Opal becomes Obsidian

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HARDWARE DIY By Will Fastie In this final article about building my new Windows 11 PC, I reveal a surprising change. It’s taken quite a long time for
[See the full post at: Opal becomes Obsidian]

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fisher75, Bill C., rc primak

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I had a bit of insider information, so I was kind of expecting something along the lines of the configuration changes Will writes about this week.

All of this hardware (re-)assembly is way beyond my technical skills, but I can respect what Will has done, and I think many others will find this series of interest and useful.

I’m also looking forward to Deanna’s write-up of HiBit System Information next week. Currently I use the output of KC Softwares SUMo for the purpose of listing the software and its install locations from a PC.  The end result is in an Excel-compatible spreadsheet format. This makes a good punch-list template for a new or reconstructed Windows environment. I’ll be curious to see what HiBit puts together and outputs.

 

-- rc primak

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Will Fastie

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Excellent article! I too have a need for optical drives and multiple drives both spinners and SSD. Last week while browsing in a local computer/tech store I noticed only 2 cases still had front accessible drive bays. Both of these were too small for a good airflow and larger graphics cards.

I guess it means my old case, a Thermaltake I referred to as “The Jaws of Death” for its sharp edges that became painfully evident when I did my first build, will be repurposed for the next build.

The drive switch is also a now hard-to-find accessory that allows for real flexibility and disaster avoidance during system updates in a multiple OS box. I also have a removable 3.5″ drive holder that I used for backups, but very few of the holders specifically specify that they support 6GB SATA tranfers.

Thanks for the article.

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Will Fastie

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Bill C. wrote:

Last week while browsing in a local computer/tech store I noticed only 2 cases still had front accessible drive bays.

Yes, external drive bays are almost extinct. Use ’em while you got ’em.

Another nearly-extinct feature is front panel connectors. The majority of cases put these on top of the case, facing up so they can catch every dust mote. Bad functional design.

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Charlie, Bill C.

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rc primak wrote:

I had a bit of insider information

Hey! That was supposed to be a secret!

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I didn’t think the existence of the information was a secret, only the details. Sorry.

-- rc primak

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rc primak wrote:

Sorry.

No worries.

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The government and military (US at least) have different levels of security classifications for programs, not necessarily meaning computer programs though they are not excluded, but for aircraft, missile, etc.

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