will allow you to mount your two sensors in opposing corners for Roomscale tracking - provided your room is of adequate size.

You can extend the rift's own cable(s) with a 6ft HDMI extension cable, and 6ft passive USB 3.0 extension cable. Anything beyond that will likely give you problems. Get some velcro straps to tie both of those extensions together and it'll double as a breakaway cable were you to tug on it too hard.

Maybe consider grabbing an add-in PCI-E USB 3.0 card. I ordered this Startech.com USB 3.1 card for $35 because USB 3.1 controllers can handle 10Gbps of throughput, which theoretically means both of these ports should be able to run at the full 5Gbps 3.0 mode, so it could handle both sensors with ease.The amazon reviews have some Rift users implying it works great.

Also - you'll get Robo Recall for free, it's a great action game to get started in. It'll set the bar pretty high for you - but it's a very comfortable (and often intense!) experience.

Go with # 3 definitely. As others have mentioned you need to remove the drive, which should be fairly simple. The details will be different but it'll be something like what you see at 2:25 on this youtube video.

Next you'll need a IDE or SATA to USB adapter. This one on Amazon is a good one. There are other styles, some that include a case for the laptop drive (the above video shows him using a case style don't pay any attention to that part of the video). For a one time transfer the linked one is all you need.

This youtube video does a pretty good job of explaining how to connect things and access the files. The instructions for a laptop drive start at about 5:20. One thing not mentioned is that the files are most likely under the USERS directory. Under that directory will be her user name, under that will be the folders for pictures, documents, etc.

This is the fastest method.

It's also one of the safest methods and the easiest method. Plus, you get to verify that the new drive is working before putting it into your Mac. That's not really such big deal on a MBP 2011 since the drives are so easy to swap, but on other Macs making sure the drive is working properly can be a really good idea.

Also, you can get an external drive cable/adapter for like $13. This works great if you don't want an enclosure for the drive, but not advisable if you want a portable drive, in which case you want an enclosure.


Another option if the OP no longer wants the optical drive is to remove the optical drive and swap it with a HDD bracket and the old HDD drive. Then they can just clone from the old HDD drive internally to the new SSD.

You can also get an enclosure for the old optical drive making it a portable external optical drive.

What you have described is installing a SSD and putting a fresh install of windows on it. This means that you will have to reinstall any programs, reconfigure preferences, settings, etc. that are on your computer now.

Contrary to some of the below comments, you do NOT have to reinstall windows like this if you don't want to. Cloning the drive will work 100% and will potentially save you time and headache.

I have personally used (4 different times) the Samsung Data Migration software when installing a Samsung SSD into a current system and it has been successful 100% of the time and is VERY easy to use.

1. Boot your PC into windows with the current harware.
   
2. Plug your new SSD into a USB port using a SATA to USB Adapter - I have this one - https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84
   
3. Run the Samsung data migration software and follow the prompt to clone the HDD onto the new SSD.
   
4. Turn off PC
   
5. Remove HDD and install SSD
   
6. You are done, enjoy a beer and reading the /r/pcmasterrace

I have three sensors now. Only one has an extension ( and I didn't use the usb2.0 cable provided by oculus, instead I used the one I bought for my two sensor experimental setup, that's an active usb3.0 )

this one: CableCreation Gold (Long 16FT) Super Speed USB 3.0 Active Extension Cable, USB 3.0 Extender USB A-Male to A-Female Cable, 5Meter/16ft, Black

• the single usb 3.1 is connected to a sensor with a 16ft usb3.0 active cable extension. ( the one I linked )
  
  
• • . the four usb 3.0 from top to bottom as follows:
    
    
• top left keyboard
  
• top right mouse
  
  
• bottom left is the Rift headset usb 3.0
  
  
• bottom right is a sensor usb 3.0 without extension
  
• • front panel two usb 3.0
    
    left usb 3.0 is a sensor without extension
    
• right usb 3.0 is free and unused.
  
  
  I have a 650w power suply, a i7 processor and a 1080ti, and 16 gig or ram, dunno if it makes any difference

Yes you would put the LSI 9201-16e into a PCIe slot on your current HTPC. Then you would run up to four SAS to SATA cables inside the back of the new case. There will be a big rectangular hole in the back because the tiny power board doesn't have an IO shield (or any IO in the back at all). The cables are a meter long so they should reach just fine.

As for some kind of pre-built all-in-one unit, the only thing that comes to mind is something like the NetApp DS4243. These can be found pretty cheap on eBay but I don't recommend one because they only use server power supplies that are VERY loud. Like jet-engine loud. Seriously, unless you keep both computers in a garage or basement you don't want to actually live anywhere near these things.

If you do have a basement or something though and want to get one, you would still use the LSI 9201-16e but instead use SAS to SAS cables as they have four SAS ports on the back and you would just slide the drives into the front. Everything inside is already connected.

Be aware though that most don't come with HDD trays so you'll have to buy them separately, and the ones that do usually have old 1 TB drives in them already which drives up the price. But even if you think 24 TB extra is good for whatever they're asking, you have to remember they are heavily used in a server environment and likely to die soon, not mention the electricity costs of powering all those drives with 4 server PSUs, and again the NOISE.

Plus there are compatibility issues that even I don't fully understand. You definitely should read up on them before buying one, but really it's not worth the trouble IMO.

I think you're better off going with one of the other options.

EDIT: NetApp DS4243 SAS Disk Shelf Fan Noise

Yeah I download a lot of movies/shows so I definitely wouldn't want to go all the way down to a 128/256 GB SSD, since that's about the most I could afford with a SSD. Rather save up to replace this laptop.

Are 5400 RPM drives preferred over 7200? I was always under the impression 7200 was better with its faster speeds (at least before SSDs came out)

As for the Seagate Hybrid. Am I understanding the tech correctly? Its basically an 8 GB SSD with a 1 TB traditional HD. And the OS would go on the SSD part while everything else goes on the traditional side?

Do you have any resources on replacing the HD? I was planning on buying this cable:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=pd_sim_147_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41RlR-Q1siL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=CMVE184DYW1R1YM8P7EG

and then cloning my current drive and then its just swapping the two? but how exactly does it know to put the OS on the SSD portion?

Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it.

For everyone in Germany. I can confirm these two cables work flawlessly, giving together 6.8 meters of freedom.

• Cable Creation USB 3.0 Active Extender 5mhttps://www.amazon.de/CableCreation-Aktives-Verl%C3%A4ngerungskabel-Extender-Weibliches/dp/B0179MXKU8/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=cablecreation+usb+3+extender&qid=1574350547&sr=8-3
  
• Syncwire USB C 3.0 1.8mhttps://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07F42TGQF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  ​
  
  Tested link with Doom VFR and i was impressed with the quality in direct comparison with my Rift S. I would say it has 80% of the picture quality, but quests Oled has better blacks. i could not see any latency in native oculus games. In steamvr there was a slight handtracking latency, but it was absolutely fine to play.
  
  So i am really considering selling my Rift S.

My existing CV1 setup already had wiring for 4 sensors, 3 of which required active extension, so I tapped into the far one that went across the ceiling with the 10 foot USB-C Anker 3.0 cable recommended by Oculus, and it works flawlessly.

The visuals were excellent. For me this looks better than the Rift S (personally, since I have an IPD of 59, along with the beautiful OLED displays this has). I didn't notice any artifacts or compression when playing, but I do think this thing is sensitive to having a very good USB port, so results may vary.

The lower refresh rate is definitely noticeable compared to the CV1 and I played worse than usual in beat saber (on expert). The tracking is also obviously more limited than the CV1 with more than 2 sensors (which this would beat), especially in games like Echo VR, but I also had some issues with the S in that game when I tried it. This is comparing to a perfect 4 sensor setup with a $120 quad channel USB card, so it's not exactly fair.

You can't beat the simplicity this provides for just getting into PCVR.

Here is the link the the extension cable. It's cheaper than it was back when I got them for my sensors: https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Extension-Extender-Booster-Compatible/dp/B0179MXKU8

Been playing with 2 sensor 360 tracking on the 2m x 1.5m and has been working good enough for me. Tracking is not perfect obviously as there is a "seam" that will cause a "shift" on the touch controller potentially due to what seems to be a software calibration type of issue. Not a game breaker for me as you just have to be aware of it and adjust accordingly so I am not in between it like when I play Arizona Sunshine and aiming the gun.

My setup uses the 2 support rods diagonally from each with the sensors attach to clamps and up about 6 feet high at about 45 degree angle downward linked to active USB3.0 extension cable. I think your mileage will vary how you setup but here's the list of the setup:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CRDD6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5M39AW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DMFB5OK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also you should use Desk Scene to make sure the sensors truly cover your play space:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/5gy2my/desk_scene_multisensor_update_check_your_cameras/

Since you say you're not tech savvy, I'm gonna assume you'd rather not hard-mod your N64 to output a component (480p) signal. Also, N64's output resolution is remarkably low so it doesn't take much to capture good looking N64 gameplay.

What you probably want is an S-video cable (this is the kind I use). I know it says for gamecube, but video cables for gamecube, n64 and snes are universally interchangeable, so you're good.

For capture, the best bang for your buck is gv-usb2. For streaming a composite or s-video signal it's pretty much the universal standard.

Hope this helped.

1 Cloning is the way to go as there is no real evidence a clean install of windows is better. however it's a lot more time consuming.

2 on HDD, delete recycling bin and as many files/unused programs as possible. Then long degrag drive using degraggler

3 use this guide if windows doesn't recognize ur new SSD.

4 Follow this guide using Macrium Reflect to clone HDD to SSD. Here is a step by step video

If you have a laptop and only space for one drive you'll need to clone to the SSD while it's external and need a USB to SATA cable, enclosure etc. An enclosure might be a better choice if later you plan on using the HDD for external storage. The cable is a better choice if you plan on doing this often, for friends.


Edit: Reddit has been a total bust for computer support for me. I just condensed 15+hrs of research and execution into a few simple steps, links included, and it's downvoted. Now I know why so few people are willing to help here

A lot of stuff on eBay is used but I don't have a problem with that as long as the seller has good ratings and will take returns.

I have bought 2 used LSI SAS cards and a few used 10G ethernet cards from eBay sellers and they work fine.

If you see 16i it means 16 internal ports. 4i4e means 4 internal, 4 external and so on.

I'm assuming you want to use consumer SATA drives but these cards are "enterprise" SAS cards. SAS cards will support either SAS or SATA hard drives as long as you get the right cables.

Look at the different connectors here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Attached_SCSI#Connectors

SFF-8087 and 8088 are the most common for internal and external drives but each cable supports 4 drives so you have breakout cables like this

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC/r

If you run out of drive bays in the future you could get a card with an external SFF-8088 port and run a cable to a separate box from of drives.

I already said this on another post, BUT if you ask me, for the money and build quality you can't beat Schiit Audio.

Pick up a MAGNI "HEADPHONE AMP AND PREAMP" for $99, a MODI "DAC" for $99 - $249 for the multibit version. So between $198-and $348 you can have an outstanding smi-portable DAC and Headphone/Preamp.

You will need a set of RCA cables to connect the DAC to the Headphone amp. As for connecting your smartphone you will need this USB 2.0 OTG Cable On The Go Adapter and then you will then need to connect that to a USB A-B Cable. Plug the "B" end of the USB A-B cable into the Dac. Additionally you could have skipped the DAC altogether and ran a RCA-to-3.5 cable right into the back of the headphone amp. But if you are aiming to take advantage of the HiFi/master audio I would recommend you use the DAC method. Connecting your laptop is just as easy and you can just run the USB A-B cable into the DAC. Or, if your computer has an optical audio output you could use a Toslink cable to connect direct into the DAC.

your all set man. get after it.

>Thank you for the incredibly informative reply! I've been reading up on this a bit but I'm still unsure: what's the difference in quality, latency, and software/hardware compatibility between tradition '5-din' MIDI, MIDI to USB / USB-MIDI and USB (where either both sides are USB or like [this](https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-USB-2-0-Cable-Male/dp/B00NH11KIK/ref=asc_df_B00NH11KIK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167151358503&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6368450382305919329&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033574&hvtargid=pla-181858139331&psc=1)? For example, my digital piano has a 5 pin MIDI 'DIN', is this different in any way (software/hardware compatibility, quality etc) from the example cable provided in the link? I hear all kinds of different opinions on the matter. And it's extra confusing to me because my computer doesn't have a MIDI in port, so it's going to have to get changed into USB anyway. I mean maybe the desktop has top has MIDI in, but I'm not even sure if there's advantages there.
>
>At any rate, I think I've boiled it down to either the Keystep or Microbrute. I'm going to use softsynths with either, so I'm not sure if the Keystep has any advantages here other than being cheaper.
>
>Sorry for the rant and thanks for the help so far, it's been very helpful.

Sure, this one. I needed 4 sets to get enough connectors for all my drives. Take the back cover off of the connector, its just clipped on. Pull the wire up from both sides to keep the metal connector in place. Repeat for all the connectors. Then put your drives in your caddy or whatever you're using, put the empty connectors on the drives, then run your new wire across all of them for perfect spacing. I used new 18ga wire, but you could reuse the old too. Skip the wire for the 3.3v line, then get a flathead screwdriver out and push the wire into the connectors. Do the same for the female connector with however much spacing you want, then just put the back covers back on and you're all set.


All in all I think it took me an hour or so to do my 3 caddies. Once you figure out how to do it it goes pretty quick. Super easy as well, just make sure to double check you have the female connector the right direction so you're not reversing the pins power and killing your drives.

I upgraded my Mid-2010 15" MBP earlier this year, added 4 more GB of ram and added a 1 TB SanDisk Ultra II SSD. Let me tell you - the damn thing runs like a new computer, and still does almost a year later. Starts up in seconds, almost never have lag, it's never crashed, etc. It's lifechanging.

One of these will be your best bet for transferring between your old hard drive to your new hard drive. There are plenty of step by step instructional guides on doing the replacement yourself, it was actually much easier than I thought it would be.

If you have the ability to upgrade your RAM, I'd recommend going ahead and doing that while you're at it. Good luck!

I'm talking about the Kingston thumb drives. My point being that you don't lose anything by utilizing an SSD connected to a USB enclosure or adapter for boot, over a single thumb drive, because no USB thumb drives support SMART either (that I have found). You definitely aren't able to take advantage of the SMART features of whatever SSD you use in that manner, because I've never found a USB-SSD adapter/enclosure that supports SMART, but you aren't really losing anything either.

SSD's seem to be more reliable in general, SMART or not, than flash drives... so it could be advantageous to use one with a USB adapter, even though you don't get SMART data from it, especially if it means not giving up a SATA port (if they are limited).

One of these is what I plan on using, hooked to the internal USB header on my supermicro board.

Ceiling height is best as it'll give the tracking cone that comes out of the sensor maximum size before it hits you. But plenty of people use them on their desk as well, not how i'd recommend doing it but it works.

You should use an active usb extension for best results. These are the ones I use on my sensors

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0179MXKU8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

But there's another issue which is USB controller bandwidth. Oculus recommends plugging your first 2 sensors and HMD into USB3, and plug your 3rd sensor into USB2 so its on a different USB controller as to prevent USB bandwidth saturation.

The active extender I have does not require a wall wart at all, they use the USB power on the cable to basically add another hub to regen power on the line back. Some do have the option to plug in a wall wart, but the one I have and many I see on Amazon do not need a wall wart at all.


This one says it does not need the power adapter unless you are connecting multiple of these cables together I guess, and your PC supplies enough power to the extender its self.

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Female-Extension/dp/B00DMFB5OK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484412332&sr=8-1&keywords=active%2Busb%2Bextender&th=1

I lot of the ones over 20' seem to be USB 2.0 which should still work. It may be best to have the wall wart so you know the camera is getting good power though, maybe get one that allows you to connect the wall wart optionally and see how it does without it?

I currently am using a 16' USB 3.0 cable that seemed to power my camera fine.

A KVM is possible, but the big advantage of a KVM is that it not only allows you to share a screen across two sources, but also an attached keyboard and mouse. Unless you intend to use a keyboard and a mouse with your Switch, I'd go for a far less expensive, 2-port HDMI switch. That's all you need if you're only concerned about video. Plus, I'd argue it has more future utility. It'll be smaller, because it has less ports and the ports it has are smaller. You could bring it with you when you travel and hook multiple things up to HDTV's at hotels or friends' places. Plus, most newer displays have HDMI ports. Buying a DVI KVM (or even a DVI-only video switcher) is going to be more expensive and clunkier.

Here's an example of stuff that would work. I am not endorsing these products at all, I'm just picking the first well-reviewed looking hit from my search results (on Amazon):

search terms: "2-port HDMI switch"

looks good: DotStone HDMI Switch Bi-Direction only $8.. You won't get anywhere near that with a KVM.

and then, with search terms "HDMI to dvi", you could probably use 1 or 2 of either these:

HDMI to DVI (cable)

or these HDMI to DVI (adapter)

If you have a ton of extra hdmi and/or dvi cables, you might prefer the adapter, otherwise you could use it on its own in cable-form. Keep in mind that in a typical setup, the Switch's audio is going through the HDMI cable as well, and whether you used a HDMI switch or a DVI KVM/switch, the connection to your monitor is going to have to terminate in DVI, and that DVI won't carry the audio. Does your monitor even have speakers? Even if it did, you most likely won't get any audio over DVI. I haven't tested this myself, but I just did a little research and found you can use the headphone jack on the Switch, while docked, to get it's audio, so depending on what's going to be playing your sound, you might need one or more things from this list:

stereo miniplug cable (male to male) - for going from Switch to portable speakers or anything with a line-in

miniplug couplers - handy if you need to plug the above into another male cable

miniplug to RCA adapter cable - for going from the Switch to a stereo system or similar

​

​

Yes it is very possible, buy a usb otg (usb to micro usb) something like this -> https://www.amazon.ca/UGREEN-Adapter-Samsung-Android-Function/dp/B00LN3LQKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497971200&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+otg

Search around for what sounds like it will work for your needs. Then just make sure that the flash drive is a format that your smartphone can read (googling this for your model will give you the answer) and then it should plug in and you should be able to access it from your file explorer on your phone. To make use easier you can also download some app from the play store that displays usbs easier, again whatever your preference is.

The first suspects to me would be the adapter, cable, or PS4's settings.

The PS4s settings are the easiest to check (if you have a TV it can connect to). Make sure the resolution is the lowest (or auto), that HDR is turned off, and all other settings are turned off or low. Then troubleshoot from there.

I'm not sure what an Accura Hdmi adapter is, but I've only used dvi/hdmi cables like this in the past (without issue): https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-DVI-to-HDMI-Cable/dp/B014I8UQJY/

Oh, and another easy possibility: You might have to change inputs on the monitor (if it has more than one input).

good luck!

You can definitely stick with the Fractal series. I did because I couldn't have a loud, unsightly machine setup anywhere in my home. I have my main system w/ 10 Drives + 2 SSDs + 3 NVME drives in an R6. That has a DAS connected with 19 drives inside an R5; 8 stock bays + 3 in 2x5.25 bay adapter + extra 3 drive cage + extra 5 drive cage.

As you are in Europe, you might not even have to pay crazy shipping charges to buy spare drive cages from https://www.fractal-design-shop.de/Define-R5_1. In the US I had to source the extra drive cages from r/hardwareswap but that proved to be easier than I expected. Here is a pic I took before I added the 2nd 5-bay drive cage: https://imgur.com/a/TWL8IB1

Edit: Request for more info...

I have not done a build log as I am not yet "finished" with the build, but it looks like there is sufficient demand for parts info so here it goes:

I have an R6 for my main NAS server loaded with the motherboard, 10 3.5 drives and one SSD. The R5 has two extra drive cages (3 + 5) as well a 2x5.25-to-3x3.5 bay adapter.

The expansion cards I use are:

• 1x LSI 9210-8i with SAS to SATA cables for 8 of the 10 internal drives in the R6. The other 2 + SSD use SATA ports on the motherboard.
  
  
• 1x LSI-9207-8e connected via 8088 cables to two HP SAS expanders powered in the R6 by riser cards which connect to the drives with the same SAS to SATA cables as above.
  
  Additional parts I used:
  
  
• An SFX PSU is important so you can fix the extra drive cages. Don't skimp on this one. You don't need a ton of Watts (I'm using a 600W Gold) but you need quality, you are hooking up thousands of dollars of drives to it!
  
  
• Power splitters: One & Two
  
  
• Power switch to turn on the DAS PSU and reset it any time you need to take the NAS offline (DAS always must be powered on first)
  
• Fan controller for powering fans in the DAS
  
  More inspiration can be found here: https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das

Direct Burial the only drawback is price its very very expensive if that is not a concern the only other issue is the grease that they put inside just have a few paper towels on hand. I am personally a fan of the pull through RJ45 crimps https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100010C-Connectors-Clamshell/dp/B000FI9VU2/ref=pd_bxgy_469_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000FI9VU2&pd_rd_r=F3DK2M04KMB56TMZA4K2&pd_rd_w=tcXRA&pd_rd_wg=ggomX&psc=1&refRID=F3DK2M04KMB56TMZA4K2&dpID=41jjLiPUwkL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

but you need a special tool to cut it off clean. https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100054C-Clamshell-EZ-RJPRO/dp/B00939KFOU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1524701919&sr=8-3&keywords=ez+rj45&dpID=41xnvb1PL8L&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I especially like these as you can double check that you have not messed up as you pull them through just do a double check on your colour's

in Canada we tend to use T568a but i believe a lot of places use T568b personal preference, http://www.cables-solutions.com/difference-between-straight-through-and-crossover-cable.html

I have never found any conduit that gets buried to be able to stop water ingress but any electrical supply store should be able to set you up with whatever you need but direct burial should be used as well especially if your in a place like Canada with a large temperature range.

Double reply so you get a notification about this.

Using an old car charger (2.4A) with a proper USB-A -> USB-C 3.0 cable (this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A6F3WHG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) charged my phone from 60% to 100% in roughly 1 hour. The phone never said "charging rapidly" either, so you're not getting Power Delivery with that. I am buying a proper USB-C car charger later this week, I can DM you with an update on that.

Edit: Adding this as well in case someone else is looking for this info, but this what I dm'd OP:

Alright so I bought this cable: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A6G0CTQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and this car charger https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B079MWXSS8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They both work great, fast charging and everything.

For what it's worth, this is also a good power bank: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B079Z4RHZZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you all so much for the advice. I finally pulled the trigger this weekend and upgraded my mac and the difference is incredible. It would normally take up to 5 minutes for my mac to fully turn on and login. Now its under 30 seconds!

For those looking to do the same thing here's what I did:

1. Crucial MX500 1TB SSD drive : https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B077SF8KMG
   
2. NewerTech NuPower Battery: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAP15MBU78W/#owctabs
   
3. Sata to USB Cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJZJI84/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
4. A computer tool kit. (I already had one, but any basic kit will do) Heres one I found that seems fine: https://www.amazon.com/Kingsdun-Precision-Screwdriver-Repair-MacBook/dp/B01E9RLF1W/ref=sr_1_28?crid=2GIVKIC5PVMUC&keywords=laptop+screwdriver+kit&qid=1555941998&s=electronics&sprefix=laptop+scre%2Celectronics%2C130&sr=1-28
   
5. Flash drive with at least 8gb space and USB 3.0 for speed: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Transfer-Speeds-s-SDCZ48-032G-UAM46/dp/B00KYK2AKO/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_pm?crid=1JNUES6V59YY3&keywords=32gb+flash+drive+3.0&pd_rd_i=B00KYK2AKO&pd_rd_r=e3b71c2f-31f3-48ca-b07c-83203b9d1fe4&pd_rd_w=DdDhT&pd_rd_wg=sef5B&pf_rd_p=eadd3af5-2f5b-4e14-9c3d-ff9268352f18&pf_rd_r=N5T0Q3BEBVJ8CDMW226Q&qid=1555942155&s=electronics&sprefix=32gb+flash+dri%2Celectronics%2C122
   
   ​
   
   

   How to upgrade your Mid-2012 15-Inch MacBook Pro
   

   
   Step 1 - Backup your files
   For me this took the longest, I'm not the most organized person. I also saved my keychain, apple mail logins, stickeys, etc. I was in the middle of projects that I needed to jump right back into after the upgrade.
   
   Step 2 - Create a macOS installer on the USB drive
   Follow this ---> https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/22/how-to-create-macos-mojave-usb-installer-easy-video/
   
   
   Step 3 - Plug the new harddrive in via Sata cable usb
   This is where my first issue came into play. I skipped ahead and swapped out my harddrives only to try and boot up and my system not recognize the new SSD. I first thought I purchased a dud. The truth is you need to format the new drive for the computer to see it. Plug in the new SSD and follow these instructions to erase and format. I chose Mac OS Extended (journaled) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496
   
   NOTE::: you dont have to use the usb drive, you can install the new SSD first if you want and format from the bootable USB.
   
   
   Step 4 - Install the new SSD
   Follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfiGF_pjqvM
   
   When installed, hold Option on your keyboard and then turn on. Select the USB macOS installer and follow instructions. Install onto the new SSD. Should take 20-30 min
   
   ​
   
   Step 5 - The Battery
   
   Follow the instructions in the videos on this page: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAP15MBU78W/#owctabs
   Make sure you set aside some time to do this. The install is very fast however its the calibration that takes some time. After you install your new battery, turn the computer on to test, there should be a little charge in it. Shut your computer down and then plug in. Let it fully charge, the light on plug should turn green. Then leave it for another 2 hours. Turn the computer on, unplug, turn all power settings off (follow video) and let the computer run until the battery is completely dead. Then wait a number of hours. This will calibrate your battery with your system.
   
   ​
   
   Then plug in and enjoy your new laptop!

Few useful links to get you started.

Oculus Rift Room Scale Setup Guide

List of recommended cable extensions

I'm using 3 Sensor setup in L configurations with CableCreation CD0034 and Inateck Superspeed 4 Ports PCI-E to USB 3.0 Expansion Card. My sensors are mounted about 10 inches and 40 degrees away from the ceiling. Perfect tracking in the play area. Good tracking out of usual play area, when in bed playing seated games in view of only two sensors which are 12 to 15 feet away.

Git is awesome, but switching to Linux is its own project. Limit your scope and focus on one thing.

I would strongly consider getting a new hard drive, like an SSD if you don't already have one.

Take out your old drive and install Linux fresh on the new one. Then access your old files from the old drive via a stata cable.

Invariably there will be stuff you forget, like you personal macro workbook in Excel, or that one folder that you put right on your c drive.

Your total investment will be less than $100 and you'll be a lot happier (and you can switch back if you have an unexpected problem, options are valuable!)

Stata cable example StarTech.com USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable w/ UASP – SATA to USB 3.0 Converter for SSD/HDD - Hard Drive Adapter Cable

It'd probably be cheaper to just buy a capture card and play it off Amarec on your computer, if you don't have a TV. Then you'll have a larger screen to play on!

GameCubes are like $25, cables should be $5 each, controllers are $20. A good first party memory card is like $10.

This is the capture card I use. If you do this I'd suggest an s-video cable because the picture quality is worth it.

Is this for structured wiring? If so, I would use a patch panel with punch down connections and a punch down tool.

If that option does not work for you for some reason, I would ask a friend who is a networking geek to help me out. This is something I would gladly do for a friend.

But if you are determined to do this on your own, a pass-through connector and a magnifying glass might get you there:

• http://kk.org/cooltools/ez-rj45-connector/
  
  They have Cat 5e and Cat 6 versions:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100003C-Connectors-Clamshell/dp/B001AZLS6Y?th=1
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-100010C-Connectors-Clamshell/dp/B000FI9VU2
  
   
  
  ETA: Dang it, SScorpio beat me to it, times two. Yeah, what he said. ;)

Wow, nice job. I don't have the skills to do that so I'll probably buy one from aliexpress. I have a spare ssd and a usb3-sata3 cable (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJZJI84/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1); if it works, it'll be messy and if not, I'll have to find a powered usb hub. But I really like how everything is compact in your build. It took me awhile to realize that the WD PiDrive powered both the drive and the rpi. Really clean!

> LG 24GM77-B

Thank you, I looked at it and it looks like a great choice for me! Question- Should I buy another type of adapter/connection cord or is am HDMI fine? Or would a higher quality cord be fine such as:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005H3Q59U/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1AMUYYA3CT6HJ

Thanks again!

A great way to do it would to be to use an old capture device like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00428BF1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_IpABCb992NSQJ

It has essentially no lag so you could play it in your streaming software, but if you really wanna get down and dirty with some old games, you could get a video splitter along with that and plug it into an old monitor, haha, but I imagine you won't be going pro neccicarily with a cheap sponegbob plug and play game - that being said, that's a rad niche you've got there, sounds like it'd be a really fun time!

Ok, the absolute cheapest way to record gameplay is probably buying a used DVD recorder from a thrift shop. You can get them nowadays for $5-$10 (especially look for DVD recorders that also have a VCR built in, they often get priced even lower for some reason). Then you'll need some blank DVD-Rs, which are like 10 cents a piece in a spindle. Basically, what you do is take your output from your AV switch into the DVD recorder, then the recorder outputs to TV. Record to discs then rip the discs on a computer when you have the footage you want. This ripped DVD video can then be used in most video editing programs, or just straight put online, etc. That's actually how the large majority of AVGN episodes got gameplay footage, incidentally.

The downside is having to deal with discs and the extra time involved in ripping, you also can't livestream with this setup. It can be nice to have the burned DVD as a backup though.

Second cheapish option, use a USB capture card to your PC and composite splitters. Basically, you buy a good USB capture card for about $30: I-o DATA USB connection video capture GV-USB2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00428BF1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_WycSzb8SNAZ9C

There is a cheaper device, like $10 to $15, called EZ Cap, but the more expensive one has much better quality.

Then you buy AV splitters for under $10 like these: Cable Matters 5-Pack, Gold Plated RCA Split Adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141KPHR0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ECcSzbXKPBG3B

Though annoyingly you'll need 6 of those little things, not 5. You'll also need two extra sets of those red/yellow RCA cables, possibly one very long one depending on where your computer is located.

Essentially, you plug the output from your switch into those little splitters, then run one RCA cord out of them to the TV, and the other to the capture device plugged into your computer. Then while you play on the TV, you can record on your computer.

Downside of this method, splitting the cable can result in a bit dimmer video signal, depending on how your TV handles it. Also, extra cable has to be dealt with, and if you don't have a computer nearby may be impossible.

Hope that makes sense. It's a bit of a pain, but not crazy expensive at least.

I've never once heard of DRAMless drives (and I've seen a lot of SSDs) - I really don't think it's a common term you need to be familiar with...

All you need to check are read speeds, write speeds, and most importantly, reviews. The rest of the specs really do not matter in everyday use. Modern SSDs will last a long time, probably longer than you'll ever need - but read reviews to be sure.

I've had no problems with a number of Samsung, SanDisk, and a few Kingston drives - haven't tried any others.

Also just FYI, minimum drive size is 240GB for Xbox. Your dock must also support USB 3.0 (required for Xbox), and ideally UASP. If yours does not meet that requirement, my personal recommendation for SSDs is actually a simple cable - https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-Drive-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00HJZJI84/ - I bought a bunch of these and they work great, far more convenient than any dock or enclosure, cheaper too.

As for the thumb drive... those typically have slow read speeds and even slower write speeds. Would not normally recommend, but it might work. Depends on the specific drives you have.

I got this one and it works perfectly. Granted, it's not 10 meter long like you wanted.

CableCreation (Long 16FT) Super Speed Active USB 3.0 Extension Cable, USB 3.0 Extender USB Male to Female Repeater Cable with Signal Booster for Oculu https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0179MXKU8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_mqbxsQthwm446

It has got to be your cable. I can't see what brand Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 you have, but most have DP and HDMI while a few also have a mDP. Like /u/Plastic_sporkz typed, get a DP to DP 1.2. I am confident with this selection. BTW, look at the questions and reviews of this product for a bit more information.

Wow. I just looked at BestBuy and Office/Max/Depot/Staples/TacoBell, and they don't have any.

Of course!! Ahh yes, I forgot the most important part, haha. Sorry :) Get the below cable as well and once you have all your parts, download the free trial of Carbon Copy Cloner to the current HDD (link below - no payment/credit card needed and you get full application access during the 30 days i.e. no features are disabled). You'll use the cable to attach the SSD via USB and then open CCC and clone the current drive (instructions below). It can take a bit since the HDD is so slow so just let it run. Once it's done then you can start the steps from the IFIXIT articles. You can keep the current HDD as a backup if you'd like.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Cable - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011M8YACM/

CCC - https://bombich.com/

CCC Instructions - https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/i-want-clone-my-entire-hard-drive-new-hard-drive-or-new-machine

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sandisk-SDCZ60-128G-AW46-128-GB-Cruzer-Glide-Flash-Drive-USB-2-0-Black/49674146

TUSITA Micro USB HUB Adaptor with Power, 3-Port Charging OTG Host Cable Cord Adapter for Raspberry Pi 2 3 Pi Zero Android Smart Phone Tablet Samsung Galaxy HTC Sony Google LG/Linux https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LTHBCNM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xLAlDbCM31BFK

MG Chemicals 838AR-P Total Ground Carbon Conductive Pen, 4g https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZX06PL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ROAlDb6DREBQK

Here’s what I used to get started, a good and reliable usb that I had no issues with, the otg you’ll need to free up the ports in front along with extra ports on the otg if you wanna add online later on possibly. The final most important thing is the conductive ink pen to perform the power limiter mod so you have no issue performing with the front ports if you wanna do multiplayer or wireless controllers. I would link guides but a bit lazy atm. A quick search on the subreddit like power limit or conductive and you’ll find the post with the video. My recommendation is bleemsync. Restalgia has a good video for a fresh install.

https://youtu.be/ydLKv1HUd0A


Hope this helps!

Hey, I know this thread is older but did you ever figure this out? I just got my SR2 today, and am running Mojave on a 15" touch bar MacBook Pro. I think I'm having the exact same issue - installed the drivers and said it was successful, and it will even work, but it will randomly disconnect and then the touchbar freezes and I have to completely reset (not just restart) my computer.

​

https://support.serato.com/hc/en-us/articles/236084867-KNOWN-ISSUE-Using-Serato-DJ-with-Macbook-Pro-models-w-Touchbar-can-result-in-connection-issues

\^it seems like this is exactly what's happening

​

The USB C adapter I'm using at the moment is:

https://www.amazon.com/nonda-Adapter-Thunderbolt-Aluminum-Indicator/dp/B015Z7XE0A/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=usb+c+to+a&qid=1558085861&s=gateway&sr=8-5

​

Thanks for any input!

IBM Model F AT. The Model F is considered to have better feeling buckling spring switches than the more common Model M since they're purely mechanical instead of a hybrid design, and the AT had a slightly better layout than the XT version. The AT is also easier to get running on modern PCs.

You have two options to connect it to a modern PC:

-1) Use any 5-pin DIN to PS2 adapter in combination with this "bluecube" ps2 to usb adapter. Other ps2 to USB adapters may not work since old IBM keyboards draw more power than your average PS2 keyboard.

2) Build yourself a Soarer's Adapter. In addition to getting it working on a modern PC, you'll gain key remapping, custom layers, and macro support.

OTG Adapters for the NES/SNES Classic:
Inateck:
https://www.rakuten.com/shop/inateck/product/HB3001G/
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Inateck-3-Port-USB-2-0-OTG-Hub-Adapter-Cable-SD-Card-Reader-for-Smartphone/602986265
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00OCBXIY8?tag=echo10-20
Note: Only the USB 2.0 version is compatible with the NES/SNES Classic out of the box. You would need an adapter for the USB-C version to connect to the NESC/SNESC, and whether it actually would work is currently unknown.

Also, be aware that it uses its own power cable instead of the NES/SNES Classic's USB cable, and it is very short (roughly 12-14 inches long).Consider getting an extension USB cable or using an extension cord.

TUSITA ("octopus" style): https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LTHBCNM?tag=echo10-20
This one has been reported as working for many people, but can also reportedly break easily.

Simpler OTGs:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY9Z9GD?tag=echo10-20
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JCZ2FQQ?tag=echo10-20
OTGs like these have only one port for USB. A simple choice if you only want to use USB and not wifi...or vice versa.

We do not recommend the small angled adapter featured on snesclassicmods.com and elsewhere. It looks great, but easily loses data connection at the slightest nudge.

Get this!

you don't necessarily need to use the software that came with your SSD, but I guess it wouldn't hurt. I see that your laptop has USB 3.0 ports which means the transfer process shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. Just follow the instructions and it should be painless. I use Macrium Reflect, but use whatever program you feel most comfortable with.

Sometimes people report that their computer isn't recognizing the SSD connected to the USB port. That is usually fixed by running disk manager and the computer will now discover the SSD connected via USB. (press the windows key + R, then type in diskmgmt.msc)

Once your finished cloning your HDD to SSD, remove the HDD, pop in the SSD and you should be good to go. In some cases you may have to manually set the new drive as the boot drive in your BIOS, but that laptop is fairly new so I doubt you would have to do so.

HDMI is really confusing for me with all the versions and whatnot and I might be completely wrong about this, but I believe only HDMI 1.3 and later can go past 60hz @1080p, even then right now the latest version of HDMI only supports 1080p at 120hz. So you will need a card that supports a HDMI 1.3 output and later, and a monitor that can also support a HDMI 1.3 and later output. Having to check and make sure of all of this is difficult as not every website/retailor will list the version of HDMI on their products.

edit: alternatively a PCIE riser cable might help you be able to use a high-profile card.

Greetings PC overlords:

Could someone help me identify which kind of cable I could use to hook up a couple of ancient (10-15yr?) hard drives? I do not even know what they are called...sata something?

They are both slightly different, so I'm wondering if I need two different converter cables or if there is a universal one I could use. Could I use something like this? amazon

Photo of HDs here

Thanks kindly.

Samsung Data Migration software is free with a Samsung drive so you just need a dock. Its also fast and easy.

Samsung download page

EDIT: Also this USB to SATA is EXCELLENT for SSD transfers:

Sabrent USB 3.0 to SSD / 2.5-Inch SATA Hard Drive Adapter

Second edit: You said you have a dock lol use that with the Samsung software and you are solid.

If you don't want to watch the video that's cool, here's a summary;

Over the last few months I've been testing various cables for use with my four sensor setup. What I quickly discovered was that not all cables are created equal in the eyes of the Oculus Rift!

The Rift and Sensors can be a bit stubborn when it comes to cables. Some work intermitantly, some report USB 3.0 as USB 2.0, some give audio issues when using with the Rift and some just point blank refused to work.

I think I've finally nailed down the best cables which I've personally tested and would recommend to use with your Rift.

Due to the summer sale I know we have an influx of new Rift users so hopefully this guide helps.

Here's the links where you can buy these cables for yourself;

Cable Matters USB 3.0 3M /10FT Extension Cable:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C7SA21U/ref=pe_1909131_77697001_tnp_email_TE_AMZLdp_3?th=1

US - https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Female-Extension/dp/B00C7SA21U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503739950&sr=8-1&keywords=cable+matters+superspeed+usb+3.0

KabelDirekt 2m / 6FT HDMI Extension Cable:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013ICN59Y/ref=pe_1909131_77697001_tnp_email_TE_AMZLdp_2

US - https://www.amazon.com/KabelDirekt-Extension-Cable-1080p-Ethernet/dp/B012ASNHIG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503740842&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=kabeldirekt+2m+extension

DVI to HDMI Adapter:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ZMVGTA2/ref=pe_1909131_77697001_tnp_email_TE_AMZLdp_1

US - https://www.amazon.com/Rankie-2-Pack-Gold-Plated-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00ZMVGTA2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503740883&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=DVI+to+HDMI+adapter&psc=1

CableCreation 5M / 16FT USB 3.0 Active Extension Cable (Fine For Sensors BUT Causes Audio Issues When Using With Rift):

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/CableCreation-Active-Extension-Extender-Female/dp/B0179MXKU8/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1503740956&sr=8-7&keywords=cable+creations+usb+3.0

US - https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Active-Extension-Extender-Female/dp/B0179MXKU8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503740977&sr=8-1&keywords=cablecreation+usb+3.0

UGREEN 5M / 16FT USB 3.0 Active Extension Cable (Additional Power Micro USB Port isn't required when using the Rift. Do not use this with the Rift as may cause damage)

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Extension-Amplifier-PlayStation-loudspeakers/dp/B01FQ88CE6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503741031&sr=8-2&keywords=ugreen+oculus+cable

US - https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Extension-Repeater-Amplifier-Superspeed/dp/B01FQ88CE6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1503741078&sr=8-5&keywords=ugreen%2Busb%2B3.0%2Bextension&th=1

AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI 4.6M / 15FT Cable:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014I8TOTC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

US - https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Rated-Wall-Installation-Cable/dp/B014I8TOTC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503741177&sr=8-2&keywords=AmazonBasics+High-Speed+HDMI+CL3+Cable

Mini HDMI Repeater Extender:

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Repeater-Extender-130FT-Support-Switch/dp/B01MDS8DJH/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503740907&sr=1-11&keywords=hdmi+repeater

US - https://www.amazon.com/COWEEN-Repeater-Amplifier-Extender-Transmission/dp/B01GHL72XS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1503740927&sr=8-3&keywords=hdmi+repeater

Hope this helps :)

I realize I'm late to the party but i figured I'd let you know what I've been using for a while now and am very happy with.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-adapter-Internal-CT256MX100SSD1/dp/B00KFAGCWK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1416455113&sr=1-1&keywords=crucial+mx100

and this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJZJI84/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There is no need to get an enclosure for an SSD drive. I learned that the hard way when i realized the chipset on the enclosure i bought was putting off more heat than the SSD itself.

Great thing about the SSD... you can change the interface. No USB3 but have eSATA?

Bam
http://www.amazon.com/Shared-eSATA-Cable-Laptop-Drive/dp/B002MKKTWA/ref=sr_1_25?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1416455341&sr=1-25&keywords=SATA+to+esata

Edit...

And you'll get way better performance too.

If the hard drive is still functional, then yes, it'll basically act like an external hard drive. There are a few variables (partition type), but it is likely to work. Make sure to get a good adaptor. One like this should do just fine.

Yep. Sounds like the hub is being overloaded. I don't use a USB hub at all but I do use a good quality extension cable, this one specifically: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0179MXKU8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I plug one end directly into a USB 2.0 port on my PC and plug the breakout box into the other end. I use this HDMI cable going from my video card to the back of the breakout box:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0186DNFLI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(Must be active like this cable)

Zero issues with this setup and I have my Vive connected from my office computer to my living room.

Well, I only have one "gaming VM" (it has a Radeon HD 6970 and a pair of USB ports passed through, and I've assigned it four vCPU / 6GB RAM), but I'm doing a lot of the rest of your desires. This is going to be a somewhat long post, and I'm not terribly well known for being overly organized with my ramblings, so bear with me... ;)

My host is an HP Z800, and the OS is ESXi 6.0.u2 (with the free license). It has two Xeon X5677's with 32GB of DDR3 (8 4GB Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B, if that happens to matter to you at all). Because of the memory ventilation duct, I had to remove the flimsy heat spreaders. It has two fans that blow directly over both RAM banks, and I've not had any issues without the heat spreaders at all. This is the only physical PC in my house, if you don't count my rarely used laptop (it primarily gets used on the rare occasion that I travel, and on game nights to control the RPG mapping VM).

For my primary datastore (where the VMs live), I have an LSI 9260-8i, with a Mini-SAS to 4 SATA (forward) breakout cable connected to one of these, populated with four PNY CS1131 SSDs configured in a RAID5 array. Within my Windows 10 VM, I ran CrystalDiskMark (with its defaults - I'm not terribly familiar with benchmarking), and this was the result. I suspect the slow write speeds is due to 1) parity calculations and 2) write-back cache being disabled due to my not (currently) having a BBU to connect to my 9260-8i.

At any rate, onto the VM's!

VM1 - "Gaming" / primary usage - Windows 10. As previously noted, it has four vCPUs assigned, 6GB RAM, and 256GB vHDD on the afore mentioned primary datastore. It has a Radeon HD 6970 and a pair of the host USB ports attached via 'pcipassthrough'. As the host lives in an electronics / networking closet in my spare bedroom, I use some Cables2Go RapidRun digital cabling (the specific part numbers I used are now discontinued) to bring the HDMI signal from that space to a spot on one of my living room walls, where the monitor is mounted. I used a cheap USB<->Cat5 extender to bring a USB port out to a cheap USB hub, to which is connected the Logitech universal receiver for my keyboard / mouse, and a crappy USB 'sound card' (which is only used for its MIC input). Before you ask, no, I don't notice any input / display lag with the 50' cabling between my keyboard / monitor / mouse.

VM2 - Media server, "nas" - Windows Home Server 2011. This VM also has four vCPUs assigned, along with 6GB of RAM, but only a 160GB HDD (the minimum WHS2011 required for installation). This VM has the onboard Intel six port SAS/SATA controller attached, along with a USB3 PCIe controller. I have an 4-in-1 IcyDock (different model to the one I linked previously, but very similar build), in which live three Samsung / Seagate 2TB 2.5" HDDs. These are controlled / presented to the OS by StableBit's DrivePool. All of my media / other data are stored on this pool. As this VM also handles my media services, it has Plex Media Server, Sonarr, and sabnzbd installed. All downloads / unpacks / media rename / etc happens on the DrivePool, since I don't care how long those operations take (I'm the only one that accesses my media).

VM3 - RPG mapping - Windows 7 - This VM is very basic : two vCPUs and 2GB RAM. It has a Radeon HD 7470 attached, which is connected via a 50' RapidRun analog (yellow, also discontinued) VGA cable. This VM is only powered on / used when I have an RPG group at my house.

All three VMs have Chrome Remote Desktop installed so I can access them from anywhere. The media / RPG VM's are exclusively controlled via this method.

I have a Nexus Player installed at both of my TVs. Each has the Plex app installed so I can watch whatever is on the server.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask. :)

>That keyboard may be an XT model. Most of them had a switch labeled 'X' and 'A' that would flip it between the older XT protocol and the more universal AT protocol. PS/2 is based on the AT protocol. Look for a switch to change protocols and that may help. If it doesn't have a switch, you'll need a Teensy or Arduino Pro Micro to make it work. Even the smart adapters won't convert XT to ps/2.

Oh yeah, I have experience dealing with protocol switches, I have other two vintage boards a kb-6252ea and a ok-100m both of them with the XT/AT|8088/80286 switch, also both of them use DIN plugs, so it kinda makes sense for them to have said switches for protocol change, while my main board, the Acer has no XT/AT switch and the standard PS2 plug. Also, in the past when I tried the keyboards for the 1st time, the kb-6252 and the OK-100m just wouldn't work when plugged into the PS/2 port while on XT mode, they simply wouldn't be picked up by the BIOS or the OS (Again, understandable because of differing protocols).

I also have browsed around and found some older posts on geekhack talking about the acer 6312 and that it apparently worked well with the classic Sanoxy adapter, so going by that, we can (imo) safely assume that it will work with other "standard" active PS2/USB adapters.

Anyhow, given that apparently my ideas of trying to sniff the usb keyboard data and bypass the OS with AutoHoykey wont work ( :-/ ), I'll take you on the offer of sending the active adapter.

> I honestly don't mind playing them on the LCD

Yeah, a lot of people here do seem to mind (though getting "raged and flamed to hell" isn't usually something that happens in this sub), but I'm right there with ya. I've actually got 8 different systems (both old and new) hooked up to a nice LCD computer monitor I was given for Christmas (specifically a Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW, along with the optional soundbar), and it does a wonderful job IMHO, despite being over a decade old (these things came out around 2005 or so, I think). I just wish my Sega Genesis still worked (video output died somehow, so I'm using one of those crappy FireCore things for now), and I need to get a composite cable for my SNES... :/

Anyways, this UltraSharp is a 16:10 monitor (1920x1200), so it's decent for both widescreen and standard systems; the 16:9 systems have about an inch of letterboxing on top and bottom while the 4:3 systems similarly only have about an inch of pillarboxing on the left and right. It also can pivot into a portrait view, which is interesting. Haven't used that yet, but it might be cool for certain arcade SHMUPs (my Wii is hacked, so I can run some of those in an emulator)...

It also has a ton of different inputs, though it's missing HDMI. Luckily, HDMI and DVI use the same digital video format, so I just use a straight HDMI-to-DVI cable for my PS4 (and a USB audio adapter for plugging in the soundbar, so I don't have to worry about splitting out and converting the HDMI's digital audio to analog). Unfortunately, though, this particular monitor does not have HDCP support, so the media apps (YouTube, CrunchyRoll, etc) and the BluRay playback won't work on the PS4. I may get one of these things to bypass HDCP eventually...

All that said, my setup isn't nearly as organized as yours (shown here using the monitor's "picture-beside-picture" mode, playing PSO in my Wii on the right while studying this chart in the PS4's internet browser on the left. Apologies for potato-quality camera, lol). Part of that is due to space constraints, though -- I live with my sister, and keep my game systems in my bedroom so she can watch TV in the living room while I'm gaming... :P

I'll be up front, that is not good news. What I'm about to tell you is actually my least favorite part of my job. It sounds to me like your external drive's controller board is fine, but your hard disk might be failing.

If you are comfortable enough and have another drive that will fit for testing, swap another drive in there and try to read it. If you get nothing, your controller is fucked and you should get one of these and back up its contents ASAP.

There's also a chance that it's been formatted RAW. In this case, if you're okay with rolling the dice, you can attempt to clean it with diskpart, format it and go back over it with Recuva or Shadow Explorer to help you retrieve your files. Do so at your own risk! But it is important to know that when you format a disk, you aren't deleting the data. You're telling the drive that it is okay to write over any data on the disk. So don't write anything to it and you will be fine.

Barring that, you may need to seek out advanced data recovery services. A platter transfer might be necessary and is best left to a data recovery specialist. This can be very costly.

There's an unfortunate final option, which is that there is no Sata to USB converter inside the drive and it goes straight to USB. Straight to data recovery.

Edited because Amazon puts all that extra shit in your clipboard when you share from the site.

I actually think your best bet would be an USB drive. They offer faster speeds at the same (or less) cost. If you think Samsung works best with Samsung products, I recommend you this paired up with this adapter

Why is it better? The SD card gives you 95MB/s (Lots of Android apps can't be sent to your SD Card (without rooting) because they are really slow, imagine that using an OS such as Ubuntu/Debian) and 128GB for $81.38. The USB drive + adapter gives you 128GB, 150MB/s and an adapter for other things other than your drive for $49.94.

If you think losing an USB slot is just too much, you can always buy this hub instead of the adapter. Total: $57.94

How are you buying it? Local person to person sale, store in person that sales used goods? online store? Online P2P ( like /r/hardwareswap or ebay)

If local p2p and you can psychically inspect the drive before buying it you could use something like this https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00HJZJI84/ to check if it working with any available computer. Running SMART or any other drive test tool.

If it a local store, if they are on the up and up they would probably provide proof of a working drive if you asked. Also warranties, guarantees and return polices are a good sign too.

Online store is harder but a legit store probably has warranties, guarantees or return polices. So at least if it doesn't work you can return it.

online P2P, you can ask for proof of the working drive. Also paying thru something that has good protection. I think /r/hardwareswap recommends Paypal Goods and Services ( but not paypal friends and family gift that has no protection) or google wallet.

Also with all but maybe local p2p paying with a card over cash will give you some recourse as well if all other options fail, thru doing a chargeback as a last resort. With local p2p often cash is king so that doesn't really work. Though some might take paypal or some other form of digital wallet which is nice too

<sigh>

You have anger management issues.
Not subject to debate. Not a question.
You have anger management issues.

You should do something about that.

> my little sister accidentally spilled a glass of water on my computer at home and it wasn’t working

This isn't /r/techsupport or /r/computertechs but I can tell you with moderate confidence that your data is still on the hard drive, and can be recovered pretty easily.

If it's a slightly older, or value-oriented laptop, it probably has a 2.5" drive inside.

You just need a nerd to open the laptop, remove the drive, hook it up to something like this and bada-bing-bang-boom your old laptop will show up like a giant USB-Stick.

If it's a modern, higher-performance, or super-mega-ultra-thin laptop it may be glued shut, in which case the level of difficulty just went way the hell up - but if the laptop is already dead, and if you are writing the laptop off as unworthy of repair, then we can use destructive methods to open the laptop to remove the storage device with all your stuff on it.

SOME laptops do not use a removable internal storage device. These are pretty much always the super-ultra-thin devices. You might be in a real pickle with one of these devices.

But if we're talking about a $600 Acer from BestBuy, it's a really easy task you could probably do yourself with a little Googling.

I don't want to delve any deeper into this in this community. Please feel free to engage the nerds in /r/techsupport or something for guidance on what to do.
But I wanted you to know the situation may not be unsalvagable.


Now, back to your intended LOR teacher. Odds are fair that you just inflicted serious damage on your relationship with them.
I wouldn't write you anywhere nearly as positive a LOR after this event as I might have before this event.
And if you're being honest with yourself, neither would you.

Anger Management. Get some help.

Hey man, not a problem at all.


You'll need a printer cable to connect your Alesis module to your Macbook via MIDI interface.

Once connected, open Garageband and it'll ask you to choose a template, one of which is drums. Select that and it'll open up a new window. You might get a notification in top right corner as well which says "1 midi input detected" which'll prove that Garageband has successfully recognized the kit.

Now, you can select different kits from a panel on the left side and you'll hear the voice on your laptop speakers once you hit on the kit. You can output it to headphone/speaker via your laptop AUX port.

Feel free to DM me if you face any problem. Good luck dude.

Depends on what your budget is. I'd suggest, within your budget, a Modi Multibit + Magni Uber and you'll have yourself equipment that can power future headphones. If not, you can't go wrong with a Modi 2 + Magni 2 Uber and it's one of the best bang for your buck stack. It'll be a nice improvement over your motherboard's sound card which can carry noise from your video card/power supply/fans.

You'll have to purchase a USB A to B cable as well as as an RCA male to male cable.

USB A to B I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NH11KIK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

RCA Cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L1717K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can also purchase the 6" PYST cable from Schiit for $20. -_-

One of my debian setups is still in an old desktop case too :)
I run this raid card: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-HV52W-RAID-CONTROLLER-PERC-H310-6GB-S-PCI-E-2-0-X8-0HV52W-/201657131656
I flashed mine to be in IT mode so that it doesn't act like a RAID card anymore, just acts like a bunch of lonely SATA ports: https://techmattr.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/updated-sas-hba-crossflashing-or-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/ Help with this can be sought in the #DataHoarder IRC room, there are a few of us there who have done this on a few different models of cards now.
Got 2 of these cables so I can slap 8 disks in that sucker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BPLYJC/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_0
Then I installed ZFS as my filesystem and run my disks in a glorious 50TB array: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/wiki/Debian
I even slapped an SSD off a mobo SATA channel as a caching disk. Happy building! :)

Buy a gv-usb2 , #1 recommended capture device for N64 speedrunners( also great for converting VCR, great for SNES, havnt tried GC yet with it, but others say its good for it too), only problem, all in Japanese. But there are plenty of English tutorials and installation is simple. You can capture directly in OBS or use the included software capture window. Hope that helps.