RAIDING different size drives

[David Brown]

David Brown wrote:



<edited>

Hello, David:

If you check my message headers, you'll notice that I'm still using
Netscape Communicator 4.8. This is the final version of the program
(released in 2003) and during the interim, Netscape, itself, has
gone out of business.

Why do I bother with such an old, unsupported application, you may
ask? Well, it's because I know how to back up its folders, to my
external hard drive. Then, whenever I must reinstall Windows and
everything else, I merely copy those folders over, afterward.

This method allows me to keep my e-mail and Usenet data completely
intact, and without any "seams." I'm unaware of how to do such a
thing, in other browsers/readers (and I absolutely despise Outlook
Express, besides).

Incidentally, I've been unable to send e-mail, with Communicator,
since September of 2006; I assume that my dial-up ISP (Concentric)
made some kind of change, then, which caused the problem.

Hence, I've needed to employ Outlook Express, for this purpose.
(Plus, I use the "Send Later" function, in Communicator, so that
all of those messages appear there, also.)

It's all rather kludgy, and yet, fairly effective!


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

Backing up email effectively is something that individuals often have
trouble with, so I can fully understand you wanting to keep a system
that you know works. However, have you tried Thunderbird? It's the
descendant of Netscape Communicator, and keeps emails in standard mbox
format that should be easy to backup and restore by simply copying over
the files. I've no idea what your problem might be with your ISP, but
if it works with OE, then I'm sure it will work with Thunderbird.

mvh.,

David

 

[David Brown]

Hello, David:

Rod Speed is Australian, for your information...and, during my 6+ years
as a regular reader of this newsgroup (and sometimes poster, to it), I've
found that he's very knowledgeable about computers.

I've figured out that he is Australian (the reference to "pom" is a dead
give-away). And I can also see that he's very knowledgeable - I've
learned from him here. For some reason, we seem to clashed badly in
this thread. A bit of light argument is common in newsgroups - I'm not
sure why this got so out of control here, and I regret that it has. We
certainly don't seem to agree on all points (though I believe we agree
on many), but that's fair enough - everyone has differences of opinion,
experience, and requirements, and it would be rather boring if it were
otherwise. And I'm sure some disagreements are due to one side or the
other being wrong, and plenty are due to misunderstandings. Hopefully
our little conflict has blown over now.

 

[David Brown]

Hello, David:

I believe that 2, 8, and 9 may be applicable, but, not the others.

<large cut of pro-Linux advice>

Sorry, man...I'm a Windows "lifer." <g> In fact, for my upcoming
home-built PC project, I'd already bought an OEM version of Vista
Home Premium 64-bit (with SP1), last year.

I prefer to use a mixture, with different software depending on the job.
For me, that means mostly Linux on servers, Windows on workstations -
and that's a general recommendation I give to others. Of course, it all
depends on your own experience, knowledge and needs - now I know you are
a knowledgeable and committed windows user with no interest in Linux (or
other systems), I'd recommend looking at a windows server box for your
file storage and/or backups!

Remember the engineers' motto - "Use the right tool for the job. And if
you don't have the right tool, use a hammer".

 

[Rod Speed]

I prefer to use a mixture, with different software depending on the
job. For me, that means mostly Linux on servers, Windows on
workstations - and that's a general recommendation I give to others. Of course, it all depends on your own experience,
knowledge and needs
- now I know you are a knowledgeable and committed windows user with
no interest in Linux (or other systems), I'd recommend looking at a
windows server box for your file storage and/or backups!

No point in most home users farting around with servers.

Remember the engineers' motto - "Use the right tool for the job.

And servers for home users is nothing like that.

 

[Rod Speed]

I've figured out that he is Australian (the reference to "pom" is a
dead give-away). And I can also see that he's very knowledgeable -
I've learned from him here. For some reason, we seem to clashed
badly in this thread. A bit of light argument is common in
newsgroups - I'm not sure why this got so out of control here, and I
regret that it has. We certainly don't seem to agree on all points
(though I believe we agree on many), but that's fair enough -
everyone has differences of opinion, experience, and requirements,
and it would be rather boring if it were otherwise. And I'm sure
some disagreements are due to one side or the other being wrong, and
plenty are due to misunderstandings. Hopefully our little conflict
has blown over now.

I've just got a very blunt style. It has been likened to a smack in the face with a dead fish |-)

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Rod Speed wrote

I want David Brown to understand that, "buying decent
quality components" has always been my goal --

Trouble is that its a hell of a lot easier said than done.

and one which I've largely accomplished, in my estimation.

But you dont operate at anything like the bleeding edge technology wise.

Its a hell of a lot harder to do if you did.

For example, I first heard of what a great value Samsung hard disks
are, a number of years ago, by reading your recommendations of this
particular brand, here in <as a result, I've been a satisfied Samsung (internal) HDD purchaser,
exclusively, since 2004.

Sure, but the deathstars are an absolutely classic illustration of the problem.

Superficially you would have expected that IBM should have been a
source of quality components, it turned out that even they ended up
with a massive problem that eventually produced a full class action suit.

And when buying something like a current drive, it wasnt clear
at that stage that deathstars werent quality components.

And we have seen every hard drive manufacturer have its line of duds too.

We've just been lucky that Samsung hasnt had one YET.

 

[David Brown]

John Turco wrote


Trouble is that its a hell of a lot easier said than done.

True, but it is possible to increase your chances of getting good parts.
As you say, Deathstars show that you have no guarantees, but certainly
a bit of web research and looking beyond the price tag will help. (Not
that expensive is necessarily better, but very cheap is less likely to
be good.)

But you dont operate at anything like the bleeding edge technology wise.

Its a hell of a lot harder to do if you did.

That's a good reason to let others test the new stuff, and pick
something that is solid enough to have stayed on the market for some
time. It's not called the "bleeding" edge for nothing.

 

[Rod Speed]

David Brown wrote

Rod Speed wrote

True, but it is possible to increase your chances of getting good parts.

Problem is that with motherboards, power supplys and hard drives,
they are all quite reliable and when we do see a significant problem
like the one we have seen with bad caps, that shows up long after
any purchasing decisions and we didnt even see particular brands
immune from that because of the way they do their quality control etc.

The most you can really do is consider whether you like
the risk of hard drives made in china with Seagate etc.

As you say, Deathstars show that you have no guarantees, but
certainly a bit of web research and looking beyond the price tag will help.

Not really, essentially because when we do see a systemic
problem like with the deahtstars and the caps, they only
show up long after any buying decisions have been made.

With hard drives currently, you can see that Seagate is having some
significant problems with drives you are likely to consider buying, but
that isnt true with say motherboards and power supplys etc.

I did at one time choose to stick with reputable brands with power
supplys and but still managed to end up with one that turned out to
have a significant failure rate with a fault that killed what was powered
by the power supply. Fortunately that became clear before mine died.

(Not that expensive is necessarily better, but very cheap is less likely to be good.)

Thats just plain wrong with PC components.

That's a good reason to let others test the new stuff, and pick
something that is solid enough to have stayed on the market for some time. It's not called the "bleeding" edge for
nothing.

Yes, but he uses dinosaur technology, a P3 currently.

Those have their own problems, because they are so obsolete now.

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote


OK. Most likely something hardware wise is corrupting the install.

Hello, Rod:

But, I wasn't installing anything; I'd merely switched on the computer. (It
had been off, for about a day.)

You dont do a repair install that way.

I never said it was a "repair install." It was a "system repair" and seemed
to be going well -- except, after I rebooted, nothing changed.

You proceed as if you are doing a clean install AND DONT FORMAT
THE PARTITION YOU ARE INSTALLING TO. XP will say that its
found an existing install and will offer to repair it. You agree to that.

Well, as I wrote above, that's what I did (to no avail).

The big advantage over a clean install is that the settings and apps already installed
arent affect.

Whatever I tried, it didn't work.

That usually means that the install has got corrupted.

If you use a logged install, you will usually see where its getting to when booting.

Since another clean install works, that does mean that you havent seen one
common cause of that symptom, some hardware dying and that causing the
device driver for that hardware not able to start that hardware at boot time.

Recall, though: No install (of any kind) was attempted.

Yeah, tho capacitor failure on the motherboard is quite common with that era hardware.

My AT mainboard (Tyan S1830S "Tsunami") has an LED, mounted on it. As long as it stays
a steady green, it indicates that the S1830S, itself, is perfectly healthy...according
to Tyan, at least. ;-)

Thats the problem with intermittent faults, they can be a complete pain in the arse.

Indeed! Nonetheless, I probably should just order the SATA controller card and get on
with the task of upgrading my internal storage system.

What do you think?


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote:



'person' from england. Otherwise known as whinging poms.

Hello, Rod:

I just did a brief Google Groups search, and it led me to a Web site (Fun Trivia.com
<http://www.funtrivia.com>), in which one poster ("jimbo9") offered this account:


Fun Triva - Why are people from England colloquially known as 'Poms', and is this only commonly used
in Australia? <http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question63250.html>

jimbo9

'It dates back to when convicts were transported to the Colonies ie Australia. They were called
"PRISONERS OF HIS MAJESTY POHM. Pronounced POMS. I have only ever heard Australians use this term.'

Mar 08 06, 5:39 PM

Does that sound plausible, to you?

http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cach...opic=83063+mvh+means&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

Followed your link and learned that "MVH" is Swedish, for MED VANLIG HALSNING:

"With Kind Regards"

MVH is also Norwegian, I'd guess; if so, that's why our ol' Scotsman, David Brown (who's
presently living in Norway), uses it.

If I told you that, I'd have to kill you. Again.

<edited>

Argh, no! I'll take a stab at it, myself:

gte = go to 'ell

Okay, that was pretty weak, I must admit. <g>


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

Nope, in fact it should appear in the body of the text of the post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-No-Archive

Hello, Rod:

Here's a quote, from the Wikepedia page, linked above:

'Some software systems also do not archive if the first line in
the body of the message contains this text. This is useful for
those users who cannot change the header of messages they send
out. If the X-No-Archive field is set to "No", or the field is
absent, a Usenet archive will not recognise a prohibition on
the message's archival.'

The "Some software systems" phrase is somewhat vague, to me. I
might be mistaken, but, does this imply that most news browsers
require "X-No-Archive: yes" to be included with the headers?


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote:



Backing up email effectively is something that individuals often have
trouble with, so I can fully understand you wanting to keep a system
that you know works. However, have you tried Thunderbird? It's the
descendant of Netscape Communicator, and keeps emails in standard mbox
format that should be easy to backup and restore by simply copying over
the files. I've no idea what your problem might be with your ISP, but
if it works with OE, then I'm sure it will work with Thunderbird.

mvh.,

David

Hello, David:

I did install Thunderbird, once; but, it didn't resolve my ISP issue.
After September '06, Outlook Express proved to be the >only< thing
that would dispatch my e-mail messages.

Luckily, Communicator has never had any qualms about Usenet posting.
Regardless of its advanced age, I still consider it to be the best,
overall program, for both e-mail and newsgroups.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote:


I prefer to use a mixture, with different software depending on the job.
For me, that means mostly Linux on servers, Windows on workstations -
and that's a general recommendation I give to others. Of course, it all
depends on your own experience, knowledge and needs - now I know you are
a knowledgeable and committed windows user with no interest in Linux (or
other systems), I'd recommend looking at a windows server box for your
file storage and/or backups!

Remember the engineers' motto - "Use the right tool for the job. And if
you don't have the right tool, use a hammer".

<edited>

Hello, David:

Well, then...I'll be "hammering away" with Windows, long into the future.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

Rod Speed wrote:

I've just got a very blunt style. It has been likened to a smack in the face with a dead fish |-)

Hello, Rod:

Speaking of "very blunt styles," neither Folkert Rienstra, nor any of his various "sock puppets,"
have posted here, in some months.

Whatever could've happened to our Dour Dutchman, eh? Would he be content, with merely lurking <g>


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Rod Speed wrote

Speaking of "very blunt styles," neither Folkert Rienstra, nor any
of his various "sock puppets," have posted here, in some months.

Yeah, noticed that. Did wonder if the complete implosion of the world
financial system had seen the loony bin take away his net access or what.

Havent checked if he has vanished completely tho or just gone from here.

groups.google claims that he hasnt been seen since Nov last year, but
its had a very serious bug for a long time now with sorting by date, the
number of hits on author Folkert Rienstra drops from 15.6K to 460.

Whatever could've happened to our Dour Dutchman, eh?
Would he be content, with merely lurking <g>

Tad unlikely }-)

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Rod Speed wrote

Here's a quote, from the Wikepedia page, linked above:

'Some software systems also do not archive if the first line in
the body of the message contains this text. This is useful for
those users who cannot change the header of messages they send
out. If the X-No-Archive field is set to "No", or the field is
absent, a Usenet archive will not recognise a prohibition on
the message's archival.'

The "Some software systems" phrase is somewhat vague, to me. I
might be mistaken, but, does this imply that most news browsers
require "X-No-Archive: yes" to be included with the headers?

It isnt actually relevant to news clients, its only relevant to news servers and close like groups.google

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Rod Speed wrote

I just did a brief Google Groups search, and it led me to a Web site
(Fun Trivia.com <http://www.funtrivia.com>), in which one poster
("jimbo9") offered this account:

Fun Triva - Why are people from England colloquially known as 'Poms',
and is this only commonly used in Australia?
<http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question63250.html>

'It dates back to when convicts were transported to the Colonies ie
Australia. They were called "PRISONERS OF HIS MAJESTY POHM.
Pronounced POMS. I have only ever heard Australians use this term.'

Mar 08 06, 5:39 PM

Does that sound plausible, to you?

That one has a hell of a lot of alternative explanations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poms#Pommy

Followed your link and learned that "MVH" is Swedish, for MED VANLIG HALSNING:

"With Kind Regards"

MVH is also Norwegian, I'd guess; if so, that's why our ol' Scotsman,
David Brown (who's presently living in Norway), uses it.

Argh, no! I'll take a stab at it, myself:

gte = go to 'ell

Okay, that was pretty weak, I must admit. <g>

Yes, you failed, again.

 

[Rod Speed]

John Turco wrote

Rod Speed wrote

But, I wasn't installing anything;

I didnt mean that sort of install. I meant the existing install of the OS on that hard drive.

I'd merely switched on the computer. (It had been off, for about a day.)

And it isnt that unusual for that to corrupt an existing install with a hardware fault.

I never said it was a "repair install." It was a "system repair" and
seemed to be going well -- except, after I rebooted, nothing changed.

Yeah, you need to do a proper repair install instead.

Well, as I wrote above, that's what I did

No it isnt, you used the repair console which is an entirely different operation.

(to no avail).

Whatever I tried, it didn't work.

So try a proper repair install next time it happens.

That should have read

Recall, though: No install (of any kind) was attempted.

See above.

My AT mainboard (Tyan S1830S "Tsunami") has an LED, mounted
on it. As long as it stays a steady green, it indicates that the S1830S,
itself, is perfectly healthy...according to Tyan, at least. ;-)

Corse it does and you should solder one of those onto the current motherboard.

Indeed! Nonetheless, I probably should just order the SATA controller
card and get on with the task of upgrading my internal storage system.

What do you think?

Yeah, they cost peanuts, worth trying.

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote


Yeah, noticed that. Did wonder if the complete implosion of the world
financial system had seen the loony bin take away his net access or what.

Havent checked if he has vanished completely tho or just gone from here.

groups.google claims that he hasnt been seen since Nov last year, but
its had a very serious bug for a long time now with sorting by date, the
number of hits on author Folkert Rienstra drops from 15.6K to 460.


Tad unlikely }-)

Hello, Rod:

Or, perhaps - being a Hollander - he could've forgotten to stick his
finger in the dyke and therefore, his padded cell became flooded and
he drowned?

Then, again, that "dyke" may have given poor, ol' Folkert, "the finger,"
instead.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[John Turco]

John Turco wrote






That one has a hell of a lot of alternative explanations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poms#Pommy

<edited for brevity>

Hello, Rod:

Interesting reading...especially, that part about some Britishers
alleging "Pom" to be a "racist" term.

What an ironic twist, eh? <g>


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>