Well, on Friday I gave in.  I am now the proud, new owner of a 3.5 terabyte media server.

Before I get into positive reviews and all that nonsense, I want to extend some thoughts as to why I didn’t choose Windows Home Server first:

• Data Corruption - Before adopting any sort of software, I review it pretty thoroughly.  The Home Server was no exception.  Various blogs and sites were complaining about data corruption problems.  And with 500+ movies, I really didn’t want to have to burn them all to the hard drive again!  It took 3 months in the first place.
• Weird Storage - I have been been in the tech business for years - so I am well accustomed to RAID arrays and storage practices.  The Windows Home Server automatically adds hard drive storage to a ‘pool.’  Then you save files in the shared folders which spans all the drives.  It may sound like RAID, but it isn’t.  It’s some new technology.  But, unless you add ‘backup storage drives’ your files aren’t redundant.
• Can’t Plug And Play - My server case features 11 hot-swappable hard drive bays.  Not that I need them, but I hate opening the case each time I need to add or change out a drive.  And with a storage system of 8 or so terabytes, hot-swappable hard drives was important to me.  BUT, with the Home Server, I can’t just take them out of that machine and plugin them into my desktop!

The positives:

• Fast Indexing - To get a general idea of my setup, I have an Xbox 360 sitting next to a Home Theater PC in the family room.  The server is in the office, connected by cat6 ethernet cable.  There is no storage besides the OS on the HTPC, so all files are fetched from the Home Server…  Well, previous to the WMS configuration, I was using Small Business Server - which is a great application but isn’t built for mega-media streaming.  It doesn’t index well when you open it up in Windows Media Center.

  Windows Home Server will let the HTPC show all 500 movies with a tiny bit of lag in a little over 15 seconds.  3.5 Terabytes of data in 15 seconds…  And no lag in playing a movie or a song…  Amazing.

• Automatic Backups - I could really care less about network health when it comes to the PC’s being updated with the latest virus protections, but having data backed up is infinitely valuable.  I tend to reinstall the OS on my primary machines about once every three months, so virus troubles is rarely an issue.  But automatic backups is a life saver!
• User Access - I like having the ability for my girlfriend and I to sync up music on the server.  Since we both listen to the same sorts of tunes, it makes downloading the same song twice less of an issue!

In closing, I would like to say I am still testing out the Home Server Solution. So far it does what I need it to do, and it does it very well.  But we’ll see as I keep pushing it to the limit!

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1. Multiple monitors - I have been using dual monitors for a long time, 4 or 5 years now.  And to be honest, I hate it when I am forced to work on only one display.  So many things can be avoided when you have screen real estate - opening and closing windows, constantly checking your email, reducing you chat windows….
2. KVM Switch - Like most of you, I work from a laptop.  But oftentimes, that laptop is hooked up to a KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse).  It allows me to switch between my gaming rig and the laptop while still keeping the same mouse, keyboard and display.
3. Laser Printers - I don’t print much, but nothing makes me more angry than running out of ink.  Laser printers are incredibly affordable anymore - both color and black/white.  And they save on ink in the long run!
4. Gigabit Switch - I send a lot of stuff over the network here.  Having a gigabit switch for accessing the server (not to mention Xbox Live) is a great addition to a network because it saves precious time during file transfer and backups.
5. Hands-Free Voip Kit - My weapon of choice is the Logitech EasyCall Desktop.  Included in it is the voip speakerphone that syncs up with Skype.  If you’re office is relatively quiet, it is amazing how productive you can be with one of these things.  Not having a phone wedged in between the side of you head and your shoulder can free up a lot of time!
6. PDA - I have a Blackberry and I love it.  But I take a lot of notes and have lots of stuff in my calendar (and I listen to a lot of music).  For me, my PDA is a real lifesaver in terms of keeping on track.  The Blackberry is a great phone and email device, but I would still rather take notes with a pen!
7. Network Attached Storage - Ever lose a file?  That’s a real productivity killer, isn’t it.  Avoid that by picking up a network attached storage device and backing up your files religiously…  It’ll save you time in the long run!

In my world, more productivity means more money.  I can check out of work a little early or take the occasional Friday off without feeling bad.  The seven upgrades above have saved me days of time when added all up - and I highly encourage you to pick a few of them up!

What about you?  Do you have any upgrades that you swear by in terms of productivity?

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The good folks at Maximum PC released new details on the next generation Universal Serial Bus, aptly dubbed USB 3.0. The new bus will have faster data transfer - 10 times faster - sporting a 4.8gbps maximum speed. USB 3.0 will also be more environmentally friendly by cutting back on power usage while featuring faster charge times. Beyond that, USB 3.0 will be backwards compatible, will have a much thicker cable, and uploads and downloads will be on separate lanes.  The first devices to utilize the cutting edge are expected out in 2010, and for this writer, it can’t come soon enough.

[via Maximum PC]

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I would like to submit the following list of the top five post themes in two categories (things to love and things to hate) that will help you get to the top of Digg. These aren’t based on any type of zeitgeist, but are just the most common articles I see on Digg on a daily basis.

Top themes to make it to the front page of Digg:

Love Themes:

1. Loving Obama
   


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2. Loving Linux
   


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3. Green Energy
   


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4. Apple love
   


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5. Digg love
   


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Hate Themes:

1. Hate Mc Cain
   


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2. Hate Microsoft
   


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3. Unveiling ‘Big Oil’ conspiracies
   


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4. Hate RIAA or any anti-piracy views
   


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5. Hate governments
   


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Below is a parody story utilizing the list to create the “Ultimate Digg Story”.

Story Based On The Above List

In an effort to further weaken the American government, a consortium known as “The Black Hand” (named after one of the American Mafia’s more notorious hitmen) which consists of an elite group of the world’s top corporations i.e. Big Oil, Microsoft, the RIAA etc, has begun its plan for domination. This group conspires to continue the degradation of the American “way of life” by helping the neo-cons secure John McCain a.k.a. the “anti-Christ” in the upcoming presidency. By forcing Mc Cain into the presidency they will be able to further their evil agendas; like drilling for domestic oil, suing college students who steal music, and abolishing companies who offer ‘superior’ or open-source products. But all is not lost…

Recently, it has come to the attention of several blogging groups that an underground coup with ties to the savior of the free world, “Obama”, are developing an offensive strategy to combat “The Black Hand”. A coalition known only as “Digg”, is using their highly diverse skill-set and tremendously developed moral compass in their fight for their leftist agendas. By utilizing the “Jesus phone” (Apple IPhone) they have been taking pictures (as the Iphone cannot take video) of secret meetings and documents of the black hand and making  them available to the masses by distributing them online using a datacenter at an unknown location which is powered solely by Ubuntu Linux and wind energy. The Black Hand has tried to stop their efforts by suing mother nature for providing the energy necessary for “Digg” to blog, claiming that the actions of “Digg” are circumventing their constitutionally purchased rights. But as of yet, mother nature has declined any interviews nor made any court appearances.

Only time will tell how it will play out. We hope that justice prevails.

I would like to conclude that Digg is still an amazing site and great source for news and stories. I hope that over time things improve and diversity in the stories will return

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[Via UberReview]

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Monitor space is like gold - the more you have, the more you can do with it.  If you are constantly opening Skype and Outlook just to check new messages while working on some crazy .NET application for a client, it tends to get a bit time consuming.  So, an obvious workaround is to throw $200 at another monitor and go from there.

But…  It’s expensive to live.  And oftentimes you are faced with the choice, “Do I buy another monitor or put gas in my car for two weeks?”  The most sane of us would choose gas..

So, here is another alternative - Virtual Desktops.  Virtual desktops mimic what Linux users have long seen in the open source operating system.  They give users the ability of running multiple desktops simultaneously.  All you have to do is switch between them!

My favorite virtual desktop application is Dexpot.  It’s free, pretty intuitive, and works very well for what it does.  It’s really nice for a laptop when you’re working on the road or in a coffee shop because it allows you to keep those pesky email and chat clients open without having to minimize them every time you want to work on something else.  All you do is change your view to a different desktop!

Definitely download Dexpot and check it out!  If you can think of any other similar tools, please let me know!

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Most SSD’s use flash memory, giving them several advantages over standard hard drives:

• Lower Power Consumption - the average SSD consumes .5 watts of power during read operations and 1 watt of power during write operations.
• No moving parts - SSD’s contain no moving parts, this means increased reliability over standard hard drives.
• No Noise - thanks to aforementioned lack of moving parts.
• Faster Startup - up to 30x faster; SSD’s don’t need to spin up like their magnet based counterparts.
• Extremely Fast Read and Seek times

Despite the many advantages SSD’s have compared to standard hard drives, hard drives still have a few added benefits:

• Price - Standard hard drives have an average cost of less than $.40 per a gb while SSD’s cost an average of $3.50 per a gb.
• Capacity - Hard drives currently have larger capacities available. With the largest hard drive reaching in at whopping 1.5tb and the largest SSD available weighs in at 128gb. Though, with the rapid advancement of SSD technology this may soon change.

So should you upgrade? People attempting to maximize the performance of their high-end machines may feel the cost is justified. The average PC user, however, will want to wait until prices come down significantly before jumping on the SSD wagon.

[img Gizmodo]

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But for newbie overclockers, the most important thing you can do is get a great toolset for monitoring your system temps, voltages, clock speeds, and everything else.

There are several free applications that I run consistently - whether the PC is overclocked or not. Those are:

• Speedfan and HWMonitor - Both Speedfan and HWMonitor analyze all the temperatures in your machine. Those range from CPU temps to mainboard temps. You can also see case temps and hard drive temperatures as well. But the added bonus of Speedfan is that you can change your computer’s fan speeds at the drop a hat. And the one thing I like to monitor is how air runs through your rig. We all know heat rises - but is it doing that in your computer case?
• CPU-Z - CPU-Z is a great application the monitors clock speeds and voltages. It is also the standard application that you see screenshots taken of in the forums. If you say you built a 4.0 gHz box - you need an image of CPU-Z to prove it. In fact, if I wasn’t on my laptop, I would have included a screenshot of my 3.6 gHz machine with this post :0)
• PCWizard - PCWizard is a recent addition to my overclocking applications list. What PCWizard does is tell you what components you have in your machine. If you only have one computer and you built it from scratch - chances are you know pretty well what is in there. But when you have four computers at home and three more at the office - all hand built - you tend to forget what graphics card is in which setup. This application tells you without making you open up the box!

In an upcoming article, we are going to be looking at burn-in and load testing software. What these applications do is stress test your computer so that you know your overclocked PC is solid enough to stand up to Rainbow 6, BioShock and Crysis. If there is a faulty piece of equipment, or your voltage/speed settings aren’t right - then this software will error out.

Beware though - stress testing with free applications may get expensive (due to component replacement :0) )

Is there anything you rely on for your PC stats? Let us know what your favorite applications are..

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As you all know we launched a contest a while ago which was to find this blog. Some of you guys did really good and spotted us before anyone else. So here is the list of winners and prizes. Please visit axiium.com and send us an email to claim your prize.

Winners

1st : Carlo From Startup Launchr ( Free blog consulting either in PDF format or live 2 hours consulting on Skype )
2nd : Scott ( Free Logo for business or blog through Tech Solution )
3rd : Anton ( One hour design and social media consultation with John C. Phillips )
4th : Rob Mason From Sponge Project ( free content promotion including title optimization and post editing )
5th : Bryan from BryanpHelps ( 50 Dollar Amazon Gift Card )
6th, 7th and 8th : Tlyden, Cameron and Tom ( Killer Domain ebook each )

Thank you for your time and thanks for visiting PcHackz. Winners please visit axiium and contact us. And do not forget to subscribe to PcHackz and the rest of the Hackz Blogs.

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It doesn’t matter what kind of computer it is - a new quad core with SLI graphics cards, an old box that I am turning into a media server - I love rummaging around in my parts bin and buying new components that come together to do something.

When I built my first pc 7 or 8 years ago, it was quite a process. Newegg’s review/customer feedback engine wasn’t quite as robust as it is now, so you had to really rely on specs. That resulted in a lot of returns and wasted time trying to get a computer running.

Now though, there is a website that helps you along that path. It’s PCincubator.

PC Incubator basically pulls all of the most reviewed products on Newegg.com for a specific category. For example, the case in the pic above is the same one I have. It has over 2000 reviews and is one of the best computer cases I have ever worked with.

As you check off the list, it adds your total up and then you can go purchase your setup from Newegg.

There are a couple things I like.

• The first is I hate to forget something. If I am planning a weekend Home Theater PC build and I forget the Blu-Ray drive, I am going to be pissed. That means I have to go pay Best Buy prices or suck it up and wait for another 3 days.
• The second is the use of reviews as being the major buying factor. Typically, if something has a lot of reviews, I will buy it because I know I am getting a quality product. It usually doesn’t matter what the price is as much. So reviews are necessary to me.

The bad thing about the site is it only shows you 3 possible items for each category. If you want to see more you have to go the Newegg.com itself. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I would love to see an AJAX-y widget the expands the selection for me!

Truthfully, this isn’t something any hardcore computer modder is going to want to use. But if you like the idea of building a cheap PC for your 42″ flat panel in your living room - this is a nice start.

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