Newsletter Archives

• Windows Storage Spaces

  Posted on May 22, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  I decided to try Storage Spaces on Opal, just to see what it would be like.

  It’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s less technically challenging than the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) solution that lives partly in UEFI and partly in a Windows driver. On the other hand, it’s a work in progress, with some confusing configuration steps.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.21.0, 2023-05-22).

  Hardware DIY, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1, Storage Spaces, Windows

• All in on AI

  Posted on May 15, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.20 • 2023-05-15

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  On May 4, Microsoft announced the “next wave of AI innovation.”

  Well, we’ll see about that.

  There was no parade, nor any hoopla associated with this announcement. The entirety of the presentation was in a single blog post, which might have gone unnoticed had I not received an email from a Microsoft spokesperson telling me about it. That was unusual.

  But that’s not the news.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.20.0, 2023-05-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft News AI, Bing, Bing AI, Copilot, Microsoft Edge, Newsletters

• The pros and cons of RAID 1

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.18 • 2023-05-01

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Revisiting an old friend, it’s time to update our thinking about RAID 1.

  In our all-too-brief time working together, Fred Langa and I had only one point of disagreement — RAID (redundant array of inexpensive drives). Our bone of contention dealt with RAID level 1, the “mirror.” That’s the focus of this, our spring bonus edition of the newsletter.

  Following this brief explanation, I’ll provide an update on the RAID situation with two of my PCs, Onyx and Opal.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Fixing Onyx’s RAID 1 failure

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Before I was able to decommission Onyx, my daily driver desktop PC, one of my hard drives failed. Hard.

  Why the hard failure? Because I didn’t take my own advice — to replace hard drives every five years. The two Seagate drives in Onyx’s RAID 1 array were built in 2014 and put into service in 2015.

  One of the drives failed nine months ago, so it lasted seven years — two years later than when I should have replaced it. Fortunately, Onyx is modern enough to have a good RAID system, from Intel. The fix was remarkably easy and, for the most part, automated.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• Configuring RAID 1 for Opal

  Posted on May 1, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE DIY

  

  By Will Fastie

  The last stumbling block in my quest to bring Opal, my new desktop PC, online has been resolved.

  Back when I was building Opal, my new PC to run Windows 11, I ran into a problem configuring two 6TB drives as a RAID 1 array. I struggled with that, which surprised me because it was relatively easy setting up the mirror on my original box, Onyx.

  I let Opal lie fallow. My excuse was that my wife had acquired her Lenovo Yoga, which was happily running Windows 11 Pro. That gave me access to a machine when I needed to deal with a Windows 11 topic for this newsletter. The delay that ensued turned out to have been a good thing.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.18.0, 2023-05-01).

  Hardware DIY, Drive Mirrors, Intel RST, Intel Storage Management, Newsletters, RAID, RAID 1

• When OneDrive isn’t OneDrive

  Posted on April 17, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  ONEDRIVE

  

  By Will Fastie

  You think you know what you’re talking about, and then reality hits you smack on the nose.

  You may recall that I have two OneDrive instances — one belonging to me, my personal Microsoft 365 account, and one belonging to the 365 Business plan we use to run this operation.

  I thought they were identical in every respect.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.16.0, 2023-04-17).

  OneDrive Microsoft 365, Mobile apps, Newsletters, Office Online, storage, Windows

• The Three Laws of Robotics

  Posted on April 10, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.15 • 2023-04-10

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Along with its recent announcement of Copilot, Microsoft made a point of mentioning “responsible AI.”

  Undoubtedly, part of the reason for bringing the matter up was the almost instant controversy surrounding Bing AI, Microsoft’s integration of its AI engine into Bing and Edge, especially its apparently threatening behavior toward a reporter.

  What does “responsible AI” mean?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.15.0, 2023-04-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary AI, Artificial intelligence, Bing AI, Copilot, Newsletters, Robotics

• Ten top forum topics — Support

  Posted on April 10, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie

  FROM THE FORUMS

  

  The section of the forums devoted to support has long been the most active area of all. Did you know that the Support section alone accounts for over 158,000 topics with over 885,000 comments?

  We appreciate both the questions and the ongoing willingness of forum members to offer their knowledge, experience, and assistance to help others solve their problems. So check out the Support section from time to time — you never know when you might have that unique insight that will help someone else.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.15.0, 2023-04-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  From the Forums Forums, Newsletters, Support

• Ten top forum topics — Newsletter and blog

  Posted on April 3, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie

  FROM THE FORUMS

  

  As you all know, a forum topic is associated with every post on our blog (the site’s home page) and every article published in our newsletter.

  Almost every one of those topics generates some interest, so almost all have at least a few replies from the readership. The replies may be compliments on our articles, complaints about what we have written, disagreement with our conclusions, corrections of errors, further information about the topic, or in-depth commentary about specific points.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.14.0, 2023-04-03).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  From the Forums Forums, Newsletters

• Microsoft 365 Copilot announced

  Posted on March 27, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Another shoe has dropped in Microsoft’s quest to build generative AI into just about everything.

  On March 16, Microsoft announced a new feature named Copilot, which will be provided with Microsoft 365 accounts. Copilot uses generative artificial intelligence, a large language model (LLM), and the Microsoft Graph to provide services based on natural language prompts. Examples of such prompting are evident in the controversial BingAI, but Microsoft emphasized its commitment to “responsible AI” for Copilot.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.13.0, 2023-03-27).

  Microsoft News Artificial intelligence, Bing AI, Copilot, Generative AI, Large language model, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Graph, Newsletters

• The forums, and networking

  Posted on March 20, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie

  FROM THE FORUMS

  

  Last week, Will wrote a “From the forums” note titled How to participate in the forums. The response to that note was greater than expected, as you can see if you visit its associated forum topic.

  Your reaction in the forums has already spurred us to make a change.

  Will’s article about his encounter with Verizon also resulted in heavy forum activity. The comments were interesting and instructive.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.12.0, 2023-03-20).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  From the Forums Forums, Networking, Newsletters

• How to participate in the forums

  Posted on March 13, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  FROM THE FORUMS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Plus member Chuck wrote to say he wasn’t sure how to make a post in our forums.

  The comment proved a bit alarming. We have links all over the place to get to the forums. We even have a huge area in the right sidebar of the site, devoted to the forums. This includes simple and advanced search features as well as other helpful sections.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.11.0, 2023-03-13).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  From the Forums Forums, Newsletters
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