Made You Click !

160GB IDE

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:22:00 +0000

There's a fun little stat in the hard drive business known as "Mean Time Between Failures". In other words, hard drives die (not if, but when). If your computer's main drive is of the older IDE variety, then timing is such that you may just be learning more than you care to about the ol' MTBF.

Today, these older IDE drives are almost a specialty item. They have a smaller capacity and are much more expensive than newer SATA drives. If your main hard drive is IDE and is about to go belly-up, this may be an opportunity to step on up to SATA.

Before you spend money on an IDE upgrade, check your motherboard and see if it has SATA ports -- they look like this:

If you do have SATA ports on your motherboard, you can get really a cheap SATA replacement hard drive (you may need to buy a SATA cable too).

If you can't find SATA ports in your computer, the 160GB IDE drive linked (above) retails for between $50 - $100. If you see a better deal out there (and can vouch for the quality of the manufacturer and seller), please consider leaving a comment here to let me know.

You can upgrade your old system to the new drive as follows:

1) Buy a new hard drive and, if you don't already have one, an external USB enclosure for it (this one works with both SATA and IDE drives).

2) Put the new drive into the enclosure and connect to the desktop

3) Use a disk cloning utility to make a perfect sector-by-sector copy of your original hard drive to the new one (in the enclosure)

4) Physically swap the drives -and- store your old one in the ol' firesafe, just in case. If something should go wrong in the future, you'll have this complete and bootable version of your machine as it stands today.

Throughout I've been assuming a desktop computer. Notebooks have to be pretty old to be stuck in IDE-land. But the principals are the same. Desktop drives; however, are 3.5" across and notebook drives are much thinner and only 2.5 inches wide. Make sure you don't get confused and buy the wrong size hardware for your machine.

SumoTube

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Netgear WiFi Extender

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:54:00 +0000

WiFi Routers

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:49:00 +0000

BYTECC Notebook Cooling Pad

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:38:00 +0000

This thing really works! I use a 17" multimedia notebook computer pretty much like most folks would use a desktop. It's on all the time, I work it pretty hard and it gets very very hot ... but that's not a problem anymore! I think the double-whammy of USB-powered fans and aluminum construction make it a perfect heat sink.

Oh! It's quiet too!
(and also comes in black)

GetBuckyballs

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:56:00 +0000

(but keep 'em away from your hard drives)

GetBuckyBalls.com

"They Live" by John Carpenter (1988)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:01:00 +0000

I dunno ... I just love this movie: Cool super-specs, aliens, prophets, mind control, conspiracy, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and the greatest alley fight committed to film.

Wonder Wash (and Dryer)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Best Game Evar (and only $10)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Thermaltake eSATA / USB Docking Station

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:37:00 +0000

This thing is great! I wish it had a dust cover, but otherwise have zero complaints. And it's the perfect thing (considering my insatiable appetite for storage -and- the ridiculous prices of HUGE hard drives these days).

Digital Video Essentials

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Did you know that new displays come from the factory with contrast and brightness settings configured waaaay too high? It's so the displays look good on a bright showroom floor. If you've just purchased a fancy new display, the first thing you'll need to do is calibrate it.

You can either pay someone a few hundred dollars -or- go into the display's settings, switch it from it's current "Showroom" profile to something dimmer -- perhaps called something like "Cinema". Then spend ~$20 on a disk like DVE that will take you step-by-step through the finer points of audio / video calibration.

Diamond One Touch Video Capture

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Wow! This thing actually works. My Dad has got a bunch of Hi8 tapes from an old camcorder and for ~$35 this thing is slurping that stuff right into his Windows notebook w/ no fuss.

1TB, 7200RPM for $88

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Holy Crap! The price on this, when originally posted, was $88 and I thought that was amazing. That didn't last, though and the price popped-up to $109 after a few days. Then it dropped down to $84. Now it's back up to $88 again. Arggh! I might need to buy a few more (as my mass storage needs are, simply, insatiable)

Vantec NexStar 2.5" SATA Enclosure (USB 2.0)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:10:00 +0000

HP Photosmart C4480 Printer (and its ink)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:56:00 +0000

iPhone Dev

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Tiny 8GB Memories !!

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Pricing on this one is tricksy. Each thumbdrive gets shipped separately -- w/ it's own $4.50 shipping charge. On top of that, it seems they're doing something interesting with the displayed price. Amazon currently says they only have 2 in stock at the price of $16.95 -but- they have an alternate supplier who has 'em in stock for $22.24 each.

So, you end up paying that alternate price plus shipping for each. The per unit cost (before tax) ends-up closer to $25 than to $17. Still: $25 for a tiny (and reliable) 8GB stick seems pretty darn good. I can't seem to get enough of 'em.

WDTV

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:59:00 +0000

I just love this thing! It supports loads of different video formats, has a slot for a USB memory stick, a snazzy remote, HDMI out and only costs $102. This little puppy has completely replaced the rather clunky / cobbled / loud media PC I had been using to throw PC content up onto my old TV screen.

Scott McCloud

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Slingcatcher

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:10:00 +0000

I think this is my dream gadget of the year (and we're only 13 days in)

It's currently less than $170 at Amazon and is so very worth that price to me! It works with software from Sling that you can install on any Windows computer. It takes video from any program (or rectangular region of the screen) on that computer and shoots it across your home network to a box near your TV. So, for example, you can play YouTube or Hulu videos on your PC and watch them on your old television set (and, I swear, in many cases the quality of the video seems to actually improve along the way).

We Need More Power!

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:49:00 +0000

I admit it: I'm a sucker for clever powerstrip design. This is the UFO. Second, in my mind, only to the glorious PowerSquid.

USB Desktop Dunk

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Coby 1.5-Inch Digital Photo Keychain (White)

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Birdscapes

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Rollup Piano

uuill@cluburl.net (Will) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:05:00 +0000