LaCie 301301U Desktop Hard Disk 1 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It works fine, but it doesn't spin down on idle and the loud fan cycles on and off several times per hour.

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Product Description:
Backing up your data doesn't get much easier or cost-efficient than with the LaCie 301301U Desktop Hard Disk. This extremely user-friendly hard disk can be ready to use minutes after removing it from the box. Compatible with both Mac and PC, this plug-and-play storage solution features a massive 1 TB of storage capacity and a high-speed USB 2.0 connection for near universal connectivity.
The 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive offers:

1 TB of additional disk space.
Mac and PC compatibility with USB 2.0 connection.
LaCie '1-Click' Backup Software for quick back-ups.
Storage for 1,400 DivX movies, 270,000 songs or 1,100,000 photos.

This LaCie Desktop Hard Disk features a massive 1 TB of storage capacity and a high-speed USB 2.0 connection for near universal connectivity. View larger. Huge Capacity with Plug-and-Play Functionality
This simple and efficient USB desktop hard disk is easy for anyone to set up and use. Driver-free, the drive offer plug-and-play convenience and is pre-formatted for use with both PCs and Macs. A great storage solution for your laptop or workstation, the drive offers a robust 1 TB of storage capacity, or enough space to hold up to 1,400 DivX movies, 270,000 songs or 1,100,000 photos.
The Desktop Hard Drive is the ideal way to back up your entire system regularly, upgrade capacity when your computer's hard drive is full, or shuttle your data between USB-equipped desktops and laptops. The USB 2.0 connection offers a transfer rate of up to 60 MB per second (480Mbits/s). The drive also includes LaCie '1-Click' Backup Software for both Mac and PC that lets you backup any file into the location of your choice with a simple "click"--either via the desktop icon, or CTRL-S on your keyboard.
Compact, Sophisticated Design
The LaCie Desktop Hard Disk adds a subtle, sophisticated style to your desktop with its quiet, unobtrusive presence. Designed to blend into your work environment, the drive features a sleek, all-black metal body offers advanced heat dissipation, which keeps it cool and helps keep your important data protected.
The drive measures 4.5 x 2.5 x 8.2 inches (HxWxD), weighs 3.9 pounds, and is backed by LaCie's one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
LaCie Desktop Hard Disk, USB 2.0 cable, external power supply, quick install guide, LaCie Utilities (pre-loaded on the drive), user manual, LaCie '1-Click' Backup Software (Windows and Mac); and LaCie SilverKeeper Backup Software (Mac).

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Belkin Soho F1DS104L VGA and USB 4 Port In/Out KVM Switch (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It seems like a very adequate KVM switch.There is no lag between PC switching that others have complained about with other USB KVMs.One annoying thing that it does is beep everytime you switch PCs.Other Belkin KVMs have firmware updates that turn off the beep, but this one is too new to have any updates yet.I talked to Belkin tech support and they are reporting it, so hopefully a firmware update will allow you to toggle it off.Pretty stupid that they added it to other KVMs and not this one...Other than that, it's just large. They made the buttons huge and it makes the whole thing about 13 inches long.

Pros
-audio and microphone switching
-can switch KVM and audio independently (work on one PC while listening to music from another)
-4 good quality (color coded) cables included
-very little lag-time between switching
Cons
-Annoying beep when switching
-large footprint

***UPDATE*** - I came across a solution to the annoying beep/chirp.The hotkey sequence scrlk+scrlk+B toggles the beep.Funny that Belkin Tech support couldn't provide this solution and it is not in the manual anywhere.

Other than that, I've had this KVM for about 6 months with hardly anyproblems.Every now and again it will lose the connections for the mouse and keyboard, but bouncing power to the KVM for a second seems to fix it.It has probably only happened 3 or 4 times in 6 months.I'm happy with it.

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Product Description:
4port Usb Soho Kvm SwitchPerp

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Belkin Soho F1DS104L VGA and USB 4 Port In/Out KVM Switch (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It seems like a very adequate KVM switch.There is no lag between PC switching that others have complained about with other USB KVMs.One annoying thing that it does is beep everytime you switch PCs.Other Belkin KVMs have firmware updates that turn off the beep, but this one is too new to have any updates yet.I talked to Belkin tech support and they are reporting it, so hopefully a firmware update will allow you to toggle it off.Pretty stupid that they added it to other KVMs and not this one...Other than that, it's just large. They made the buttons huge and it makes the whole thing about 13 inches long.

Pros
-audio and microphone switching
-can switch KVM and audio independently (work on one PC while listening to music from another)
-4 good quality (color coded) cables included
-very little lag-time between switching
Cons
-Annoying beep when switching
-large footprint

***UPDATE*** - I came across a solution to the annoying beep/chirp.The hotkey sequence scrlk+scrlk+B toggles the beep.Funny that Belkin Tech support couldn't provide this solution and it is not in the manual anywhere.

Other than that, I've had this KVM for about 6 months with hardly anyproblems.Every now and again it will lose the connections for the mouse and keyboard, but bouncing power to the KVM for a second seems to fix it.It has probably only happened 3 or 4 times in 6 months.I'm happy with it.

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Product Description:
4port Usb Soho Kvm SwitchPerp

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Lenovo ThinkServer TS200v 0981 - Server - tower - 1-way - 1 x P G6950 / 2.8 GHz - RAM 2 GB - HDD 1 x 250 GB - DVD - HD Graphics - Gigabit Ethernet - no OS - Monitor : none - TopSeller Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I recently needed to replace an aging Linux-based SOHO server.This system is actually used in a hybrid server/desktop role, with the desktop duties being limited to use as a light-duty secondary workstation mostly for web browsing and guest access.Thus it is important that an X server run reliably without affecting the overall stability of the system.On the server side of things, in addition to the usual file/print/DNS services, the primary function is to act as a media server for several networked Logitech SqueeezeBox audio devices throughout the house.

The Lenovo TS200v (model: 0981-12U) fit my needs almost perfectly: a reputable manufacturer, a reasonable base price, low power usage, enterprise-class HDD, ECC memory, and best of all, sold without an OS!I really dislike being forced to pay for an OS I'm never going to use.

As good as the TS200v looked on paper, I could find absolutely no firsthand information on how non-enterprise Linux distributions run on these boxes.They use a relatively new Intel 3450 chipset and Clarkdale processors with integrated graphics, so I was mildly concerned about hardware support in non-bleeding-edge Linux distributions.

For "production" systems that I don't want to worry much about, I prefer to run Debian stable.On laptops, or other machines with newer/less-supported hardware, my second choice is generally the current Ubuntu LTS.Since the TS200v has all Intel-based hardware, I was hopeful that, at the very least, I could find a Linux distribution that would run on it until either Debian or Ubuntu caught-up with the new hardware.

After the machine arrived, I was very relieved when my first attempt to boot it from a USB flash drive using RIPLinuX 9.8 (a lightweight system recovery distro) was fully successful.

However an attempt to install Debian 5.0.3 (lenny) met with issues due to the debian-installer's e1000e driver not recognizing the specific rev in the TS100v, a 82578DM.However I worked around this by temporarily installing an old e100 PCI card.After the install completed, the e1000e was recognized by the current lenny kernel.The real showstopper for Debian was that the Xorg server that comes with Lenny is too old to deal with the Clarkdale graphics.So at least for now, Debian stable wasn't going to be an option unless I wanted to run it in a non-GUI server-only mode.Some cursory research indicates that the next version of Debian, 6.0 (squeeze) may have better support for the hardware in the TS200v.

Next I tried Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx).This install went very well and all the main devices, including the integrated graphics, sound, and network card work fine under Lucid.However access to ECC correction data via the Linux EDAC drivers doesn't appear to be working yet, but hopefully support will come in the future.(Note that the ECC memory does still provide some benefit even without being able to see the correction notifications in the OS.)

I then installed two additional 1TB Caviar Black drives, for a total of three drives in the machine.The third is in the spare 5.25" bay using some custom modified drive adapter rails.(Note that one additional 3.5" HDD is the most you can install this system without taking special measures.)I also replaced the read-only DVD drive with an Lite-On IHAS424-98 DVD writer and installed a 2 port eSATA PCIe card for use with an external SATA dock.

Using a kill-a-watt device I measured the idle power (with 3x7200rpm drives) at 49W, PF of 0.95.This is with the 'ondemand' CPU governor, which appears to be the default for Ubuntu 10.04.At full CPU load (using mprime) on both cores, the power usage peaks around 89W, PF 0.96.I'm running this machine in a room with an ambient temp of 67F (19C) and whether loaded or not, the fan speed does not seem to change.With the three drives, the sound produced is only just above the threshold of audibility in a quiet room.It would be safe to assume in hotter environments the fans might increase in speed and noise level.

Regarding the Intel Advanced Management Technology (AMT), I've only played with it a bit.This particular model only comes with the "Standard" AMT, the higher end i5-based models apparently have additional features enabled.Since it is not required in my situation I have disabled AMT after my initial experimentation.

I've had the machine several weeks now and it has been completely stable.Performance-wise it is a huge improvement over the previous machine which had a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 and comparatively sluggish PC133 memory.I am very happy with the value provided by this inexpensive server-class machine.

NOTE: At the time of this review was written the Amazon photograph is *not* of a TS200v 098112U.

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Product Description:
THINKSERVER TS200V G6950 2.8GSYST2GB 250GB DVD

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