[ale] Is there anybody we don't hate too much for Refurbs?

[neal at mnopltd.com]

Thanks to all for replies.   We do actually back up all the important 
bits via robocopy:
- to a Samba share on our Centos box with mirrored drives;
- to a WD Passport drive that sits either in the safe when home, or 
travels with us.


EPILOGUE:
- After more digging, we determined that MS Does Still provide the Win7 
to Win10 in-place upgrade.  You just have to download the Win10 Media 
Creation tool.
- Rather than do a fresh install, and re-install every dang application, 
having backed up the above-mentioned important bits, we did the in-place 
upgrade.  Worked mostly fine.
- Griped about the NVidia geoforce video driver being incompatible, and 
reverted to the generic VGA driver.  Installed a later (March 2014) 
video driver from Dell site, which has it almost all fixed. (19xx by 
1080 looks good, dual monitors ok, but very specific parts of the Win10 
menu are whacky)
- Ordered another 4GB of RAM for $19.

If we had seen any indication of soft errors on the HD I'd certainly 
replace it and clone old drive to new.  I can't remember if I put in a 
new drive when we bought that one.   I figure drives are the only moving 
part subject to wear.    Our servers and desktops sit on a Best Ferrups 
UPS and it seems they lead a sheltered life- never had a drive failure.  
  They die of obsolescence or boredom.

regards,

Neal


On 2019-10-26 16:28, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 20:05:58 -0500
> Neal Rhodes via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>> Understand that I'd rather give a tiger a vasectomy than risk
>> screwing up my wife's desktop with 15 years of corporate tax returns.
>>  More pain, but shorter duration.
> 
> My first thought is that you'd better back up that computer, fast. And
> keep it on a backup schedule.
> 
> My second thought is that your wife's data would be safer and more
> easily backed up (rsync, probably) on a Linux computer. Her data
> directories can be served out by a suitably secured Samba, to a Windows
> computer of her choice.
> 
> With all the trouble you're having installing a modern Windows, is
> refurb really the way to go? You could get a brand new Windows computer
> with brand new Windows and a brand new license. Save the refurbs for
> your Linux boxes where OS licenses aren't an issue.
> 
> 
> https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3ocwmvp
> 
> $1000 for 16GB RAM and 1TB 7200 rpm with 9gen i7.
> 
> Raising to 2TB is $50, and raising to 32GB RAM is another $200. Both
> help future-proof your computer. If you get both, and they enable you
> to use it for 5 years before obsolescence, that's $250/year, which is a
> tiny hardware expense on a computer used for corporate stuff.
> 
> Be sure to use this computer only with the windows they provide,
> however, because the text on the above referred page says installation
> of an alternate OS may void the warranty.
> 
> SteveT
> 
> Steve Litt
> Author: The Key to Everyday Excellence
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/key
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stevelitt
> 
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