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  1. M

    Folder structure for personal data

    What do you think is the best place to keep your data, at home? I keep photos + MP3s on a network share. I keep bigger programming projects in source control, and smaller ones in My Documents. I have some spreadsheets which are ongoing and need to be regularly updated, and I have others...
  2. M

    Want to ditch my iPad for a Windows device

    I have had an ipad for about two years now. I use it every day for web browsing. But I'm kinda sick of being cramped by Apple's DRM and other BS. So I want to try Windows. Real Windows that I can run software on. Is there something that would give me say: (a) 8 hours web browsing...
  3. M

    Crackling in speakers

    I have a Soundblaster Xtreme Musics. I've had both for 6 years or more. I'm running Win 8.1 I'm finding that there is a crackling/distortion in the audio when audio plays (silence when no audio), which does not occur immediately, but maybe sometime after the system is booted (rebooting fixes...
  4. M

    Gaming TV PCs

    I owned an Xbox (the original one), Nintendo 64, and a Wii. But I'm thinking of building a GTX 750/750 TI gaming PC to go in the living room. In many ways it makes sense in that there's a 42" Panasonic 3D TV, and a nice set of 5.1 hi-fi speakers + 5.1 AV receiver. OTOH, I'm not sure on...
  5. M

    SSD upgrade

    I have a Intel X25-M 80GB SSD. And a 500GB hard drive, which has SMART fail. It's just a productivity PC - no gaming. I also have a server with several TB of space. I would like to ditch the undersized SSD, and go for a larger drive. I'm not sure if it should be SSD or hybrid drive...
  6. M

    Unstable router

    Any tips for debugging? My router is crashing when streaming video (iplayer) over wifi. It's a Buffalo wzr-ag300nh. I have to power cycle for it to work again. I am running the latest (v1.49) firmware.
  7. M

    Moving spanned volume

    I have a spanned volume on my Windows Home Server. Originally it was a 1 TB, 1TB, and 4TB drive. It runs under Vmware, so these are virtual disks. I moved the first 1TB to a 4TB drive and then resized the virtual disk to 4TB. Now I have a 3TB space on the end of that virtual drive...
  8. M

    RAM upgrade for my ESXi server

    I have a server running ESXi (free edition). It has 2*Xeon E5620 CPUs and an Asus Z8NA-D6 motherboard running Windows XP clients + 1 * Windows server. Currently I have 6 * 2GB RAM Hynix HMT125R7AFP4C-G7TB RAM (DDR3-1066) I want more RAM, and I don't want to spend more money than...
  9. M

    Portable audio/video solution, ipad, rasp pi, etc.

    We are going to rural Asia for a couple of months next week. I own the following portable gadgets: Nokia Lumia 800 (16GB storage of which around 10GB available, no SD slot) Apple Ipad 4 (16GB storage, with less than 1GB available, wifi only) Nokia Lumia 920 (32GB storage of which 24GB...
  10. M

    Setting my ADSL router up to bridge

    I have a one-port ADSL modem, running on Routertech firmware. I have it running in bridged mode, because I have a separate four-port wireless router, which has four devices connected over ethernet, as well as wireless clients also, so therefore the wireless router, as I understand it...
  11. M

    Routing problems

    I have a network configured thus: ADSL modem (routertech) on 192.168.1.1 with dhcp server Wireless router (Buffalo) on 192.168.2.1 connected to the ADSL modem. Router is 192.168.1.2 (via DHCP) I have numerous devices connected to the 192.168.2.1 gateway, PCs, phones, an internet radio...
  12. M

    Network config help

    I have two 4-port routers. One is gigabit + 802.11n, the other is 100mbit without wireless. Both have their own internet connection. I also have an 802.11n bridge, which is connected to the 100mbit router. My config gigabit - 192.168.2.1 100mbit - 192.168.2.6 My PC is physically...
  13. M

    dual xeon esxi server specs?

    Any recommendations? I own two Xeon E5620s, I need the rest of the hardware - case, RAM, nic, motherboard, hard drives/controller, PSU. I'm looking for low-cost components generally. I would like to put two WinXP VMs on each drive, so low-cost storage would be nice. Plus a file server. Each...
  14. M

    Ati2vexx reboots

    This has caused my PC to reboot a couple of times lately. Is there any log somewhere as to what's wrong? I have an X1650 pro, and the fan is making an annoying buzzing noise.
  15. M

    LCD repair

    I have a three year old Sony Vaio SZ2VP laptop (120GB, 13.3" screen, carbon fibre case, 1.6kg weight, Core Duo 2.2 GHz, 2GB RAM). Cost me £1800 Yesterday it was worth £400. Today, it has a hairline crack 2/3 of the way down the inside of the screen, about 5% of the screen area (60% of the...
  16. M

    Many hard drives - server storage

    I have no familarity with anything other than desktop hardware. So I'd appreciate some explanations on how things work in the server world. Let's say I bought this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811219021 and filled with 20 hard drives. How would you typically...
  17. M

    Xeon E5520 vs. Core 2 Q9550

    I'm curious the difference in performance between these chips. I'm building a server to replace my workstation-cum-server (which will revert to workstation), and I'm looking at 1 or 2 E5520s. The Q9550 is a 2.83GHz chip and the E5520 2.26 GHz. Another question is how much difference 8...
  18. M

    Help me spec a hardcore server for VMWare

    These are my requirements: host a dozen virtual machines running Windows XP and 1 server doing light file serving duties, very light SQL server. Each XP VM will be about 50GB in size. I currently allocate 256MB of RAM for each VM, but I would prefer to use more. I need to be able to remote...
  19. M

    CPU too hot

    I have an Antec Sonata case, with a Yate Loon 120mm rear fan, Antec 120mm hard drive enclosure fan, and a Cooler Master 90mm heatsink http://www.coolermaster-usa.co...ct.php?product_id=2806 on a Q9550 running at stock (2.83GHz) Temperatures are 90 degrees Celsius running prime95, about 75-80...
  20. M

    Case fan failure - why?

    It seems my case fan has failed. At least, it's no longer spinning, and my CPU cores reached 102,93,95 and 99 degrees. I have taken the side off the case, and the temperature has dropped to a manageable 79/76/76/76. What is there in the fan to fail, i.e. to stop completely? I guess I just...
  21. M

    Hard drive failing - what to do?

    My Samsung HD103UJ 1TB hard drive is apparently failing, as Windows periodically gives me the following message: http://thevistaforums.com/uplo...t-41685-1224809141.jpg The actual text is [Window Title] Microsoft Windows [Main Instruction] Windows detected a hard disk problem...