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The Fox Report Barry Fox’s technology column Time is money T he real cost of buying a better computer is not the cost of the hardware, but the cost in time of installing all the software, and tweaking all the settings, to make it work like the old one. There’s also the cost of buying the keys needed for replacement software that requires activation. No one has yet cracked the challenge of stripping everything off one device and automatically installing it on a different one. They probably never will because the software companies want to sell new keys. A word to the wise This, of course, is why more and more people are using tried and tested Open Source free and donation-based alternatives to proprietary programs – like LibreOffice, Wordpress, GIMP, Shotcut, Avidemux, VLC, Squoosh, OBS Studio, Handbrake, Audacity, 7-Zip, J-Downloader, and the many Google Apps like Contacts, Photos and Drive. To the best of my knowledge, based on many years of hands-on use, all the afore-mentioned ‘free’ programs are safe. But, do try to download them direct from the developers’ sites, or established repositories like GitHub and SourceForge, not pop-up third party sites that may try to trick-sell what’s free. Also be careful not to click on diversionary download links that lead to unwanted and often trial installations of completely different software. New disks for speed Attempting to upgrade an old PC has until recently been largely unrewarding. Adding more hard drive disk (HDD) space, either by replacing existing HDDs with discs of larger capacity, or plugging in external USB HDDs, does nothing to accelerate. Adding more RAM may speed up performance, a bit, but requires care to match module type. The most dramatic speed boost comes from replacing an ‘old-fashioned’ spinning disc HDD with a new solid-state drive (SSD). Over recent months the price of SSDs has fallen dramatically – under £50 for 1TB. (But see the end note about the need to guard against fake storage of all kinds, including SSDs.) From recent practical, personal tests, based on replacing the spinner HDD in a painfully slow old Windows 10 Dell Optiplex desktop PC with a new SSD, I can vouch for how easy it is for anyone with some basic DIY IT skills. Of course, this advice comes with no guarantees, just practical guidance on how to swap out and how to safeguard yourself if something does not work. SATA, SATA, SATA The easiest way to upgrade from an old ‘spinner’ HDD to SSD is simply to buy an SSD with SATA sockets and use it (with a SATA-to-USB casing or adaptor) to clone the existing operating system. For this, use backup software (like Macrium) which offers a full system clone option. Everything is easier if the old HDD spinner is of low capacity (a few hundred GB) because it will then be of the same or smaller capacity than an affordable SSD. This makes it much more straightforward to clone. If the spinner HDD is of large capacity you may need to move non-essential data off it and then ‘shrink’ its partitions using disc management software, before cloning. Unless you are skilled in disc partition management, or are prepared to become skilled, shrinking can be daunting and stressful. Once the cloning is done, just swap the SATA leads in the computer from the old to new drive and, if necessary, change the boot sequence by accessing the BIOS (by pressing F10, or whatever function key your PC requires, at boot-up.) Be sure to keep the original ‘old’ HDD untouched so that if there are any problems you can then simply re-plug the SATA leads back to the original state. Later, when all is proven good, you can reformat the original HDD for use as a data drive. But wait a good while before taking this final step. The more adventurous may wish to cut costs by buying a bare SSD circuit ‘stick’. Two memos (both borne out of mistakes I have made) may help here because, confusingly, there are different kinds of SSD stick, both look similar and both resemble a RAM card; and there are different kinds of adaptor/casing. To put it as simply as possible: An M.2 NGFF SSD ‘stick’ and SATA case. Fitting is straightforward but fiddly. A magnetic screwdriver helps with the tiny screws. The 1TB SSD was surprisingly cheap. Just £18 post free. It will need rigorous capacity testing before it can be trusted with data – and that will take around 24 hours to complete. 16 Practical Electronics | November | 2023 nB oth SSD stick types have the same M.2 physical form factor. nA n M.2 NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) SSD stick connects to a SATA bus, as used by conventional HDDs, via a SATA adaptor or SATA casing. nN ew PCs and devices (like newer network attached storage (NAS) boxes) come with an internal NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) socket for direct connection to an M.2 NVMe SSD stick. n  There are various types of adaptor casing for both kinds of stick, namely (old) M.2/NGFF and (new) NVMe. One kind of adaptor casing is for SATA connection of an NGFF SSD, and another is for USB connection. If you are swapping an old HDD for a new SSD, then you will need a case with SATA connection. t’s easy to get muddled by the adverts and buy the wrong n I type of stick and/or casing – I’ve done it. Carpenters measure twice before cutting – check SSD descriptions equally carefully before ordering. Moving on from my mistake setback, I successfully used Macrium backup software with an SSD stick in a SATA casing to clone the OS from the low capacity HDD in the old snail-pace Dell. The ‘SATA’d’ SSD then straight-replaced the Dell’s HDD. The acceleration was quite magical. Warning nW hen cloning, it’s easy to fall into the trap of picking the wrong source and destination drives and end up wiping the original operating system. Again, think like a carpenter and double-check before clicking ‘OK’. n I f you are nervous, make an ordinary full system image back-up copy of the original HDD onto a separate HDD before cloning to SSD. nA nd I repeat: Keep the original OS on the original spinner HDD for easy swap-back until you are sure that all is working well. time who has paid what and when is too difficult and takes too much time to complete, access has now been thrown wide open. Don’t bother asking the networks for hard-fact information; shop staff will just look blank or give conflicting and confusing advice. Just try it yourself on a platform and see what works for you. Currently (and who knows how and when it will be all change again) the major Wi-Fi networks such as Vodafone, Three and Wi-Fi Extra (O2) which a phone almost always finds at all stations, now seem to be providing free access for all. No passwords are needed, although with Wi-Fi Extra the PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol) option should be set to SIM. I have no SIM of any kind for Vodafone or Three, but both let me in. I have an O2 SIM which has not been topped up recently but that still talks to Wi-Fi Extra. VOIP to home or office Apart from enabling emails and social messaging, underground Wi-Fi makes it possible to make speech calls (‘I am running late because there are tube train holdups’) by using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and the live-talk features offered by systems like Skype, WhatsApp and Telegram. Experimenting with what works with free Wi-Fi is a wonderful way to while away time when ‘trapped’ underground. However, do remember that although it is unlikely a scammer could rig a phoney Wi-Fi hotspot deep underground, to steal sensitive data like bank details, it is good policy never to send anything sensitive via a public Wi-Fi hotspot. I plan now to experiment with another spinner PC, using an M.2 NGFF SSD stick in a SATA casing. But first, I need to research and report here on a separate trap for the unwary. Not all memory is equal Fake memory devices, including SSDs, are widely on sale. Their controller chips have been cleverly programmed to return a misleadingly high capacity – eg,1TB instead of 256GB. The real memory is then over-written by new data. Software that checks and displays fake values is readily available, for free, but it is inevitably slow and often awkward to use. I have bought some suspiciously cheap 1TB SSDs and will now look for the easiest way to check their real capacity and – if necessary – return them to the sellers. JTAG Connector Plugs Directly into PCB!! No Header! No Brainer! Going underground Wi-Fi access on the London Underground has always been a moveable feast. The latest movement is very much in the travellers’ favour. Access has previously been available (on platforms, not tunnels yet) to paying subscribers to the main comms networks (O2, Three, Vodafone, Virgin, EE) not the cheaper networks (Giff Gaff,1pMobile) which ride on the back of the majors. PAYG users of the major networks have only been able to connect if they have recently topped up. All change But all that has recently changed, with haphazard new rules of engagement. Perhaps because the need to check in real Practical Electronics | November | 2023 Our patented range of Plug-of-Nails™ spring-pin cables plug directly into a tiny footprint of pads and locating holes in your PCB, eliminating the need for a mating header. Save Cost & Space on Every PCB!! Solutions for: PIC . dsPIC . ARM . MSP430 . Atmel . Generic JTAG . Altera Xilinx . BDM . C2000 . SPY-BI-WIRE . SPI / IIC . Altium Mini-HDMI . & More www.PlugOfNails.com Tag-Connector footprints as small as 0.02 sq. inch (0.13 sq cm) 17