As someone not overly fond of optical drives, I do most installations of operating systems over IPMI or using USB drives, including Windows 8 installations. When upgrading a few machines across the lab to Windows 8, I decided to use a standardized USB stick with the installation media and then just add keys for each machine. This guide will...
Continuing the series with the Synology DS1812+, today we are looking at how to set up network sharing. Last week we had a guide to quickly set up the Synology NAS. Having the NAS online is really the first step. Next, one needs to setup a network share. Some open source or command line NAS interfaces are less than...
Today we have a preview of the LSI SAS 9206-16e. The HBA is similar to the LSI SAS 9202-16e in that it has dual controllers. This time, LSI adorns the single slot HBA with a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface and dual SAS 2308 controllers. LSI has released increasingly more information about this HBA. The last 2 articles in the specifications...
With the Windows 8 launch quickly approaching, I think it is about time to discuss my thoughts regarding hardware. Usually when Microsoft updates its operating system, the tech world focuses on new hardware requirements. Windows 8 is different. Since it was designed for high end desktops to ARM based tablets, hardware requirements are a bit lax by today's standards....
Recently, the Intel Core i5-3330 was launched as the entry point to the desktop Core i5 series. Intel's Core i5 chips are considered Intel's mid-range mainstream offering. Realistically, the Intel Core i5-3330 at around $190 will satisfy most user's need for performance. Compared to the Core i5-3470, the Intel Core i5-3330 has a 200MHz lower base clock and a...
On the heels of the $130 IBM ServeRAID M5014 deal, one forum member has brought up a deal on the IBM ServeRAID M1015 for $65 plus $10 shipping. As of the time of posting, there are approximately 75 units remaining. These are ultra popular home and small business server host bus adapters (HBAs.) For those that are not aware,...
The Synology DS1812+ has recently been unboxed and its hardware exposed. Now it is time to look at what the Synology DS1812+ has in terms of software. That offering is standard across the Synology line. Today we are looking at the first part of the software, the Synology Assistant in order to start looking at how easy the setup...
Today we are going to look at the LSI SAS 2108 power save feature for Active and Configured drives. For those wondering, the LSI SAS 2108 is an 8 port SAS 6.0gbps controller that supports parity RAID functions such as RAID 5. SAS 2108 cards can be found inexpensively as the IBM ServeRAID M5014 deal shows us. As I'm...
Kingston recently launched the V+200 240GB SSD. Given the 240GB capacity price point and 6.0gbps interface one quickly recognizes this as a SandForce SF-2281 drive. Kingston's V series represents their value line. When looking at the Kingston V+200 240GB it is important to remember that pricing, with retailer specials, can be very attractive. Case and point, I purchased two...
At the initial Ivy Bridge launch in Q2 2012, Intel released both the Intel Core i5-3470 and Core i5-3450. The latter model suffered a 100MHz clock speed disadvantage over the Core i5-3470. Pricing was set very interestingly, both chips would retail in the $190 to $200 range. Personally, I would chose the Intel Core i5-3470 every time. given the...