Quick [tech] Questions Thread

[Soln]

ultimately just for safety -- I'd like a dedicated platter and an other backup platter.  From experience, sadly.  And my other internal drives are already full'ish.

[Viin]

It'd be pretty easy to setup an SVN repository on your local drive and have it backed up to .. anything really. Dropbox, iDisk, another HD, whatever. Just do a normal automated backup routine.

You could also use a 3rd party SVN provider such as www.unfuddle.com - you can get a free account if you don't need a lot of room and only 2 accounts to access the SVN.

[Ironwood]

Anyone know of a quick wee application that can count amounts of files in a structure ?

I'm looking for a count of xls files on a server.  Windows is shite for that kinda thing (unless you know different...)

[Engels]

Try http://windirstat.info I believe it will analyse useage by file type.

[Viin]

Can't you just search by *.xls in the normal Windows search window and view the number of files in the status bar when it's done?

[Ironwood]

Finance firm.  I have over a quarter of a million files.

So, no.

[Murgos]

Anyone know of a quick wee application that can count amounts of files in a structure ?

I'm looking for a count of xls files on a server.  Windows is shite for that kinda thing (unless you know different...)

dir /b /s *.xls > xlscount.txt

will give you a list of all the files (and their path, one to a line) in a file called xlscount.txt

Windows doesn't have a 'wc' command otherwise counting would be trivial however then you can do something like

find /c ".xls" xlscount.txt

which will count all the lines that have .xls in it in the file xlscount.txt and display that on the screen

In my case from where I launched the search the output I got was

-------- XLSCOUNT.TXT: 133

which seems right.

YMMV, free internet help and all.

edit: in UNIX you would do:

\>find . -name "*.xls" -print | wc -l

[Ironwood]

Try http://windirstat.info I believe it will analyse useage by file type.

Fucking lovely.

Cheers mate.

Thanks also to the other advisors.

[Engels]

glad to be of service!

[Viin]

Anyone know if current motherboards can handle two PCI-E video cards that aren't SLIed/CrossFired together?

[Ironwood]

Sorry to jump in, I have another question.

Company has a lot of Word Documents with a particular logo and brand (I mean a lot of Word documents.)

Lo and behold, new images and footers and wee fiddly bits are needed as part of the rebrand.

How the hell does one make sure that the old letters have the new style ?  If it was in Powerpoint, I could apply a style globablly to a master, but in Word it seems NOT TO BE THERE.

Help me.

[SurfD]

New quick question:

From what i can see, windows 7 will give you the option to install either a 32 or 64 bit version of the OS off of one Product Key.  Does anyone know if Windows XP was the same way?

I have an XP Pro product key, and my current system is 32 bit.  Getting a new PC very soon, and would like to know if I can just download a 64 bit XP install disk and switch to 64 bit when the new machine is ready.  Or would i need a 64 bit specific Product key for that?

Yeah, i know, I should go Win 7, but I cant justify spending 200 to 300 bucks on a retail install package for that just yet, and I will probably have the machine ready to go before i can get around to trying to score a copy of Win 7 through one of my colledge buddies and a student discount.

[Kageh]

Anyone know if current motherboards can handle two PCI-E video cards that aren't SLIed/CrossFired together?

Depends on what you want to do with them. I think it is possible to use an Nvidia something for PhysX in addition to a regular video card, on most motherboards with two PCI-E slots. I can't think of other scenarios aside from SLI/Crossfire or that.

[Salamok]

Anyone know if current motherboards can handle two PCI-E video cards that aren't SLIed/CrossFired together?

Depends on what you want to do with them. I think it is possible to use an Nvidia something for PhysX in addition to a regular video card, on most motherboards with two PCI-E slots. I can't think of other scenarios aside from SLI/Crossfire or that.

probably wants to run 4 monitors

New quick question:

From what i can see, windows 7 will give you the option to install either a 32 or 64 bit version of the OS off of one Product Key.  Does anyone know if Windows XP was the same way?

I have an XP Pro product key, and my current system is 32 bit.  Getting a new PC very soon, and would like to know if I can just download a 64 bit XP install disk and switch to 64 bit when the new machine is ready.  Or would i need a 64 bit specific Product key for that?

Yeah, i know, I should go Win 7, but I cant justify spending 200 to 300 bucks on a retail install package for that just yet, and I will probably have the machine ready to go before i can get around to trying to score a copy of Win 7 through one of my colledge buddies and a student discount.

I seem to recall Microsoft offering a 1 way/1 time trade to upgrade your 32bit XP Pro for 64bit XP Pro, but it has been awhile so I may be remembering that wrong.  Either way XP 64 bit is a really really bad OS, if you are planning on using it as your main workstation you should probably stick with XP 32 bit.

[Viin]

Anyone know if current motherboards can handle two PCI-E video cards that aren't SLIed/CrossFired together?

Depends on what you want to do with them. I think it is possible to use an Nvidia something for PhysX in addition to a regular video card, on most motherboards with two PCI-E slots. I can't think of other scenarios aside from SLI/Crossfire or that.

probably wants to run 4 monitors

Just 2. Figured I could put my aux monitor on my second (crappier) Nvidia card, with my primary card dedicated to my primary display for games. But if that doesn't work I may try the PhysX dedicated card, as that sounds interesting as well (though I donno if my crappier Nvidia card supports PhysX).

[SurfD]

I seem to recall Microsoft offering a 1 way/1 time trade to upgrade your 32bit XP Pro for 64bit XP Pro, but it has been awhile so I may be remembering that wrong.  Either way XP 64 bit is a really really bad OS, if you are planning on using it as your main workstation you should probably stick with XP 32 bit.

Well, thing is, my new machine will have 6 gigs of ram (tripple channel memory), and i would like to take advantage of all of it.  If i did stick with XP 32 bit, is it going to be unstable trying to deal with more memory then it can properly access, or will it just ignore the extra ram it can't use?

[Salamok]

I seem to recall Microsoft offering a 1 way/1 time trade to upgrade your 32bit XP Pro for 64bit XP Pro, but it has been awhile so I may be remembering that wrong.  Either way XP 64 bit is a really really bad OS, if you are planning on using it as your main workstation you should probably stick with XP 32 bit.

Well, thing is, my new machine will have 6 gigs of ram (tripple channel memory), and i would like to take advantage of all of it.  If i did stick with XP 32 bit, is it going to be unstable trying to deal with more memory then it can properly access, or will it just ignore the extra ram it can't use?

It just ignores it.

[lamaros]

Nevermind I'm an idiot.

[Redgiant]

I seem to recall Microsoft offering a 1 way/1 time trade to upgrade your 32bit XP Pro for 64bit XP Pro, but it has been awhile so I may be remembering that wrong.  Either way XP 64 bit is a really really bad OS, if you are planning on using it as your main workstation you should probably stick with XP 32 bit.

Well, thing is, my new machine will have 6 gigs of ram (tripple channel memory), and i would like to take advantage of all of it.  If i did stick with XP 32 bit, is it going to be unstable trying to deal with more memory then it can properly access, or will it just ignore the extra ram it can't use?

It just ignores it.

"Go directly to Win7. Do not pass XP64 or Vista, do not collect lose $200."

That is how you use your 6 Gb.

[Engels]

Phew, what a way to spend a Sunday. A corrupted bios can lead to all sorts of fun methodic hardware testing! Fun for you and your ulcer!

Long story short, in the process of switching out CPUs to test -that- element, I broke the small little connector pin on one of the 4 push-insert-snap-on thingies on my CPU cooler. I'm going to have to replace the whole danged thing, since I can't see an easy way of replacing the pin 'element'.

So, anyone have a suggestion for an aftermarket LGA 755 socket CPU cooler? I don't OC, but the current one in there, the factory cooler, isn't all that great.

My preference is to not have to remove the MOBO to install it. I know, this means I'm stuck with the dreadely awful intel push-pin mechanism, but I'll live till I upgrade to another system.

[Lantyssa]

Honestly, I found yanking the motherboard to get a permanent fan mount was worth never having to deal with a push pin again.  Whomever designed them is sponsored by all that is Evil and Unholy.

Thirty minutes of futzing only to have the damn fan pop off within the week?  No thanks.

[Engels]

Ok, assuming I'm willing to cave and unscrew the mobo to do this, what CPU fan do you recommend? I've been out of the loop in this dept for 2 years.

[Lantyssa]

I have a Xigmatek fan (push-pin out of the box so I had to get a mounting bracket from them as well).  It's worked well and is quiet.  I don't know much about fans though, so I can't say which would be the best brand overall.

Whatever you get, make sure a mounting bracket is included or available.

[Engels]

Hah, that's the cooler I have. The pushpin broke. So you can order the bracket mount? Did you get it from newegg?

[Lantyssa]

Hah, that's the cooler I have. The pushpin broke. So you can order the bracket mount? Did you get it from newegg?

Yes, both were from Newegg.  Make sure you get the correct type though.  Some match the 4-pipe mounts and some the 3-pipe.  I had to search a bit to find the one for mine as they had it categorized incorrectly at the time.

[Engels]

Well, I took your advice, Lanty. I got the right bracket (thanks for the heads up on the 3 vs 4 pipe) and I just got done installing the bish. Sure enough, as mentioned, the factory cooler push-pin mount had indeed popped out on one corner. I had temps verging on nearly 70 degrees running prime95. Crezy hot. The factory fan was throttling up to 2000 rpm to keep it down.

Now, I've run prime95 under the Xigmatek, screw mounted. With an ambient temp of 36, the fan throttles from a low of 1000 to 1200 under full load, with temps staying at 50 under continuous full load, idling at 38. In other words, a vast improvement (granted, with the borky pushpin coming out, even the factory cooler couldn't do its job).

[lac]

Do I need cooling on a 10k rpm disk?
I run ashampoo hdd control to keep an eye on the health of my disks and it tells me 42° C is too hot. My data disk runs at 38° and apparently that's cool enough for the software.
I'm asking because I remember seeing those velociraptors packed in a 3.5 tray heatsink. Mine is a naked 2.5 suspended in a 3.5 slot with elastic bands to reduce noise.

[Lantyssa]

Now, I've run prime95 under the Xigmatek, screw mounted. With an ambient temp of 36, the fan throttles from a low of 1000 to 1200 under full load, with temps staying at 50 under continuous full load, idling at 38. In other words, a vast improvement (granted, with the borky pushpin coming out, even the factory cooler couldn't do its job).

I'm glad it's working so well for you.

Do I need cooling on a 10k rpm disk?

lac, if it's a 4 degree difference then it sounds like it's just where the program is set to warn.  If you can fit it and you have a concern though, then sure, why not?  $20 for a reusable cooler which might save you HD degredation is probably worth it.  That's why I bought two heat-pipe HD coolers.  (Unfortunately they are not compatible with my current case, so I'm not using them.)

[Murgos]

Well, I know through experience that some HDD's will shut themselves off at 180F.  Interpret that how you want.

[Engels]

This is a bit ma-and-pa, but my first instinct is to attatch a bunch of VGA heatsinks like these. Just siphoning off the heat onto the cooling fins might be enough to keep the disk safe.

[lac]

It seems that when the disk came out, people would remove the drive from it's cooling tray and suspend it to reduce noise. After a while Wester Digital started selling the drives without cooling tray so people wouldn't void their warranties by removing it. That's the model I ended up with.
A silent pc is pretty much my number one concern so I'll stick with the naked drive for now and see what the temperature does during next summer. Thanks for the info.

[Thrawn]

So I'm thinking of picking up an external HD for my wife for Christmas, she really wants one for storing her photography on.

How sturdy are these drives usually?  As much as she will say she'll take care of it I know in time it will just be something she probably tosses in her purse as she heads out the door.  Any particular brands I should look for or avoid?  I know I've quit buying WD internal drives because I've had so many problems with them.

[Salamok]

So I'm thinking of picking up an external HD for my wife for Christmas, she really wants one for storing her photography on.

How sturdy are these drives usually?  As much as she will say she'll take care of it I know in time it will just be something she probably tosses in her purse as she heads out the door.  Any particular brands I should look for or avoid?  I know I've quit buying WD internal drives because I've had so many problems with them.

I have the Maxtor Onetouch III Mini drive and it is great.  I left it in the console of my truck for 6 months (during our record temp summer) and have had no issues.  I don't think I have dropped it yet though.  Best part of this drive is it is 100% USB powered, this is much easier to haul around than a solution that requires a power cord or even worse a brick.  It comes with a  2 foot USB Y cable to draw some extra juice from a 2nd USB port if needed but I haven't needed the 2nd hookup yet.

As much as I like this drive I think if I had to do it over again I'd go for a 64 gig USB stick, in theory that should be much more durable as well as being far more portable.

edit: I have the 160gb model, the Onetouch Mini 4 also offers 250gb and 320gb models.

[Yegolev]

I'll also suggest the smaller ones which do not require additional power.  At least in my case there is a bad power circuit at my wife's office that eats external drives.

[Lantyssa]

A silent pc is pretty much my number one concern so I'll stick with the naked drive for now and see what the temperature does during next summer. Thanks for the info.

This is out of order, but the concept of what I meant.  No fans, no noise, and if they do fit your case provide vibration damping.  I think mine are Zalman:  HD cooler