Sarah81

Oh ... man. I had an HP Pavilion 8086 (I inherited it from a friend). When this summer started, the power supply died on me. I would like to let everyone know this:<I>just because you do your research and know good and well that the replacement power supply is compatible with your motherboard and system in general does not guarantee that it will actually fit into your case.</I>It seems that there is only ONE replacement model for this power supply. It cost me almost forty bucks, but it was worth it because it kept my PC going until I could afford to get a new one.So I ordered the right part on eBay, and it showed up. I looked at it carefully to be sure that it was the right thing. It had all the right connectors ... right power rating and all that fun stuff. Should have worked ... except that the screw holes didn't line up at all, so I couldn't anchor the sucker in the case."Okay," I thought. (I also said a few not-G-rated words, but that's another story). "I'll just slide the stupid thing into my case and not worry about the screws or whatever."So I couldn't put the case covers back on. For the rest of the summer the computer sat there, half-naked, while I did my work.It wasn't so bad, really. If I'd been motivated and willing to invest a little money, I could have bought a kit/guide/rail/etc. to help adapt screw holes and such. But I didn't want to invest more money in this old computer when I was about to get a new one.Besides which, one of my younger brothers inherited the thing and he's not complaining about the cover being off, so everybody wins.The morale of the story: expect stuff to go wrong, especially when the only replacement part you can get is from a third-party manufacturer.

*drools*The first thing that comes to my mind is MUSIC STORAGE. I have quite a bit of music ... but even if I quadrupled my collection, I wouldn't make even a small dent in that drive.But oh, the challenge of trying to take up some of that space!Heh.Seriously though, this really does sound like something companies, not private people, would put to the best use.