Something FloatLED does that your case light cannot is it can tell you want drive is actually working. If you have multiple disks in your system, this can be very useful as you can actually see the source of the ‘grinding’. Additionally, if you are working on a remote system (via Terminal Services, Log Me In, etc.), by firing up this application you instantly have access to this information on the system you are connected to.

While this is probably not for everyone (i.e. you have a laptop with one disk), for those of you who do have a use for it, FloatLED is a great utility.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

On Screen Hard Drive Activity LED

Adesso’s CyberTablet comes provided with the tablet itself, a pen with replaceable tips, its own mouse and driver software. The tablet itself is connected via a built-in standard USB cable.

The first thing to note is that the provided mouse isn’t that great and you probably won’t be using it – but that’s fine since you didn’t buy it for the mouse anyway. Since it’s a USB device you can use it in combination with your existing mouse and use the tablet as the mouse pad when not drawing or writing with the pen.

The drivers and software it comes with are decidedly old, but do work in all versions of Windows including Windows 7. Upon first install you will be required to perform a system restart to gain full functionality.

The pen included does require you to change the AAA battery in it every so often, but not so much as it would prove to be inconvenient.

When I used the CyberTablet 6400, I found it’s much better suited for writing than drawing. It’s handwriting recognition is decent and the software allows you to “train” it if it makes mistakes when recognizing what you write.

In a few instances the tracking was slightly off, but then again I didn’t “train” it too much. With regular use the tracking issues would fix themselves.

Being this is an entry level tablet, it’s not the best for freehand drawing. This is not to say it can’t do it, because it can and does so easily, but it doesn’t have the super-sensitive tracking much more expensive tablets have. If you draw using point-to-point, you’ll get along fine with the CyberTablet, but for true freehand style you may need something larger with more sensitivity. This Adesso tablet has low sensitivity when it comes to writing or drawing.

If you use a Mac, you might have some difficulties with this tablet. When David (PCMech’s founder) tried this tablet on his Mac, the installation of drivers proved very difficult. The install routine got into an endless loop and David was forced to manually “force quit” the install program. Once the drivers were installed, it was hard to determine whether everything was working properly because no solid instructions were provided on how to actually go about USING the tablet.

Overall, the CyberTable 6400 gets the job done and works as advertised. However, as a tablet priced at $69.99 as of the time of this writing, don’t expect miracles in this price range.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Adesso CyberTablet 6400 Review

The documentation is pretty easy to follow, but for example suppose you want to extend the size of your E drive with some empty space on the end:

1. Make sure you have your data backed up (just in case)
2. Open a command prompt as the Administrator
3. Type ‘diskpart’
4. Type ‘list disk’ to get the disk number of the drive
5. Type ’select disk=[disk#]‘
6. Type ‘list partition’ to get the partition number of the partition to extend
7. Type ’select partition=[partition#]‘
8. Type ‘extend’
9. Once the command completes, your E drive is now resized to include the additional empty space

Note: You cannot use this to resize the active system drive (usually C), so if you do need to resize your C drive, you would need to remove the hard drive from the computer and plug it into another computer where it is not the C drive. Once you do this you can then resize it.

This also works in virtual machines, so you can use this in combination with the VHD Resizer tool to completely manage your VHD files.

While there are certainly more user friendly and feature-rich products available, this tool does the job quickly and easily.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Builtin Microsoft Tool To Easily Extend A Partition Size

If you want a really good example of where a box like this would be needed, look no further than your local church. Traditional churches by nature are all non-profit organizations that operate on a very tight shoestring budget. Whatever technology is brought into the church must have good longevity to it because there’s simply no other purchase options. They can’t lease computer boxes. Whatever they get, they own, and it has to last a long time.

You could, if so desired, opt not to build but rather go with a brand name like Dell as they have new desktop PCs starting at $269. But maybe you’re in the situation where you have to deal with existing PCs because the budget simply won’t allow for the purchase of new computers. In this instance you have to refit them with new parts that will stand the test of time. That’s what this how-to covers.

The icons seen below are from Icon Archive. Be sure to check that place out for some truly good looking icons for Windows, Mac or Linux.

  Motherboard and CPU

It used to be that AMD was cheaper than Intel, but this is no longer the case. Were you to compare AMD vs. Intel in both motherboard and CPU prices, you’ll find they’re almost identical on the lower end of the cost spectrum.

When it comes to long-haul computing, the prevention of heat is a major consideration. Fortunately this is easy to take care of, because all you have to do is employ the use of a low-watt CPU. AMD has 45-watt offerings and Intel has 35-watt. Either is a good choice.

  RAM

With desktop memory the goal is to use the "slowest" possible sticks you can buy. Once again this is done to avoid heat. Use the bare minimum clock speed that the RAM banks will support, and put the maximum amount of RAM in the box it can support.

Also try, if possible, to use same-brand RAM. This will avoid any unforeseen issues with old RAM, as in some instances old sticks do not "play nice" with new ones. It is rare when this happens, but not out of the realm of possibility and you probably don’t have a RAM tester. (If you do have one however, use it.)

  Hard Drive

This step is simple, stick with 7200rpm hard disk drives. Were it a few years ago I would have recommended to use a 5400rpm (again, for less heat), but those offerings are now all but gone for standard 3.5-inch drives, and you’ll spend too much on a 5400rpm due to its rarity. The tried-and-true 7200rpm SATA of any media storage size works fine.

  Sound Card

Any. Doesn’t matter what you use as long as it works. You’ll most likely use the on-board sound from the motherboard anyway.

  Video Card

If the motherboard has a built-in video port, use it. Heat is avoided by doing this. If there isn’t any on-board video, what to use for a video card depends on the operating system. I’ll cover that in a moment.

  Optical drive

As long as the customer reviews for the optical drive you’re shopping for are favorable and it can play, read and burn CDs and DVDs, that’s all that matters.

  Case fans

This is the only part of the build where you absolutely cannot go low-cost. The case fans you use must be of premium grade, have good bearings and be as quiet as possible. Their only job in life is to cool, so don’t go cheap with these.

Here’s an example of a premium case fan. Yes, it’s almost $25 per fan. But it’s one of the best you can buy and totally worth the money.

I’m not saying you have to buy $25 case fans, but don’t go with the two-dollar cheap stuff. Do so and the PC’s life will end earlier.

  Operating System

If the box has a legal licensed copy of Windows XP or Vista, you’re all set. Continue to use it, continue to automatically download auto-updates as they are provided.

XP runs happily with 1GB of RAM and a 64MB video card. You can’t game on it, but you can do just about everything else.

The system requirements for Vista state it can get by on 1GB RAM, but as everybody knows it needs at least 2GB. The minimums also state that 128MB video is needed, but in reality 512MB suits it much better.

If the box has an illegal copy of XP or Vista, you need to either purchase a license of Windows 7 or switch to Linux – especially if the box you’re building is going to be used by somebody else. Why? Because somewhere along the line Windows will break without its needed updates eventually. And if you’re the one building a box for someone else, guess who gets the first phone call when somehow the end user magically turns on auto-updates and WGA disables Windows? That’s right, you do. Do you honestly want to deal with that?

The purchase of 7 is out of the question for most people because it blows the budget. You’d have to buy a full license of Windows 7 Home Premium, which costs just under $110. The "Starter" Edition of Windows 7 is only available to OEMs and not the general public unfortunately.

Linux’s strongest point is that it’s free. The flavor that’s the most suitable choice is the very recently released Ubuntu 9.10.

If you happen to be building/refitting a box for someone else, and that person only requires the basics of computing, you may want to consider Ubuntu Netbook Remix instead. It’s designed for netbooks, but has superior performance on low-end computer boxes. It also helps that the 9.10 UNR interface is super-friendly to use.

One of the few things that may prove to be a roadblock with UNR is printing. This is not Ubuntu’s fault, but rather the fact that most printers only come provided with proprietary Windows and Mac control software.

Check printer compatibility here for Ubuntu. It’s well worth the time to take a few minutes to read that over for your specific printer. Yours should be there as the lists are extensive. You know you’re in good shape if your printer is listed as both supported and working.

  Mouse

At least mid-grade quality, not wireless and manufactured by Microsoft or Logitech.

  Keyboard

Same requirements as the mouse.

  Monitor

You’ll most likely be using the existing monitor. If buying another, don’t buy used. Buy new.

The price for a new low-cost LCD monitor off the shelf will be between $125 and $175.

If you opt to buy online, specifically seek out the ones with free shipping, else you’ll pay the same price as you would off the shelf for the same thing.

As for the size, don’t buy anything under 18 inches. It’s simply not worth it.

  Software

In a basic sense, your computer must be able to:

• Browse the web
• Have the ability to use instant messaging easily
• Compose documents and spreadsheets and be able to share those documents easily
• Be able to import images from a digital camera easily
• Be able to edit images on a basic level easily
• Print
• Be able to burn CDs and DVDs
• Play DVD video
• Have sufficient protection against spyware, malware and viruses

Here’s each point covered one by one. I’m listing very specific choices that don’t require any additional software unless absolutely necessary. The less software installed, the better off the overall installation is.

Browse the web

Windows: Internet Explorer
Ubuntu: Firefox

Instant messaging

Windows: Windows Live Messenger
Ubuntu: Pidgin

Documents and Spreadsheets

Windows: OpenOffice
Ubuntu: OpenOffice

Digital Camera image import / Basic photo editing

Windows: Windows Live Photo Gallery
Ubuntu: F-Spot

Printing

Windows: Use provided printer control software CD or download from printer OEM’s web site
Ubuntu: Depends if the printer is supported or not by the OS (see above)

Burning CDs and DVDs

Windows, Data/Backup: Built-in to the OS natively, drag/drop
Windows, Music: Windows Media Player

Ubuntu, Data/Backup: Built-in to the OS natively, drag/drop
Ubuntu, Music: Brasero (included with OS)

Play DVD Video

Windows XP: Not included with DVD video codecs on fresh XP install. Codec must be provided by purchased player software such as WinDVD or CyberDVD.

Windows Vista/7: Codecs included, uses Windows Media Player to play DVDs.

Ubuntu: Codecs included, uses Totem to play DVDs.

Virus, spyware and malware protection

Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials or any other number of free protection suites.

Ubuntu: Generally speaking, not required because of the way Linux is designed. But if you feel you need it, there’s documentation aplenty on it.

  Placement

If you have the option, place the PC on the desk and not on the floor. As you know, computers are dirt magnets. This not only makes the computer box easier to clean but also keeps it away from dust and dirt that collects on the floor that the case fans would otherwise suck inside the box.

  Performance notes and other tips

The only time you’ll experience true slowdowns is on web pages with heavy Flash use. Then again, Flash will bring any web browser to its knees if you throw enough of that content at it even on the fastest of computers.

It is better if the PC has wired instead of wireless networking as it will speed things up quite a bit concerning internet usage. It’s not that wireless won’t work, but you want to give any speed advantage you can, so if you have the option, use wired internet connectivity.

Automate everything you possibly can. For example, if using a Windows OS you could use Defraggler to schedule drive defragmenting easily.

If you can, clone the drive once everything is installed, so if something busts on a major level, you’ve got a "vanilla" copy ready to be imaged back if the need arises.

Try (or instruct whoever is getting the PC) to get in the habit of "living in the browser." Keep installed apps to a minimum. The less apps there are, the less likely something will break on the software side and in many cases the speedier the OS will run, regardless of what OS it is. The best way to do this is to stay in the browser as much as possible.

For every app you download and install, save that to USB stick or CD/DVD. It’s also smart to perform a software inventory periodically just in case you have to reinstall the OS for whatever reason.

For any hardware you installed that has a warranty, put all the paperwork in an envelope and physically tape it to the side or top of the case. It’s not pretty, but you’ll never lose the info, should you need it.

Final notes

The best way to treat an older computer is to configure it like a kiosk would be. A kiosk by nature is set up to be simple and efficient. If you use Ubuntu Netbook Remix, this is very much how your computer will act, and that’s not a bad thing. You can do the same with Windows by hiding the taskbar, avoiding the Start menu when possible and placing the icons for the apps you regularly use on the desktop.

If you approach computing this way with an older refitted PC box and build it as outlined above, it should easily last 5 or more years.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Long Haul Low-Cost PC "Refit" How-To

Plug it into a wall socket and bam—a fully-functional Linux server that can store digital media accessible remotely via the internet or function as a remote print or web server. Plus, it supports “multiple standard Linux 2.6 kernel distributions” and it operates on only 5-watts of power.

To me, this device is flat out awesome. Just plug in an external hard drive and you have an ultra lean, power efficient server. Compared to having to maintain a full system just to provide these simple services, the SheevaPlug is an ideal alternative for less than $100. The Wikipedia page offers numerous links to help you get started with whatever you want to do with it.

A significant factor which should not be overlooked is the power usage – or lack thereof. Considering a typical computer will easily pull 30-75 watts depending on the load (and that is being conservative), the SheevaPlug will actually pay for itself in power savings.

This is definitely on my wish list.

Does anyone already have a SheevaPlug (or another plug computer) they are using? If so, please share your experience in the comments.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

The Smallest Home Server Device Ever

Well, wonder no more. Buffalo will be shipping the first USB 3.0 hard drive this month. And yes it has a controller card available to purchase with it since nobody has USB 3.0 natively in their PCs at the moment.

Should you get USB 3.0 now? No, because the availability is still very low and you’ll pay way too much for it.

The deal with USB 3.0 spec is is "SuperSpeed" bus, giving a fourth transfer mode of 4.8Gbit/s. Whether that will actually happen in real-world use is left to be seen, but chances are it won’t be as fast as that. However it will still kick the crap out of USB 2.0, no question. It will be worth the upgrade once there is wide availability for it.

When will there be wide availability of USB 3.0?

You will probably see the first available USB 3.0 products you can buy in 1st and 2nd quarter 2010, but I’d hazard a guess as to say you won’t see true wide availability until 3rd or 4th quarter.

Will the add-on card upgrade be worth it?

Once there is wide availability of consumer products that have this spec, yes. It will be particularly useful for backup drive use. Current USB 2.0 spec drives do the job just fine, but you know that transfers can take quite a while once you get into the three-digit megabyte range.

I feel sorry for anybody that has to transfer anything in the GB range. If for example you had a Western Digital MyPassport 750GB version (which does exist,) and had to transfer, say, 50GB of data over USB 2.0, you’re going to wait a good long time for that transfer to complete. Sure, it will finish, but better make a cup of coffee or three while you’re waiting.

What will the price point be?

Too early to tell. Reports conflict with each other as to how much the products will be here in the US.

It’s probably safe to say the controller card won’t cost much. The major cost will be in the actual products that have USB 3.0 ports on them.

What will USB 3.0 be able to do for you?

If you currently have another PC at home acting as a file server and nothing more, a USB 3.0 enabled backup HDD can replace that outright. The entire reason for a file server is to take advantage of the speed of your LAN. It is the fastest way to send and receive files.

Even though USB 3.0 won’t be as fast as the NICs on your network, they are fast enough where a file server simply won’t be needed. Instead you can simply attach a hard drive via USB cable and get nice fast transfers that are solid and reliable. Over time this will prove to be very cost effective (especially if what you get is USB self-powered.)

Normally I don’t get all ga-ga for new technologies these days, but I can honestly say that yes, I really want to get USB 3.0 ports in my PC. I mean, heck, it’s even fast enough for primary hard drive use (under Linux, anyway.) Can you imagine using a PC with no IDE or SATA connected drives whatsoever? You can with USB 3.0 easily. True, it’s not as fast, but chances are you really wouldn’t notice it.

It’s amazing what a big speed boost can do for USB, isn’t it?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

USB 3.0 Is Finally Here?

Concerning the hardware, it is any PC over 5 years old. Any PC in the workplace over 5 years old is obviously owned by the company as no OEM would dare lease computer boxes for over that length of time, due to the fact the liability is too great.

Concerning the software, it is any OS that is not supported directly by the OEM any longer, with the keyword being directly. It also counts for any apps/programs used that are no longer supported.

When you put the above two together, you’ve got yourself an ancient crappy PC. This is the computer that literally takes 5 minutes or longer to boot due not only to the crappiness of the PC itself but also the network it connects to. Doing anything on this computer is an exercise in patience, and a whole lot of patience at that.

Many who have to deal with computers like this in the workplace often wonder, "Doesn’t this slow down productivity by having to wait for the stupid computer to do things all the time? Wouldn’t it be worth the cost to at least upgrade the PCs being they’re so cheap these days?"

These are legitimate valid concerns. But there are reasons why these oh-so craptastic computer boxes stay around:

1. Nobody is complaining.

When nobody complains as to how slow the computers are, upper management thinks everything is A-OK and that nothing needs to be done.

Why is it more people don’t complain? The answer is simple: They don’t want to lose their jobs by being labeled as a complainer.

2. The department (supposedly) has no budget for new computers.

You will notice certain departments (usually Finance, Sales and, of course, Marketing) always seem to get nice fast newer computers while you’re left to suffer with junk. This is because the department has no money for PCs, either for real or fabricated reasons.

If you’re wondering what a fabricated reason is for "we have no money for new computers," all you have to do is look around your department to see if there are any new/shiny things around that serve no legitimate business purpose for what your dept. does – such as your boss outfitting his or her office with all brand-new expensive furniture that absolutely wasn’t needed. Now you know where the money went.

3. It’s a "home grown" app made by somebody who doesn’t work there anymore.

You may have this specific program at work that makes you grit your teeth every time you have to use it. Is it so old that you’re surprised your computer doesn’t gag and wheeze every time you run it. This app crashes constantly and no matter how often you complain, nobody is able to fix it.

"Home grown" programs you use made by employees of the company who coded it in-house (meaning in-company) originally. But those employees are long gone. They either quit or retired long ago and there is nobody left to support these dinosaurs any longer. Not only that, but nobody wants to put the time, effort, or spend the money to convert these dinosaurs over to newer, more efficient and moreover supported systems.

On top of all that, this is also part of the reason the company refuses to upgrade anybody’s desktop OS because they have absolutely no clue whether that home grown app will work on XP, never mind Windows 7!

There is unfortunately nothing you can do about this except hope for a major system crash server-side that forces the company to fix it.

4. Prevention of in-office political bickering.

This is when departments refuse to upgrade anything just to keep people from yelling at each other.

"Well, John got a new computer. Why can’t I?"

You can see how this would turn into a bicker-fest in short order. If John gets a new PC, then Bob has to get one. When Debbie see that, she wants one. And so does Alice. And Tom. And so on.

There are times more often than not when upgrades don’t happen just to keep the peace. Personally I think this is a rather stupid thing to do, because there’s no excuse considering how utterly cheap new boxes are these days. Yes, it does cost time to set them up and "vanilla" them, but c’mon.. just get new boxes and be done with it already.

5. Slowness of computers allows those in charge to be lazy.

There are department heads who are very happy to keep things just as they are, slowness and all – even if they do have the budget for new PCs. This is so they can take two-hour lunches and simply not worry about it since there’s no way anybody would be finished with whatever it is they’re doing by the time he or she comes back.

See, the deal is that a boss really doesn’t want to hear how you could be more productive with a new computer. But if a new computer allowed the boss to do less work and be even more lazy, then you’ll probably have a new PC on your desk next week! Sad but true.

Do you have slow crappy computers in your school or office?

I’m betting you do. Tell us your tales of woe.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

5 Reasons Why Biz Continues To Run Ancient Crappy PCs

There are some people who believe refurbished and used mean the same thing. This is incorrect; there are several differences.

Difference 1: Warranty

All refurbished items come with a warranty. Some used items come with one but most don’t.

Difference 2: Physical condition

Refurbished items are supposed to look exactly like a new item and do most of the time. This usually involves the replacement of things, such as the chassis, faceplates, buttons/knobs, and so on. A used item has had nothing changed on it. It is the same as when it was new, worn and all.

Difference 3: Vendor

It is rare that an OEM will sell anything used. The closest match to this is "off-lease," meaning a corporate customer leased a ton of the whatever-it-is from the OEM, sent them back when the lease expired and then the OEM resells the items. But even this is a rare instance these days because if the items are too old (and therefore cannot be supported directly,) the OEM won’t bother reselling them and instead find other means of liquidating that inventory.

Third-party vendors will sell used items, do so routinely and at times label these items as refurbished when in fact they’re not.

The general rule of thumb is that if you purchase a refurb item direct from an OEM or a large third-party vendor (like NewEgg or TigerDirect,) it is truly refurbished. With smaller vendors you get used. This is especially true if a vendor is selling something labeled as refurbished but there is no warranty and/or is stated to be sold as-is.

Difference 4: Age of item

As noted in #3 above, if there is something in the inventory that is simply too old for an OEM to support, they will find a way to liquidate the inventory otherwise.

If a particular item is still available from the OEM as new, you will find legitimate refurbished versions of it, warranty and all.

If on the other hand the item is discontinued and isn’t available as new any longer, what you will usually find are used versions of that item with no warranty.

The easiest way to check if something is discontinued or not is to go to the OEM’s web site. If you see the item still sold as new, it’s obviously not discontinued. But if it’s not there, it is. Some OEMs are nice enough to tell you this information up front and give you a complete list of what’s discontinued (like Garmin for example.) Others however don’t do this, so you’ll have to go look item-by-item and see for yourself.

Special note on this: There is a period of time right after an item is discontinued where it "rides the fence" for a few months and can still be supported by the OEM, but after that it goes into used-only territory. This all depends on how the OEM handles discontinued product support for newly discontinued items.

Difference 5: Support

This directly relates to #3 and #4 above. Current-model items from the OEM are supported and therefore are available as refurbs. These refurb items have support, so if there’s any issue with it you can call the OEM for help.

Used items have third-party-only support or no support at all. Once you buy it, you’re on your own.

Are refurb items better now compared to before?

Yes. When refurbished items first appeared years ago they were admittedly pretty crappy. This soured a lot of people on the idea of buying anything other than new.

Today the OEMs understand that there is legitimate profit to be made by selling refurbished items. As such, refurb now is a whole lot better compared to yesteryear. These items are good enough to where you get the exact same warranty as you would new. This shows confidence in the refurbished product by the OEM and proves that yes, it will work.

I do recommend people to go refurb instead of new. If the refurbished item has all the features you want, comes with everything the same new product would and is supported by the OEM (which it is,) you can buy with confidence.

Obviously you should exercise common sense when shopping refurbished, because some items are still better new than refurb or "recertified" (I wouldn’t buy a recertified hard drive,) but most of the time the refurb items you buy will serve you just as well as new would.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

5 Differences Between Used And Refurbished

I’m the type of person that likes having the latest up-to-date firmware for whatever electronic device I use. But over the years I’ve had to train myself not to update if there isn’t any issue present with the way the device works.

Example: In one instance a few years ago I somewhat busted a CD/DVD drive I had because I updated the firmware. I found there was an update for the device, so I downloaded and applied it. After that the drive wouldn’t burn discs any longer. It would read them but not write no matter what brand of disc I used. It turned my DVD-R/W into a DVD-ROM. I tried applying a previous version of the firmware, but that didn’t work, so I had to junk it. $40 in the toilet. Lesson learned.

The only reason I bothered to update the firmware in that particular device is because it was available. Nothing was wrong with it, I didn’t need to do it, but did anyway.

Firmware updates for any electronic device serve two primary purposes. First, the update fixes a problem with the way the device works and/or second, the update adds in new features that weren’t there before.

If you spot a firmware update for whatever electronic device you use, but are not encountering any problems nor are there any features added in with the update, don’t apply it. If you do, chances are likely it will do more harm than good and in worst case scenario makes the device unusable.

As said above, I had to train myself not to apply firmware updates when I didn’t need them. I would look at the firmware version for my digital camera and it would be at 2.5a. But wait, now there’s 2.5b! My mind says, "I should really get this," but then common sense kicks in. "Hang on. There’s nothing wrong with my camera. And this update doesn’t add in anything I didn’t have before. No, I won’t do it." So I don’t.

This can be a temptation that’s tough to resist. After all, you want all your electronic stuff to have current software. Psychologically, having an old firmware version puts the message of, "I’m missing out on something" in your head. Trust me when I say that the vast majority of the time you’re not missing anything.

Whenever you see a firmware update for whatever electronic device you’re using, always read the release notes thoroughly. This documentation is always provided and is usually on the same page where the download is, or as a PDF or some other web page describing what’s in that particular version. If you see nothing in there that fixes anything or adds in features, don’t apply it, because having an update applied that breaks your stuff will ruin your day real quick. Every time it happens it’s money wasted that you have to spend all over again.

Have you ever had a firmware update go horribly wrong?

Let us know by commenting below.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

When Should You Update Your Firmware?

But if you ever asked the question, "Is there a difference between brands?", the answer is yes and no.

Concerning data reliability, all USB sticks are roughly the same. It is very rare that one would absolutely fail on you unless put it through several hundred thousand erase cycles. Some can even go up to a million.

Concerning construction, yes there are differences. Some sticks have a poor casing, causing them to fall apart prematurely. It doesn’t happen often but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Concerning data transfer rate, this is where the biggest differences lie. Some sticks are legitimately slow.

Sandisk (which everybody has owned at one point or another, I have 3 of them,) routinely has the slowest transfer speeds. Reliable, yes, but slow.

Patriot on the other hand routinely has the highest transfer rate. In particular, the Patriot Xporter series. You will pay more for these, but you will also get faster transfers, both for average and burst rate. The customer ratings speak for themselves on Patriot flash memory products.

(And if you happen to have $300+ that you want to spend, Patriot has a Magnum stick that boasts super-high speeds and has 128GB of storage. Yes, 128GB. That’s not a typo.)

Do transfer rates matter?

This all depends on how you use your USB stick.

If using the stick for:

• Bootable biz-card sized Linux
• Routinely transferring files over 25MB in size
• Routinely transferring large amounts of data

..then you will legitimately need a fast-transfer USB stick.

If using the stick for:

• Photos
• Documents
• MP3s
• Smaller files

..then a faster stick won’t really matter unless you’re transferring many small files equaling a large amount of data.

What’s your favorite (or least favorite) brand of Flash memory?

Sandisk, A-Data, Corsair, Advent, Lexar, etc.? Which do you use? Does it live up to expectation or "act weird" periodically?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Is One USB Stick Better Than Another?