What Did You Do Today???
- Thread starter Tony
- Start date
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
On the NVME drives, it's best to step up at least a notch from the lower cost ones ( sales items excluded ). The lower cost ones don't have as large of a "buffer" so they start off fast and once it saturates, the speeds can drop significantly. They also weren't on sale for $50 off ( 20% ) ... 
I think the 4Tb HDD storage drive next sometime after the holidays ... ( a good sale could change that of course ).
I think the 4Tb HDD storage drive next sometime after the holidays ... ( a good sale could change that of course ).
Rob Lancaster
Active Member
Boy I wish I knew what you guys where talking about, LOL!!! Way over this little head...…….
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
That was a special sale and I haven't seen anything close to that price for the 8Gb drives.... not to mention it having been an external drive and you had to isolate that lead so it'd work in a normal use situation... The 4Tb drive I was looking at ( a Toshiba X300 7200rpm ) is currently at $120 ( with tax and shipping )... the lowest cost 8Tb is in the $230-240 range if buying new
Tony
Staff member
Here it is at bestbuy for 139. Same one I have. And you can either use a molex to sata plug adapter, or you can just cut or isolate the orange wires on the plug and it works just fine. The 3.3v rail puts this drive to sleep for some stupid reason. They work factory out of the case in my server.
$10 more, and twice the space. Well worth it in my book.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/search...rue&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys
$10 more, and twice the space. Well worth it in my book.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/search...rue&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys
Rob Lancaster
Active Member
Hi guys, hey when they say to turn off the current before pushing and pulling on large wires; you do it!! 
I have a weak water heater so I decided to upgrade it a bit. While I was inspecting the supply wires I discovered that I need 10 gauge not 12 gauge for the supply line to handle more load. Easy right, well it was getting late and I was beginning to phase and I couldn't remember how all the wires in the power control box were wired.. Not only that, trying to stuff 10 gauge wire in that small timer box was a total Hillary...
At best all I could do was run a bypass until I figure out the wiring in the control box. Even just wiring the bypass, for the night, to the timer terminals was a complete Hillary... Anyway I figured out the wiring for the controller so now all I need to do is get rid of those cheezie connections in the timer... I'll just install a junction box with killer connections where the timer is and be done with it...
Oh hey, I almost forgot about the fireworks. Not the kind I make for New Years Eve either...
After I tested the heater and controller to see if I got the wiring right I left the circuit active. At the time the ground on the water heater side was still not connected. Fortunately the line side was connected or you wouldn't be reading this now.
It was time to connect the ground to the heater so I was pulling the ground lead so it could be connected to the pigtail I installed on the heater. Some how! The tip of the bare ground wire popped all the up into one of the 30 amp 120V leads; with a properly installed wire nut. POW!!! What a flash!! I got sprayed in the face with atomized copper. Other then that, I didn't feel no shock, just a little heat from the flash. I'm living proof that a good ground will save your life..LOL! I thought I was good enough to do it safely at that point, but I was wrong.. I won't ever make that mistake again; just make damn sure the switch is off under ALL service circumstances... OFF! OFF! OFF!!, dumb, dumb, Rob!
Ok how about a few snaps of the action...
1781 shows the supply controller.
1782 shows the timer connections. Look closely, those cheezie things can barely hold the 10 gauge solid wires. Their gone.....
Last but not least. #1785... Ten minutes went by before I noticed my hand. The black marks are not burns. It's got to be some of the copper spray from when I was holding the wire. It just washes off with regular soap and water but I still smelt like copper until I jumped into the shower.. LOL!!
Are we having fun yet, he, he heee...…
I have a weak water heater so I decided to upgrade it a bit. While I was inspecting the supply wires I discovered that I need 10 gauge not 12 gauge for the supply line to handle more load. Easy right, well it was getting late and I was beginning to phase and I couldn't remember how all the wires in the power control box were wired.. Not only that, trying to stuff 10 gauge wire in that small timer box was a total Hillary...
At best all I could do was run a bypass until I figure out the wiring in the control box. Even just wiring the bypass, for the night, to the timer terminals was a complete Hillary... Anyway I figured out the wiring for the controller so now all I need to do is get rid of those cheezie connections in the timer... I'll just install a junction box with killer connections where the timer is and be done with it...
Oh hey, I almost forgot about the fireworks. Not the kind I make for New Years Eve either...
After I tested the heater and controller to see if I got the wiring right I left the circuit active. At the time the ground on the water heater side was still not connected. Fortunately the line side was connected or you wouldn't be reading this now.
It was time to connect the ground to the heater so I was pulling the ground lead so it could be connected to the pigtail I installed on the heater. Some how! The tip of the bare ground wire popped all the up into one of the 30 amp 120V leads; with a properly installed wire nut. POW!!! What a flash!! I got sprayed in the face with atomized copper. Other then that, I didn't feel no shock, just a little heat from the flash. I'm living proof that a good ground will save your life..LOL! I thought I was good enough to do it safely at that point, but I was wrong.. I won't ever make that mistake again; just make damn sure the switch is off under ALL service circumstances... OFF! OFF! OFF!!, dumb, dumb, Rob!
Ok how about a few snaps of the action...
1781 shows the supply controller.
1782 shows the timer connections. Look closely, those cheezie things can barely hold the 10 gauge solid wires. Their gone.....
Last but not least. #1785... Ten minutes went by before I noticed my hand. The black marks are not burns. It's got to be some of the copper spray from when I was holding the wire. It just washes off with regular soap and water but I still smelt like copper until I jumped into the shower.. LOL!!
Are we having fun yet, he, he heee...…
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RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
I ended up passing on that deal... paranoia set in... Companies are known for updating/changing products way to much for me to assume that is still the exact same drive inside of the enclosure and not a USB controller type like so many external drives are going to. I do suspect nothing has changed but I can't afford to find out the hard way, void the warranty by opening the case up and then finding out it wasn't the same.
I did happen on a 6Tb NAS 7200rpm drive for about $135 before taxes... so I grabbed one and it should make it sometime after Christmas ( I'm assuming, it's still possible that it makes it sooner if it's available at a closer warehouse than what I typically see the parts coming out of ).
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
Hi guys, hey when they say to turn off the current before pushing and pulling on large wires; you do it!!
Yeah... I've found we often need reminders about being humble... or safe.
Glad you didn't get hurt any worse than you did.
Tony
Staff member
I have two, and that one dude on youtube has I have no idea how many and they are all white label WD Red drives. And opening the case without killing the warranty is actually pretty easy, just need to use like a cut up gift card or some guitar picks.
More for me
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
I know when you got your drives... they were the white labeled drives and I do suspect they still are... Only I don't gamble, play in the gray areas ( much ) or take chances most of the time.
I was really divided over getting the storage HD or a larger 1Tb and faster NVME M.2 drive for my OS... I can move most of my pictures over from my current ( SATA M.2 ) OS drive and get more room that way... so the HD won the day this time around. I've got one more gaming computer to assemble next week, the last of the parts should make it by Friday... So I should be able to get my new drive installed by the following Monday, I'll certainly be looking forward to that.
When done... I'll have a Ryzen 5 1500x that I can use at work to update outdated bios on older B450 and X470 MB's that are going to be used with the newer Ryzen 3000 series CPU's and a couple of used SATA drives ( if they test out ok ) that I can sell to clients with older systems that probably should spend too much on upgrades or repairs.
) or take chances most of the time.I was really divided over getting the storage HD or a larger 1Tb and faster NVME M.2 drive for my OS... I can move most of my pictures over from my current ( SATA M.2 ) OS drive and get more room that way... so the HD won the day this time around. I've got one more gaming computer to assemble next week, the last of the parts should make it by Friday... So I should be able to get my new drive installed by the following Monday, I'll certainly be looking forward to that.
When done... I'll have a Ryzen 5 1500x that I can use at work to update outdated bios on older B450 and X470 MB's that are going to be used with the newer Ryzen 3000 series CPU's and a couple of used SATA drives ( if they test out ok ) that I can sell to clients with older systems that probably should spend too much on upgrades or repairs.
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
It looks like... no change that... I did wait a week too long to replace my secondary drive in my home computer. I used the drive for an internal backup drive and it was also serving as the host drive for the games I just started playing around with. At least that is what it's looking like at this point.
While I did loose backups of my systems going back to Windows 98 and the previously mentioned games that I can redownload/install... I'm pretty sure any data that I had backed up is also backed up in a couple of other locations like my external drive as well as what I backed up to my work backup drive.
There is also a very slim possibility that if I take the drive controller off and clean the contacts... that I can still recover whatever is there. I'm not feeling too certain about that, currently it's showing as zero bytes available which isn't usually something I've seen recovered from. I could attempt to find a donor drive ( exact same make/model ) and move the platters from this one into the donor, but I don't think it's worth it since I'm finding everything I can recall in other locations.
While I did loose backups of my systems going back to Windows 98 and the previously mentioned games that I can redownload/install... I'm pretty sure any data that I had backed up is also backed up in a couple of other locations like my external drive as well as what I backed up to my work backup drive.
There is also a very slim possibility that if I take the drive controller off and clean the contacts... that I can still recover whatever is there. I'm not feeling too certain about that, currently it's showing as zero bytes available which isn't usually something I've seen recovered from. I could attempt to find a donor drive ( exact same make/model ) and move the platters from this one into the donor, but I don't think it's worth it since I'm finding everything I can recall in other locations.
Tony
Staff member
Are you thinking this is a read head issue? The last measure in data recovery is moving those platters. If they are not perfectly aligned, you lose everything. I would try a donor drive first, and put new read heads in it before I would do a platter swap. Only time I have done a platter swap is when I had a motor die on me. And that was only once, and holy crap I never want to do that again lol. It's easier to just have off site backup at a buddies house with good internet lol.
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
Oh dang... just thought about this... I may have lost my progress on the games I've been playing.... I'm pretty sure I turned off any cloud backup features they may have had ( unless I missed one ). I'm several hours into each of the 3 main games I've gotten at this point. 
RandyDSok
Well-Known Member
As I mentioned... I think I have enough backups that I don't think I'm even going to worry about trying to get a donor. I'll keep the drive around just in case of course.