Out of curiosity, how old was that drive?

Direct from Seagate wouldn’t be bad, check their store first to see if you can cut out Amazon.

I was talking about random reseller stores. “Manufacturer refurbished” for things you can’t see is almost always a good idea. The manufacturer has their brand name on the line and usually go over common fail points and replace if it looks worn.

Stores/Amazon doing “renewed” means they tried to cover up superficial damage and is completely different. It might look ok on the outside and be complete junk on the inside.

Think of “renewed” as “open box returns” except it might have taken the last user 5 years to return. It’s a much worse gamble.

Depends.

If it’s “buy from Amazon” then you can return it with no issue if shits bad.

If Amazon is just the middleman, than the seller could be scamming and will either fight returns or just close up shop. I wouldn’t buy any used electronic over $200 from a middle man because of that, so this is kind of on the line.

But modern HDDs hold up a lot better than they used to. I tend to “ship of Theseus” PC builds and I’ve got some HDDs probably 15 years old that are still going strong.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard anyone say a HDD failed. Just people remembering what it was like 25 years ago. We don’t think of innovation with old tech like HDDs, but there’s been a lot of improvements to the parts that used to fail regularly.

Exos x18 are enterprise drives that came out last than 5 years ago, I can’t imagine they were replaced because they’re all bad, just companies upgrading to newer tech. So should be fine and last you well over a decade.

Make sure the new switches are rated for “led dimmers” too and you should be fine then.

Don’t just buy the cheapest dimmers or you’ll be buying them and installing them a second time.

If it’s an old house going to led fixtures can have issues.

Back in the day it was fine to let a little juice trickle past a closed switch (light switch off)

Because what little went thru, wasn’t enough to turn on an incandescent bulb.

But it’s enough to turn on a led dimmly.

So there’s a decent chance if you install a light like in your link, it will always produce light. Then you have to change out the switches and all types of other stuff.

Especially in a rental, you don’t want to open that can of worms. Just use a conventional fixture.

Yeah, dome level would do it.

Probably even be enough to have one inside on the windowsill.

Rodents have an insane sense of smell, and they hate peppermint because the smell is so strong. So it would probably be enough to keep them from going in there.

If it gets enough light/sun that plants grow, put a peppermint plant out there.

Rodents hate the smell.

If nothing grows there. You could spray peppermint every month, or hook up some kind of rope/ladder for them to get out. If you go the “escape route” way tho, they’re gonna live in there having babies and you won’t be able to open the window or they get into the building.

Might be better to put a finer mesh over the chicken wire.

Yeah, the basement is going to be colder…

You can circulate the air if you want to balance it out, but the basement is going to get colder again.

If you’re talking about saving energy:

At about 3pm circulate the air. That’s a little before your AC is going to start experiencing it’s highest workload.

At around 6pm or when ever, stop.

Try it for a couple of days with just a fan. If it’s a noticeable difference and you like it, you can get a vent installed that pushes up from the basement, and another somewhere else that just goes straight to the basement. You can put the fan/blower on a timer. I’d recommend one of those “smart plug” things, they work as a timer and you can also controll locally from your phone.

But if you’re circulating air 24/7, it’s just making your AC cool even more air.

So you just want to use it to dump a bunch of cold air when you need it most, and then let it naturally cool down the rest of the nigh/day.

Whether or not this adds up to more than negligible benefits for energy use…

I have zero idea.

But it’s essentially just an inefficient heat pump. The theory behind it is sound.

Yeah, dude tried to open his own personal Netflix and is surprised it got taken down.

From post history he managed to keep it up for less than a month.

I’m betting by “friends” he meant either online friends he’s never met, or people he wanted to impress.

So they gave zero fucks and handed it out to more people. Like, just the idea that you’re giving it to so many people that you actually buy a domain?

There’s a reason everyone isn’t already doing it already.

Vinegar

Anything with hard water, just soak with vinegar.

You can even fill a ziplock bag and tie it on a faucet.

If your water is really hard, pour vinegar into that little tube in your toilet too, the jets get clogged easily and that flushes them out and prevents them from blocking up. If they are blocked, the vinegar will eventually open them up if you don’t regularly.

Obviously water softener if you don’t have one, but depending what your waters like you may have to do more.

The entire existence of computers outside the last five years…

Yeah, that’s crazy.

I guess all those $100 deals were used too.

So I guess at least used prices went down?

But I remember years ago a shuckable 12tb for like $120-140 on sale wasnt unusual on buildapcsales.

considering they’re used server parts.

That really should be in the title…

I dunno, I’m one of those people who never stops using a drive until it breaks, and they never really break anymore. Oldest in my current PC is probably 20 year old HDD.

So yeah, these probably are fine and will still last a long time. But for like $20 more you don’t have to worry about losing the data on it.

Edit:

Apparently prices just haven’t changed in half a decade or longer? I knew prices went up for COVID, assumed they went back down at some point.

You can get “flat” extension cords with or without a surge protector at the end.

Instead of coming straight out, the plug is really skinny and the cord is right next to the wall parallel to it.

They also make these little plastic things that clip onto the cord on one side, and stick to the wall on the other. So you can keep the cord nice.

I made a different comment about slat frames. But if your looking for a new mattresses and have back issues, I strongly suggest one of the latex/foam mattresses and a metal slate frame. It’s going to be cheaper than just a conventional mattress from a store and way better for your back.

Need a box spring.

Lots of college students don’t use bed frames, but if the mattress is directly on the floor it’s going to get moldy.

It still will with a box spring, but college students tend to move every year which helps and you’d definitely notice if it is when moving.

What would be even better is a “slat frame” that doesn’t need a box spring and lifts it off the ground. You can get good metal ones on Amazon for cheap. Probably pretty close to local price for a box spring.

And it would make the room look a lot better

Yeah, pretty much any “blackout curtain” these days also says how many decibels it blocks right on the description.

If one won’t do it, get a double curtain rod