~misfit~ wrote:
On 3/07/2019 9:38 AM, Peter Jason wrote:
On Tue, 2 Jul 2019 09:42:57 -0400, John McGaw wrote:

It has to be that these things are breeding. There used to be a joking
theory that wire coat hangers were reproducing and trying to take
over the
world but it seems that computer cables are in the game now.

Do you find that your stock of cables is expanding without your
knowledge?
I just looked in the closet in my "office" and found a bag of
unexplained
USB cables -- mostly A to B types -- that really shouldn't be there. I
already had a rack on one wall holding cables and I swear that there are
twice as many now as there were a year ago -- all sorts of cables,
not just
USB but video, power, extenders, and who knows what else. I'm almost
afraid
to look in the downstairs "closet of computing antiquity" for fear of
what
will be there now.

What does on do with such excess? Does dumping them at the recycling
center
help?

I feel your pain.
And I solved this with....
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/...raid-enclosure

.... and mine has now 7 HDDs. Connectrion is with a single USB3
cable to the computer and one power cord to the wall (albeit too
short).
No more wretched molex catenaries and Sata connectors that all produce
a rat's nest of tangle.

So I found this and figured that, as it's less than half of the price of
the 8 HDD version and I can get one now without saving (and another
later..) this might be the way to go.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=psdc_160354011_t1_B005GYDMYG

However it says that it doesn't support '4Kn Native Drives'. I don't
think I have any of those (not sure how to tell, can't find it on HDD
Sentinel's 'Information" tab. It just says 4096 bytes per sector
[Advanced Format] for my HDDs.. The highest capacity drive I have at the
moment is 4TB.

Is this likely to be a problem for me, now or in the near future? I'm
glad I saw that, I was just about to order one.

You can buy 4Kn (native) drives. Windows 10 might even
support one. However, the tool flow for working with those
is likely a "server guy" kinda thing. The tools I've consulted
make 4Kn look like a dead end.

outside inside-format
512n 512 512 # WDC Gold 1TB,2TB,4TB, can still buy
# Good choice for WinXP, not essential
# for Vista+

512e 512 4096 # Most common modern format

4Kn 4096 4096 # Think about how this screws up the MBR...
# And how your average tool won't know what
# to do.

For the most part, sites like Newegg try not to sell 4Kn drives
to consumers. They're not promoted as strongly as they could
be. And as far as I'm concerned, "they're a trap".

The 512e type, is perfectly adequate, and would be
supported in just about anything, because it is
"512 emulated" and emulated to the outside world,
exactly what things need to see.

If you install Windows 10 on a 4Kn, then chances
are your first surprise comes when you use
Partition Management tools.

I don't even have a 4Kn to test.
Couldn't see the point of it.

Paul