Monthly Archives: January 2018

Big small storage

2.5″ spinning hard drives.


Dual 2.5″ drive enclosure compared to 4 bay 3.5″ behemoths. As the yellow label discloses, this Mac Pro runs a speedy 3.33GHz CPU.

As my movie collection grows, not helped by the 25GB size of ripped BluRay discs (compared with but 4GB for regular DVDs), so does the need for storage space.

Heretofore I have used Mediasonic 4-bay 3.5″ drive enclosures at $100 for the 4-bay version, and they have performed flawlessly for over 5 years now, loaded with Western Digital Red 4TB hard drives. The drives now retail for $135, which is a lot more than I paid years ago. The blue tape on these which you can just make out in the picture is to blank off the obnoxiously bright flashing LEDs on the fascia.

With traditional spinning disk technology refusing to die, and SSD prices still far too high for bulk storage, the much more compact 2.5″ hard drives have made huge leaps. 4TB capacities are now readily available in the smaller drive size. Seagate makes 4TB 15mm thick drives for $130 and two of these fit an inexpensive $40 enclosure. There are many versions available; just make sure the one you order will accommodate 15mm drives, which are a good deal thicker than the typical notebook drive. So the cost per 4TB of 2.5″ storage figures to $150, compared with $160 for the older tech 3.5″ drives, with great savings in space and, as importantly, far lower power draw. The enclosure of choice used here supports USB3 (though USB2 is perfectly adequate for movies) and comes with both USB2 and USB3 cables, as well as a power supply. I have added USB3 – having run out of USB2 sockets – using an Inateck USB3 PCIe card; the Mac Pro comes with USB2 native ports only and I happened to have a spare card lying around. USB3 is not a requirement here. The price of this card appears to have more than doubled since I bought mine.

A 4TB drive (the second drive is a back-up clone) will store some 160 BluRay disks, so this big little addition should see me happy for another year or two. The cost of storage per movie, along with the backup clone, figures at just $1.88.

Germany then and now

Superb work.

The Dutchman Jeroen Ruiter founded Ruiter Productions in 2007 and proceeded to make a series of videos where key German WW2 locations are shown Then and Now.

The quality of the work – video, score, superimpositions – is outstanding. It is also bone chilling. Here’s an example, this being the Luitpold Arena in Nuremberg, site of the infamous Nazi rallies of the 1930s so well documented by Hitler’s photographer Leni Riefenstahl:



The Luitpold Arena in the 1930s.


The same location today.


The presentation is gripping and there are many more videos available on Ruiter’s web site. There’s even one on Auschwitz-Birkenau, but I lack the courage to watch it.

Although the Luitpold Arena has been largely destroyed, many of the sites profiled – especially in Munich, in a separate video – remain largely unchanged. Seeing the exact locations, with images, of where the Nazis paraded is quite remarkable.

Highly recommended.

Barrett-Jackson

Lots and lots of cars.

Barrett-Jackson claims their Scottsdale, AZ car auction is the world’s largest, and loooking at the thousands of cars on display it’s tough to argue with that assertion.



The World’s Greatest Auction ….


Detroit’s big manufacturers showcase their latest.


At the memorabilia auction. An illuminated
period garage sign can easily command $2,000.


These sold for much more.


Old gas pumps are very costly.


This chap was calling for pricing advice.


High quality replicars were everywhere.


After much outlay of Henry Ford II’s wealth, the GT40 –
40″ tall at the roofline – won Le Mans in 1966, and then
again in 1967, 1968 and 1969. Thereafter Porsche dominated.


There are a great many of these enormous tents.


Pennzoil had itself convinced, if no one else, that
only their product would save your engine from doom.


Huge tractor trailers are the order of the day for the monied set.


Lovely period detail on GM’s finest, the Corvette.


Pininfarina’s body on the 512BB remains peerless.


Spotlighting in the tents makes everything look better.
Practically speaking, 90% of the vehicles on display
have zero collector value and will only depreciate.


This is the real thing, a beautifully restored Chevy Bel Air.


Glitz. Cruella DeVil’s car.


The food served here is quite exceptionally bad.
This was the least awful – noodles at $11 a small cup!


Acres of cars. Only in America.


A ’40s Mercury two door coupe, quite lovely.


Ready for the jousting tournament.


A fine period US Forest Service truck.


I’m informed by experts that an auction is the worst possible place to buy a car. The displays make everything look glamorous, you overbid in the excitement and as for pre-purchase inspections, fughedaboutit. But its a fun way to pass a glorious Scottsdale summery winter day.

All snaps on the Panny GX7 with the 12-35mm pro zoom.