Our house was burglarized in early January, and we lost a whole bunch of portable electronics stuff. Our old fully loaded Inspiron 1420 too was a victim of this theft.
After that I was looking for a good laptop to replace it …. and finally ordered a Dell Studio XPS 1647. It took over a month and a half for Dell to ship the laptop and I finally received it last week. Its a pretty good laptop. However, Dell officially supports only one HDD on it. I wanted to use a SSD (solid state drive) as my primary drive for the OS, and then have a second HDD as secondary drive for bulk data storage. So, I bought a 60GB SSD drive and used it as the primary drive. SSD makes a HUGE difference in the performance. No more waits. The entire windows 7 installation was complete in less than 15 mins… Its a major improvement in performance.
However, the problem is.. the SSD is way to expensive for now. For e.g: 60 GB SSD costs around $170 to $200… and larger capacities cost a fortune. I am pretty sure prices would come down eventually in a year or so.. But for now, I wanted a second HDD to store bulk data – like movies, HD videos that I capture, tons of photos from my dSLR ..etc.. and 60GB won’t suffice. Offcourse, I can connect an external HDD.. but its a hassle with the laptop. So, the search began to see if I could put a second HDD into this laptop. I had heard of people who had replaced their Optical Disk Drives (CD/DVD) with a HDD Caddy and have a second HDD.
So, I did some research on the net and across this specific thread on the notebook review forums, which I visit frequently. Thanks to the author of the thread, I could confirm that this could be done. But since Dell XPS 1647 is a new model (just released), .. no one had really done this, and I believe I am one of the first few to try this out. Not a big deals as such since 1647 is almost similar to 1645/1640 series (except for the processors) and some have reported success on those systems.
So, here is how I did it….. for all the hopefuls :
Pre-Requisites:
Confidence to open your laptop :)
HDD Caddy to replace the Optical Disk Drive – I got one from New Mode Electronics, which sells such caddys. This specific machine uses 12.7mm (height) slot-loading model with SATA external interface. You can buy it on ebay too for a cheaper price, but most of them ship from China and takes a long time to arrive.. and if there is a problem..its a nightmare to return or re-order.
Here is the Pictorial :
Click on each of the image below to see a larger image (in a new window)
Step 01 – Ready to Dismantle the Laptop
Step 02 – Remove the Back cover (10 screws to remove)
Step 03 – Remove the Rear caps (slide, and pull out as described in the dell service manual). Don’t apply force.
Step 04 – Remove 14 screws (this is needed to remove the palm rest). On my system 10 screws were marked “P”, 2 were marked “K” and 2 were flat screws.
Step 05 – Turn over, and remove the two screws to remove the palm rest. (Point to remember – once you are done, and when you tighten this later, don’t tighten it too much, else the plastic under it would crack). Once the two screws are removed, use the two tabs to pull out the palm rest (as described in the service manual)
Step 06 – Disconnect the cables connected (by lifting the tab – again – its described very well in the service manual).
Step 07 – Remove the cables connected (two of them). Now the palm rest is free & the motherboard and the ODD is visible
Step 08 – View of the mother board and ODD
Step 09 – View of the mother board and the 3 screws that need to be removed to free the OOD
Step 10 – One screw at the back to remove the ODD. Point to note – the HDD caddy did not have this screw hole – but the HDD Caddy fits in place securely with other 3 screws.
Step 11 – the ODD is now free – You can see the inter-poser (SATA to the motherboard pins) – simply pull it out from the ODD to set it free.
Step 11a – View of ODD out of the system
Step 12 – The ODD and the HDD Caddy that I got from New Mode Electronics. There is a component that is used on the ODD to secure it to the motherboard – This needs to be removed (2 screws) and put on the new HDD caddy as shown in this image.
Step 13 – View of ODD, Securing Component, Interposer, and the HDD Caddy – all side by side.
Step 14 – The new HDD caddy with the 500 GB Seagate HDD (that came with my system), interposer and the securing component
Step 15 – Plug in the HDD caddy in the system and fasten the screws. From this point, its just a reverse process of putting things back in place (palm rest, screws, rear caps and the back cover)
Step 16 – BIOS – now shows the second HDD !
Step 17 – Window Shows the second HDD!
Total time taken from start to finish (including taking photos..etc) - 60 mins!
So, there you go.. you now have a second HDD in your laptop.. hope this pictorial helps!
What if you want to use you CD/DVD drive ?
Well, I have ordered a eSATA/USB to SATA cable. Using this cable, I can use my CD/DVD drive as an external driver (on the rare occasions that I use it!)
Well, we have a Dell Inspiron 1420 [did i mention that before? :)]………. and when we purchased it back in Nov ‘07, it came with an Intel 3945ABG WiFi card. The Intel 3945ABG card supports speeds of upto 54 Mbps (802.11g). Its good for accessing the internet, but its slow when you do file transfers between nodes on the local network.
So.., over the past week, upgraded our home network…which involved:
1. Replacing my old D-Link DI-524 router with an 802.11n router
2. And replacing the WiFi Card on the laptop with an 802.11n capable card (Intel 4965AGN WiFi Link card).
Linksys WRT600N Router
For #1, I purchased a Linksys WRT600N router — which is a wireless-N gigabit dual-band router, with storage link — which means, you can connect a USB drive to it, and that drive would be available on your network! (kind of like network attached storage – NAS). So, now, my 750GB Seagate external drive is plugged into it, and all its partitions are now accessible wirelessly as a shared folders!
Intel 4965AGN mini-express card
For #2, here is what I did …
Confirmed with the Dell tech support that my laptop was indeed upgradeable.
Purchased a Intel 4965AGN mini-express card. Now, here is the thing – you can buy this card from dell.com – which would cost you around $80+tax+shipping, or you can get it from any third party website. I got it from buy.com (or amazon.com), where it was available for around $33 shipped! (yes… thats how dell rips you!)
The WiFi card on the Dell Inspiron 1420 is below the keyboard. So, you need to remove the keyboard. There is a Service Manual on the dell website which tells you how to replace the WiFi Card. It was pretty simple. In some laptops of other brands (or other dell models), the card is at the bottom of the laptop and is much easier to access.
Briefly, here is how you do it:
Shutdown you laptop, remove the batteries and ground yourself. Once the battery is remove, press the power button on the laptop to ground the motherboard of your laptop.
Remove the Keyboard hinge cover using a plastic scribe (no screws to remove here, its all held with tabs and notches).
Once the hinge is off, unscrew the two screws which secure the keyboard, and lift the keyboard gently since the keyboard connector is still connected to the motheboard.
Rotate the keyboard connector latch (blue colored in my case) towards the front of the computer to disconnect the keyboard cable from the keyboard connector on the mother board.
Once the above is done, the keyboard is free. Now, you should be able to see the existing WiFi card in the mini-express slot.
In my case, there was one screw which was securing the card to the system board. I just unscrewed it and the card popped up at a 40 degree angle. I could easily remove the card out of the slot. I had to then remove the two antenna cables that connect to the card. Its simple – just gently pull it apart.
Now, one interesting thing is, the old 3495ABG card had two anntenna connectors, but the new 4965AGN card has 3 antenna connectors. You need to use all three to make full use of the Wireless N capabilities. It would still work with two anntennas connected, but the performance won’t be “the” best.
Luckily for me, the Dell Inspiron 1420 had a third unused antenna cable (grey color).
So, I connected the three antenna cables/wires to the new card (white, black and grey), and then plugged back the new card in.
Fixed all components back.
Started the system, installed the drivers for the new card.
As simple as that. The entire thing took around 15 mins.
So, now I have a wireless-N (draft-N) network running in my house. Performance is much better when it comes to file transfers or watching movies streamed wirelessly from the attached harddisk.
In theory, you should be able to do this on most of the laptops with intel chipsets and core duo processors (except HP laptops). Do confirm it with the laptop manufacturer and make sure your BIOS is updated!
One of the most asked question I get to hear is, “Can I drive in USA with my Indian Driving License?”
Well, the answer is, “It depends on the state that you would drive in”. All most all states in US allow you to drive with your Indian License for a period of one year. After that, you need to get a US drivers license. However, if you become a resident of the state, then you need to get a US license within a months time.
One more thing that I get asked is about “International Drivers Permit”. Well, to be frank, its quite useless if your Indian Driving License is written in English. The permit basically tells that you have the license to drive back in India in English. So, its the License thats important and not the Permit. In fact, in some states, International Drivers Permit is not even recognized. So, don’t bother getting it. In any case, your Indian Driving License must be valid and active.
A very good way to confirm what the specific state laws are is to search the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) website for the state in question. This site has the links to DMV sites of various states. Or, you can search google for pharse like “Texas DMV” and see if you can get to the official site of DMV. Once you are on the site, you would normally find a “Drivers Handbook” (or equivalent), which has all the official rules and regulations for that specific state.
Even if you don’t plan to buy a car in the US, I would suggest getting a US drivers license for the reasons given below:
Your Driving license works as your Identity card too in most of the US states. This helps because, you don’t need to carry your passport and other important documents around all the time. If you dont want to drive or dont know to drive, then most states issue a State ID card – so make sure you get it. Trust me, its very helpful!
If you plan to drive in the US (say car rental etc), a valid US driving license helps. It will save you a lot of money on car insurance too.
If you do buy a car, then almost all states in the US make it mandatory to have Auto/Car insurance. If you don’t have a valid US drivers license and drive on an Indian license, then your insurance premium will shoot up! (by at-least $400 to $500 or more for 6 months!)
In some states & cities (like in Texas) there is one thing that might force you to drive with an Indian Driving License… and that is the validity of your Work Permit (H1B or equivalent). In Texas, if your work permit expires within in the next six months, the DMV won’t allow you to apply for a US Driving License. So, keep this in mind, and apply six months before your Work Permit expires if possible! However, this is true for Texas (confirmed in Houston), but may not be true at other states.
Oh – Last but not the least, if you are driving in the USA, make sure that you have auto insurance. Its a must and will save you lot of money and headaches in case of any eventualities!
If you are already in the US, I request you to comment below on your states policy on Indian Driving License!
If you are still browsing the internet the ‘old’ way, then you must have a look at this video…
Personally, I have been a RSS feed addict for over 3 years now, and have never looked back!
I use Google Reader as my primary feed reader.Do try it out and see the difference!
This might be useful if you make frequent purchases on amazon.com. Although Amazon’s website does not say this ‘loudly’, Amazon does have a price protection policy!
While Amazon.com does not do price-matching with other retailers, but if the price of the product that you bought on amazon drops within 30 days of your purchase, you can ask for a refund of the difference amount. The key here is, you need to ask amazon for the refund!
Here is what the policy reads:
Post-Order Price Guarantee
Amazon.com’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon.com’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us. Please click one of the buttons on the right, and be sure to have your order number handy so we can assist you.
This Post-Order Price Guarantee is subject to the following restrictions:
Applies only to products that have already been released. Products that have not yet been released but that are available for pre-order from Amazon.com are not covered by this guarantee, but do benefit from our Pre-Order Price Protection program (see section above).
Applies only to items sold by Amazon.com, and not to items (or prices) offered by other sellers on our site.
Item prices that are affected by a promotion such as “Buy one, get one free” are not eligible.
The price of an item after rebate is not considered to be the Amazon.com price.
I had recently purchased a Logitech Headset on amazon, and the price has dropped twice already, and each time the priced dropped, I got the appropriate refund!
Very handy for electronic products which have the tendency for price drops!
Also, one more interesting and very useful site is www.refundplease.com. This site lets you enter your purchase information (item#, date of purchase and your purchase price) and your email. Once you enter this info, the site automatically checks amazon.com for price drops every day for the next 30 days and notifies you of any changes. Thats how I got to know of the second price drop for the Logitech Headset that I purchased!
Update 1: Check out this site : http://www.priceprotectr.com/ -> this one is similar to refundplease.com, but tracks nearly 60 popular online stores for price drops – so that you can get your refunds!.
Update 2: As of Sep 1st, 2008, Amazon no longer has the price protection policy. Sad but true.
Well, first of all, I am not a doctor or anything like that! So, try this at your own risk! :)… But this is something that has worked for me like magic, and has worked for thousands of other people. So I thought of sharing it will all of you!
Well, I had a very small wart on one of my fingers on the left hand. Warts are pretty common and are caused by a virus known as human papillomavirus. They normally appear on the foot, but can appear anywhere on the body. They are not very painful or very harmful etc, but definitely not something that you would like to have on your skin! And……… most of the time, its pretty hard to get rid of them! :)
Now, coming back to my small wart, it had been on my finger for over 2 years growing very slowly – And I tried lots of medications to get rid of it – including tablets, over the counter Salicylic acid and even the Duct tape occlusion therapy!. But nothing seemed to work. All of them just gave temporary relief but no matter what I did, the wart would come back exactly at the same spot within a month or so!
Finally – did some Googling and came across this home remedy – Very simple, Very cheap, and it worked like miracle. Its almost 4 months now, and no signs of the wart that had troubled me for over 2+ years!
So, What is this miracle home remedy? – Well, its Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).
Where is it available? Most food stores should have it in the vinegar section. I found it at walmart.
How much does it cost? : Well, here in the US a big bottle costs around $2.00. Yes. Thats TWO dollars only!
How to use it?:
Get the Apple Cider Vinegar bottle.
Have a very small cotton ball – may be half the size of a shirt button (this depends on how big your wart is!).
Soak the cotton ball in Apple Cider Vinegar.
Place it over the wart.
Put and band-aid over it – so that the cotton is in place.
It might start to itch after sometime and might be slightly pain. But thats normal. If the pain is unbearable, remove the band-aid, and clean with fresh water.
Repeat the above steps for 5 to 6 nights.
For me, since the wart was very small, it just took around 3 nights to work, and eventually, the wart just turned to dark brown and then finally disappeared!!
Come July 25th, I would have finished 6 months using Skype-In. I had used Skype prior to that, but it was mainly for Skype to Skype calls or Skype-out calls. I would also be finishing my 6 months here in the United States this month end.
During these 6 months, i have used Skype as my *only* phone to receive calls. This service is called the Skype-In service. The main reason for me to go for Skype-in initially was, I wanted a phone number which I could give to my parents before I left India!. So, I had a US number of Kingpsort Area code, when I was in India. I also had a feeling that it would take some time for me to settle down in US and get a phone number.
Over all, I am kind of satisfied with Skype. But I must say, I am not very happy. Here are some of the Pros and Cons of using Skype in no particular order:
Pros:
The Call quality is great. No questions here.
Outgoing calls – Very Cheap. I can say dirt cheap. Initially, it used to cost me around 2.1 cents per minute to call any number in US, but later on in May, Skype make all calls made from US to US and Canada free.
Incoming calls – The Skype-in service costs $12 for 3 months (or some $38 for a year). So, its cheap again. The local phone service here (Sprint) costs around 30$ per month. So, comparatively its much cheaper.
Voice mail is free with Skype-In. Its a very basic voicemail service. But it works. Well, most of the time.
You can forward your calls to any other number
You can make and receive calls from anywhere as long as you have Internet access.
Skype worked pretty well from my office network too which is behind a firewall. Skype is pretty popular for this reason too. So, I can make long distance calls or even receive calls at office
In its current version, Skype allows upto 4 parties in a conference. Works well while making international calls.
International calls rates are pretty cheap and are comparable to other VOIP players. Its a bit expensive when compared to Reliance India call – when making calls to India, But again, Skype – to – Skype calls are free.
Has got excellent SDK/API support – so, there are lot of third party tools/software which interact with Skype.
I have bought a skype-to-usb-to-Phoneline adaptor. So, I use a regular cordless phone to make and answer calls. So, I am not tied to the computer.
Video conference works great – Quality of video is much better than other applications.
Cons:
Well, Skype is not a true telephone company. Its a Internet company based out of Europe. So, there is absolutely no customer service. There is an helpdesk and a ticket system on the Skype website, but it sucks big time.
Even though you buy stuff from Skype, you don’t get a proper invoice (phone bill), which shows your name/address and phone number (Skype-in number) on it. Now, you might be wondering why the hell that would be required?.. .. Its required when you are new in US, and you want open and bank account or something similar, and they ask you address proof etc. I had a very difficult time trying to open a citibank account, which they refused to open without a phone bill.
Couple of months back, Skype had some technical problems, and I think i missed some incoming calls.
Same with the case with voice mails.
No caller id for your outgoing call. So, the receiver receives your calls as a call from 012345.
You get caller Id for your incoming calls, but only the number. It does not display the name. (the local phone lines, and some other VOIP players show caller ID with the name of the caller).
If you don’t have a the adapter that I have mentioned about, then you must be close to the computer (with a mic) to make/receive calls.
The Processor utilization is relatively high when call is in progress.
Video chat take lots of bandwidth – It does not matter here in US, but if you are in India, and have a Usage Limit on your Internet access, then you need to be very careful while using video chat.
No 911.
Overcall I would rate my Skype experience around 6 on a scale of 10. But I must say, you can really save a lot of money if you can live up with basic telephone connectivity.
Currently, at Houston, in Chitra’s appartment, we have subscribed to the Sunrocket service which is again a VOIP service, but works much differently from Skype. Its not as cheap has Skype, but has lot less cons then mentioned in the above list. Will post more about Sunrocket in the future after using it for a couple of months.
Just checked Google earth.. and it looks like there has been a major data update. Lots of places are much clearer. Not very high resolution, but much better then before!. My home town, Mangalore now looks great, and I can see my house ! :)
Check out this picture of Infosys Mangalore – My office back at Mangalore…
Google Calendar is Live… and it rocks!… Its just too cool. I am really impress at the feature set they have provided on day 1. Almost as good as outlook. … in fact its much better than outlook!
The entire blogosphere has gone crazy about this, and i think this would be a hot topic for the next few days!.
I just quickly reviewed it, and I am amazed at the features that they have provided. The best part is the “Quick Add” feature. Just say “Meet Mr.XYZ at Bangalore at 3PM this Saturday” , and it understands!. It also gives you an option to view the map of that area (i.e., Bangalore in this case)! Very Impressive. Besides, the entire calendar is click-able/draggable. Its totally Ajax based. You can setup notifications too (emails and if you are in US, you can setup SMS notifications too).
The UI is just fantastic. Oh yes, there is very good support of data import/export. You can import your Outlook calendar, Apple iCal data, or Yahoo! Calendar data. You can also export to both XML and ICAL. And… the best part is, you can share the calendar with rest of the world or you can allow granular access to people you choose!!
One more step close to a Web-based world! Can’t wait for web-based document editor (aka word) and a web-based spreadsheet (aka excel)!
