A few weeks ago, a friend asked me what the problem might be when all browsers stop working. More specifically: Whenever they tried to launch either Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox, they only got an error message saying they didn’t have sufficient permissions. It was a strange error – why would permissions suddenly be missing after years of trouble-free operation?

After some back-and-forth, we managed to install a new version of Mozilla Firefox with step-by-step phone instructions and finally installed AnyDesk using a working browser, which allowed me to take a look at the problem myself. That’s when a surprise came to light: The PC has been running Windows 8.1 Home, 64-bit, just as it always has!

Having gone without any updates for quite some time (end of life was on January 10, 2023!), the problem ultimately came down to expired root certificates. Continuing to run 8.1 wasn’t a viable option anyway, so I performed an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 22H2 remotely via AnyDesk. That took hours because the factory-installed 3.5″ WD hard drive with 1 TB capacity* is still the boot drive. The already very underpowered fourth-generation dual-core i3 is further severely hampered by the now very limited 4 GB of DDR3 RAM in the form of a single memory module. All in all, a significantly outdated system, but one with the potential to be upgraded very cost-effectively. That’s exactly what I did today, a few days later.

After a deep clean, everything looks so much brighter:

Upgrades

The PC is used solely for viewing photos and occasional web browsing. So there’s no reason to switch to the very latest and most expensive hardware. For a reasonable price, you can still get a lot out of this 2014 Acer Aspire, here’s a comparison of the current components and the planned upgrade:

The UEFI was already up to date; I checked that before taking anything apart. The reason is that newer processors within the same generation are usually only supported by updated microcode in the form of a newer BIOS or UEFI version. The planned i7-4790 is actually a refresh within Haswell-DT, so it’s even newer than the original i7 release models and incompatibilities cannot be ruled out.

Here are the components; everything except the CPU is from my own stash:

Processor replacement

This is incredibly easy thanks to the FC-LGA 1150 socket:

For thermal paste, I used the tried-and-true MX-4 from Arctic* and 99.9% isopropyl alcohol* to clean the components. I added the two new RAM modules, and lo and behold: POST was successful, and it’s running. Everything is recognized correctly in the UEFI. Now I just need to shrink the partitions, clone the hard drive to the SSD, and put everything back together.

Success?

For comparison purposes, I ran Cinebench R23 and the PassMark Performance Test v11.1 on the original hardware at the beginning and then again after the upgrade. Both tests were run on the same Windows 10 Home 64-bit system. This makes it easy to see the performance gains:

The performance gains are consistently very substantial and extremely noticeable. In particular, the integrated graphics unit – which is slightly more powerful in the i7 than in the i3 – benefits further from dual-channel operation with two memory modules (instead of just one as before). However, due to the patches addressing Spectre and Meltdown as well as other factors, the results do not quite match the reference scores. Here are the Cinebench screenshots:

Next, the PassMark results – though, due to a lack of internet connection at the time of testing, these are only available offline:

Last but not least, here is the HWiNFO overview of the respective configuration:

Der Beitrag Acer Aspire XC-605: A Late Upgrade in Times of Skyrocketing Storage Prices erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

Thanks to the many available 3.0 lanes, an above-average number of NVMe SSDs with full bandwidth can be used. Due to the high prices at the upper end of the capacity range, I was keen to experiment with two SSDs and, when I saw a very good offer from Mindfactory at the time of purchase, I was tempted to buy something that was quite unfamiliar to me:

Two MS200s from Mega Electronics (MS200200TTM), a South Korean manufacturer like Samsung that uses Micron or Intel NAND. These PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs with 2 TB capacity were repeatedly offered at bargain prices for a while, and the data sheets look good: fast DDR4 DRAM cache, high TBW, good write and read performance – everything as desired.

I’ve read quite a few comments about “Mega Fastro Kaputto,” and the 1 TB version is said to have been prone to failure – but I haven’t noticed anything unusual with my model so far.

It’s important to mention that the MS200 is double-sided and therefore doesn’t fit into every M.2 slot. You have to be careful with mobile devices or expansion cards, and this also plays a role in the compatibility of passive heat sinks. For example, only single-sided M.2 SSDs fit on the expansion card I use.

NVMe-SSDs

• Two MS200 with 2 TB each from Mega Electronics, on the motherboard under the passive heat sinks of the board
• Two Samsung 970 Evo Plus with 2 TB each*, on an x8 expansion card (x4x4 bifurcation*) including JEYI passive heat sinks
• One Samsung 970 Evo Plus with 500 GB*, also on the motherboard

⧉ MEGA Electronics

⧉ Samsung

⧉ JEYI

SATA-SSDs

• Three Samsung SM863a Enterprise SSDs, each with a capacity of 480 GB
• One Samsung 840 with 250 GB for a parallel installation of Windows 11 Professional

⧉ Samsung

⧉ Samsung

HDDs

• Two WD Red drives, each with 4 TB*, 3.5″, SATA – RAID1
• Two Toshiba drives, each with 2 TB*, 3.5″, SATA – RAID1
• One Seagate Barracuda with 500 GB, 2.5″, USB 3.0 internal data HDD for Windows 11
• One Toshiba with 1 TB, 2.5″, USB 3.0 internal – Images and SMB

⧉ WD

⧉ Toshiba

⧉ Sabrent

Der Beitrag <h5>TR-Server #4: </h5><h3><b>Storage – Ola NVMe!</b></h3> erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

After high-capacity hard drives and subsequently SSDs and RAM of all kinds had risen sharply in price due to extreme demand from AI companies, this unexpected news came at the beginning of December:

SSDs und DRAM: Crucial ist am Ende

Anyone who has been involved in the hardware sector for some time knows that Micron and Crucial, in particular with their extremely popular (but unfortunately long since discontinued) MX500 SATA SSD, were a real force to be reckoned with and often the only real alternative to Samsung. It is a real shame that the consumer brand “Crucial” is now leaving the stage. Competition stimulates business, and now there is one less supplier.

This will only fuel the rapid rise in prices even more. On December 14, 2025, there was another piece of news that has since been denied, but which I find even more worrying:

Samsung stoppt Produktion von SATA-SSDs: Leaker warnt vor bis zu 18 Monaten Preisdruck bei SSDs

Samsung has stated that these rumors are false. We will see whether this is true or whether Samsung is just trying to control the narrative in the first half of 2026 at the earliest. Since Samsung has always been my number one choice in the SATA sector, it would be tragic if production were to end. There are also no usable NVMe to SATA adapters that could be used to “re-adapt” the problem.

To make another component that has been totally overpriced for a long time even more unaffordable, the following happened the day before yesterday:

GeForce-Grafikkarten: Nvidia will GPU-Produktion angeblich massiv senken

If this proves to be true, the demand for high-performance DRAM will also be the reason here. The “super” refresh models that were actually expected are also not going to be released. These are all unconfirmed rumors, of course.

Future prospects

There are basically two possibilities:

Either all AI companies prove to be highly profitable, as many investors hope, and prices remain extremely high or even worsen. Then the era of forced subscription-based cloud PCs, which many have been predicting for some time, will draw ever closer—running your own powerful hardware will simply be too expensive.

Or much of what is currently being hyped will prove to be an unprofitable business. This would result in falling prices and a richly filled second-hand market – which would be desirable.

It is very difficult to predict how all this will develop, especially since the global economic situation has been anything but stable for some time now.

Der Beitrag Thoughts on the current situation with data storage devices and RAM erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

Since Windows XP can only handle MBR partitions, the boot drive is pretty obvious: it has to be a SATA SSD with 2 TB capacity, which is the maximum for MBR. Four of the eight SATA ports on the motherboard can handle SATA III, the other four only SATA II. Two of the fast ports come natively from the chipset, the other two are powered by an Asmedia add-on chip. It therefore makes sense to use these two fast native ports for the largest possible SSDs.

For all other drives, you should always keep the MBR limit of 2 TB in mind. NVMe, as a more modern data carrier, would be possible with a BIOS modification and PCI Express expansion card, but this is not really an option due to a lack of support from XP and potential problems with Windows 7. In addition, all graphics card slots are covered, so there is no room for more.

Once again, I installed an SSD from Samsung, specifically a Samsung 870 Evo with 2 TB capacity*. When it comes to data storage devices, I try to use Samsung SSDs wherever possible. So far, they have all worked well without exception and none have ever broken. I cannot say the same for other manufacturers. When it comes to hard drives, I’ve always preferred Western Digital or HGST.

I also wanted to install a DVD or Blu-ray burner, along with an internal card reader. This is typical for computers from the XP era. Therefore, one of the eight ports was used for the burner.

Hard drives?

I installed a relatively wild mix of hard drives that I had on hand anyway in order to make full use of the space and possibilities. In the end, I chose the two SATA SSDs on the fast native ports, two 3.5“ hard drives, two 2.5” hard drives for space reasons, and another 2.5″ SSD.

I will list the exact configuration later in the “Hardware Setup” section.

Der Beitrag <h5>Retro-XP-PC #8: </h5><h3><b>Storage</b></h3> erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

An often overlooked option:
Any mobile device with a built-in optical drive can be equipped with an additional data storage device instead. CDs and DVDs are no longer really used these days, and more storage space is always useful.

This is so easy to do because optical drives have long used the “Slimline” connection internally, and since 2.5″ data carriers such as optical drives only need 5 volts to work, they can be easily adapted to function. In principle, this Slimline connection is a greatly shortened version of the standard SATA connection.

Lenovo, for example, originally designed the so-called “UltraBay” for this purpose. With even more possibilities. This type of adapter* should fit into almost any standard notebook with an optical drive:

You can install any type of 2.5″ SSD or hard drive there, but you have to pay attention to the standard height.
Hard drives are also available in thicknesses greater than “normal”!

Der Beitrag More storage space in legacy mobile devices erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

If the notebook still has a hard disk drive (HDD) installed, then this is by far the most performance-enhancing upgrade (provided that the RAM is not so small that it constantly fills up and slows everything down).

There is nothing specific to HP to consider here—like all notebooks from this era, the original model has a 2.5-inch hard drive that is screwed into a metal cage with PH1 Phillips screws and inserted into a SATA connector. In rare cases, the HDD is also located in plastic or rubber mounts, but the principle is always the same.

⧉ Dsimic

Unfortunately, due to its age, the 8540p only has SATA-II connections. The implications of this in terms of potential performance can be seen in this table:

An SSD despite SATA II?

This notebook is not ideally suited for a SATA III SSD, as most SSDs come close to the limit of the SATA III interface and potentially lose a lot of performance due to throttling to SATA II speeds.

More modern SSDs in particular are actually significantly faster than the 300 MB/s sequential read speeds offered by SATA II, at least when it comes to reading.

These standards were originally developed for hard drives, which still do not even reach SATA II speeds, let alone SATA III speeds, especially in the slower 2.5“ form factor, which has to make do with only 5 volts (3.5” is generally more powerful).

The difference between even an inexpensive SSD and the mechanical latencies of an HDD is incomparable; the responsiveness is much better, even if SATA-II throttles. Not to mention the avoided heat and significantly lower power consumption.

It is important to mention that Windows XP does not support the so-called “TRIM” command. However, I consider this to be acceptable.

More recently, SATA has been replaced by NVMe as the protocol and M.2 as the mechanical slot standard for SSDs, which now allows for much faster and more efficient communication via PCI Express (there are also SATA SSDs that fit into M.2 slots, but that is a different, dying or extinct topic).

Which SSD model, there are so many?

Since SATA is also becoming an increasingly less used protocol and the hardware I use for upgrading may end up being used in another device in the future, I decided on what I consider to be the best SATA SSD on the consumer market:

A Samsung 870 EVO with an impressive (and expensive) 2 TB of storage space*.
This is also available in a much more expensive version with 4 TB of storage space* and as a QVO – then, instead of more durable TLC with QLC memory, which I really dislike, even with 8 TB, which would be the absolute maximum SATA SSD that would fit in this notebook at the moment.

I only recently carried out this upgrade because I found a really good deal on this 2 TB version. Previously, I had been using Samsung 860 Evo SSDs with “only” 500 GB for years (price/performance!).

Samsung has a pretty good reputation and proven durability, also thanks to the more durable TLC technology of this specific model (870 EVO). At the same time, it has a so-called DRAM cache, which further increases performance. I have only good things to say about Samsung SSDs, even with the newer NVMe models.

⧉ Samsung

⧉ Samsung

This raises the question: Why 2 TB and not 4 TB or even 8 TB? Financial rationality aside?

The goal was at least Windows XP compatibility and that can only be achieved with MBR.
Newer operating systems use GPT, which is significantly more sophisticated, robust, and considerably less limited.

The technical limit of MBR is 2 TiB, hence the choice of a 2 TB SSD – that is the maximum in terms of calculation.
MBR also leads to further restrictions when multi-booting operating systems; more on this in later posts about the software.

There is a very good explanation of this topic at heise:
https://www.heise.de/tipps-tricks/Festplatten-Partitionen-MBR-oder-GPT-4351715.html (archive.org)

Now let’s move on to the GPU.

Der Beitrag <h5>RetroBook 8540p #5: </h5><h3><b>Upgrade – SSD</b></h3> erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.

The following components have already been defined:

• Processor, Intel Core i7-7700K
• Processor cooler, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
• Motherboard, ASUS ROG Strix Z270E Gaming

The following parts are still missing:

• RAM
• Possibly a graphics card with HDMI 2.0
• SSD / HDD
• Power supply
• Case, but since the whole thing will be overclocked on a benchtable and later built into a drawer, this is negligible.

RAM:

For RAM, I used a 16 GB kit consisting of two 8 GB modules – Crucial Ballistix (DDR4-2400)*. I already had them on hand, left over from a previous upgrade project:

⧉ Crucial

Graphics card:

As a dedicated GPU, even though Intel’s integrated GPU would have also enabled 4K @ 60 Hz via DisplayPort 1.4, I used an existing and unused Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 OC* from Gigabyte. Of course, in terms of connectivity (PCIe 3.0 x4!), it’s not a particularly good card, but it can do one thing better than the integrated one: 4K @ 60 Hz via HDMI 2.0. As an additional positive side effect, more RAM is available for the system as a whole, which would otherwise have been used by the integrated GPU.

⧉ Gigabyte

⧉ Gigabyte

⧉ Gigabyte

SSD / HDD:

I plan to install two data storage devices—a very fast NVMe boot drive, also a leftover Samsung 960 Evo with 250 GB of storage space (my first NVMe, newer model*), and a 3.5″ SATA hard drive with 1 TB of storage space* as a slow data grave for downloads, cache, etc.

There are SSDs with significantly more performance – I consider the read rates for everyday use of this system to be by far the most relevant, and even the smallest 960 Evo with 250 GB at the time can shine here, with a maximum of 3200 MB/s. The fastest PCIe 3.0 x4 Samsung SSD in the consumer sector, the 970 Evo Plus (the successor to the 970 Evo), only manages marginally more, namely a maximum of 3500 MB/s – which is the maximum for the interface anyway.

The 960 Evo is therefore a good fit for this system because even it almost maxes out the interface when it comes to important read operations. The NVMe also gets a passive heat sink from JEYI – I’ve installed it many times before – it works well, looks good, and is very affordable:

⧉ Samsung

⧉ JEYI

⧉ WD

Power supply:

Like everything else… left over. I usually use power supplies from Corsair*, and in exceptional cases from EVGA.
Here’s a picture:

⧉ CoolerMaster

Now all the components are together—assemble them and start overclocking!

Der Beitrag <h5>i7-7700K OC #6: </h5><h3><b>Remaining hardware</b></h3> erschien zuerst auf flohs blog.