Upgrading the Western Digital Mybook

I finally hit my 320GB limit (well almost) and didn't find any guides on the internet to help me so I am going to post the internet's only (possibly) guide with pictures on how to upgrade the Western Digital Mybook range (well I have the Pro version not Essential or Platinum or the new PRO II so don't blame me for any changes).

Note: this is a SATA drive and uses the ATA style power connector (Molex).

Firstly find the side where the button is located and you can wedge a flat screwdriver under the rubber seal to lever it off.
Once it is clear you can lever the two plastic halves of the case and you can prize open the case and slide out the half with the button and the drive attached See picture 1.

You need to remove the screws I have highlighted in blue to release the drive cage from the case. Next turn the case over and see picture 2.

The electronics are located here, unscrew the screws in pink. Remove the Silver tape highlighted in green and notice the connector labeled 1, this is where the button board is connected which we need to remove to release both cages from the casing. See picture 3.

Remove the Green arrow screws and pull the board off the free the drive. Remove the big screws from the sides of the drive and replace the drive with a SATA drive and screw back together, hard part is aligning the electronics cage with the drive cage so you can screw it back on and also there is a tight screw in picture 1 which could pose a problem.

Remember to format the drive - if you want to keep it the same you need to format it as FAT32, which you will probably have to do BEFORE you put the drive in or CLONE the drives with GHOST or something I will leave you to decide.

Technorati tags: western, digital, mybook, 320GB, 500GB, Raid edition, upgrade, hack, assemble, dissemble

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Weekly Drama review

Sars funsubs have outdone themselves and released 3 episodes of Ikebukuro West Gate Park or IWGP for short.

That completes the series which I class as drama with abit of murder and mystery rolled in. The main character Nagase Tomoya (My Boss My Hero and from the band TOKIO) as Makoto Majima portrays a guy in his late teens spending most of his life on the streets hanging out with his gangster friends and getting by without having to earn any money at all.

He meets some new individuals in the first episode which leads to the death of his new girlfriend and thrusts him into a spiraling murder mystery which concludes in the final episode where you really feel for him as he ends up losing everything along the way.

Another drama I am going to start downloading more of is HOTMAN which is a family drama starring Sorimachi Takashi as Furiya Enzo - who needs no introduction really (GTO, Cheap Love and Sengoku Jieitai). His mother happened to have kids from three/four other marriages and when she passes away and leaves her house and money to her eldest son Enzo he does the fatherly thing and provides shelter for his mother's other children too. That makes him the head of the household and also makes for complicated personal relationships with his "family". There are roles for lovely Yada Akiko (Last Christmas, Top Caster) as Kaneko Misuzu and also the cute Ichikawa Yui (Kurosagi, H2) as Furiya Hinata and even a later appearance of Sawajiri Erika (1 liter of tears, Taiyou no Uta). The episodes usually span about a week each and reveal allot about personalities of the individuals and also the shortcomings of the family. Well worth watching (there is also a series 2 out too) although the subbed version is a low quality VCD version so if anyone spots a better English subbed version please let me know.

Smallville episode 13 was out today - a valentines special! Sounds corny I know, but there are some real plot twists and turns.
And FINALLY Clark starts to tell Lana and Lex just how he feels about the whole Clark x Lana x Lex thing after he gets a dose of red kryptonite! Also a bizarre pairing of Louis and Clark!

Prison Break episode 15 (I think) was really something! Just when you thought that they had to run out of ideas when Terrence Steadman killed himself they unload a bomb onto the "Company"s doorstep! Will Kellerman be swayed by the Presidents sweet talk? Wait and see...

Technorati tags: hotman, iwgp, j-tv, j-drama

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Western Digital 500GB Raid Edition

I need a new hard drive to off load stuff for vista readiness.

I spotted this review of 500GB drives over at xbit labs:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/seagate-barra-720010.html

Claims that WD's 500GB Cavier and RE drives are market leaders currently. I spotted a good price for the RE version at eBuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/108762

I think I will go for it together with a OEM copy of Vista Ultimate edition (Ultimate? Sounds like some fad from FF7 - Cloud's Ultimate Weapon...).

Not sure if I should go 32bit or 64bit - I saw pictures over at engagdet that suggest you could get both with one serial key....

http://www.engadget.com/photos/vista-home-premium-loosed-in-the-us-unboxed-in-oz/141949/

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New York Teen counter sues Music Companies

All I got to say is that it's about time someone stood up those bully tactics used by the MIAA and the RIAA or music/media industries.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37337

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Mancunians and all that

My cousin came down this weekend from Manchester, we are close but we love to compete and love to argue over everything!

So when he brought down Pro Evolution Soccer 6 with him (PS: I only play Winning Eleven 10 (Japan Pro Evo 6) we lined up ready to clash yet again.

Somehow he isn't that good at it and I can thank my Winning Eleven experience for wiping the floor with both him and Umi :-)

But he got his revenge with the countless beatings I took in Monopoly!
Out of around 8 games I was the first to lose in all but one game (in which I still lost to him)!

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Counter Strike Source : Dedicated Server

I decided to attempt to install SRCDS on my Linux server (that's SouRCe Dedicated Server for those out of the loop).

I found it pretty straight forward, but this is for LAN use first I haven't got any expectations to open it up to the Internet, maybe to local friends etc.

Here are some useful HOW TOs to try out, only thing I had issues with was the Mani Admin plugin which wouldn't start.

But on the How to site:

http://wolphination.com/linux/2006/03/29/how-to-setup-a-cssource-dedicated-server/

There is a post near the bottom explaining how to fix the start up issue:

"manith - You need to create the vdf file. To do so, open your text editor and copy and paste the following lines over to it:

“Plugin”
{
“file” “~/srcds_l/cstrike/addons/mani_admin_plugin”
}

Save that as mani_admin_plugin.vdf in the directory /home/username/srcds_l/cstrike/addons
That should allow Mani to work, and then pressing ‘p’ should work too.

Tolerance - See the Installation->Configuration->Sounds section of the Mani documentation. "

I managed to get owned by the CS Bots on the server :-(
My CS l33t cousin is on his way down tomorrow, time for some deathmatch me thinks!

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Prison Break: Worth the wait? Other TV Series

The 2nd half of Prison Break 2 (or Prison Break Season/Series 2) began on Monday.

Initial reaction was "That didn't just happen? How is Lincoln going to clear his name now?" and after mulling over it with my cousin the reason I didn't like this episode too much was there was too much location/story hopping.

One minute you are with Michael and Lincoln and the next you are with Agent Mahoney and then off to see T Bag, and then and then...

There is little chance to appreciate the atmosphere or the scene due to the fact each take last less then 5 minutes.

I can only hope the season starts to slow down and perhaps a good half of an episode (non stop) is dedicated to one person's adventures and not to 8-9 different sub plots.

In the mean time I finished watching Kekkon Dekinai Otoko (The Man who cannot get married) which is a comedy based around a 40 year old architect Kuwano Shinsuke (played by Abe Hiroshi - the lead in Dragon Zakura and also in Narita rikon)who is a perfectionist and finds the idea of having a partner a burden and considers it to be in his best interests to be single.

That is until he meets up with Hayasaka Natsumi (Natukawa Yui) who works as a doctor at the local hospital/walk in surgery who is 35 and has failed to find her partner and is totally unlady like in her interests and behavior towards our lead man.

They both are insanely rude to each other and get their kicks by putting the other down, which makes for some crazy arguments and fights.

The series shows Shinsuke's feelings and ideals slowly change under the influence of those around him, but will he ever get married?

Read more at D-Addicts Wiki site here:
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kekkon_Dekinai_Otoko

Series Updates!
Akihabara@DEEP has finally been completed! Although the full ending will only be available in the DVD version, also there is a special to be translated in the future!

IWGP has had episode 9 released by SARS today! What will happen to Makio?

I started to watch Tatta Hitotsu no Koi (Just one love), it stars the two of the best young actors out there in Japan - Kamenashi Kazuya (Sappuri, Gokusen 2 and member of KAT-TUN) and Ayase Haruka (Sekai no Chuushin, Byakuyakou) in a Cinderella (but with the guy being the poor person) type scenario based in Yokohama. This is cool to watch in HD (720p) because the scenery is great and of course Ayase is worth watching! I have seen episodes 1 and 2, but further watching is restricted till I free up space on my hard drives...
Time to buy some more storage me thinks or crack open my USB mybook to try and swap in a larger hard drive. Man J-TV has filled 90% of my 320GB drive!!

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J-Dorama - Last Christmas

A very good review of a good Romantic Comedy starring Oda Yuji(Odoru Daisousasen fame) and Yada Akiko(Top Caster).

http://cheesemon.livejournal.com/97889.html

Saw this series last year and it is worth grabbing the whole series and watching it on a rainy day or on those long winter nights!

Shame this was one of Oda's last appearances in a Drama role before becoming exclusively a Film actor...

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Create unhackable passwords with ease

I very good guide I just read via digg on how to easily create something called compound passwords:

http://neomeme.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/generating-the-perfect-password/

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DELL 24" 2407FPW Widescreen LCD Monitor

I finally went and bought it after weeks of shuffling through articles to try and find the perfect desktop LCD.

I have posted unboxing pictures on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theskillster/tags/dell

My first reaction was "damn better not drop it!" followed by "shit this is a tad too big for my desk"!

The screen is so grand is deserves a matching setup to go with it, my PC is OK Spec wise (Core 2 Duo, 1GB ram, Nvidia 7600 GS, etc) but I need a decent table to go with it.

I did order the Dell Soundbar to go underneath the monitor's frame to accommodate speakers - that has arrived a few days after and I will post photos of when I have it hooked up.

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Rolling Star - Yui - Fansite

For those Yui fans I stumbled across this fan site who basically translate all the info on Yui's own site (www.yui-net.com).

I was actually looking for lyrics to Rolling Star (Bleach's new Opening track) so I advise all fans to take a look at some point here:

http://bluewind.wordpress.com/

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HYD Season 2 Softsubs are OUT!

Yes the first episode has been translated:

http://arashi.vox.com/

Get the softsub file from the post on that site and rename the .SRT file to match the name of the RAW avi you have.

Make sure you have the CCCP codec pack installed.

Happy Hana Yori Dango'ing...

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Hana Yori Dongo Returns and more!

Yes that is Correct!

HYD returned with season 2 last Friday with a 2 Hour special!
Hanazawa Rui and Makino go to New York to visit Domoyoji!

I hope there will be a Soft/Hard Subtitled version out in the next week or so. When there is expect a full review!

In the mean time I have watched the great Dragon Zakura (a great GTO themed drama), Gokusen 2 (not really worth my time).

I am currently following Akihabara@Deep (hard subbed by Love Song) and IWGP (Ikebukuro West Gate Park, subbed by Sars) which are both good comedy with a bit of detective story behind them.

I was watching Yamato Nadeshiko which is a story about a women who originally is poor and is only happy with wealth. She goes on a group date and one of the men pretends to be a wealthy surgeon. Lots of humorous lies and deceit made this an interesting watch, but a shame that Mognet who are doing the Hard subbing have only managed 3 episodes thus far and there are no Raws and Soft subs to go by.

Another piece of news, the Bunto/Filler Story of Bleach is Finally over!
That's right from about episode 65 till 109 we have had to hold back our anger - but towards the last 10 or so the action was alot better.

Episode 109 was a summary of everything thus far and ushered in the new arc. Grab episode 110 which is airing on Wednesday I think.

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Big Screens or Higher Resolution?

Here is an argument I personally think deserves some attention.

People in the UK seem to be obsessed by screen size (40" TVs etc), but after spending money on a 32" LCD TV a couple of years back I quickly came to realise something - you can only appreciate the size of a screen when you have a resolution to match and make use of every single pixel on that screen.

Hence I believe it is worth spending the extra 100-200 quid to get a screen for my PC that has a resolution that would spank 22"-24" LCD TVs.

It is like playing your Super Nintendo or Playstation 1 on a 40" LCD and thinking "the graphics never used to look THIS bad?". No point in just simply "blowing up" an image on a larger screen is there?

I am going to put my money where my mouth is and am investing in a quality LCD to go with my recently upgraded PC.

I will have a unboxing and review shortly

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Football 5 a side or 7 a side?

The boys over at Vale farm prefer at least 7 a side.

Why? If you think about it, that's 1 Keeper and 6 outfield players.
This generally leads to a 3 up and 3 down mentality. This was the case last Saturday when we had 7 players- We kept 3 defenders and two central midfielder's while Gary and Umi did the attacking.

It lead to us winning something like 11-3, a good win? Maybe not.
The opening 20 minutes were awesome - flowing football from either side - Gary, Dan and Umi combining with some great passing moves .

After the teams had settled we found ourselves on the back foot for the rest of the game while the other team had resorted to long ball tactics to try and break us down.

That leaves the rest of the game a bit of a drain having the defend deep and resort to lobbing the ball up to the remaining striker.
I remember reading a while back that the British failure at international level and the lack of technical ability in the youth system stems from the demands placed on youth teams to win rather then play attractive and exciting football.

This is evident when we play on Saturdays; key players want to win more rather then enjoy the game, I would rather see a 5,6 a side game where the teams are spread evenly and teams play to score goals, keep the ball and play some exciting attacking football.

That's just my opinion, anyone is welcome to comment on it.

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Lazy Lazy

Played at Astro on Saturday. Beaten 4-3 I think.
Far too many players - 8v8, I didn't play good either.

Went to work Sunday night, when I came home I watched Episode 1 of Lunch Queen (Lunch no Joou) and I liked it. A star studded cast where you get to see the likes of Yamada as a youngster (filmed in 2002) and the lead women is very kawai too, so I will watch the rest of the series for sure (hard subbed by SO).

Also a new series I have started watching is My Boss, My Hero.
In this series a Yakuza(?) Boss's first son (who is destined to take over the gang/clan soon) keeps making major blunders at deals because he is dumb - yes he flunked school and can barely count or read. 
So as a ultimatum from his father he has to retake his senior year of High school in order to be qualified to lead the gang.

The lead is constantly reminded of his lack of IQ by his class mates but keeps trying to learn driven by his dream of being the boss of his gang.
What keeps this first episode funny is his natural reaction to certain situations - sometimes he switches to gang mode and baffles everyone!

Today I am going to watch the last episode of this season's Prison Break 2. Will Lincoln and Schofield get away from Mahoney? Will Sarah learn her Father's Secret in time to save Lincoln? What will happen to T-bag, Belleck and that ex army dude?

Got some training session tonight organised by my Physio (Yawn), can't be bothered to revise either (revise or study?).

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Hana Yori Dango - Summary

Just finished watching this series yesterday - WOW!

What a star line up! All the cast members where quality and some of the acting was class. Especially the lead Inoue Mao - I will be looking out for more shows with her in them.

I am posting a summary for the shows I have watched and then a review when I finished re-watching them. First off then - Hana Yori Dango;

Makino Tsukushi (Played by Inoue Mao) is a girl from a working class family who managed to get admission into the socially elite school of Eitoku, she works hard on keeping a low profile amongst all the glamour and glitz of the wealthy teens there but she can't help noticing the extravagance of the upper class.

There is always going to be the uber wealthy who distinguish themselves from the rest - enter F4 or Flower 4 - a group of 4 guys whose parents make huge donations to the school and are allowed to be above all the school rules.

Anyone who crosses their path risks being given a "red note" which ultimately means the end of their social life - constant abuse and bullying till they quit the school.

Makino finally breaks her silence when her new friend - Sanjou Sakurako (Played by Sato Megumi - Taiyou no Uta) - accidentally spills drink on the leader of F4 Domyoji Tsukasa (Played by Matsumoto Jun from the Akashi Band) and she steps in to try and stop any trouble, this angers F4 and the next day she becomes the first girl to receive a "red note".

Makino starts getting abused by her school mates but surprisingly finds a listening ear from one of the F4 members Hanazawa Rui (played by Oguri Shun - Stand up!! GTO) who steps in a couple of times to save her from the abuse.

Makino is as stubborn as her name suggests (Tsukushi generally refers to a weed) and when Domyoji makes a laughing stock of her bento (Packed lunch)and her family she declares that she wont be moved and is ready for war against F4 and promptly clatters Domyoji with a right hook which has Hanazawa grinning and everyone shocked including Domyoji.

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Japan TV Drama Shows

Lately I have been downloading and watching loads (I mean loads) of J TV Dorama (japanese way of saying drama) Series.

I am going to post Pictures and review all the series I have seen to date.

And in all honesty I have yet to come across a show that isn't either a joy to watch due to the cast/script or keeps you hooked thanks to the storyline.

Here is a quick list of some of the shows I will be reviewing and will get the Skillster ratings:

Great Teacher Onizuka
Cheap Love
Love Complex
Odoru Daisousasen
H2 - Kimi to itahibi
Last Christmas
Narita Rikon
Joou no Kyoushitsu
Saiyuuki
Sapuri
Sengoku Jietai
Stand Up!!
Taiyou no Uta
Hana Yori Dango

If there any others you would like me to review please post in the comments.

Thanks

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Cool Football Skills

Crazy kick ups in this video - gets really good midway through.

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Asian version of Back Street Boys

This is pure jokes, these kid's expressions really are the icing on the cake - Enjoy!

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