I’m not the only one

It appears that I’m not the only one that is concerned about limitations with USB 3.0.  A few days after my article/post, there is now one over at Tom’s Hardware.  They get paid to write their stuff and receive free stuff from the manufacturers so they can give more detailed information.  My post was a good start but if you want more of the details, check out there article:
Tom’s Hardware Overcoming Bottlenecks

USB 3.0 only 500Mbps, not 5Gbps

I don’t like flashy titles but thought I wanted to try and pull more attention to this post.  Since you readers know my posts can be hit or miss (a crazy rant or useful information), you may appreciate a more direct title?  Luckily I just happen to find things on occasion.  I see something and because I am normally detail oriented something that doesn’t look right jumps out at me.

I was checking out sale items at NewEgg again and saw a nice USB 3.0 Express card on sale.  I’ve been excited about USB 3.0 for a while now and have been happy to see it trickling onto new motherboards.  I would really like to see more flash drives become available (at least some affordable ones!) but that will take time. I’ve been looking at a Western Digital 1TB external USB 3.0 drive that comes with a 1x PCIe card for desktops also but the express card is what originally inspired this post.  When I looked at the specifications for the Express card I was concerned.  I don’t have all specifications memorized so I had to do a little research and found some very interesting information.

When checking specifications I originally thought that the fault may lie on the shoulders of NewEgg.  I’ve seen plenty of items at NewEgg that include the wrong information or not all the information needed for an item.  The device in question is from a pretty respectable manufacturer, SIIG.  I was really surprised to find that their site is basically the source of the bad information. Further investigation found more problems with just about every item I looked at!

Real quick I want to touch on a few obvious things.  I’ve read a lot about USB 3.0 and of course realize that some people may be confused when they do not see the reported 5 Gbit/s speed.  The reported speeds are theoretical and are also sometimes the burst data rate.  The sustained data rate will be lower.  Understand also that physical hard drives will never be that fast, hell they barely hit SATA 150 speeds.  Most memory doesn’t even get close either.  The best USB 2.0 flash drives available usually only hit about 30-40Mbit/s.  Really the only way you will get close to these high rates is with several Solid State Drives in a RAID array.

Now here is the problem I found.  SIIG has an Express Card and lists it as being capable of up to 5Gbit/s.  The problem with that is the fact that the Express Card connection to the PCIe bus only provides a 2.5Gbit/s path.  So they really need to change the specifications they list on their site and in the listing at NewEgg.  When I checked the specifications for the external drive I want at Western Digital’s site, I found they listed it being capable of 500MB/s.  Wow what a drop from the 5Gbit/s that USB 3.0 is supposed to provide!  It is correct though because the lane for PCIe on a desktop motherboard only provides 500Mbit/s per lane.  So the 1x PCIe card included with the WD kit will only provide 500Mbit/s.  The physical drive included in the enclosure will never surpass that speed so it makes sense.  Why include an 8x card that is more expensive when you would never get close to the 4Gbit/s speed it could provide?
Doing further research on this I found that this could possibly be a problem? I took the time to check some other PCIe cards on the market and they all promise 5Gbps speeds. They are all 1x PCIe cards so there is no way this is possible! Sure the USB 3.0 chip on the card may support the standard but the card itself is not capable of those speeds. So I really feel more effort needs to be put into these item listings or consumers will not be getting what they think they are getting.

While I’ve given a lot of information and specifications here, my main message is to just be careful and pay attention to the details.  The new USB 3.0 standard is exciting and promises a lot, just do not expect it all now.  Luckily this time around they were smart when they worked on this new standard.  Rather than a slight bump in speed that would require another standard within a few years, they went all the way and made this standard so it could possibly last 10 years like USB 2.0 has.  So do your research and watch the details before you make a purchase.  For some information on the Western Digital hard drive I mentioned above check out this link. It does show that USB 3.0 is faster, like I mentioned though…..don’t expect 5 Gbps speed with it!

Quick Freebie!

I was notified of this offer earlier today and apologize for the slow post.  You all know I do not like posting too much too quickly, but with this I have to.

Easus Data Recovery Wizard Professional free but only until Sunday.  I downloaded and installed this on a few of my computers.  I do not know how great this software is but I like and trust Easus so I have to at least install it on a few systems so I am ready to test its effectiveness.  Grab your copy here:  Free Easus DRW Pro link.

Falling short

Sometimes hardware research can be quite frustrating.  I’ve complained about Intel causing confusion and will probably complain more about it on a future date.  I read a some what interesting article lately about rugged external hard drives.  I may be in the market for something like that so I read it and did a little more research on my own.  One of the biggest problems with these drives is the brand.  I know one of them was A-Data and that bothers me a little.  I’m sure they make some decent products but their reputation isn’t really where I would like to see it if I plan on trusting a purchase.  With their external drives it would be nice to know who they buy their drives from.  If they put Hitachi or some other junk brand in then forget it I don’t trust it.  Having that information could and would stop me from thinking of purchasing their product.  However there is a little detail that does completely break this deal, the warranty!!  You design and make a rugged hard drive and certify it for 30 minutes under water and that it can take a fall.  Then you give us a 1 year warranty?  Maybe I’m just crazy?  Maybe I’m an idiot because I only buy drives that come with at least 3 years of warranty?

A product comes around with great claims and promises, only to fail in the details.  This isn’t an extreme case like a Core i5 purchase for a hard core gamer (I’ll get into that more in a future post) but it is a reminder to really check into the details.  I have posts about USB 3.0 and Intel processors that share this similarity, you have to watch the details and know the specifications.

I really like the look of these drives and would love to purchase a few.  However with questions marks on who the hdd manufacturer is and a horrible 1 year warranty, I will have to pass.  Data backups are just too important to me and with critical data you can not take chances.  If you are interested though, check out the drive here:
A-DATA rugged external hdd
Have any comments or suggestions?

I tried

This month I was going to attempt to post something every other day.  It started out pretty well but lately has been bad.  I have a few posts that I started but aren’t quite ready but they should be within the next few days.  I’ve been a bit distracted lately because I am trying my best to help get 3.60 released soon and I have another big idea.  Details on the other idea really do not affect any of you and at the moment I really can’t discuss it too much.  If any of you actually visit my Burrows Solutions site you may notice that stock on most higher priced items has been slipping lately.  I’m not giving up on the store, just having a hard time financially to keep it stocked.  Stay tuned because more informative and fun posts are coming.

Web Of Trust

I’m sure most of you have already heard about this wonderful tool but I thought I would take some time to talk about it a little.  These types of tools or services honestly drive me a little nuts.  Years ago there was Site Advisor but that was ruined when McAfee purchased it, actually they haven’t ruined it yet but I’m sure they will.  There are a few other similar tools out there but they aren’t as popular.  They drive me nuts because none of them will ever be the perfect tool.  Something as simple as this really does not need competition to make it better.  I would rather see all of these services to join forces and there only be one.  All resources and information put into one place so we do not have to go to multiple sites/services to find out the trustworthiness of a site.  That will never happen because everything of course runs on money and everyone wants their piece of the pie.  Most software, services, etc. do need competition but this is one of the few things I think needs to be simple for us.

I guess it is additionally frustrating for me because I have several sites.  I have UBCD4Win, this blog site, UBCD4WinDownloads.com, Burrows Solutions, and a few more that are not up yet.  I am trustworthy and want people to know that.  Problem is, most people do not seem to want to take the time to sign up for these free services and give their honest opinion.  With so many different ones I don’t blame them.

I really encourage you to check out Web of Trust though.  They have a very nice FireFox Add-on and this tool can really help keep you out of trouble.  I ask you to please also consider taking a little time to rate my sites.

The deck is stacked against us

Now I am really not trying to brag on myself with some comments later in this post.  I’m sure I’ve missed things in the past and I’m just really happy with this most recent “catch.”  I do not know everything and I am not the perfect tech.

In our jobs as computer techs there are some fundamental skills that make us good.  I have always felt that troubleshooting skills tops my list.  Then of course you need knowledge and experience.  I have argued many times that people right out of college or a certification have that knowledge now but if they have no troubleshooting skills or experience they are almost useless.  If you’ve ever taken your computer to geek squad, Staples, or similar then you know what I’m talking about!  I guess you have to have people skills too but if you are just working in the back of a shop then that isn’t as important.  If you want to start a business or have to interact with customers then it is important.

I am rather proud of a recent experience but it makes me realize that “the deck is stacked against us.”  Working on laptops can be troublesome to many shops.  There are so many different setups and proprietary configurations that it is hard to figure out what is really wrong with a laptop.  Case in point is a laptop I received Monday afternoon for a DC jack repair.  I always go through some checks and testing before I start tearing apart a laptop.  In the past I have received several that really didn’t have DC jack problems, just a bad charger.  In all honesty that is a bit frustrating for me because I look forward to that chance to make that money.  Oh well, at least I can normally make a couple of dollars on one of the universal laptop chargers I sell.

So through testing I found that the DC jack was fine and the unit powered on a couple of times for me.  However the LED light stopped working and then it eventually would not power on??  I knew it was getting juice but it just refused to turn on.  Luckily for me I had another working DV6000 sitting around in my home office so I had some spare parts to test with.  Now I will admit one of my downfalls here and luckily it doesn’t happen too much.  When I am thrown a “curve ball” I do not always react right.  I honestly get a little frustrated and normally just step back and think for a few hours or day.  It was getting late Monday night so I figured I needed to think about it and get back to it when I had more energy.  To me the logical part to go bad would be the little circuit board that has the power button and LED on it.  So that was the first thing I tried, no luck.  So I pulled other hardware and inspected connections just to get an idea of what was going on.  Finally I thought I would try the ribbon cable.  On these models there is a 6-8″ ribbon cable from that little circuit board that runs to the motherboard.  I replaced it and magically the computer started up!!!

Now I mention all of this just so you can marvel at my superior troubleshooting skills.  So you can pray to your God that he grant you my awesome powers!!  Also so you can realize how much better I am than you!  No seriously, I’m sorry for that.  Like I mentioned above, I know I’ve probably missed stuff on past systems.  I am just so happy that this laptop even powered on a few times at the beginning.  If it would not have then I honestly probably would not have figured out what was wrong with it.  Since almost all laptops are different how are we seriously supposed to be able to fix them?  Fortunately most of us have decent troubleshooting skills so we can figure it out and then we even luck out sometimes by having parts on hand to test with.  It makes me wonder how HP would have fixed it?  Do they have some type of miracle tester that just hooks up to it and tells the tech what is wrong?  This type of repair is quite satisfying though.  Especially when another shop said that it was the DC jack and the repair would cost $400!!  With proper troubleshooting though, it really ended up being a $6 ribbon cable!!

Back up your Backups!!

Once again just a few days ago I saw another Western Digital external hard drive that just pretty much died.  There was nothing I could do, I tried many tools but the drive was not recognizable.  Even though there were great family memories on the drive, the customer could not afford the $2K+ on recovery.  I wonder though, this is the second Western Digital drive.  Is this a coincidence?  I like Western Digital drives but have noticed a higher failure rate with them lately.  I wonder if their QC is going downhill?

The customer thought they were doing the right thing.  I have to give them credit, at least they had a backup plan.  It’s just unfortunate that one drive was the only part of that plan.  They asked for help and advice to make sure this wouldn’t happen again.  There are several different options out there but they all require money and time, something “home” computer users generally do not have.  I personally have a laptop that has two drives so I backup to the extra drive.  I also have about 7 external drives, with only 5 of them in service.  The others are smaller and/or older so I took them out of my backup routine and actually plan to send them to members of my development team so they have additional hardware to test and play with.  My desktop has 3 hard drives in it, one for the OS and the other two are for backups and archiving.  I have wasted spent a lot of money over the years on those drives and that is not something that “home” users want to do.

Generally I recommend that customers backup to at least one external drive and keep backups on DVDs.  My general idea for DVDs is to backup all data monthly or at least every other month depending on how much data they add.  I like the idea of redundancy with DVDs because they are cheap and I honestly do not completely trust them.  Manufacturers always report that their discs will last 100 years or more but I find that hard to believe.  It also depends on the environment that they are kept in, that affects life span.  I’ve had a few CD-RWs that after 3-4 years were unreadable.

Then there are online services.  I personally do not like or trust cloud computing.  I do not like the idea of my data sitting somewhere else.  What happens if there is a security problem on their end?  Will the nude “art” photos of myself end up on the Internet for everyone to see?!!?  Seriously though, I’ve read too many stories of these online services going out of business and leaving their customers with no data.  Sometimes you luck out and receive a warning, but the traffic to their site from all customers hurrying to get their data usually kills your ability to get your data.  Most of them though are just shut down with no warning and your data is lost forever.

Time is a big problem too.  “Normal” people have “real” jobs and family that get in the way.  Backing up irreplaceable data is not important enough to them, even after a disaster.  Even us computer geeks can fall short.  I’ve had a few occasions where I didn’t back something up or my backup was messed up.  I honestly forget to back up regularly also.

This last customer had a pretty good idea though.  I don’t know if my local market is big enough for it though?  I doubt that we could really compete with the online pricing either?  A local service for data backup does sound pretty good.  It would give me a really good excuse to finally build a “real” server for myself though!  I wish I had the money to do it and wish that I knew if it would at least pay for itself in the end.

In conclusion, please be prepared.  Warn your friends, colleagues, family, and others of the possible disaster that not having a good backup plan can cause.  If you need another external drive, please check out my Burrows Solutions site.  I always have great deals on external drives.  If there is a model that you want that isn’t listed, please contact me.  I’ll bet I should be able to save you at least $10 on the drive you want.  Make sure you are prepared though, you normally can’t recover from one of these disasters.

Apple is #1!

Most admired?  Really?
Link to Story

This story makes sense.  Of course executives admire Apple.  They wish they could figure out a way to rip people off and get away with it!!  Is the American public that clueless?  Don’t get me wrong, Apple does make some good looking stuff and they do think hard when they develop something.  However I personally can’t get around the fact that they sell hardware that costs them $5 for $100+!!  I understand (but do not totally agree to some extents) that business need to make money and needs money for R&D, etc.  I just do not think they need to make that much money.  They do not need to sell a $800 computer for $1700 just because some people are stupid enough to pay that.  So I wonder if you actually admire them after you spent $150 on an iPod instead of a SanDisk for $80?  The products may be easy to use and look sexy but how can you admire a company that fleeces you so badly?  Maybe I just have issues?  Maybe I am just cheap?

What do you think? Should Apple be admired? Does the American public admire Apple that much?  Do you feel that your iPod or iPhone was honestly a good deal?

My crystal ball

Hello, hello, is this thing on??  Damn I really hate my crystal ball it never seems to work for me!  Normally when I make a prediction and make it public it is wrong.  Oh well, I’ll give it a try anyways.

Keep an eye on NewEgg!  I just happen to get Acronis True Image in my head a little while ago and though I would check the pricing at NewEgg.  I had recommended it a few weeks ago to a customer and it was roughly $23.99.  I don’t have any in stock at Burrows Solutions and really can’t beat that price so I am a good guy and will just recommend that people order it straight from NewEgg.  Today that same option is $38.99, however a MIR just started for the item today.  That $20 MIR is good starting today through the 11th.  I don’t like how they increase the price just because they start a MIR but understand why they do it.  Now the thing that interests me though is past promotional patterns.  I’m pretty sure that any other time Acronis has had a MIR that NewEgg usually ends up putting out a promo code in one of their promotion emails.  With that you can usually end up paying only $5 to $10 after the MIR for some great software.

So like I mentioned above, keep an eye on NewEgg for the next week.  If you are in the need of the latest version of Acronis True Image I suggest you wait until the last minute (order on the 10th).  I only suggest this because I really feel there may be a better deal coming?  If I’m wrong then you should still purchase it because $18 after MIR is pretty good, just wait several days though.  I will keep an eye on my inbox and hope to see an Acronis promo code soon.  I’d really like to upgrade to the newest version!!