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Smeef posted:It was the boot drive and so is running some version of Windows from approximately 2004-05. MacOS should read NTFS drives fine, which I would expect a Windows install from that era using. Writing may be a different story. If for some reason it's using FAT, you're still good to go.
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Dec 22, 2014 21:25
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Alereon posted:Post a thread in the Haus of Tech Support, we need to know what motherboard it currently has (or the computer brand and model) and what RAM you tried to put in. Will do. Wasn't sure where to post it. Cheers!
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Dec 22, 2014 21:29
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Is it possible to take the digitizer from a smartphone and use it a a touchscreen monitor connected to a PC?
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Dec 23, 2014 02:42
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Faux-rear end Nonsense posted:Is it possible to take the digitizer from a smartphone and use it a a touchscreen monitor connected to a PC? Sure anything is possible in theory, but that is amazingly impractical. I think you will have better luck looking for a touchscreen overlay kit for your monitor. Another option would be to install some kind of remote pc control app on your smartphone, but then you would have a phone that can provide input instead of an input device.
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Dec 23, 2014 04:03
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Faux-rear end Nonsense posted:Is it possible to take the digitizer from a smartphone and use it a a touchscreen monitor connected to a PC? Yes, but you will need significant soldering and electronics assembling skill to get it done right. But if what you already have is a phone where the display works but the rest is busted, it can't hurt to use it as a starter project.
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Dec 23, 2014 05:47
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Topic: Cable Sleeving I've been thinking about building a new PC with a bit of style and I'm in no rush so I thought I would have a crack at some cable sleeving. Many, many YouTube videos later I think I'm pretty much OK with the topic but I just wanted to know if someone had some feedback on some of the tools of the trade including: - Crimper - Flush Cutter - Sleeving (paracode/PVC) - Heatshrink I've looked at storers like ModBunker/Lutro0 Customs, E22 etc. and I'd be interested in an opinion. One thing - apparently the mecca of cable sleeving in a store called MDPC but they've been shut down for several months with no re-open date apparent to me. Is there stuff that good? Basically interested in any pointers on OCD cable management. Thanks in advance.
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Dec 23, 2014 10:40
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I have a Western Digital portable external drive that I'd like to encrypt, because I'd like to take all my stuff around with me in a secure way. It's a fairly current drive, a Western Digital Ultra. I figure I could use the Western Digital Security software that comes with the drive. But I wonder how secure it is? Is my data actually encrypted, or is it hidden through some silly trick that can be circumvented? (Maybe it's just a lock on the drive controller, for instance, and the drive is accessible if removed from the enclosure.) Is the encryption pretty good, is it NSA good, is it TrueCrypt good? Also, can I access the drive on a PC that doesn't have Western Digital's stuff installed? Lastly, what about the data already on the drive? Will it be erased, is it encrypted in place, is it left as-is, etc. Obviously if it's all just a cheap trick, it doesn't really matter. But I wonder if new data is encrypted, and old data isn't, and whatnot. doctorfrog fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Dec 24, 2014 |
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Dec 24, 2014 07:59
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doctorfrog posted:I have a Western Digital portable external drive that I'd like to encrypt, because I'd like to take all my stuff around with me in a secure way. It's a fairly current drive, a Western Digital Ultra. I don't have your drive, but a quick Google and distilling some results can probably help you out here. WD Secure uses AES-256 for encryption. That's not some dodgy trick, that's industry grade. However, what's your use case here? If it's just that you like some security while the data in on the drive I'm confident you will be covered. Yes, you will be able to access the data on a machine without the software installed but it will be in "manual mode" as in you will have to enter a password. With the software it can decrypt it automatically. For the data on the drive can I suggest that you BACK IT UP before you try anything. Any process that involves passwords, data on media etc. always has a 0.0000n% chance of ending up totally FUBAR. Back it up, then try it out. Under the covers I can't say exactly how it will encrypt and wipe the in the clear data. I suggest that if you have data that requires more security than this you may need an alternative solution or more expert advice. Cheers!
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Dec 24, 2014 08:23
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Graic Gabtar posted:Hi there, Thanks for the reply. My use case is that I'm just some dude with digital stuff of pretty high personal value, but also work product for various companies, some big, some small. I mostly don't want douches who would steal a drive to be able to see my stuff. Or use the drive at all, the bastards. But it would be even better if it were not hackable by anyone, ever. I have been searching the past hour and found this explanation right here: https://arnolddatarecovery.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/wd-full-encryption-hard-drives/ It's not fantastic news, but it's sensible enough given my purposes. Basically, what the blogger assumes (blog being written in 2011) is that the data is already encrypted during write with a 'master key,' whether you've locked the drive or not. When you assign a password, the master key itself is encrypted, more or less locking the lock. Issues with this are obvious: Is the master key is unique to each drive? Are records of the master keys kept somewhere, accessible to our friends at the NSA, or vulnerable to posting on the internet for any hacker to use? Obviously these are edge cases, but who wouldn't want their data as secure as possible? Again, I'm just going by my own limited understanding of what this blogger is saying, assuming he actually knows what he's saying. It's sort of supported by the fact that I just locked the drive with WD's software (I have a backup, so I'm good), and all my data is still instantly accessible: not lost, not being re-encrypted, just hidden behind a password. Or it's a trick, which seems unlikely if WD wants to brag about hardware encryption without getting egg on their face. So, though I'm not terribly worried, I'd feel a heck of a lot better if I knew more about what was really going on in this little blue box I carry with me. Anyone else have any insight?
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Dec 24, 2014 08:46
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I asked this in the PC Part Building thread, hope it is OK here. What is the best way to ground yourself when changing parts? I heard that plugging in the PSU that is off at the socket and switch and putting and attaching a wristband onto it is the best bet but I really don't feel safe. Are there any other options?
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Dec 24, 2014 09:32
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SkySteak posted:I asked this in the PC Part Building thread, hope it is OK here. The basic rule is to touch a grounded thing every so often, usually before you touch a static sensitive thing. A power supply that's plugged in but not turned on is grounded (the housing literally has a wire that goes to the ground from your outlet and isn't controlled by the switch), so it's a good choice. Plumbing in your house is usually also grounded so you might be able to touch a metal faucet as well, assuming you have copper pipes (I don't know anything about plumbing but the faucets here give me a shock if I've been walking around in fleece). You can wear a wrist strap if you want but I usually go by this checklist: 1) don't wear fleece or other material that build up static really fast, I usually go with jeans and a t-shirt for computer building. 2) touch a grounded thing before I touch computer guts (basically before I put in the CPU, RAM, and mount the motherboard inside the case, or pick up my video card I touch a grounded thing each time) I have an ESD strap but I rarely use it unless I'm doing something that's really sensitive or expensive. If you're really concerned about static get a wrist strap and wear it, it will just be always attached to the ground in an outlet like the housing of a power supply will be. Static damage can be really bad but the only time I've had something die to static that I can recall was putting token ring cards into pentium 133 machines as a summer job. They didn't give us wrist straps but they had to have a motherboard exchanged because the system was just DOA after putting the network card in. I think it was in 1996.
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Dec 24, 2014 10:15
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Rexxed posted:The basic rule is to touch a grounded thing every so often, usually before you touch a static sensitive thing. A power supply that's plugged in but not turned on is grounded (the housing literally has a wire that goes to the ground from your outlet and isn't controlled by the switch), so it's a good choice. Plumbing in your house is usually also grounded so you might be able to touch a metal faucet as well, assuming you have copper pipes (I don't know anything about plumbing but the faucets here give me a shock if I've been walking around in fleece). You can wear a wrist strap if you want but I usually go by this checklist: Fair enough. I have to admit even though it'd be off at the PSU/plug socket, the idea of attaching a wristband to the PSU/case while something is connected to the mains (which is a higher voltage in the UK) makes me a little uneasy.
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Dec 24, 2014 11:43
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SkySteak posted:Fair enough. I have to admit even though it'd be off at the PSU/plug socket, the idea of attaching a wristband to the PSU/case while something is connected to the mains (which is a higher voltage in the UK) makes me a little uneasy. You can touch a grounded thing or a ground wire all day, it just goes into the ground/earth. The housing of the PSU connects to the metal on your computer case which is also in theory grounded because of it. The thing to do is to not touch the powered lines, but you don't have access to those from the outside of the housing unless you're messing with the plug itself.
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Dec 24, 2014 14:15
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Rexxed posted:You can touch a grounded thing or a ground wire all day, it just goes into the ground/earth. The housing of the PSU connects to the metal on your computer case which is also in theory grounded because of it. The thing to do is to not touch the powered lines, but you don't have access to those from the outside of the housing unless you're messing with the plug itself. So potentially having the the PSU plugged in, while being off at the plug socket while also being off at the PSU itself and having the wrist strap attached to a bare metal case screw is safe enough?
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Dec 24, 2014 14:21
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SkySteak posted:So potentially having the the PSU plugged in, while being off at the plug socket while also being off at the PSU itself and having the wrist strap attached to a bare metal case screw is safe enough? Yeah but I'd attach it to the PSU if you can because the screws into the housing from the case don't always break all the paint/powdercoat on the PSU. Does your ESD strap have an alligator clip or a ring thing or what?
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Dec 24, 2014 14:29
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Rexxed posted:Yeah but I'd attach it to the PSU if you can because the screws into the housing from the case don't always break all the paint/powdercoat on the PSU. Does your ESD strap have an alligator clip or a ring thing or what? Alligator Clip
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Dec 24, 2014 14:31
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SkySteak posted:Alligator Clip My wrist strap is also one of those and when I use it I just clip it onto the grate of a plugged in power supply or into the middle hole of a computer power cord (do the former, not the latter). You're just grounding out static not sending high voltage anywhere and while the PSU is off there won't be any live voltage unless you open it up and specifically look for wires to short or capacitors to gently caress with. It's hard to mess up grounding yourself unless you go looking to do so.
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Dec 24, 2014 14:53
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Rexxed posted:My wrist strap is also one of those and when I use it I just clip it onto the grate of a plugged in power supply or into the middle hole of a computer power cord (do the former, not the latter). You're just grounding out static not sending high voltage anywhere and while the PSU is off there won't be any live voltage unless you open it up and specifically look for wires to short or capacitors to gently caress with. It's hard to mess up grounding yourself unless you go looking to do so. Fair enough. This is more of a UK based question but if I wanted to be super paranoid, couldn't I just also physically remove the fuse from the plug?
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Dec 24, 2014 14:57
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I always just lean my left arm on the case and call it good. Never had any problems with static in 10 years doing that.
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Dec 24, 2014 16:47
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I hope this is the right place to post this, it's a long shot: I bought this to use a wireless 360 controller with my Windows 8.1 laptop. I installed it as per the instructions in the reviews, and it works, but it randomly disconnects my controller. Sometimes after half hour, sometimes every minute or two, and I have to sit there and wait for it to randomly connect again. It is so. ANNOYING. It's plugged directly into a USB 2 port (no hub), I've turned my wireless mouse off, even tried turning wifi off. No dice. It's installed correctly, and no-one mentions this problem on the Amazon page. Could be defective?
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Dec 24, 2014 19:08
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Uh, maybe? It's not the official one, and that means it's likely to be flake-rear end even under ideal conditions. I don't think anyone but Microsoft managed to make a wireless 360 controller adapter work right most of the time.
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Dec 24, 2014 21:45
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I was hesitant to get it cos like you say it's fake, but it's got great reviews and no one else has the same problem. Also I couldn't find an official one. Balls.
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Dec 25, 2014 00:02
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Yea the deal with them is you're about as well off buying a couple fakes to find a reliable one as you are to buy the controller and receiver genuine package.
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Dec 25, 2014 00:45
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Even if you find one that only occasionally has a connection blip, trying to use the headset in combo with it is a recipe for your friends going deaf. It'll sometimes randomly start transmitting nothing but loud static. In the end, it was easier to just get a wired controller and use that.
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Dec 25, 2014 01:18
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Question about SSD's: I might be getting one sometime soon (maybe Christmas? Who knows!) If I plug it in to my PC setup and want to run a game off of it, do I just need to drag and drop say my Steam folder onto it? Or will it not work as simply as that?
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Dec 25, 2014 01:24
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Not quite that easy, but almost. Google for steammover - that should sort you out
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Dec 25, 2014 02:35
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Deanut Pancer posted:Not quite that easy, but almost. Google for steammover - that should sort you out Is it just this: http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover also it mentions sometimes files might not get moved over due to permissions, would running that as Administrator fix that as easily as I think it would?
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Dec 25, 2014 02:40
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Actually there probably is a simpler way. Copy the files from your old disk to a temp folder on the new one. Then uninstall the game in steam and then install it to the new location on the SSD. As soon as this reinstall starts, pause it and move the files from the temp location to the actual place that steam was going to put them. Now if you let steam verify the new install, it should find that everything is now there and sit should show up as fully installed. This should skip any messing about with links that might otherwise require admin. So steam itself stays on your C drive, but you can move individual games over to D (or whatever your ssd ends up)
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Dec 25, 2014 02:55
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Is mixing two different speeds of RAM a no no? I received 8 gb (2x4) g skill ripjaws ddr3-1600 and another set of 8gb ripjaws ddr3-1833 . If I can use both (even if limited by the slower set) I will, but not sure if that's advisable
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Dec 25, 2014 05:59
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Auron posted:Is mixing two different speeds of RAM a no no? I received 8 gb (2x4) g skill ripjaws ddr3-1600 and another set of 8gb ripjaws ddr3-1833 . If I can use both (even if limited by the slower set) I will, but not sure if that's advisable Most memory controllers will be happy to run all that ram at 1600. Just put the 1600 in one channel and the 1866 in the other.
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Dec 25, 2014 07:19
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doctorfrog posted:Issues with this are obvious: Is the master key is unique to each drive? Are records of the master keys kept somewhere, accessible to our friends at the NSA, or vulnerable to posting on the internet for any hacker to use? Obviously these are edge cases, but who wouldn't want their data as secure as possible? If you want some anecdotal evidence from someone who you may rightly deem would want you to believe his lies (if they were such) - WD's encryption systems are a complete pain in the arse for those of us in law enforcement who need to copy data off hard drives that don't belong to us. Master keys are not kept anywhere. Pulling the drive out of its enclosure or swapping platters (depending on the model) will leave the disk unreadable. Or rather, readable but complete gibberish. Many's a law enforcement officer who thinks he gets a solid read off a disk pulled from a suspect's system only to discover random data. Of course everything hinges on your personal paranoia level. Any Taiwanese or Chinese chips on that circuit board with backdoors? NSA codes no-one knows about because they have a mole in WD? Or will "they" just keep hitting you with a rubber hose until you unlock the data for them?
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Dec 25, 2014 13:45
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Gromit posted:If you want some anecdotal evidence Anecdote from someone on the internet? Good enough for me. I'll see if maybe WD has a whitepaper somewhere that explains their encryption more completely than their other marketing materials, but the explanations I've seen so far are... mostly good enough? Maybe not quite as good as using TrueCrypt, though it has its issues, but the convenience tradeoff is making it worth it for me personally. As long as some sort of reliable encryption is occurring, it's most likely good enough. And like you say, if someone really wanted access to my data, they'd just pour water into my face or hit me with a phone book. edit: Most recent discussion I could find was this: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/44730/how-secure-is-wd-mypassport-lock The weaknesses the answerer assumes are related (I think?) to brute force cracking (and that's assuming that the master key is unique to every drive and not itself very weak): quote:Strong derivation would use a random salt, which then requires a source of randomness, and there is no reason otherwise to have a dedicated chip for randomness on the drive. Economics being what they are, chances are that there is no random salt. And it appears that there's no official word from WD on how the whole deal works, and some folks there are basically just inferring what they can from what little WD doles out and squabbling amongst one another as to the specifics. Again, I think this is good enough for me, for now, though obviously not as good as employing 3rd party encryption on top of it. I am a little surprised at how little WD is saying about this, though. Probably most folks don't really care. doctorfrog fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Dec 25, 2014 |
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Dec 25, 2014 20:04
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I am a bit disappointed in the sound that my PSU makes. I bought a highly rated PSU from a reputable brand, the Seasonic 550W G series, which had rave reviews mentioning how quiet it was, but in my system it makes a "whirring" sound that can definitely be audible even a few feet a way. I installed it fan up in my Silverstone TJ08-e, and if I cover the vent with a booklet the system is noticeably quieter. Is there something wrong with my unit, or my expectations just too high for a 85 dollar PSU? I estimate the fan to be spinning between 400-700 RPM, it's not LOUD, but definitely noticeable if I pay attention. I could deal with it I suppose, but I was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences with this PSU or from Seasonic. EDIT: When I change the position of my case, it is a bit quieter. Guess I could live with it for now. lollybo fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Dec 26, 2014 |
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Dec 26, 2014 21:57
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lollybo posted:I am a bit disappointed in the sound that my PSU makes. I bought a highly rated PSU from a reputable brand, the Seasonic 550W G series, which had rave reviews mentioning how quiet it was, but in my system it makes a "whirring" sound that can definitely be audible even a few feet a way. I installed it fan up in my Silverstone TJ08-e, and if I cover the vent with a booklet the system is noticeably quieter. Is there something wrong with my unit, or my expectations just too high for a 85 dollar PSU? I estimate the fan to be spinning between 400-700 RPM, it's not LOUD, but definitely noticeable if I pay attention. I could deal with it I suppose, but I was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences with this PSU or from Seasonic.
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Dec 26, 2014 23:25
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While I got my X-series Seasonic PSU as part of a trade and I wouldn't recommend anyone going so overboard normally, having a PSU that makes zero noise even with an i7 and 290 fully-loaded is definitely nice if quiet computing is a priority. Not that the 290 is silent maxed out but the semi-passive PSU helps keep overall noise down.
future ghost fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Dec 27, 2014 |
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Dec 27, 2014 01:50
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Good idea. Just ordered this since it was on sale and cost the same as the G series. I will be RMAing the G series. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
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Dec 27, 2014 02:41
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Based on a recommendation in the Parts Picker thread, I picked up an ASUS GTX 970 today. Specifically this model: http://www.asus.com/us/Graphics_Cards/STRIXGTX980DC2OC4GD5/ After a bit of twisting to get it into my case (Antec Lanboy), it still doesn't seem to fit properly. It slides into the slot properly, and the latch engages, but the screwholes on the backplate don't line up with those in the chassis. Like, the card is seated properly, but I can't get the screws in. Any ideas? Seems like I could bend the backplate, possibly, but I'm not about to do that. It's almost like the card needs an extra couple mm in that direction to line up with my case's backplate. I mean the thing works, I'm using it right now. But I'm going to need to actually screw it in before long; I have my case lying horizontally at the moment. Also, the fans aren't turning, even though I certainly plugged the power cable into the cooling unit. Do the fans just not turn at a light load, or do I need to check the power connection? I can't seem to find an 8 pin PCI Express power connector, but I have a 6+2. Is that the right one? Capn Jobe fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Dec 27, 2014 |
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Dec 27, 2014 04:18
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Capn Jobe posted:Based on a recommendation in the Parts Picker thread, I picked up an ASUS GTX 970 today. Specifically this model: I've had this happen on occasion and every time I was usually able to get it to go with a little force. I don't have that specific case so it's if really bad, this may not be sound advice. Obviously you don't want the card pulling forward out of the pci-e slot or anything, so you may need to loosen the motherboard mounting screws slightly and shift the whole thing back for a tiny amount of extra play. You definitely want the thing to be attached to the case since it's so heavy, it will need the support. On that model the fans don't turn on until the card gets under load, usually in 3d applications. It's a feature! The PCI-E 6+2 cable is the same as the 8 pin when you attach the 2 to the 6, so you should be set there.
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Dec 27, 2014 04:41
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I just purchased a 4TB WD Elements external HDD on boxing day, I was able to format it using Minitool Partition and begin transferring over some of my media collection but it has begun acting up and causing issues with my system. I'm wondering how I go about retrieving the files on it, what program to reformat it with and which file system to use. Here are my current PC specs: Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 CPU - AMD Athlon II X4 620 4800+ SSD - 128gb Crucial M4 Internal HDDs - 1TB WD Caviar Black, 3TB WD Caviar Green, 2TB WD Caviar Green External HDDs - 4TB WD Elements RAM - Corsair DDR2 6GB: 4 slots, 2x2GB, 2x1GB GPU - Current: MSI Radeon HD 7850 Twin Frozr III 860MHZ 2GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 (overclocked to 953mhz Core Clock 1348mhz Memory Clock using MSI Afterburner), Backup: ATI Radeon HD Asus EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
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Dec 27, 2014 12:21
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If you're sure it's just the external drive having issues and not something else given the PC's age, it's probably safer and easier just to return it for a replacement since it would be within the store's exchange window. Not worth fighting with a drive that's defective out of the box.
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Dec 27, 2014 17:32
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