[ale] A modest proposal for the times

[Steve Litt]

On Mon, 7 Apr 2025 18:22:02 -0700
Ron via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> William Bagwell via Ale wrote on 2025-04-07 17:47:


> > And when did they drop
> > optical drives?  
> 
> Optical drives, bays for 3½ inch HDDs, *reset* buttons,...
> 
> 
> I thought some of these were deal-breakers when I began researching
> that recent upgrade, turns out "how many times do I press reset?" is 
> vanishingly close to zero, and "how often do I want to read an
> optical disk?" is even less.

Reset buttons are a menace: The very definition of a disorderly
shutdown. They are from the days before operating systems (like my
Heathkit ET6800 Microprocessor Trainer computer). Those wanting an
optical drive (like me) can buy a USB optical drive. No sweat.

But no 3.5" drive bays? I've never heard of that, and it would
absolutely be a deal breaker for me. Maybe others can get along with
just a 4TB NVMe, but I've been at >10TB for ten years now (admittedly
via multiple disks 2014-2020), and I'm not going back.

The setup I like is a 1TB NVMe acting as my root partition and
containing /usr, with everything else mounted or bind mounted from 7200
RPM spinning rust.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Spring 2023 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques