Mini-Rant: Label Ergonomics

Piyono

Piyono

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Something that's always irked me is that hard drive manufacturers label the *tops* of their drives, which is great and all, but more often than not, when I'm servicing a computer, the only part of the drive I can see is the backplane. If I need to see the jumper configuration or the model or serial number it often means unscrewing the drive from it's mooring. PITA.

I long for the day that drive manufacturers start labeling the backplane area with clear master/slave/cs designations, drive model and serial number. While we're at it, all HDs should have null jumper positions so that there's always a jumper cap on the drive for when it's next required.

Ok, I feel better now.


Piyono
 
I remember someone used to do that, was it IBM? They probablly figure it's better to save a couple cents and remove a label.
 
Piyono said:
Mercutio said:
And yet, 2/3s of my customers still get bitchy if I don't spec for a floppy drive...
Click to expand...

Huh?
Click to expand...

What I mean is, the oldest and crappiest technology just refuses to die. In two years, I'll bet we're still installing IDE optical drives, just because the SATA ones will cost more, and we'll still have PATA ports on our boards that aren't doing anything else.
 
What's wrong with floppies?
I mean, besides their unreliable nature and miniscule capacity?

The way I figure, until every new computer comes with a new, dirt-cheap, standard for removable, bootable storage (CF/SD?), and until every computer sporting a floppy drive is permanently retired I have no choice but to carry floppy-based boot utilites in my arsenal. They've saved my hide and clients' computers more than once and I suspect they will continue to do so for quite some time.

Better the evil you know than the evil you don't know, eh?


Piyono
 
Floppies remain a very useful, sometimes an essential tool. They are horribly slow, die frequently, and a general all-round pain, but nearly everything has in-BIOS support for them, and there are plenty of times when there simply isn't any sensible alternative. I won't miss them in the slightest when they go, but they won't go until there is something else that does the same job - and I can't see what that is going to be yet.

I hate the bloody things, but what else can you do with a machine that won't boot and just needs a little tweak? Sometimes a CD is the answer, sometimes it isn't. The king is not dead. Long live the new king! (If the new king ever arrives.)
 
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