Storage Changes in VMware ESX 3.5 Update 4
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage on 31. Mar, 2009 | View Comments
Like clockwork, VMware has cranked out another update to their flagship enterprise product, ESX 3.5. The last update came out in early November, 2008, and included some major new functionality. What’s in store this time to intrigue storage folks? Not much.
For more information on earlier updates, see my articles:
Storage Fixes in VMware ESX Server 3.5 [...]
How Far Can You Push a Mac Mini?
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Terabyte home on 23. Mar, 2009 | View Comments
Last week I reported my progress upgrading my Mac Mini’s RAM and hard drive to extract much more performance out of Apple’s little desktop. And indeed, adding a 7200 rpm high-performance laptop hard drive did make a noticeable difference in system responsiveness.
But a question came in via email asking, will Western Digital’s killer 10,000 rpm [...]
Upgrades Give New Mac Mini a Whole New Attitude
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Terabyte home on 17. Mar, 2009 | View Comments
It may seem odd to buy a computer intending to upgrade it right out of the box, but so it was with me when I snapped up a new 2009 Nvidia-powered Mac Mini. I had been waiting for Apple to update the aged Mini line, saving up my pennies, but the out-of-box specs for RAM and hard drive space were underwhelming.
Handy Gadget: USB to IDE/SATA Adapter
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Everything, Terabyte home on 16. Mar, 2009 | View Comments
I imagine every home computer hacker one day finds they have one too many hard drives to deal with. Maybe you are migrating to a new system or installing a new OS. Or maybe you’re upgrading the disk in your new Mac Mini. Whatever the reason, a universal way to connect any hard drive to [...]
New Mac Mini Is A Diamond In The Rough
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Everything, Terabyte home on 10. Mar, 2009 | View Comments
After a very, very long wait, Apple has finally updated their entry-level “bridge” Mac, the Mac Mini. It’s amazing that, after 19 months without an update, Apple’s new Mini looks exactly the same as the old Mini. But what’s under the hood matters, and Apple delivered a mixed bag there. The new Mini is an excellent home server, which is how mine will be used, but some poor choices limit its abilities out of the box.
Storage Changes in VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 07. Nov, 2008 | View Comments
Just over three months after releasing Update 2 for ESX 3.5, VMware has released Update 3. That last Update brought major storage changes like VSS support, hot VMFS extension, Storage VMotion across Fibre Channel and iSCSI, and support for 10 Gb Ethernet and 8 Gb FC support.
For more information on Update 2, see my article, Storage [...]
Yes, FireWire is Faster Than USB
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Terabyte home on 30. Jul, 2008 | View Comments
This should not come as a shock to anyone, as it has been proven before, but let me take this moment to say that, yes, despite their rated speeds, 400-megabit FireWire S400 (aka IEEE 1394) is faster than 480-megabit USB 2.0.
While swapping out disk drives (first to upgrade the internal drive in my MacBook Pro [...]
Upgraded! 320 GB in a MacBook Pro!
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Personal, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage on 25. Jun, 2008 | View Comments
I know I’m not the first to do this, but it does make me chuckle to have upgraded a brand new machine less than a week after buying it. That’s right, my brand new MacBook Pro now has 4 GB of RAM and a massive 320 GB of disk space. If you’re thinking of upgrading your [...]
