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When to stop using a hard drive? What rules/software apply?

When having a old hard disk - when should you stop using it ?

I recently got a new 1 TB hard disk, and am left with 3 old hard drives (320 GB, 250GB, 160 GB).

I am now wondering which of them to keep using and for how long.

Assuming some of them have bad sectors, and are over 2 years old (the smaller one, I think, over 4 years old) - what should I do?

What rules/ testing software, apply here?

What PCI video card should I get for my third display? [closed]

I got a new display, but my PC vid card only has two heads. Looking for recommendation that satisfies this:

• PCI (not express, my motherboard only has one express slot)
• Fanless
• Powerful enough to support Vista Aero at 1280x1024.

Two more items that would be great if I could find them:

• Nvidia-based (I like the unified drivers... already have an Nvidia card, and sticking to the same line might reduce driver conflicts)
• DVI

Thanks.

Good Digital Pen that Integrates with Microsoft OneNote

Does anyone know of a good digital pen product (like the Logitech IO2) that:

1. Can cleanly integrate with Microsoft OneNote
2. Works with regular paper (not expensive DPS paper)
3. Works with Windows 7 - ideally Win7 x64

Are there any alternatives to the Apple Mighty Mouse that have the small trackball for scrolling?

Other than the Mighty Mouse itself, that is, as I don't like their tactile "feel". Preferably with:

• USB interface
• OSX/Windows support
• 3+ buttons

Maximum number of monitors Win 7 Supports?

I want to set up a system with (9) monitors arranged in a 3x3 grid.

Is this configuration possible with Windows 7? Does it max out at a set number of monitors?

Any suggestions about known working hardware combinations would be much appreciated. Currently considering (3) nVidia Quadro NVS420 cards to drive the array.

Making an old computer quieter

I have an old Athlon XP computer that I've been using as a Smoothie Router for about 3 years now, after my first Smoothie router (a Pentium 2 266Mhz) died. One of the most aggravating things about this computer is the fact that its noisy. I have built recent computers that have been quiet, but my secret for those is to get high CFU fans and then use the motherboard's fan controllers to make those fans quiet. This computer doesn't have that ability.

Can anyone recommend some super quiet fans in the 80mm and 120mm sizes, as well as a quiet CPU cooler for Socket 754?

What are PCI and PCI Express slots used for?

I'm comparing different Micro-ATX motherboards for a home server build and I was wondering what I would use PCI and PCI Express slots for?

Are these used for hard-drives, GPUs, RAID controllers, RAM et cetera?

What kind of PCI slot should I aim for and how many are usually needed?

What do I need to consider when buying hardware to meet my needs?

I'm looking to build a new computer from the ground up. I'm not sure what to look out for and need guidance and help on how to pick the hardware needed to construct my new rig.

How do I know what to buy?

• How do I find out if a given CPU will be enough for a certain game or application that I want to run?

• How do I find out if a given graphics card will be enough for a certain game or application?

• What is important when looking at motherboards?

• How much memory do I need?

• How do I know how much wattage I need for a power supply?

• What size case do I need?

• What relevant standards do I need to read up on and be aware of?

  PCI, PCIe, SATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, etc...

• What "gotchas" do I need to be on the lookout for?

Please keep responses generation-agnostic to ensure they will be helpful to our future users.

While Stack Exchange does not permit shopping recommendations, it doesn't provide any general advice to consider when buying hardware. So, instead of just telling those that ask what to buy that it's not allowed, let's tell them how to figure out what they need.

This question was Super User Question of the Week #20
Read the June 20, 2011 blog entry for more details or submit your own Question of the Week.

Computer and Internet use on a boat?

Let's assume that I seriously would like to be able to use my computer as easily and as carefreely while on a boat as I do while at home. In short, if I were on a boat for extended periods, such as two weeks at a time and occasionally over a few days out of port (this would be a two-person sailing vessel), what would my options be for power, durability, and of course, Internet access?

I want more than just email, as I will likely keep doing a tad of development, and will be looking at Google Earth from time to time.

I am already assuming that we're going with some kind of laptop, maybe even a MacBook Pro 12". I personally feel that netbooks are underpowered. And the last computer that I got a boat-friendly rating for was a ZX Spectrum, which was before the Internet, and it was likely due to it's 12 VDC happiness.

Recommended gigabit 802.11n routers that work with DD-WRT [closed]

I've read this question, and checked out the supported devices list, but am looking specifically for a gigabit 802.11n router that is easy to find and fully supported by DD-WRT.

It seems like some of the Linksys WRT300N-series are a good idea, but I'm not sure which of these are easily available and fully supported.

If you think 802.11n is a waste of time, that's also an acceptable answer. Just let me know why. In that case, I'm perfectly happy to go with the standard Linksys WRT54GL.

What hardware combination should I consider for a 20TB file server? [closed]

I want to build a file server for my home media. The server will only be used to serve files to my Media PC. Essentially all it needs to do is be able to expose around 20TB of shared folders.

I don't really have a clue on server hardware, or even if this can be done with desktop hardware. I need some of the following considerations answered please:

1. What motherboards are able to hold 20 SATA connections? I've decided to go for 1TB drives. Obviously I won't be buying these upfront, but add them as my media collection grows. I've never seen a motherboard with 20 SATA connections, so I'm guessing you can get controller cards to handle more HDDs.

2. I've heard of something called a SAN; would it be in my best interests to try and find a cheap second hand SAN, or should I try and find a cheap second hand file server? Alternatively would it be better to try and rig a desktop to perform the task? I mainly want reliability, but price is also a governing factor.

3. Knowing all this there is another solution. I have an old laptop that has USB ports. I could also buy an external USB drive and then have these running all the time connected via USB to this laptop. However, I'm not wild about having 20 USB drives connected to 1 laptop (not even sure if this would work), but the power cables required to power 20 USB drives would be insane!

Any recommendations are most welcome.

Do "Natural" keyboards make it harder to use standard keyboards?

I am considering purchasing this style keyboard with the split keys.

I found it a bit awkward to use at first but I'm sure I will get used to it. That's the problem.

If you use this style keyboard almost exclusively, do you find it harder to type when you sit in front of a regular keyboard?

I travel a lot and work on other people's computer systems. I'm affraid I will "get used to" my keyboard and make it harder on myself when I have to type on a regular keyboard.

Home media storage solution

I record lots of personal HD film footage and am looking for a cheap way to store all of this. I take ~120 GB of footage each month, so something expandable would be nice... something that might be able to hold 6+ SATA drives.

There is a low load requirement, as there is never more than a user or two... but it should be able to keep up with streaming 2 simultanious HD videos.

I don't really want to spend more than $200-$300 on top of the $900 I am thinking of spending for 6X2TB SATA drives@ $150 apiece, but I am willing to pay extra for a quality solution.

Should I get a cheap NAS server? a cheap multi-drive external enclosure? should I just get some used systems off craigslist? If it is an independent system I'll probably just throw ubuntu on it since I can maintain that well. Its easy to do a software raid from ubuntu too, if I choose to go that way.

Thanks

Buying a laptop, specs are confusing me

So, the FSB and cache specs are what confuse me.

Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)

as opposed to paying $200 more for:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache)

Would that be worth it? I'm a .Net developer, I listen to music, I do NOT watch movies, I don't do much else. Basically, Visual Studio, Firefox, and SQL Server Management Studio.

is an extra 2 MB and 266 Mhz on the cache and FSB respectively worth it?

PS -- I'm throwing around terms like I know what they mean. I really don't. I mean, I know what a cache is, and I know FSB means Front Side Bus, and I've read about them in wikipedia, but that really REALLY didn't help me translate this into something I can use and understand.

What limits my laptop on upgrading RAM at 8GB?

I have a Toshiba Portege M780-S7240. It's an i7, 64-bit and currently has 4GB RAM. I'd like to upgrade to 16GB. (If it matters, I'm running 64-bit Ubuntu.)

I checked with a RAM vendor who said it wasn't possible with my config, and saw the user guide says:

"Configured with 4GB (2GB+2GB) DDR3 1066MHz (max 8GB)"

What causes this hard limit? What exactly is the limitation or combination of limitations that keeps it from supporting 16GB? Is it the motherboard? Is there a firmware upgrade I can do to get beyond this?

EDIT

Here's a link to the specs from the manufacturer. (It's a PDF.) I've been told that these PDFS are created before release, and usually not updated as firmware changes.