Depending on your location and situation, you may have access to a nurse line or fast telemedicine (basically a zoom call with a random doctor). They can diagnose many ailments remotely, and at least tell you what the next steps should be.

In some places, yes, probably. It would most likely fall under anti-SLAPP protections.

IANAL though, so it could be more complicated.

Are you able to physically replace the HDD (preferably with an SSD)? If so, you can use the (Win10) Media Creation Tool to create a USB installer.

When it prompts for a key, just skip it. If you have an OEM mass activation laptop (i.e. anything from a major brand), it’ll activate automatically after. If, for whatever reason it still doesn’t activate, you’ll have a nag screen telling you to activate. It won’t significantly limit what you do.

It’s nearly certain. OEM activation has been stored on the motherboard since XP. XP-7 required a matching OEM cert (easily found online), while 8+ have a unique license in the BIOS. For these, you just reinstall the OS, skip the key during setup, and let it connect afterwards for all of the updates and whatnot.

Now, licenses to other apps, such as Word, are not so simple.

Without exception, every single time someone is looking for “free speech”, this applies:

https://m.xkcd.com/1357/

EDIT: autocorrect

Kind of. They will be multiples of 4. Let’s say you got a gigantic 8i8e card, albeit unlikely. That would (probably) have 2 internal and 2 external SAS connectors. Your standard breakout cables will split each one into 4 SATA cables (up to 16 SATA ports if you used all 4 SAS ports and breakout cables), each running at full (SAS) speed.

But what if you were running an enterprise file server with a hundred drives, as many of these once were? You can’t cram dozens of these cards into a server, there aren’t enough PCIe slots/lanes. Well, there are SAS expansion cards, which basically act as a splitter. They will share those 4 lanes, potentially creating a bottleneck. But this is where SAS and SATA speeds differ- these are SAS lanes, which are (probably) double what SATA can do. So with expanders, you could attach 8 SATA drives to every 4 SAS lanes and still run at full speed. And if you need capacity more than speed, expanders allow you to split those 4 lanes to 24 drives. These are typically built into the drive backplane/DAS.

As for the fan, just about anything will do. The chip/heatsink gets hot, but is limited to the ~75 watts provided by the PCIe bus. I just have an old 80 or 90mm fan pointing at it.

The one I had would frequently drop the drives, wreaking havoc on my (software) RAID5. I later found out that it was splitting 2 ports into 4 in a way that completely broke spec.

First, this approach is going to fail at some point. Depending on how far away it is, that could be a major issue. It also makes some very bold assumptions about connection speed and latency that are probably not true.

Second, IP doesn’t reliably show location. My cable ISP is typically geolocated to Chicago, despite it being 2 states away. Same for T Mobile connections.

Third, it’s incredibly unlikely that the employer is going to be looking at IP addresses to determine location. Even if they wanted to use tech for this purpose, they would use location services/GPS/etc. Which a VPN won’t conceal.

Fourth, changing the physical mailing address on file would be a bigger flag. But presumably he’ll list that family’s address, which could create other implications.

I don’t want to speak to your specific use case, as it’s outside of my wheelhouse. My main point was that SATA cards are a problem.

As for LSi SAS cards, there’s a lot of details that probably don’t (but could) matter to you. PCIe generation, connectors, lanes, etc. There are threads on various other homelab forums, truenas, unraid, etc. Some models (like the 9212-4i4e, meaning it has 4 internal and 4 external lanes) have native SATA ports that are convenient, but most will have a SAS connector or two. You’d need a matching (forward) breakout cable to connect to SATA. Note that there are several common connectors, with internal and external versions of each.

You can use the external connectors (e.g. SFF-8088) as long as you have a matching (e.g. SFF-8088 SAS-SATA) breakout cable, and are willing to route the cable accordingly. Internal connectors are simpler, but might be in lower supply.

If you just need a simple controller card to handle a few drives without major speed concerns, and it will not be the boot drive, here are the things you need to watch for:

• MUST be LSi, but it can be rebranded LSi. This includes certain cards from Dell and IBM, but not all.
• Must support Initiator Target (IT) mode. The alternative is Initiator RAID (IR) mode. This is nearly all, since most can be flashed to IT mode regardless
• Watch for counterfeits! There are a bunch of these out there. My best advice is to find IT recyclers on eBay. These cards are a dime a dozen in old, decommissioned servers. They’re eager to sell them to whomever wants them.

Also, make sure you can point a fan at it. They’re designed for rackmount server chassis, so desktop-style cases don’t usually have the airflow needed.

To anyone reading, do NOT get a PCIe SATA card. Everything on the market is absolute crap that will make your life miserable.

Instead, get a used PCIe SAS card, preferably based on LSi. These should run about $50, and you may (depending on the model) need a $20 cable to connect it to SATA devices.

Legal Eagle just released a video about “the real Epstein files”. The main point they covered in the video is victim impact. The victims could be threatened and harassed because of the info.

Another point not covered is that criminal case info is typically not disclosed. Releasing a list of accused perpetrators (i.e. pedophiles/child rapists) encourages vigilante justice. It also interferes with any ongoing investigations, which should (at least in theory) still be ongoing.

I don’t want Trump to release the case info. I want his DOJ to announce charges against people like Les Wexner, based on that info. And I want it to not just be his political enemies and bullshit lies.

By definition, to win a Darwin award you must remove yourself from the gene pool. Usually that means killed, but sometimes means accidentally sterilized.

AFAICT, the guy survived, so no Darwin award.

For anyone unaware, the gallon size of condiments (mayo, ranch dressing, hot sauce, etc) is typically for food service. IOW, restaurants and the like.

That said, there’s nothing stopping individuals from getting it, so the point is still valid.

It’s cringe pretending to be humor.

Most people draw a distinction between a phone/tablet vs a desktop/laptop. It’s not a distinction that can be easily defined, but most people instinctively categorize them as such.

But regardless, the issue at hand has nothing to do with that definition. The discovery process requires them to process any applicable devices that might have info, potentially including all of the above (and more). His team said they already did his phone, but that the laptop in question is not used by him. His opponents say that he has not complied with the requirements of discovery.

The judge will rule on whether that laptop is included in the discovery order.

The big caveat is that the BIOS must allow it, and most released versions do not.

Related, many small(-ish) bars have a stage for live music on Friday/Saturday. There may not be enough seating for those nights, and there’s little/no standing room, so people randomly share tables. From there, you strike up conversation with other fans.

Find the small places where they advertise the bands by name, and make sure they aren’t just cover bands. Irish pubs have been lucky for me, but there’s another place near me that regularly has jam bands.

I’m sure the history is that, for most daily purposes, it was useful to know both. Knowing the larger element (the month) first sets the context for the smaller detail. For instance, saying I met someone for dinner on December 12 gives you the broader context (e.g. the season, possible relevant events) before the smaller detail of the day.

This is understandably vague. Other people have mentioned the US FBI, but there’s also the NCMEC and IWF. If this is a professional-looking work, you may want to engage the studio’s compliance office. There are a number of very young-looking performers that were confirmed legal adults, so it might be a false alarm.

If you found something on PornHub or similar (possibly including Facebook), they usually have a ‘Report’ link. If you claim it contains minors, they will likely handle reports to the authorities automatically.

If you are looking to discuss whether a work contains a minor, outside of an abstract like the Traci Lords videos, I would recommend against it. Get the compliance records from the studio, or report it to authorities.

Also, you asked 3 completely different and unrelated questions:

1. Why do drivers need admin permissions?
2. Why do devices only come with Windows drivers?
3. Why are corporate IT policies the way they are?

#3 could be broken down even further, covering how/when admin is granted, as well as how devices are procured.

At my (large) employer, we absolutely would’ve told you to pound sand for getting that device outside of official channels and bypassing a security review. Especially since you described it as a data logger.