Tomas' log of stuff

I finally got the opportunity to install Windows 7, so I decided to do some system changes at the same time, some of which I've been meaning to do for quite some time.

When I built the current workstation around an Asus Rampage Extreme I bought 2x4GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 ram timed at 7-7-7-20, planning to later upgrade to 8GB. But by the time I ordered the new mem, despite even having the same product number, it came with 7-7-7-24 timings. Now I don't know for 100% certain that one of the modules aren't defective, but they seem to be working well separately, but if both kits are installed, the system will BSOD randomly.

So top on the list was 8GB of identical memory modules. I got some nice Corsair XMS3 2GB modules (4 of them) at a decent price, and while I was at it I got an Intel x25 Generation 2 SSD drive to install Windows 7 on. I know shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself.

I did the installation Friday night, and so far the memory has been working exemplary, and the combination of Windows 7 and the SSD drive is a joy to use. So far good news all around. While I'm installing everything over, I decided I should do some posts on what I always add to my system after a fresh install, as I always forget stuff, and people sometimes ask me about my essential tools.

The Norwegian tech site Hardware.no has posted a test where they compare assorted common "household" liquids and substances as thermal paste replacement for use between cpu and cooler. For reference they use Arctic Silver Ceramique. The results are quite amusing.

References: Test, results (in Norwegian). Google Translator results.

So my firewall is a an old Compaq d500 desktop running Windows 2003 and ISA 2006 Server. It's running headless (without monitor, keyboard or mouse connected) in a corner, being managed over RDP. But since the hardware isn't new, the concept of usb keyboards is kind of alien to the bios, but I finally managed to get it to boot without nagging for a ps/2 keyboard. However, seems Windows also feels it should've been given a keyboard connection, because forever it's been throwing a service error at logon:

Event Type:	Error

Event Source:	Service Control Manager

Event Category:	None

Event ID:	7026

Date:		01.08.2009

Time:		10:16:19

User:		N/A

Computer:	******

Description:

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: 

i8042prt

I finally got tired of this so I decided to search out a solution to this. And woohoo, I found 2:

1. Boot to recovery console (from the CD or if you've installed it on the HDD), at the prompt type: disable i8042prt
2. Start regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt and change value of "Start" to 4. This will disable the boot start of this service.

Hope this is of some use for someone else.

I figured I'd do a little series of posts about which applications I install on my PC after a reinstall, and in what order. Mostly I thought it would be a nice idea for my own reference, maybe compare it to an update list in a few years and see what the changes are.

This is definately something that will need several posts, probably I'll do one or two apps pr posting, and I'll use this post to keep an updated index of the posts.

The order of the list is based on notes I made the last time I reinstalled both my home and work PCs, and will contain a "consolidated" list, some things I might install on the home PC, some on the work PC, and most of it on both. Where it makes sense I'll mention if it applies to just one of them. I'm including assorted utilities and helper apps, but I'm leaving out drivers and such. Still, some tools might be more or less hardware specific.

So, time to get on with the list! And the first thing that gets installed on all my computers is...

1. Opera
   

People that know me know that I consume digital storage space at an incredible rate. I have no idea what happens to my free space but as soon as I get some more; it's gone. Quite a few years ago, I built a RAID5 setup in my server using a Promise FastTrack SX4000 RAID controller (with onboard ram and a XOR chip) and four 200GB disks. At the time it was quite a lot, but over the years needs have outgrown the RAID and I now have too much data on non-redundant single drives. Also, I'd like to separate some of the storage from the server, both for cooling, noise and placement reasons. So for a long time now I've been watching the NAS/external eSATA device market with interest, waiting for prices and performance to reach acceptable levels.

Finally it looks like the market is opening up, with several of the big players like Thermaltake (Muse NAS-RAID) and Promise (Promise SmartStor NS4300N) entering the SOHO segment with products of their own, challenging existing players like Stardom and Buffalo who have either traditionally been overpriced or only sold with disks preinstalled at awkward size configurations.

Among all these new and exciting products, one in particular has grabbed my attention. It's the Infrant Technologies ReadyNAS NV+. First of all it's getting good reviews regarding noise levels, something other units like the Thecus N4200 have struggled with. But most intriguing is the promise by Infrant that their proprietary X-RAID technology will not only allow you to start with few disks and gradually increase the number while at the same time growing the volume AND maintaining redundancy, but that you will also be able to incrementally replace the disks with larger drives and actually get the benefit of increased volume out out of it.This might not sound like much of a revolution but if you've dealt with devices like this in the past, or even RAID cards, you'll appreciate this since most solutions seems to force you to destroy and rebuild RAIDs to make any significant changes to them. While some solutions like the Promise SmartStor NS4300N feature online expansion and replacement, I've yet to find anyone other than infrant that will go into details about what their RAID extensions will allow you to do in terms of flexibility and expandability. Also, Infrant seems to be on top of the disk size inflation, with officially supporting 750GB disks while many still list "up to 500GB" (this might be due to outdated product specs, but are you willing to take the chance? I'm not).

The price is still a little above what I'd like to pay for such a device, but considering the ease of mind it brings and the feature list, I feel the time is right to start building a new storage vault based on 750GB disks. And thanks to the virtues of X-RAID, I can start with just the NAS unit itself and another disk (I have one already), and then extend it as I can afford it. That's a great bonus in itself. 2.2 Terabyte redundant storage, here I come!