How to detect if a USB port is 3.0 or 2.0?
Question: I have a Toshiba Canvio 3.0 external HDD. It has USB 3.0. It flashes blue if you connect it to a USB 3.0 port. If it is a 2.0…
Why should I choose (or not) AHCI over IDE in my PC’s BIOS settings?
Question: I’ve noticed in the BIOS settings of the newer PCs I own that I can configure the drive controller work either in AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode, or…
How badly do SSDs degrade without TRIM?
Question: SSDs have been out for a few years, and have seen all kinds of usage patterns. ?Windows and Linux support the TRIM command, with Mac OS still trailing behind…
What are the differences between 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard disks?
Question: What does the 2.5″/3.5″ value indicate? The thickness? I want one of my friends to buy 1TB hard disk for me. I know I want a 1TB capacity and…
How to force a remap of sectors reported in S.M.A.R.T C5 (Current Pending Sector Count)?
Question: The S.M.A.R.T C5 value of my Samsung HM640JJ Hard Drive (in an HP Pavilion dv6 laptop) is “yellow status = caution” C5 was 10 yesterday, and it’s 21 today.…
What are the differences between primary and logical partition?
Question: What are the major differences? Which is more preferable? Are there any OS specific advantages for one over the other? Answer: In the legacy MBR partition scheme, only at…
How vibration sensitive are hard disk drives?
Question: I’ve gotten my hands on a seriously cheap laptop grade 2.5 inch drive. I’m intending to use one on a desktop that doesn’t have 2.5 inch bays as a…
When to stop using a hard drive? What rules/software apply?
Question: When having a old hard disk – when should you stop using it ? I recently got a new 1 TB hard disk, and am left with 3 old…
Linux is to mount as Windows is to _______?
Question: So Linux “mounts” a hard drive to perform some operation such as reading/writing. Does Windows “mount” in the same way? Is it called something different in the context of…
I plugged in a molex cable the wrong way and the power supply exploded. Did it kill my hard drive?
Question: I bought a cheap kit allowing me to use a 3.5 SATA hard drive with a laptop, by plugging it in with USB. It still requires external power supply…