Root Access

djsmiley2k

12:00

@DavidPostill oh ok :)

HackToHell

Also Akamai >>>>>>>> Verizon

Matt Jens Jensen

@Bob is it possible to RAID 1 two drives if one is SATA3 and the other is SATA2?

djsmiley2k

yup

Matt Jens Jensen

Thanks mate

bwDraco

@DavidPostill You get to do 40 reviews per day when the queue exceeds 1000.

I really admire your dedication to the community.

Starting today, I'm going to ramp up contributions dramatically while greatly tightening up my behavior.

DavidPostill

12:14

@bwDraco Really? I though it was a bigger number.

@bwDraco Thanks :)

bwDraco

The individual queue has to be more than 1000.

Today will represent a new beginning for me. I'll be less worried about being "perfect" with my contributions.

In the past, I've kept tabs open for every post I make for 72 hours. This will now be closer to 24-48 hours. I'll spend less time maintaining my existing posts and more time posting new answers and reviewing.

Answer quality may take a slight hit but I honestly don't see a serious issue here.

I'll be spending more time running the review queues and may make more extensive use of the 10k moderation tools.

All this will be done to a higher standard of self-control. There will be fewer bad flags and much calmer responses to problem users and behaviors.

Aug 16 '15 at 0:53, by DragonLord

> Bill has been the archetype for what a moderator on Stack Exchange should be. His patient, fair and calm demeanor even in the face of criticism is legendary; his diligence and skill in handling the numerous difficult problems that face Stack Overflow users are inspiring. For the past 6 years, Bill has been an example for new moderators to follow, his impressive record a lofty goal to strive for.

This will be the dawn of a era...

Bob

@MattJensJensen ZFS doesn't really care about hardware - it works on devices exposed by the OS

also, fyi, ZFS technically doesn't do "RAID 1"

it does mirror, and three raidz modes (raidz1, raidz2, raidz3)

ZFS mirror is more or less equivalent to RAID 1

@MattJensJensen zfsbuild.com/2010/05/26/zfs-raid-levels

bwDraco

ZFS isn't designed to run on top of another RAID system. It's designed to run directly on top of the physical media.

I'd just prefer to use either Ext4 or Btrfs on top of md RAID.

Bob

12:30

I wouldn't touch btrfs with a ten foot pole

ext4 is fairly bleh, but at least it's not riddled with implementation bugs

zfs is ideal for a file server specifically because it offers good integrity checking and recovery/repair

if you really want a comparison, xfs would be closest

bwDraco

Can I resize a 64-bit Ext4 filesystem these days?

Bob

if you want to run a robust fs on md-raid, you'd probably run xfs, I think

bwDraco

(64-bit for >16TB volumes, needed in a RAID environment.)

Bob

a 16 TB ext4 volume is just asking for data loss...

bwDraco

Why? I plan to use double-parity RAID.

Bob

12:34

> consider the data sheet for the 8TB Archive Drive from Seagate. This has an error rate of 10^14 bits. That is one URE every 12.5TB

bwDraco

I'm going to use WD Red Pro or even enterprise-grade Re drives, for the matter.

Bob

@bwDraco RAID protects against HDD crashes, and that's about it. In the event of a random bit flip, you can't necessarily tell which RAID copy is the correct one.

not too sure if the second parity drive helps, but iirc it doesn't

bwDraco

ZFS is much harder to expand. You can't expand a zpool by reshaping a vdev; you need to add an entire new vdev.

Storage virtualization is so freakin' complicated...

Bob

oh, I was mistaken there

URE should be reported by the drive, so at least you'd know which drive is the one erroring out

unless, of course, the drive CRC also fails, but that's relatively unlikely

ZFS checksums are still far more robust than drive CRCs though

@bwDraco eh, there's no inherent problem with adding a new vdev

Journeyman Geek

I got a lego wall-e for my birthday ;p

Bob

12:38

unless you wanted to increase parity drives

the redundancy method is locked in at pool creation (mirror, raidz1, raidz2, raidz3)

bwDraco

Why haven't UBE rates improved over the years?

DavidPostill

Stevie Wonder Happy Birthday

►

@JourneymanGeek

bwDraco

@Bob In a home server environment, this means adding a batch of new disks, not merely a single disk, which can be expensive and difficult to support.

Matt Jens Jensen

@Bob Thank you, I'm reading up on all this now, I'm definitely going to mirror, I see now the the hardware raid stuff is irrelevant

bwDraco

36

Q: Software vs hardware RAID performance and cache usage

I've been reading a lot on RAID controllers/setups and one thing that comes up a lot is how hardware controllers without cache offer the same performance as software RAID. Is this really the case? I always thought that hardware RAID cards would offer better performance even without cache. I mean...

> However, with the ever increasing CPU performance, this advantage basically disappeared: even my laptop's ancient CPU (Core i5 M 520, Westmere generation) have XOR performance of over 4 GB/s and RAID-6 syndrome performance over 3 GB/s over a single execution core.

That's interesting. I thought RAID 6 was very computationally expensive.

I'm not building a storage server just yet (we're moving to a new home soon) but getting a sense of what to expect once I begin assembling the array.

Matt Jens Jensen

12:54

Very interesting, I'm glad I'm finding this stuff out

bwDraco

I'm inclined to select software RAID, if only because it avoids vendor lock-in.

Boris_yo

You mean I can't boot external SSD with Windows 7 on it in VMware?

Burgi

hey all

Boris_yo

...because Windows license will be transferred to virtual machine?

Bob

@bwDraco ah yea, that would depend on needs then

Burgi

13:07

the fonts on my 2nd screen are looking all weird

DavidPostill

hey @Burgi

Bob

@Burgi try unticking the "weird fonts" option

Burgi

@Bob first thing i tried

i think its a phase thing

Bob

@Burgi have you tried flipping your screen upside down?

(if it's a subpixel layout issue, that could actually fix it o.o)

Burgi

i'll try that now

i think its the VGA port that is playing up

flipping it made no difference

i need to find a second dvi cable

djsmiley2k

13:24

K weird

my phone sorted itself out D:L

Hennes

13:48

uhm. Booting might be fine (or not, since the hardware changed).
As for hardware change: If you do not need to reactivate it then I am serously surprised.

Could probably install VMware in two locations and run the same windows image on 'the same virtual hardware' though.

bwDraco

14:07

Posted a couple more answers.

Burgi

@Bob turning it off and back on again has fixed it...

shrug

Bob

@Burgi Ah, the Roy method.

bwDraco

0

A: Snap windows to parts of the screen on Windows 8.1 using keyboard shortcuts like Ubuntu Unity

Windows 7 and later provide the following keyboard shortcuts: Windows+← and Windows+→ snaps the window to the left and right side of the screen, respectively. Windows+↑ maximizes the window, or restores it if it is minimized. Windows+↓ minimizes the window, or restores it if it is maximized. ...

Burgi

:)

bwDraco

> (Side note: As of this writing, you have five days left to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Have you looked into taking the free upgrade?)

Journeyman Geek

14:10

@Burgi The first thing you should always try ;)

bwDraco

A bit of a witty side note given that the functionality he wants is available in Windows 10 but not Windows 8.1.

Burgi

i know i feel stupid

i need to upgrade my work pc

my mothers PC is getting towards EOL

bwDraco

@Burgi Vista?

My father's desktop is blighted with the same issue and I have plans to build a new PC for him.

Burgi

no its win10 but its really struggling these days

bwDraco

@Burgi Oy vey. Old hardware :(

Burgi

14:13

yeah

i can't transfer the win10 license can i?

bwDraco

Windows 10 actually runs better than Windows 8.1 but old hardware is old hardware :(

Burgi

yeah

bwDraco

@Burgi If the original OS was preinstalled, you can't transfer the license.

Burgi

its a custom built pc

bwDraco

If you bought a retail copy (not OEM) of Windows, then the license is transferrable.

Journeyman Geek

14:16

@Burgi struggling how?

bwDraco

OEM licenses are node-locked.

Burgi

apps are taking ages to open, loads of disk swapping going on

bwDraco

@Burgi SSD is the best solution.

Burgi

i bought the Win7 license from a legit source

bwDraco

Is a memory upgrade still an option? How much memory do you have?

@Burgi Again, is it OEM or a full retail license?

allquixotic

14:17

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me

►

Burgi

@bwDraco full retail

bwDraco

Okay. You can transfer the license. You may need to call Microsoft to activate, though.

Burgi

thats not a big issue

i'll check the license docs later

fairly certain it was full retail

bwDraco

I'm not too sure given that the base license is for Windows 7.

However, once you upgrade, your Windows 7 license key should become a Windows 10 license key and should activate.

Burgi

@bwDraco might look at an SSD for it, i'm still warying of the longevity though

bwDraco

14:22

While there's no more grace period for Windows activation (instead you get a nag on the screen), it's okay to use the new installation for a few days so that you can transfer files before you activate it. I wouldn't activate it until the old machine is retired for good.

Burgi

@bwDraco its got 4GB in it, there might be a BIOS upgrade for it but i think i'm maxed out

bwDraco

Yikes.

Journeyman Geek

@Burgi I'm running windows 10 on less, though with SSDs

DavidPostill

I use this graphic to refer to the Windows Key ... Windows Key

@bwDraco

bwDraco

An SSD will help but not by much and paging throws lots of I/O onto the disk which could be enough to cause endurance issues.

Burgi

14:23

its only a core 2 duo as well

Journeyman Geek

heh, The difference is significant

@Burgi I've got core 2 duo laptops with pretty much the shittiest ssds you can buy. Performance improvement with a clean install is dramatic.

Burgi

i'll consider it then :)

bwDraco

4 GB of RAM still means lots of swapping. It'll run much faster than before but again, it's slamming loads of I/O onto the disk.

Windows 10 is designed to cope better with low memory situations than before, through stuff like memory compression.

Virtual memory compression

Virtual memory compression (also referred to as RAM compression and memory compression) is a memory management technique that utilizes data compression to reduce the size or number of paging requests to and from the auxiliary storage. In a virtual memory compression system, paging requests are compressed and stored in physical memory, which is usually random-access memory (RAM), or sent as compressed to auxiliary storage such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD). In both cases the virtual memory range whose contents has been compressed during the paging request is marked inaccessible...

Burgi

its a shuttle box, i should be able to squeeze two drives in there

Journeyman Geek

I'm running it on 1. Least I've run it on is 512, and.... that's below spec and it was still vaguely usable for web browsing and other middling tasks.

bwDraco

14:26

@JourneymanGeek Wow. Windows 10 on 512 MB of RAM?

I thought Windows 10 required at least 2 GB to run...

Journeyman Geek

@bwDraco I was curious.

DavidPostill

How to Determine if Windows License Type is OEM, Retail, or Volume

@Burgi ^^^

Journeyman Geek

1gb for 32 bit, but if its already installed, it'll just run so I swapped in some ram, then took it out.

Burgi

@DavidPostill thanks!

bwDraco

@JourneymanGeek Shouldn't the machine crash with 0x7D INSTALL_MORE_MEMORY?

Bob

14:29

@bwDraco Depends entirely on what you do with it.

Journeyman Geek

It didn't

Bob

Tablets are sold with Win10 preinstalled on 1 GB.

I have two with 2 GB and there's little to no memory pressure.

bwDraco

@Bob 32-bit.

Will be AFK for a bit.

Bob

@bwDraco If 32-bit runs fine on 1 GB, 64-bit won't have trouble with 4 GB...

64-bit is not even a 100% increase. Maybe some 50% at most, but in reality it's more like 30% - and that's just for code, not including resources that won't be affected at all.

Journeyman Geek

@bwDraco chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/118/conversation/512mb

Burgi

14:32

@DavidPostill @bwDraco just checked both machines, both are retail :)

Bob

Actually, my new tablet is 64-bit Win10 with 4 GB of RAM and it's perfectly fine too...

Hennes

I guess there is quite a difference between "succesfully boots" and "can run a few applications with acceptable performance"

Burgi

so next crazy issue...

Hennes

I remember XP bootiing on 64MB

And outlook using 192MB

Boris_yo

Right, I checked BIOS in virtual machine and it said CPU is AMD and motherboard is probably different as well. Hah... AMD the old one though.

What happens if license gets... Wait... Nothing will happen if it boots successfully right? I will just have Windows Activation dialog asking to verify license. I won't verify because the reason behind booting in VM than original hardware is because I am in a middle of something important so boot is not possible.

Hennes

14:34

It probably will update all sorts of drivers, which makes it 'fun' when you boot it on the original hardware again

Other than that it might just work.

Burgi

my mother took her old wedding photos to the supermarket to get reprints, the supermarket refused because the photographer still owns the copyright

Boris_yo

@Hennes Oh right. What if I booted as read-only hard drive in VM? Is this feasible?

Hennes

Does windows allow booting in RO mode?

Boris_yo

@Burgi Wow... It's not commercial use. It's personal.

Hennes

I mean, it writes logfiles

Burgi

14:36

thats what i thought

Bob

@Boris_yo it might auto activate on the vm then cause issues when you move back to the real machine

also most vms now will expose the native cpuid

Hennes

which means events for the eventviewer will fail.
%tmp% will not be writeable (unless you patched to use a ramdisk and moved it there).

Burgi

they told her the original photographer owns the copyright on them for 70 years from the date they were taken

Hennes

@Burgi Familiar problem with official photographers. Which is why you always do it yourself or fork over serous money to get the legal rights

bwDraco

@Burgi Generally speaking, the photographer holds copyrights for images taken. Buying out the rights is generally very expensive (potentially costing tens of thousands) and may not even be an option

Hennes

14:38

nods

Burgi

@bwDraco not going to happen in this case as the photographer died 20 years ago

Hennes

apple cleaned.

Then she can copy them in another 50 years

Burgi

lol

Hennes

Assuming Disney does not interfere again

Journeyman Geek

@Hennes they will

Burgi

14:39

we'll just do it at home

bwDraco

See if you can contact the estate and try to acquire the rights.

Hennes

And no. The last is not intended as a joke. Even though it sounds as one

Burgi

i knew about the disney thing

bwDraco

Given that the photographer is deceased, you may be able to buy out the rights at reasonable cost.

Burgi

like i said, we'll just do the reprints at home

if the photographer has an issue with that he can lodge a formal complaint with me

i have better things to do than hunt down the legal ownership rights for a couple of family photos

bwDraco

14:43

Look, please. Acquire the rights.

Burgi

why?

bwDraco

I know the system is broken but I don't want you in jail.

Journeyman Geek

@bwDraco you're overeacting.

Burgi

who on earth would report me?

Journeyman Geek

"jail" - really?

Its a civil matter at worst.

@Burgi heh. actual film?

bwDraco

14:45

Technically speaking, it is possible. I will excuse myself from this matter; I promised that I'll always remain calm and I am not breaking that promise.

Burgi

actually i think there might be provision in UK law to allow me to take backups

Journeyman Geek

unrelatedly, any objection to me unstarring the unpleasantness of the morning?

bwDraco

No objection.

Journeyman Geek

@bwDraco might want to start by not quoting yourself all the time.

Burgi

what unpleasentness?

lol

bwDraco

14:48

@JourneymanGeek I'm going to not merely start there. The changes are broad-based and meant to be done all at the same time.

Burgi

@bwDraco i'd love to meet you and take you for a beer

bwDraco

Not one issue at a time. All issues at the same time.

Journeyman Geek

That should do.

Burgi

you are so crazy i think it would be hillariously good fun :)

DavidPostill

@JourneymanGeek No. I can always post it again if necessary ;)

Bob

14:50

ah, Steam

bwDraco

Again, this is meant to be a complete behavioral overhaul.

Bob

"1.5 MB free download!"

install, launch

*starts downloading 130 MB update*

bwDraco

@Burgi Sorry, not interested.

DavidPostill

@JourneymanGeek It may be, but "Upon conviction in the Crown Court the maximum term of incarceration in the UK for copyright infringement is 10 years and/or an "unlimited" fine.

bwDraco

Well, copyright reform is one of the biggest issues we need to address. The intellectual property system must work for everyone.

DavidPostill

14:53

@Burgi Are you asking for a date? ;)

Burgi

well i've been given a last minute +1 for my sister's wedding....

bwDraco

I'm hoping not to see a repeat of what happened last night (morning for JMG)

Bob

there's been plenty of copyright reform

largely Disney-sponsored, of course

bwDraco

It's a money problem. The people can't out-lobby corporate special interests.

Unless you can get everyone not affiliated with the studios to pitch in a few dollars, there's no way real reform will happen.

DavidPostill

@Bob Most in the wrong direction IMHO

Bob

14:55

@DavidPostill see "largely Disney-sponsored" :P

bwDraco

They're lobbying because copyright is their very lifeblood and they will quite literally shut down without strong protection (or so they argue)...

Bob

s/dollars/votes/

DavidPostill

Warner Music Pays $14 Million to End 'Happy Birthday' Copyright Lawsuit

Burgi

i was thinking of asking the gorgeous steph to come with me but she is one of those girls that lets you down all the time

bwDraco

Not necessarily. Even with an overwhelming public response, the pressure from special interests is immense. I wouldn't be surprised if politicians are under threats of legal action or even violence to not support more balanced copyright laws.

So, have legislators actually been threatened with legal action or violence by a major special interest group (not merely individuals) over some proposed legislation, especially legislation involving intellectual property?

DavidPostill

14:58

@Burgi Is she the "coffee girl"?

bwDraco

This got mostly ignored when I brought it up, but is this the case?

Burgi

@DavidPostill no no

DavidPostill

@Burgi So who is the "gorgeous steph"?

Burgi

a friend of a friend

DavidPostill

ah

Burgi

15:01

something will turn up

bwDraco

techdirt.com/articles/20130322/23560222425/…

DavidPostill

!!s/thing/body/

ChatBot John Cavil

@DavidPostill somebody will turn up (source)

DavidPostill

There are some pretty steep penalties in the UK for copyright infringement. See gov.uk/government/publications/intellectual-property-offences/…

Journeyman Geek

@DavidPostill what would be appropriate here tho?

cause printing out yer mom's wedding photos seems to be the very definition of 'fair use'

DavidPostill

15:12

@JourneymanGeek Agreed. I can't see anything in the list of offences that actually matches @Burgi's intentions. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer (sometimes I wish I was as they get paid shedloads of $$$$)

Journeyman Geek

@DavidPostill nor am I, tho my chosen course of study includes elements of law.

and yeah, I don't see any either.

" otherwise than in the course of a business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright,

commits an offence if he knows or has reason to believe that, by doing so, he is infringing copyright in that work." Might count if you're commercially printing out photos

DavidPostill

Given the right equipment (decent scanner and photoprinter) @burgi can probably do a better job than the local supermarket.

Journeyman Geek

but I'm pretty sure that isn't really the 'intent' here, and the supermarket was either being silly, or everyone ever who tries to print photos gets told that ;p

scanning negatives needs some specific gear IIRC

@DavidPostill we still have a few remaining studios...

Hennes

The Supermarket was not being silly.

DavidPostill

@JourneymanGeek He is unlikely to have the negatives. If he does then there is no copyright violation as that is transferred with the negatives (AFAIK). Wedding photographers charge loads of $$$$ for the negatives in addition to the prints.

Hennes

15:18

If they get caught doing the wrong thing they get fined.

Burgi

the supermarket refuse everyone that brings in professional photos for reprints

Journeyman Geek

eh, I guess things are different in india ;p

Burgi

my dad just went and had an argument with the photo guy there

Journeyman Geek

and?

bwDraco

@DavidPostill It's really hard, that's why.

DavidPostill

15:22

@Hennes Difficult to prove. As an example the photographer screwed up at my sister's wedding. No film in one if his cameras or some such excuse. I had been taking pictures (with a good camera at the time) and gave him what I had and he was able to produce a professional album. Those pictures were effectively promoted to "Professional photos" but I owned the copyright.

Burgi

> "we refuse to reprint all professional photographs under 70 years old for copyright reasons"

Journeyman Geek

@Burgi ._.

Hennes

Aye. But I assume the supermarket has someone made an assesment of risk vs profit.

DavidPostill

@Burgi Define "professional photograph".

Journeyman Geek

did they have 35mm film before that?

Hennes

15:23

and then issue an order to their employees, do not do this.

Burgi

@DavidPostill good question

Journeyman Geek

@Burgi refuse to print anything. Claim no one prints anything. Close down photocounter and fire everyone. ._.

DavidPostill

@Burgi @Burgi Was it Boots?

Burgi

asda

Journeyman Geek

spend savings on ladies of negotiable affection and nasally ingested plant products...

DavidPostill

15:24

Try Boots (if they still have that service).

Journeyman Geek

speaking of photos...

Burgi

i'll just scan it here

Journeyman Geek

Took this, shortly before showing that dog's owner how to use her phone cam properly XD

DavidPostill

15:40

Are getchip.com/pages/chip devices on topic for SU?

Hennes

Seems to be a mini computer

if rpi's are on topic, then aaren;t these ?

Journeyman Geek

15:52

Imo it is the same way a rpi is. Runs Linux.

Rahul2001

16:02

2

Boris_yo

Anyone installed Goove Music in Windows 10?

There still should be Windows Media Player so I don't know if I need that Groove.

It is mentioned it has service running in the background. I don't need services that take up resources.

@Rahul2001 Reasons you should not be?

djsmiley2k

16:22

wooo yearling badge

@Burgi yeah that's qutie normal

we have a letter from our wedding photographer to allow us to reprint them

Rahul2001

@Boris_yo groove is different

It's just a music player

djsmiley2k

there's no media player in windows 10 isn't there

or is it just that it doesn't play DVD's?

allquixotic

@djsmiley2k you have to get a separate license for the codec

djsmiley2k

ah

Hennes

@Rahul2001 Do you also have a version with two USB ports, so it can charge faster? :)

Rahul2001

16:29

@djsmiley2k no windows media player

DavidPostill

1

Q: Laptop self charge cable?

Ok this is a really silly question, but I was really curious as to why this wouldnt work. I'm just starting my electricity and magnetism course, so I really dont know much about electricity. I know this is not possible, but why?

electricity energy-conservation

Rahul2001

groove has a streaming service called 'groove music pass'

@djsmiley2k interface ^

Bob

huh, not bad

oh hey they have an android app too

but I already have a spotify and gpmusic subscription...

Rahul2001

@Bob It's my primary music player now

Bob

I'm usually on spotify or ytmusic

the ytmusic ui is absolutely shit and nearly impossible to navigate and a pain to add to playlist (read: impossible without a workaround via clipboard and a different app)

but it does have the advantage of including a bunch of music only available on yt

djsmiley2k

16:52

is youtube music seperate?

i have google music sub.

simply because no ads in youtube :O

Bob

@djsmiley2k ytmusic is a separate app but part of ytred sub which shares with gpmusic sub

djsmiley2k

:O so i have youtube red too? :O

Bob

yep, if it's available in your country

djsmiley2k

In my subs on youtube they still had prices against them

so i presumed I didn't have access

Bob

country availability of gpmusic is wider than ytred

@djsmiley2k ...subs have prices?

djsmiley2k

17:00

you can watch the youtube videos on a paid by video basis

the youtube red ones

so they show up in my subscriptions, with the price (but red isn't out here yet o_O)

Bob

@djsmiley2k huh. never noticed

never really checked either though

djsmiley2k

Next time i see one I'm going to see if i can view them

Bob

@djsmiley2k if red isn't available in your country then you won't have it

djsmiley2k

So they'll just be paid videos on demand, right

bwDraco

17:25

These kinds of programs can't launch internationally everywhere due to the need to secure agreements and rights in each country separately.

bwDraco

17:39

Uh-oh. The computer chess tournament TCEC's live chat system (hosted on ChatWing) is dealing with persistent spam issues.

They do have a community flag system (enough users flag a message, it gets removed) but this has been happening nonstop.

ChatBot John Cavil

HAMMERTIME!

djsmiley2k

ew

Boris_yo

18:06

@Bob Windows 10 upgrade on HDD completed successfully. Says "Windows 10 is Activated" in "My Computer" properties.

I wonder what will happen to Windows 7 that is still cloned on SSD I wanted to connect and upgrade from it if HDD failed.

Will Windows 7 conflict as it's same license key I think both are sharing now. Maybe it only works with W10 now.

cat

18:20

!!caat stop

ChatBot John Cavil

HAMMERTIME!

bwDraco

18:45

pcworld.com/article/3096292/storage/…

...10 TB, seven platters, 7200 RPM, without helium?

I thought turbulence was an issue?

How on earth is Seagate doing this?

It's not SMR, it's not any exotic technology. Just good old PMR technology.

Hmm. Article must be wrong.

anandtech.com/show/10496/…

It's helium-filled.

WD was the first to get there in the consumer space, but at 8 TB.

Mokubai

@bwDraco how do they deal with the problem of helium gas permeating the seal? They'd have to use something pretty special for that...

bwDraco

@Mokubai They laser-weld the whole thing

Opening the HGST helium hard drive - HddSurgery

►

hddsurgery.com/blog/helium-hard-drive-opening

Hard drive repair company opens up helium hard drive in an attempt to study it.

cat

19:03

Helium gas doesn't permeate seals, that's blasphemy!

Mokubai

@cat well poor old H2O bloodywell gets across most silicone seals (I know from experience) so I'd expect Helium to manage it as well

cat

@Mokubai I dunno, seems like the seals on cola bottles are perfectly sufficient at stopping H20, even under high pressure

Mokubai

Turns out that while silicone is a good liquid water barrier when under pressure, it has a slow diffusion rate for molecular water

cat

That's why you use HelioSeal® instead of silicone

Is it reasonably easy to make something completely airtight?

Mokubai

@cat Depends how much money you have and if you have to make is easy to open/repair.

bwDraco

19:15

120 rep so far today (two HNQ answers), less than 5 hours to go.

cat

@Mokubai Well, helium drives are both expensive and basically impossible to open/repair

Mokubai

Don't care about repair: easy. Do care about repair: painful or expensive

cat

But that said, now that I think about it, it's probably not going to be easy given air contains... helium?

Probably at negligible concentrations though

Basically I was thinking positive pressure

Burgi

19:33

@djsmiley2k i think in the 80's copyright theft was not a thing

my parents didn't even consider asking for a letter like that

bwDraco

The whole point of filling a hard drive with helium is that it's much less dense than air, allowing the platters to spin more freely and reducing turbulence which can cause the platters to wobble. This enables more platters in a single drive with lower power consumption.

Burgi

you would have thought nitrogen would be the better option as it is more thermally stable

they use nitrogen in the tyres of the nissan GTR because it doesn't expand or contract as much normal air

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