Posted 08/19/2009 at 01:55:26pm

Isn't there a way to build a NAS box, not a NAS computer?  I want to have box that can handle 2-4 drives and has at least 100MB ethernet but gigabit wouldn't be bad, either.

I have seen many companies attempting to sell boxes but they require you to purchase with the drives, which is silly because they are charging 2-3x the price of the drives, if you are lucky and why would I do that when I already have the drives and would prefer to set it up myself?

Posted 08/19/2009 at 01:51:58pm

The reason I had to hold out is 3.5 and 3.5.1 had major issues which includes the fact that it crashed anytime I started to do something.

I finally updated to 3.5.2 and that seems to have resolved the issue of crashin but now it just freezes up at times, which is pretty much annoying.  Again, considering going back to 3.0.13

Posted 08/15/2009 at 05:06:09am

I know 15-20 years ago when I built my first computer, I had figured I could never need multiple drives, but as the years have gone on and more options have become available, the more space I have the more I want.  I currently have 2 1.5TB, 2 1TB and my main 500GB for my C Drive.  At this point, I am about 85% full.

Granted, the average Joe or Jane do not need this kind of space and prefer to play their DVD or even VHS tapes, but for me, I will continue to add drives as the costs come down.  When the 2.5TB drives come out, that will lower the 2TB and 1.5TB drives even lower than than they are now.

The only limitations I have is that I can 'only' have 8 total SATA drives in my system and have 2 DVD burners with one being upgraded to BR before the end of the year.  I have one open port and am keeping an eye on 1.5TB drives to add for space.  It appears that my only future options will either be external drives or getting a PCI SATA card.

At this point, I have ripped all of my 100s of CDs and DVDs along with my TV shows and that takes up almost 3.75TB of space.  I also have taken all of my games and programs and converted those images, too.  It is really annoying to have to put in the disk or remove it and I just would prefer to play games on my HD TV, ya know?

 Bring on the bigger drives!  The faster the come the quicker the others go down in price, right? lol

I would love a reasonably priced SSD, but the price of HDs are low enough it doesnt matter, yet!

Posted 02/06/2009 at 07:35:36pm

I have two of these drives and have had no problems with them.  One was an internal and the other was an external that I took out of the case.  They get regular use and though I have seen a lot of people have issues, they have been great.  Speedy, high capacity and I got both combined for about $200.

Posted 08/27/2008 at 11:47:05am

I have been an extensive broadband user since like 1997, with DSL, cable, ISDN and more as time has gone on, my bandwidth usage has gone up.  I tend to use on average about 5GB U/L and 1GB D/L per day. When I have to chagne provides, which happens, when you move around certain areas in Seattle with competition different in different markets.

 As a result I have become very astute at asking what the caps are.  I know that most Wireless phone providers cap at about 1-5GB per month.  And as I learned with Clearwire they do the same thing.  But, since I covered myself and got information, in writing/email, when I passed their bandwidth caps, they cancelled my service but did not charge me the cancellation fee that most people end up with.

 The biggest issue I have is that I am a high bandwidth user, I am willing to pay for that service, but there should not be a moving target that is not allowed to be told to anyone.  My aproviders say abuse of the network and that there is not a specific number.  But, having worked for multiple ISPs I know that there is a hard number for Comcast, Broadstripe, Clearwire, Verizon, T-Mobile and many other provides, also.

It's funny that Comcast and Qwest and even Verizon advertise how much faster you can download with their service, but what is the point of broadband if it cannot be used for what it was intended (video, music, streaming both and more).

To make matters worse, I am partaking in all legal downloads.  I do trade music, but all based on what bands allow.  The communities I am part of we respect what bands are okay with trading and they are not.  For example, Metallica does not like electronic trading, but U2 and many other bands think it's great.

Any ideas for decent providers in the Seattle area?

Posted 07/13/2008 at 06:05:36pm

Where did you find an XtremeGamer for $80? the cheapest I found it for is $90.99 and that doesn't include another $7+ for shipping.

 Also, which of the 2 Patriot 2 gig packs is better?

Posted 07/12/2008 at 05:12:42pm

That was my first thought when I saw it.  Wow! That looks cool but is it usable?  lol

Some things look cool in theory but in practical use not so much. 

Posted 04/28/2008 at 12:00:37pm

There is now a 2 way sync tool available from the Google website. This seems much easier to use. I have used it for a couple weeks and have had no problems with the tool itself. As always, everything Google is beta and some things don't translate well from Outlook calendar to Google calendar, but that is not Google Calendar Sync's fault.