Just about time to pull out the air compressor again

antspants said:

I’d go full on SSD BUT in the early days with everyone telling us that they eventually die `(I know it’s more complicated than that) it’s stuck in my head and now I don’t want to put all of my trust in one.


I’ve been lucky over the past 3 or 4 years. Prior to that, I lost 20 years of work on a Seagate which put me into a spiral of depression. My fault for not adequately backing up my stuff.

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I've too much data to buy that many SSDs to cover that much data on my meagre budget. Good thing I'm headed for retirement so I'll have the time for all this. I know that feeling of data loss. It's an even bigger kick in the teeth when you know you've backed it all up a few times already and Windows over writes all your backups. This time I'm taking no chances. Cold storage is king.

Scannerman said:

Smart man. (No pun intended.) Yep. I do know WD sells CMR drives but let me say this: I've had literally dozens upon dozens (and dozens) of WD mechanical drives fail on me to the modest tune of 1 Seagate drive to every 5 WD drives and I'm done playing their game.

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All I can say is your experience is certainly not mine. And I've been with Western Digital since 1998 where they were in my first PC.

I do know though no matter the item, someone is always going to post it sucks, it's unreliable, yada, yada, yada, so....

For me, they work so that's all that matters.

Peace

Dru2 said:

I do know though no matter the item, someone is always going to post it sucks, it's unreliable, yada, yada, yada, so....

For me, they work so that's all that matters.

Peace

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I'm compelled to agree on this. I have to say that for me it is uncanny. I only build PCs for family and friends these days (and kids that don't have a PC but have parental permission to get one). Since my experience in this is limited to the use of myself and family and friends in my local area, I'm thinking something must happen to the drives before they reach our location. When someone brings me a PC that won't work and I discover that the drive is damaged nine times out of ten it's a WD mechanical hard drive. With laptops it's a toss up between WD and Toshiba. I don't do laptops anymore either. (Unless they're my own or belong to immediate family.) I'll even play a little game with my wife: "Wanna bet 5 bucks when I open this thing up it'll have a Western Digital mechanical drive for the OS?" She always declines because she's seen it so many times before.

For my own personal use I mentioned that now I just buy Enterprise drives, Helium filled drives, and CMR drives. I won't buy WD CMR on principle. When Western Digital tells me "only this once" after I purchase a brand new Caviar Black from them and their replacement drive also fails it's really not that hard to take a hint. They don't want my business, they just want to give me the "business" and I don't have time for that. I'm not entirely opposed to SMR (especially if it's for something standard like popping into an external enclosure to use for a back up) BUT I do find CMR drives tend to be more reliable overall. For me, they work and that's what matters.

I should've picked a better case, dusting this Thermaltake V200 TG RGB is a Pain, accessing the front fans is not easy at all, cleaning behind the fake front glass also not fun to do lol

Yes i know i have to clean behind that somehow again soon lol, without breaking more of my Front I/O Ports, already 1 USB 2.0 port faulty, 1 works, and front usb 3.0 so far works fine still
(Picture taken a while ago when both front USB 2.0s was working) there not now lol, if i plug 2 low power devices in, one of the devices disconnects, and other keeps reconnecting)

Eventually will get a better case--hopefully one with front easy accessible filter lol, for now stuck with this one lol

Indubitably, Thermaltake is likely going the way of the rest, cheaping out quality control. No matter how hard these case manufacturers try they can't make plastic behave like glass, or, for that matter, look like real glass. That said a PC is like a woman. You must treat her with great care and consideration, with strength but not with force, being gentle but not feeble, always with confidence but never assuming. Call me a chauvinist, but I'm too old to change.

Scannerman said:

That said a PC is like a woman. You must treat her with great care and consideration, with strength but not with force, being gentle but not feeble, always with confidence but never assuming. Call me a chauvinist, but I'm too old to change.

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But it helps greatly if the target is receptive to the attention. I'm old, too, 83 and married since 20.

bikemanI7 said:

I should've picked a better case, dusting this Thermaltake V200 TG RGB is a Pain, accessing the front fans is not easy at all, cleaning behind the fake front glass also not fun to do lol
.....

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I'm gathering this is your first case you've disassembled?

Yeah, you have to handle with care. Also, some of those front panels are held to the case by tabs usually accessible from the inside edges of the case. Cables for the USB from ports can usually be removed with the top panel or disconnected from it. You just have to examine the case before deciding on how to dissemble

Scannerman said:

Indubitably, Thermaltake is likely going the way of the rest, cheaping out quality control. No matter how hard these case manufacturers try they can't make plastic behave like glass, or, for that matter, look like real glass. That said a PC is like a woman. You must treat her with great care and consideration, with strength but not with force, being gentle but not feeble, always with confidence but never assuming. Call me a chauvinist, but I'm too old to change.

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Sounds good to me, @Scannerman as long as the treatment is reciprocated by the woman.

Just about time to pull out the air compressor again​

A caveat: Don't use an air compressor that uses oil lubricant in it, can cause undesirable issues.

Dru2 said:

I'm gathering this is your first case you've disassembled?

Yeah, you have to handle with care. Also, some of those front panels are held to the case by tabs usually accessible from the inside edges of the case. Cables for the USB from ports can usually be removed with the top panel or disconnected from it. You just have to examine the case before deciding on how to dissemble

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Yes will be the first case in a long time that I've dissembled to properly clean the front fans, and fake plastic glass like cover that the case has in the front panel.

Yes I've seen the tab like clips holding it on on the inside of the case, and have carefully used those 1 time before, so not really sure how the 1st usb 2.0 front port started acting up again---but maybe in my next dust clean out i can finally get it fully fixed and finally have 2 front working usb 2.0 ports again for the lower power gamepad, and occasional 2.0 flash drive if i wanted to plug up front

Berton said:

Just about time to pull out the air compressor again​

A caveat: Don't use an air compressor that uses oil lubricant in it, can cause undesirable issues.

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Also never use an air compressor on your PC without a water filter connected to it. The filter will remove 99% of the water and any other liquids that accumulate in the tank. It's also a good idea to purge the tank each time before use.

Scannerman said:

Also never use an air compressor on your PC without a water filter connected to it.

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This. I bought an AC a couple of years ago, and that was one of the things I made sure I got for it.

I've only used to once on the PC, but I use it 2-3 times a year on the dust screens of my case. Obviously, those screens don't really need a water filter, but I've put it on there pretty tightly, and don't really want to take it off and put it back on repeatedly, so it stays on.

Speaking of which, it might be time to do my whole PC again, it's been at least a year since I last did it, I think.

Scannerman said:

It's also a good idea to purge the tank each time before use.

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Also good advice. Since I use it mostly for inflating things, I normally don't purge, but I'll keep this in mind when I get around to doing my entire PC again this time around.

Scannerman said:

Also never use an air compressor on your PC without a water filter connected to it. The filter will remove 99% of the water and any other liquids that accumulate in the tank. It's also a good idea to purge the tank each time before use.

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Better yet, Don't use an air compressor.

I know this could open up that whole can of worms, but I bought a 21 Gallon, 175 PSI Oil-Free Vertical Air Compressor over 10 years ago, and have used it ever since to blow out the dust of probably 15 or more computers, and never had one issue, am I just lucky?

Actually the oil-free is a good choice. I like the canned air as it's more portable when I have to work on-site. My compressor and air tank are getting harder to carry.

RD Mercer said:

I know this could open up that whole can of worms, but I bought a 21 Gallon, 175 PSI Oil-Free Vertical Air Compressor over 10 years ago, and have used it ever since to blow out the dust of probably 15 or more computers, and never had one issue, am I just lucky?

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Nope. You just know how to use your equipment.

Scannerman said:

Nope. You just know how to use your equipment.

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“That’s what she said” I have a portable one, multi use, car tires, blower etc. I used it once 4 years ago. I just pulled it out the other day and it sounds great, sounds like its really sucking air/building up pressure. The minute I pull the trigger, a short blast of air then no pressure. No leak I can find. Like I said, bought it, I used it once, it still looks like it belongs on a store shelf. I had to buy air in a can.

Cable managment and keeping a clean PC is easy.
The hardest is maintaining a clutter-free workstation.
There is no use in keeping a small PC box clean if the rest of the room is a total mess.

antspants said:

The minute I pull the trigger, a short blast of air then no pressure. No leak I can find. Like I said, bought it, I used it once, it still looks like it belongs on a store shelf. I had to buy air in a can.

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My compressor is out in the barn, and I have had Mud Daubers stop up air nozzles in some of my air tools and fittings, especially in my pistol grip air nozzle, I can normally just tap it on top of my vise and all the dirt will fall out.