Razor Blade

I believe the onboard ports are operate at 3Gb/s. HBA and RAID cards of that era operate at 6Gb/s. So using the onboard ports could greatly impact performance.

That old Perc 6 controller uses SFF 8484 to SFF 8087 cables. So you'll need to add some SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 cables to your shopping list if you're going with a newer controller. They should be plug and play with your current backplane. The Dell Perc H700 controller should be a drop in replacement and with current firmware should have no problem handling >4TB drives (though support for larger than 6TB drives is spotty). Keep in mind that if you do order one of the H700 cards that have older firmware, you may get the dreaded "Blocked" drive problem. Once apon a time, Dell decided they were not going to let people use non Dell drives in their servers but since then have unlocked their cards). Just update the firmware and you'll be fine. Also in looking at specs on a T410 it doesn't appear to have a storage slot so if you get other Dell controllers do NOT get the "integrated" models...you would not only have to get a bracket for them, you would have to try to cross-flash them with different firmware.

Wish I could add to this thread but alas... espresso machines are the only type of machine I've never owned. I just can't justify forking out the amount really good ones cost and cafes offering good espresso are all over where I live. Other machines I have tried include... drip machines (so convenient and can make decently strong brew but they aren't convenient for less than maybe 24 fl oz) french press (probably my favorite way since you can control every aspect of the brew) cold brew mason jar edition lolz (simplest and by far cheapest way...) pre-made bags the ones that look like giant tea bags (convenient that you can just toss one or two in the kettle but in my experience make a good cup of coffee they don't ) and... yes... freakin K cups...(wasteful! Tthough I have tried the reusable ones you put together yourself but they don't hold nerely enough coffee for my liking...I've tried) The methods I use at home most are drip and french press.

If there is ever even a remote chance you may add PoE devices (access points, phones, or security cameras for example) my suggestion is to kick in more and get your POE switch now. Reason being PoE injectors cost about $20 each and even the smallest 5 port PoE switch (4 PoE, 1 non PoE ports) will run you about $50-60...then you have an extra thing or things you need to plug in and deal with. If not no big deal, just wanted to put that out there...I had to learn the hard way by getting my wallet out twice I also suggest if this will be your main switch to go ahead and get a managed switch. You can do many neat things with it (link aggregation, VLANs, and remote management for example) Currently I have a Netgear JGS516PE-100NAS which is a 16 port switch (8 PoE ports, 8 regular ports). It is rack mountable but is quieter than my R710 so I can't really say how loud it would be. the JGS524E-200NAS is the non PoE 24 port model of the Smart Plus series switches.

If that is indeed your issue, you would have to take ownership and set permissions for your account to modify, delete, or create inside the protected folder (as @YaBoiWill said). The problem isn't administrator account or not, it is getting permissions for protected folders that are currently owned by Trusted Installer. Windows does not like giving full permissions for everything to the user...especially if they're system files or related folders...if the user has no idea what they're doing, they can do a lot of damage (saving the user from themselves). Unless you're in a special situation, I highly recommend never to take control of protected folders in Windows.

Do you not have another keyboard to try? I have a K400 plus but never tried to use it to setup a BIOS.

a small flat head screwdriver most likely. The in the middle, there is a hole with an arrow pointing to it. My old Centrino laptop is the same way.

Any more insight as to your end goal? If it is for just in case your system ever crashes, the overhead of running a hypervisor is not worth it. Not to mention if you're talking about passthrough in ESXi it isn't necessarily as simple as just restore snapshot and you're fine. If you're just wanting to have the ability to restore a PC that crashes, system restore would have you covered. If you need something more intense, you can (in Windows 7 and 10) create a system image. It would be a whole lot easier...

Yeah... I think that could have been done a lot better... Maybe the guy wakes up on the couch in the dark after falling asleep working on a project...he hits the power button on the laptop but it is dead because it didn't go to sleep for some reason and being in a hurry he forgot to plug it in before working. Wondering what the hell time it is and phone on the night stand 2 rooms down the hallway, he tries to read the analog clock on the wall but since it's too dark and can't see it. So he asks his Mark II assistant for the time. I know that seems awfully specific...I can neither confirm or deny something like that ever happening to me...except the wall clock was instead my analog watch...and the Mark II assistant was instead a badly stubbed toe as I tried to fumble for the freaking light.

Pay for OS options such as the ones Lime tech (Unraid) and Microsoft (Windows Server) offers have trials. I highly recommend taking advantage of those before committing to purchase. Don't rule out the free options... there are many completely free Linux choices as well. First starting out, Download several and start playing around with them. Many will even run on regular cheap $5 flash drives (not Windows Server though)...So you could pick up a couple 16GB drives off Amazon if you want to just play around with it. One thing to note... if you go with Unraid, IIRC you MUST use a flash drive. So if that is your OS of choice, invest in a good thumb drive...while you could probably transfer the license, it is best to leave that as an "only if necessary" recovery option.

Any idea what OS you're wanting to run? Figure out exactly what you want to do. Start with hardware you have. Build something that works and get used to it first. Then you can start an upgrade path without dumping unnecessary amounts of money in.

What ever you decide to do make sure you know what you're buying. If I were in your position, I would still go for an HBA and use the OS to assemble your array. It is a lot more flexible and tends to be simpler to maintain IMO. If you decide to get a physical hardware RAID card and use that to assemble your array, make sure you fully understand the pros and cons of going that route. For example if you use the write cache function a battery is VERY necessary to prevent big problems from a potential power loss. Also as part of maintenance, make sure you keep up with firmware updates and install the necessary ones when possible. If your card dies, you'll need to import your array to a new card (LSI in my experience does really well with this) but if your firmware is a dinosaur it is hard to tell what impact the old firmware would have importing your array to a newer card...that said depending on the OS and card you go with, there are things like LSI's CLI tool to communicate with your controller without having to reboot which makes managing your card way easier.

What are you even talking about? Did I say it mattered? Or did I try to argue there was some difference between gray market and retail market? I must have missed that All I said is I wasn't talking about gray market keys. You're the one that brought it up.

Who's arguing? Read what I said. I said nothing about gray market websites or keys in my post. Those sites sell keys, they don't sell boxed retail copies of Windows 10 which is what I was referring to.

Those are gray market websites. I was talking about retail websites.

Also that is for OEM. This means no support from Microsoft and license (technically) can't be transferred to a new PC once you do install and use it. If you want a retail copy of Windows 10 Home you need to cough up the $139 instead.

Windows 10 Home OEM edition retails for $109 but can currently be found for $100 on most retail sites.

A member of LTT staff (mod or admin) would have to do it. " Post removal requests and move requests should be made by reporting the post using the exclamation triangle button at the bottom of the post. " (https://linustechtips.com/main/staff/)

I've seen this happen before with crap-tastic power connectors but usually it is the 12V side the melts... Some drives don't even need the 3.3V line so you might be able to plug in a power connector to see if the drive still powers on. Just be very careful with those other two 3.3V pins that are sticking out so you don't end up bending those into the ground as well. If it is a no-go my honest opinion is if the drive has important data that isn't backed up, I always suggest looking at data recovery services to people. For something like this where it is just a power plug failure, it might not even be that expensive.

That's what I do...or use a simple encryption method to make a password out of random words.