ArcaOS isn't that cheap, sadly. I still hang onto my eee701s but there is very little that still run on the old processors. I last tried a variety of Puppy Linux and a cut down Arch derived mini-Linux but both were not the best UX having screen scroll issues. The odd-sized resolution is a bit of an issue for many OSes.
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eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?
- Thread starter Hughmac
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I tend to be very cautious putting large storage into old devices - I've found in some cases the access time is really noticeable - I've got a 1Gb in the Casio at moment, more than enough for tinkering.
I got an iMac G3 DV+ 450MHz with 576MB of RAM for 30€, in Ruby, I reinstalled 9.2.2 on it
This week's catch was good as I finally joined the Cube owner club:
G4 Cube 450 MHz, 20Gb HDD 640 Mb RAM, Airport, with its USB speakers, ADC->DVI adapter and PSU (that needed the hairdryer fix, couldn't believe that it actually does work).
The system has Tiger, Adobe CS standard, AppleWorks 6, iLife06 and iWork06, Toast 5.2.1, Macromedia Flash+ Dreamweaver+Flash MX+FreeHand, FilePro 5.5, all with valid licence nos
100€ for parts on Kleinanzeigen
Will upgrade it to a dual 450 G4 from a Gigabit Ethernet G4 and eventually replace the 7400s with 7447s with my BGA station
G4 Cube 450 MHz, 20Gb HDD 640 Mb RAM, Airport, with its USB speakers, ADC->DVI adapter and PSU (that needed the hairdryer fix, couldn't believe that it actually does work).
The system has Tiger, Adobe CS standard, AppleWorks 6, iLife06 and iWork06, Toast 5.2.1, Macromedia Flash+ Dreamweaver+Flash MX+FreeHand, FilePro 5.5, all with valid licence nos
100€ for parts on Kleinanzeigen
Will upgrade it to a dual 450 G4 from a Gigabit Ethernet G4 and eventually replace the 7400s with 7447s with my BGA station
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Is the blow dryer fix expanding cold solder joints in the psu so everything makes contact & everything fires up or is there something else going on? Nice pickup. I still hope to pick up a cube some day.This week's catch was good as I finally joined the Cube owner club:
G4 Cube 450 MHz, 20Gb HDD 640 Mb RAM, Airport, with its USB speakers, ADC->DVI adapter and PSU (that needed the hairdryer fix, couldn't believe that it actually does work).
The system has Tiger, Adobe CS standard, AppleWorks 6, iLife06 and iWork06, Toast 5.2.1, Macromedia Flash+ Dreamweaver+Flash MX+FreeHand, FilePro 5.5, all with valid licence nos
100€ for parts on Kleinanzeigen
Will upgrade it to a dual 450 G4 from a Gigabit Ethernet G4 and eventually replace the 7400s with 7447s with my BGA station
I picked up a ssd for my MacBook and a vintage Gears G1 Autobot. He's missing his rub but I'll pick up a repro.
Spot on, the catch is that you need to leave it plugged in once it's fired up (with the cube not necessarily up and running or attached) so that the solder joints don't go back down to room temp.
Otherwise you'll have to do the hairdryer/oven fix all over again (been there, done that).
I'll try and replace the culprit capacitor(s) now that I know where to apply heat (around the output power lead) and most importantly managed to open up the PSU 🤣
(Thanks fixit for the excellent guide https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/202920/How+to+open,+inspect,+and+repair+G4+cube+power+supply)
Here's my major eBay bargain for 2024 - so far! An 8TB HDD for £100 GBP - including shipping costs.
![JB6hIT4.png]()
For years I've bought 4TB HDDs and slung them into USB enclosures but I've now reached the stage where even they run out of space way too quickly - increasingly due to the quantity of large video files that I've started acquiring/archiving in ever burgeoning numbers. I'll have to catalogue everything so that others can sift through it all after I'm no longer around - much like what happened with Bob Monkhouse's collection...
I was scanning through eBay UK for 6TB drives and switched to 8TB instead and spotted the listing and after checking that it was actually brand new and not refurbished or recertified - I swooped in and bought it. Considering that 6TB drives sell for that price, there was no reason to deliberate.
From now own I'll just buy 8TB spinners if I can find them at a decent enough price point.
For years I've bought 4TB HDDs and slung them into USB enclosures but I've now reached the stage where even they run out of space way too quickly - increasingly due to the quantity of large video files that I've started acquiring/archiving in ever burgeoning numbers. I'll have to catalogue everything so that others can sift through it all after I'm no longer around - much like what happened with Bob Monkhouse's collection...
I was scanning through eBay UK for 6TB drives and switched to 8TB instead and spotted the listing and after checking that it was actually brand new and not refurbished or recertified - I swooped in and bought it. Considering that 6TB drives sell for that price, there was no reason to deliberate.
From now own I'll just buy 8TB spinners if I can find them at a decent enough price point.
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Here's my major eBay bargain for 2024 - so far! An 8TB HDD for £100 GBP - including shipping costs.
![JB6hIT4.png]()
For years I've bought 4TB HDDs and slung them into USB enclosures but I've now reached the stage where even they run out of space way too quickly - increasingly due to the quantity of large video files that I've started acquiring/archiving in ever burgeoning numbers. I'll have to catalogue everything so that others can sift through it all after I'm no longer around - much like what happened with Bob Monkhouse's collection...
I was scanning through eBay UK for 6TB drives and switched to 8TB instead and spotted the listing and after checking that it was actually brand new and not refurbished or recertified - I swopped in and bought it. Considering that 6TB drives sell for that price, there was no reason to deliberate.
From now own I'll just buy 8TB spinners if I can find them at a decent enough price point.
I had to look up whether that model is CMR or SMR. Mercifully, it’s CMR.
Very well done.
Personally I prefer WD\HGST\Fujitsu (are they still alive? ). Got some bad experience with Seagate drives. Got a pair server-grade SAS drives which irrecoverably failed without any obvious reason.
). Got some bad experience with Seagate drives. Got a pair server-grade SAS drives which irrecoverably failed without any obvious reason.
I've got bad experiences with all drives. You can be certain of one thing - at some point they will fail. Some sooner than others.
Picked up a couple airport cards for $7 a piece off eBay. They're up $2 from the typical $5 I'm used to snagging them at
I've done it again!
Another 8TB drive for the slightly higher price of £105 GBP - including taxes and shipping from China.
![BT13rwh.jpeg]()
@B S Magnet You'll be glad to know that I checked the drive's details on that list and it's a CMR.
All I have to do is unscrew the caddy when it arrives and then it will be substituted for my PVR's ridiculously undersized 1TB HDD. Fingers crossed, this solves my storage issues for a while, at least...
Another 8TB drive for the slightly higher price of £105 GBP - including taxes and shipping from China.
@B S Magnet You'll be glad to know that I checked the drive's details on that list and it's a CMR.
All I have to do is unscrew the caddy when it arrives and then it will be substituted for my PVR's ridiculously undersized 1TB HDD. Fingers crossed, this solves my storage issues for a while, at least...
I've done it again!
Another 8TB drive for the slightly higher price of £105 GBP - including taxes and shipping from China.
![BT13rwh.jpeg]()
@B S Magnet You'll be glad to know that I checked the drive's details on that list and it's a CMR.
All I have to do is unscrew the caddy when it arrives and then it will be substituted for my PVR's ridiculously undersized 1TB HDD. Fingers crossed, this solves my storage issues for a while, at least...
Again, very nice find! I’m most impressed how these finds are enterprise-class and, ostensibly, subject to more stringent durability tolerances in high-load settings.
As memory serves (and for some odd reason), most of the major hard drive purchases I’ve made during past years have happened, almost always, during the month of February.
Wait a minute. This is a SAS drive. It won’t work on a SATA controller/host.
Won't work unless your host does support SAS but uses a SATA port. You can hook up SATA drives to SAS controllers but not the other way round.
Ok, gotcha. I've messaged the seller and explained the situation and asked if they'll cancel the sale. According to eBay they're away till the 15th so let's see what happens. Fingers crossed...
Note to myself: next time pay attention to all of the details!
You can always get a SAS controller
and stuff the drive into a Mac Pro/PC.
The seller was thankfully very understanding and refunded me without rebuke but I shall keep that option in mind for the future.
Only if you'll get Mac Pro RAID card from Apple. Anyway, it can't handle drives >2Tb (AFAIK it is limitation of LSI1064, which RAID card uses). I thought that I can pass SFF8087-to-4SATA cable in DVD-ROM section of MacPro - no way, there just no place for cable, especially if your MacPro got Pixlas Mod. This can be done with PowerMac G5.
Third time's a charm!
Another browse through eBay UK brought up this listing with bids starting at £85 GBP and five days remaining - plus the option to make an offer. I made an offer of £100 GBP - and the drive would've fetched much more than that during five days of bidding - and it was accepted.
![pZnWJ4j.jpeg]()
This time I made absolutely certain that it's a SATA HDD and it also happens to be CMR too.
Another browse through eBay UK brought up this listing with bids starting at £85 GBP and five days remaining - plus the option to make an offer. I made an offer of £100 GBP - and the drive would've fetched much more than that during five days of bidding - and it was accepted.
This time I made absolutely certain that it's a SATA HDD and it also happens to be CMR too.
Third time's a charm!
Another browse through eBay UK brought up this listing with bids starting at £85 GBP and five days remaining - plus the option to make an offer. I made an offer of £100 GBP - and the drive would've fetched much more than that during five days of bidding - and it was accepted.
![pZnWJ4j.jpeg]()
This time I made absolutely certain that it's a SATA HDD and it also happens to be CMR too.
Also noteworthy is, if this is the actual unit you’ll receive, it was assembled 25 October 2022 — so, pretty fresh, relative to the earlier examples you posted.
And recommended for video surveillance no less so watch out pesky neighbors!