(Part 2) Best products from r/AskTechnology

If you are going to be a one-man IT solution, your work will break down four ways, each of which are a specialty unto themselves and will require different amounts of your effort at different times of the year. I'm going to go into a bit more than reading material, because frankly, you should have some warning about what the future might bring.

• Hardware
  
• Software
  
• Networking
  
• Inventory Management
  
  All four will require setup, upgrade, and troubleshooting in event of breakdown or customer complaint. The exception here is that your other coast's IT department probably has an inventory system already in place, you'll just want to get to know it well. Also, learn all about how your company handles shipping (which shipper they use, how they charge, who has authority to approve shipping, etc) and what security rules are in place for storing company equipment and data.
  
  In terms of Hardware, get and read just about any A+ book. It's going to be boring--I warn that in advance--but I've learned a ton of useful things from every A+ book I've looked at. The best one I've read is CompTIA's own A+ book because of how well put together it is, plus its written by the guy who writes the tests. There are a lot of things you may never use, but it makes a great reference, and your IT department might cover certification. Which becomes a great argument point for receiving a raise later.
  
  As for Software... that will change based on every software package you ever handle. Ask the distant IT team if they have a knowledgebase, and if so, what it will take to access it. If they don't, compile yourself a bookmarks list for the forums of every piece of software you will use regularly. If its Microsoft software, Google will work just fine. The problems tend to be so widespread that answers will jump up. They won't always work, but it'll help you troubleshoot. Also find out how the company handles its software licenses. That can be a real headache.
  
  Now the networking... That gets a bit more complicated. Depending on what your office is using for their network, it could be as easy as flipping power on and off on a few boxes hooked up to a broadband connection. If its more complicated, you'll want to learn about what solution is used for network administration. Good odds if its a major company that they'll be using Windows servers and Active Directory. Find out and learn about their account management solution. As for network hardware... you'll probably need to lean on the bigger IT team for awhile until you get comfortable with it. Proactively learn about routers, switches, domain controllers, DNS servers, and anything their Wikipedia pages link to that doesn't read like a Latin textbook. Most of your job won't be dealing with the theory, it will be trying to figure out where in the hose it is kinked, so that you can keep the Internet flowing and computers talking to each other. Learn about LAN cables and the different speeds, that'll help as well.
  
  For inventory, well, hopefully that's all in place. If not, secure a locked space if one isn't already in use. Talk to whoever is in charge of your facility and at least try to get a secure closet with a lock. You'll probably want to request a small supply of replacement parts or whole computers, dependent on what your overall IT department uses as their policy. Find out if they lease the hardware, and track everything you receive, ship, or disburse in a log. Keep that log backed up somewhere really safe. Track inventory info, serial numbers, company designations (if they're tagging hardware), dates of activity, and notes on things like shipping numbers. This will save your butt often.
  
  Good chance that for the first while, your job will be the same every entry level IT person ends up doing for awhile... You'll be someone else's hands. You'll have a problem, you'll try to fix it, you'll find out you can't or don't have privileges to do it, then you'll ask for help... then that person who would normally fly out to you will have you do the things on your end that they normally would, so they can finish things at their end. You'll be their hands in place. It can feel like monkey work, but eh, it can be a lot worse. You could be Migrating XP machines to Windows 7 for 3-10 months on 3rd shift, locked in a basement or storage unit. Folks all across North America have been enjoying that experience over the past 2-3 years.

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.

Your 450W is probably fine. The 970 lists 500W as the minimum, but the rest of your system is pretty low power. The FX-6300 is not a very power hungry CPU, and a link to your actual motherboard model would be helpful, but only a little. It's a small board, and they don't consume much. You should be maxing out at <400W, and you should be running your PSU between, oh, say, 60% and 85% load (it's fuzzy, and newer PSUs have wider peak efficiency curves than older supplies for the most part) at all times so it runs most efficiently. If it's running too far under load or too close to its max load, your PSU is losing efficiency and running hotter and wasting electricity, and wearing out faster as a result. Many newer, higher end supplies, like EVGA's Gold- and Platinum-certified models, can even maintain peak efficiency up to 95% of their max output - we don't know your actual power supply model.

Note, if shopping for these, that their efficiency certifications apply within their peak efficiency curve - not above or below it. Therefore, most supplies that are advertised as something along the lines of "80+% efficiency" means they run that efficiently between somewhere around 60%, and somewhere around 85%, of their max output - so, roughly, between 270W and 380W on a 450W supply (and even 400W is not far above it).

If you are dead set on upgrading, you'd be best suited not putting one in with a much higher capacity unless you're going to be upgrading more on your system to more power hungry components or adding a second video card in SLI (which is losing software support as time goes on and not many people would recommend). I would not shop for more than a 600W PSU, or you're wasting your money twice over - once in buying an overkill power supply, and again in wasted electricity on your utility bill every month.

I would not say that your 450W is plenty or more than enough, but I would say a decent 450W PSU is correct for your system. I don't see a reason for you to replace it.


As a side note, you may want to check that your motherboard actually has a PCI-e 3.0 slot to use with the 970, or your motherboard could be slowing your graphics card down pretty hard. Prebuilt systems like that are usually not made with upgradability in mind - they usually contain the minimum specs for the included components, as anything else would be a waste of money.

If you do the install and find you really need the new PSU, or you're just not confident without the upgrade and want it regardless, here are two I'd recommend: 500W and 600W. You are almost certainly fine with the 500W model, but the 600W is still a good pick for you, and will allow for future major system upgrades. The 600W model also has an equivalent that's semi-modular for an extra $5, if you want easier cable management. EVGA's PSUs are extremely robust and absurdly reliable, and yes I'm shilling, because their products, warranties, and support are top notch. And they'll actually hold up consistently to whatever they're rated for.

Sorry for terrible formatting, on mobile.

Ok so here’s the deal. There are about a million options out there, and each of them has its ups and downs.

This is gonna get a little technical but let’s start by breaking things down into 2 categories: hard drive vs solid state, and offline vs online.

The most common solution here would be to get an external hard drive. They are generally designed to ‘plug and play’ directly into a computer and store whatever you put on them. They’re fairly cheap but they are mechanical so you have to handle them carefully and not move them when in use or you risk physical damage and data corruption. They usually come at two different speeds: 5400 or 7200 RPM (rotations per minute). The higher the number the faster data can be accessed.

Solid state is the newer, more expensive cousin of the hard drive. Whereas HDDs are mechanical, SSDs are digital. Without the moving parts, SSDs are more robust, and significantly faster. They’re also way more expensive.

Now on to where things get interesting. Most external storage is offline, but some newer options exist that can be connected to the internet and allow you remote access to your data.

The cheaper devices in this category are usually called something along the lines of a ‘personal cloud’, and they’re a 1 - 10 TB HDD with software that lets you access them over the internet.

Higher end devices are usually called a NAS which stands for Network Attached Storage. These are basically servers to allow you high capacity data storage, and can be made to store hard drives in a variety of sizes and configurations.

Ok, so where do you fit in to all of this? What you need really just depends on what you want to use it for. How much space do you need? How fast do you need to access it? Do you want remote access to your data, or shared access with family and friends?

The truth is most people are gonna be fine with a simple external hard drive like the one already linked in the comments. I usually recommend a western digital like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQH86A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XeoYDb7V1HT0A

They’ve worked well for me. If you want something more interesting, look into WD’s personal cloud option:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076CTK55W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_dhoYDbH3X5XBF

Or if you get curious about the higher end stuff, you can always check out names like Synology, Asustor, and Qnap. I have an Asustor and love it.

Start slowly. There is not one way to use phone. Find what apps work fo you personally. And treat it as an experiment.

How to hold phone.

Phones are big now. Depending on hand size it is very uncomfortable to hold it with one hand for some people. There are two option to use both hand or to use something like Popsoccet

Messages

Dont use sms. Use something more modern ask your kids that they are using and use it too.

Browser.

When you need quick look something in internet search it on your phone instead of going to pc. It probably will be way slower at first because you don't learn to type on screen yet.

Maps

Instead of relying on others try search places for yourself.

Camera.

Often it is easier to send picture to your wife instead of describing something.

Youtube

Always have instructions how to do something on your hand is very valuable

Bank software

Some banks have very nice apps. Some have very bad. Depends on your bank. Just try it.

Google assistant

I use it to start timers and to ask very simple questions.


TODO software yes

List of stuff to do. Very handy. Also can be used for reminders. I personally like todoist.

Calender and reminders

Self explanatory.
Note: With google calendar you can have multiple calendars and you even can have shared calendar with you wife.

Podcasts \ audiobooks

We often have times then our hands are busy but our mind is not. Walking somewhere. Washing dishes etc. So instead of just doing something boring you can listen to something that interesting to you. It is almost guaranteed that there is podcasts about whatever topic you interested in however niche it is.

I use voice for audiobooks but it is not for everyone. For podcasts you should check few different podcast apps and use one that you liked. Start with pocket cast \podcast addict \ Google podcasts

Fitness

I think it useful to do at least 4k steps. So you probably should try to use google fit.

Backup

Backup your phone. Modern phones break very easily. All your information will be lost. Including photos.

News

Best solution to read news are rss readers. I prefer Feedly

Uber

Uber and Lyft. It is mind boggling how much this apps are better than traditional taxis.

Other

It is probably good idea to have some cloud storage. To have files that can be easily accessible from anywhere. Maybe google drive but not sure.
Rearrange apps on your desktop so they made sense. Make folders. So you will start to train muscle memory.
There are bunch of different apps for different tasks. Sometimes you can find an app that will your life a little bit easier.

It really isn't that hard to attempt, depending on your laptop of course.

You would just remove a few screws, take the case off, and then hold a heat gun to it for a bit, till the solder melts (trying to keep the hot air away from everything else of course).

However, if you have never done anything of the sort before, I would just buy a usb sound card / headphones.

Here is a REALLY cheap one, with free shipping. Not the best, and the "7.1" is virtual, but it will do stereo fine. This is quite a bit better, with real surround sound 5.1 support, for pretty cheap still (if you get a usb sound card, I would get this one).

You can also get this as a cheap usb headset. Logitech is a good brand, so they could be pretty good headphones. For a bit more, you can get this one which has 5.1 surround sound, force feedback (awesome for games), ect. Also Arctic is a good brand, though with coolers stuff. However, if you have the money, I would get this. It is 7.1 surround sound, and Logitech. But ALOT of money.


I don't known what OS you use, but all of them should work with Windows. I also know that the second usb sound card works on linux, and the rest should work too, as ever random usb sound stuff I hooked up just worked (and Linux just rules with stuff like this). However, if you use OSX, that I don't know. Might be best to get one that specifically supports OSX.

I was talking about the headphones plugged into small/cheap desktop speakers. Which sounded like they were holding my heaphones (Razer kraken pro v2) back.

When you were talking about amps, I thought you were talking about something like this when mentioning amplifiers. A misunderstanding on my part.

The Xonar DG/DGX sounds like a good suggestion. Thank you :)

Yeah, this is quite a bit smaller, I think. I own an older version of that - same brand, but is a receiver only - and I'm pretty happy with it.

Only thing I can think of to get it working how you want then is something like this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DKC5FEK?psc=1


This supposes that you have speakers that support the type of output that box produces for sound and has the appropriate plugs.

Having never used one of those, I can't guarantee it'll work; but the reviews seem pretty good.

The way I would solve this is with a POE powered switch. Something like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8NAWZ8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

And a POE injector like this one: https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Ethernet-Injector-Distances-TPE-115GI/dp/B00BK4W8TQ/ref=pd_sim_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W53PRR3RAEXCHYP9E100

You can use the switch where ever you like and use the POE injector to power it from one of the cables on the "remote" end where it is located near a power source.

If you need more information, let me know.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/fosa-Consumption-E5573Cs-322-Compatible-terminals/dp/B07PFSVCF3

And then increase battery by getting a USB battery bank like this:

https://www.amazon.com/50000mAh-Lithium-Battery-Resource-Charger/dp/B07WC136CK/

Not recommending those specifically but that combo would do what you need. A hotspot with a battery (it will be optimized for low power usage) and a battery bank to keep it "charged" and then you could even connect the battery bank to a cig lighter charger.

The only issue you might run into is if your car gets really hot somewhere like Pheonix, AZ the lithium batteries will struggle. You would need high grade ones in that case or they will eventually expand and fail.

Edit: You could also just get a cig lighter phone charger and run that to the hotspot. Depending on the car it wont work if its not on though. There are ways to change that. A stereo/security/remote start system installer for cars could help you here.

An external enclosure can help to format while running the OS from the HDD. Ultimately you could "clone" the drive to the SSD while it is plugged into the computer with the external enclosure. Otherwise you'd need to plug in the SSD and boot the Windows installer from a disc or USB and do a fresh install of the OS. Here is an external enclosure:

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_5Rfxzb7C8VFYM

Found one! It works great!


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L14X3A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you! I've considered Z120s as well as some other Logitech speakers, they do have good options. The problem is, I sometimes use my laptop away from my desk, like in my bed, that's when wirelessness comes in handy. Also, I might use it the my kitchen too from time to time. So, yes, I won't be using bluetooth features always but, in my case, it is a must.

And what do you think of Anker Soundcore or Cambridge Soundworks?

I can't speak to the battery issue, but I have been very pleased with this speaker. Good sound and battery life and it's also water resistant. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010OYASRG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JkKkzbC1KVQWV

Any tablets you guys can recommend that have 16:9 ratios? The main ones people recommend like Fire Tablet 10 have Full HD 1080P advertised but also have 1920 x 1200 as their screen ratio, is it going to be the same with those?


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J6RPGKG/ref=ods_gw_mab_t15_tab_h1_d_sz?pf_rd_p=1a601f31-4e5b-4f17-9ccc-38a2a29b0f95&pf_rd_r=0KVGEBEAY6KHD5BKPE0K

something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Mpow-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Headphones-Hands-free/dp/B01KXIKCSI?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2

Here you go.

NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Plus Switch, PD Powered, Pass-through, ProSAFE Lifetime Protection (GS105PE) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J8NAWZ8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0.Z1BbH3DKHF9

Maybe something like this.

Is there a difference between the "FiiO E10K USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier" and "FiiO E10K Olympus 2 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier". I don't see any change besides the price. If there is a difference is it worth it to get the Olympus 2?

Sources:
FiiO E10K USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier: (http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2)

FiiO E10K Olympus 2 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA36T22A2762

Yeah, that all sounds about right.

I just saw this thing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DKC5FEK?psc=1

You wouldn't even need a stereo with it. And you could plug your headphones right into it.

Just combine one of these with one of these.