A good home network ensures all the computers in your home can seamlessly communicate together and with the internet without any caveats whatsoever.
Setting up a proper network ensures many things, such as enhanced security, content filtering and other data management perks, along with better quality of service for things like streaming and entertainment.
However, you don't need to break the bank to set up a complete home network. Here is a guide on some basic, affordable options to set up a network with extensive connectivity to connect every corner of your home.
A minimal foundational home network should consist of
As a prerequisite, make sure your home has the necessary Ethernet cabling and routing done to each of the computers or network devices you wish to connect.
These days, basic home routers have all the aforementioned components combined into a single device. However, there are still certain advantages to a full home network stack with dedicated components to do each job.
But a dedicated network stack provides much more flexibility, each component can be tweaked to cater to personal home requirements.
There are many affordable options to look at for buying the bare minimum components for a basic home network. Furthermore, most of these components can be bought from simple online e-commerce websites like amazon, Newegg, microcenter etc.
When choosing the appropriate parts for a home network, there are certain requirements to be met to have the best service experience. Choosing the correct amount of bandwidth, range coverage etc. matter very much.
Routers are essentially the devices that manage how devices communicate with the internet and act as the traffic controller for network data to go from one place to another.
Most home routers are provisioned by the internet service provider but other times they provide nothing but a direct Ethernet CAT line or Modem if using fiber optic or coaxial line.
The router should be one that can handle high data throughput and have an optimal amount of processing power to be able to handle multiple users at the same time.
Again, nowadays, what one considers a router is actually constituted by a router, network switch and WiFi modem. This all-in-one package creates less setup hassle; however, the downside being one router won't necessarily be able to suit everyone's home network needs.
There are many kinds of routers, such as basic wired routers, wireless routers that have WiFi capability, and Mesh WiFi routers which form a WiFi mesh network so you can have seamless uninterrupted WiFi connection anywhere in your home.
If your home isn't larger than 1400-1600 Sq. Feet, a mesh network might not be necessary, and A single plain WiFi router should suffice.
The TP-Link AX1800 is an excellent choice for this kind of situation, having an abundance of up-to-date features, enforcing security with VPNs, and a very capable WiFi modem makes it a good choice for small homes.
However, if you are looking towards buying a Mesh Wireless router, consider the TP-Link Deco Mesh. It's an affordable entry into the Mesh WiFi network system, and should provide uninterrupted WiFi Access anywhere in your home.
As far as home networks go, not much can surpass a solid wired network inside your home.
It's much more capable of sustaining a solid network connection, and being much less of a hassle to set up stationary devices like TVs, PCs, Game Consoles etc.
The downside of wired networks is the necessity of many ports to be able to connect and handle multiple devices. Hence, the necessity for a network switch.
These connectivity devices can be a choke point if you buy one which can't handle much high bandwidth. If your Internet Service plan offers more than 100 Mbit/s (Million bits per second) of speed, you might want to consider picking up a device that handles 1 Gbit/s (Billion bits per second).
In computer networks, data is sent to each other in the form of "Packets".
The difference in how hubs and switches work is how the data packets are transmitted from one endpoint to the other. Hubs broadcast packets to all devices and the recipient is the one that can read the packet data; however, a network switch transmits the data directly to and from the recipient, hence being able to much more efficiently handle the bandwidth between the devices.
This can have detrimental effects to how good your network experience is if you have many users and bandwidth needs to be allocated effectively to each user's needs to cut down on latency.
Network switches can be of managed and unmanaged type.
Unmanaged switches are devices that just manage the end-to-end point connections. Managed switches can allocate bandwidth much more intelligently, handle things like VLANs, prioritize Quality of service, control network access etc.
for a home network, however, an unmanaged switch should cater to the primary needs.
Depending on your needs, the TP-Link TL-SG108 and TL-SG116 are excellent choices, offering 8 and 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports each.
If your home wasn't designed with cable networking in mind, and mostly relies on wireless networks, you should test out the wireless connectivity strength to check if every part of your home is optimally connected.
In any case, you sense a drop in the Wi-Fi signal strength, you could pick up a Wi-Fi repeater.
The TP-Link AC1900 WiFi Extender is a pretty good choice for such a case, should it prevent you from upgrading to a network if you feel that is out of budget and need.
Another popular option for custom home network setups is making your own router with a small computer that has multiple network cards, such as a single board computer.
This can be a very affordable option that offers the most flexibility with many choices for hardware platforms, extensible software, etc.
If you are looking for an all-rounded setup, consider picking up an ARM-based Single Board Computer like the NanoPi R6S and installing software like OpenWRT for a highly configurable smart router. Possessing dual 2.5G Ethernet ports makes it suitable for high bandwidth operations as well.
There also exists software like the pi-hole, that gives you the possibility to do things like ad-blocking, your own DNS system for faster website lookups, etc.
Alternatively, you could pick up a x86 based Single Board Computer like the Zima Board, and install a custom OS like PfSense, that offers even more features like firewalls, network filtering etc.
These devices can also be configurable to show a dashboard of network statistics for diagnosing your network status etc.
There is a vast set of guides for setting up custom router setups based on your budget needs and requirements.
Your optimum home network should constitute of a solid foundation of hardware that doesn't bottleneck your experience when utilizing high bandwidth for work or entertainment experiences like streaming, gaming etc., but also be able to provide additional features to enhance your security and prevent snooping and hacking from affecting your routine.
I was on fieldnation for the past year. The key word here is "was" I am here to tell you about all the corks and nuances I discovered after completing 80 WOs
Fieldnation and work market are really the same thing in my opinion. Slightly different rules, but the same buyers.
They let you have all the freedom a gig worker could ever dream of. Take a month off or work 20 hours a day, it is really up to you. No notice to give, no asking anyone for schedules. It is all up to you.
The pay can also be good, if this was all you were doing, $600-$1000 a week is not out of the question. If you are a skilled low voltage technician with a good bit of networking and host configuration knowledge.
It is also a good way to meet recurring buyers, if you impress buyers they can and have contacted me to work outside the platforms.
The number one most horrible thing is the often total lack of humanity. What I mean is every single time you do a job, you are risking everything you have worked for. The rules of fieldnation are so strict, if you firesale one time, as everyone does occasionally, you can be banned forever.
This never happened to me. I actually didn't mind it, it forced me to adopt strategies that worked every time, but it leads into the real reason I have basically quit.
Stress
The amount of stress involved in lining up all these WOs, making sure you 100% will not have any issues, will never have to come back another time because you ran out of something. The talking to people who do not speak English. It is so taxing, I just hate it.
You are essentially on call 24/7 for no pay. If a WO comes up, you must apply or accept within 20 minutes to even have a chance of getting it.
They also have the "route" system. Where companies take and put you in a pool of literally 300 other techs and then they "route" them all the same WO at the same time. You must accept or decline these within 5 minutes or someone else will jump on it.
Often for routes you do not even get to read the statement of work. If you do, then by the time you hit accept it will be gone. Extremely frustrating.
As I was saying, "if you firesale one time you can be banned" this ties into how literally no one you talk to will trust you to even be able to tie your shoes.
They will assume you are totally unqualified because, chances are the last 10 techs they had, were.
This creates two types of people:
The one who treats you like a baby and the one who looks for the slightest thing to yell LOOK, I TOLD EVERYONE THESE PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A CLUE.
Both are horrible to work for/ with.
This is the reason I have a 4.8 instead of a 5-star rating. Buyers will list a WO at an hourly rate, let's say $70 an hour, they will then say this job is going to take 4–6 hours. So, you think that is a good deal, I have no problem driving an hour for a job of that size.
Well, when you get there, it is blatantly obvious this job was never going to take more than an hour. So now you are left out to dry. You blocked off 6 hours because had you not, and it actually took that long, and you had booked something else, kiss your account goodbye.
The reason I dropped to 4.8 stars is because twice I was not having that. I just called the PM and said you need to let me expense an extra couple of hours, I drove an hour for a 20-minute job that you said was going to take all day.
Instead of telling me no, they just gave me bad ratings because that's fair, I guess.
A lot of the techs are not qualified, a lot of the buyers will take advantage of you. The only people raking it in are the companies running them and taking a % off the top of all transactions.
I said it, these platforms are devaluing American businesses. Don't believe me? Here are some of the racks I worked on over the past year.
There are many more than this, but you get the idea. I call it "ravaged by contractors".
WordPress has become one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world, with over 40% of websites being built on it. While there are numerous website builders available, including Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and Joomla, WordPress stands out for several reasons. In this article, we will examine why WordPress is better than other website builders and why you should consider using it for your next project.
WordPress is a free, open-source platform that can be downloaded and installed on your own server. This means that you don't have to pay any fees to use it, and you have complete control over your website. Other website builders, such as Wix and Squarespace, require you to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to use their platform. This can add up quickly, especially if you have multiple websites or need advanced features.
In addition, because WordPress is open source, it has a vast community of developers who contribute to its code and plugins. This means that there are thousands of free and paid plugins available to add functionality to your website, such as contact forms, SEO optimization, and social media integration.
One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is its flexibility and customization options. With WordPress, you can create any type of website, from a simple blog to a complex e-commerce store. WordPress offers thousands of themes and templates to choose from, as well as the ability to create your own custom theme or modify an existing one.
In addition, WordPress allows you to easily add and manage content, such as blog posts, pages, and images. The WordPress editor is easy to use and offers a variety of formatting options, such as headings, lists, and images.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for any website to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). WordPress is designed with SEO in mind and offers several features to help optimize your website. For example, WordPress allows you to easily add meta descriptions, titles, and keywords to your pages and posts. It also offers plugins such as Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack that provide advanced SEO features, such as XML sitemaps, canonical URLs, and social media integration.
In addition, WordPress offers clean and optimized code that is easy for search engines to crawl and index. This can help improve your website's loading speed, which is also a factor in SEO rankings.
Security is a major concern for any website owner. WordPress takes security seriously and offers several features to help protect your website. For example, WordPress regularly releases updates to address security vulnerabilities and bug fixes. It also offers plugins such as Wordfence and iThemes Security that provide advanced security features, such as two-factor authentication, malware scanning, and firewall protection.
In addition, because WordPress is open source, it has a large community of developers who contribute to its security. This means that any security vulnerabilities are quickly identified and addressed.
Whether you're building a simple blog or a complex e-commerce store, WordPress is scalable and can grow with your business. WordPress offers a variety of plugins and themes that can add functionality and features to your website as your business grows.
In addition, WordPress can handle high levels of traffic and is designed to be scalable. This means that your website can handle an increasing number of visitors without experiencing downtime or performance issues.
Finally, WordPress offers excellent support for its users. Because WordPress is so popular, there is a vast community of developers and users who provide support through forums, blogs, and social media. In addition, WordPress offers documentation, tutorials, and support forums to help users troubleshoot any issues they may encounter.
Overall, WordPress stands out from other website builders for its flexibility, customization options, SEO-friendliness, security, scalability, and excellent support. While there are other website builders available, none offer the same level of control, customization, and functionality as WordPress.
In conclusion, if you're looking to build a highly customizable website, SEO-friendly, and secure, then WordPress is the way to go. With its vast community of developers and users, there is always someone available to help you troubleshoot any issues you may encounter. Whether you're building a simple blog or a complex e-commerce store, WordPress is the CMS of choice for millions of businesses worldwide.
I have been getting questions about it, so I thought a good demonstration would be to simply ask it to write an article. I asked "write me an SEO optimized article including pictures on the topic "how AI will change web design/ development"
It is a pretty good article, I don't know what it was doing with the picture links all at the bottom, but I just copied exactly what it had output. It is overall not the best SEO optimized, but definitely passable.
So, here it is:
Title: How AI Will Change Web Design/Development: The Future of Smart Websites
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize web design and development, making it easier and more efficient to create attractive and functional websites. As AI technology advances, it is becoming increasingly integrated into the web development process, providing developers with new tools and techniques to improve the user experience and create smart websites that adapt to the needs and preferences of users. In this article, we will explore how AI will change web design and development, and what it means for the future of smart websites.
AI can be used to analyze large amounts of data about user behavior and preferences, which can be used to inform web design decisions. For example, AI can analyze the user's interactions with a website, including clicks, scrolls, and time spent on the site, to identify areas of the website that may be causing confusion or frustration. This information can then be used to improve the website's layout, content, and navigation, making it more user-friendly and engaging.
AI can also be used to generate content for websites, including text, images, and video. For example, AI-powered content generators can analyze the user's browsing history and preferences to create personalized content that is tailored to their interests. AI can also be used to automatically optimize website content for search engines, making it easier for users to find and improving the website's search engine ranking.
AI can be used to automatically optimize website performance, including page load times, image optimization, and caching. AI-powered tools can analyze the website's code and structure to identify areas of improvement, such as reducing file sizes, compressing images, and improving server response times. This can result in faster, more responsive websites that provide a better user experience.
AI-powered chatbots can provide a personalized and interactive experience for website users. Chatbots can use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to understand and respond to user inquiries, providing quick and accurate answers to common questions. Chatbots can also be used to provide personalized recommendations and guidance, helping users navigate the website and find what they are looking for.
AI can also be used to enhance website security by detecting and preventing cyber threats. AI-powered security tools can analyze website traffic and user behavior to identify potential threats, such as suspicious login attempts or malicious activity. AI can also be used to automatically update website security protocols and patches, keeping the website secure and protecting user data.
In conclusion, AI is already changing the way websites are designed and developed, and it will continue to have a significant impact on the industry in the years to come. By leveraging the power of AI, web developers can create smarter, more efficient websites that provide a better user experience and stay ahead of the competition. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative uses for AI in web design and development.
Image sources:
When it comes to backing up old digital data there are a lot of various options to storing data in different formats.
This could vary between different medium types, disk setups, connectivity etc.
The two main types of data setups include Hot (or) Active data storage, and Cold data storage.
What's the difference between hot and cold storage mediums, and why does it matter ?
Hot data is active information that changes and is used daily. That means it has to be agile and on standby.
Cold data is inactive data that retains mostly static information. For example bulk data that only gets read on infrequent intervals.
This information (cold data) is considered valuable when inactive, as the speed of access is not a priority, but managing where it is kept is.
Hot and cold data both have their advantages but are defined by their differences. The benefits that come from separation have a big impact on the success of business operations.
Hot storage mediums are usually always online and network connected for quick and fast access.
Cold Storage mediums can consist of offline or offshore data storage for security and controlled accessibility.
A simple and effective hot storage medium can consist of something like a cloud data storage or, a local storage server.
you can purchase a cloud server from popular storage providers like AWS, Google or Azure.
If you plan to construct your own local enterprise storage server, take note it will require a lot of components and software to setup.
what's the difference between a local and online cloud host for data storage ?
Cold storage mediums are usually based on local storage mediums that are offline and not readily accessible.
Bulk data storage is usually done with cold storage mediums.
This would include storing data for long terms and aren't meant to be touched and modified.
Cold storage's are quite similar to local hot storage's, but differ by being offline most of the time.
Cold storage needs to be impermeable to data loss and corruption over long time periods.
Its typically driven by redundant disk arrays or RAID storage solutions to reduce possibilities in case of an awry situation.
| Parameters: | Hot Storage | Cold Storage |
| Access Speed | Fast | Slowest |
| Access Frequency | Regular | Rare/Very Less |
| Data Exchange Volume | High | Low |
| Storage Media | Standard hard drives, solid state drives, portable flash memory, easy-access cloud storage | Off-site archival cloud storage (Amazon Glacier, Google Coldline), unplugged & encrypted hard drives |
| Security | Lower | Higher (physical access required in some cases) |
| Cost | Highest | Low |
| Ideal User | Everyone (Enterprise or Personal Usage) | Enterprise or Personal with large backup data to be offloaded. |
Depending on your needs and use cases, a hot or cold storage system may or may not be applicable to you.
If you are looking for something that requires:
You might want to consider hot storage solutions that are online, or offline.
Otherwise cold storage options or maybe "warm" storage.
It is similar cold storage but exhibits the accessibility and available state of hot storage.
Just not as fast considering it is much more larger in comparison.
Thus if you are looking to create a hot or cold data storage for your data, consider between the options available and chose accordingly.
Not every business has the same needs, and different data has to be split in between hot and cold storage options.
the choice is based on the various parameters like ease of accessibility and size.
Webserver hosting comes in all sorts of sizes and shapes, depending on your needs you have to choose an optimal webserver that suits your organization.
Here's a list of the various types of Webserver hosting options:
Each one of these has its own variants, upsides and downside which we will list:
Dedicated webservers as described, they are a dedicated server maintained only for individual/personal organizations and nothing else.
They are single handedly the fastest and can handle more for the given resources compared to other offerings.
Dedicated webhosts have variations such as:
These dedicated webservers are quite simply the most basic webservers that are very lightweight and fast as they have no overhead
It's as simple as a dedicated computer, running a light OS, and hosting the webserver.
Virtual Host webservers are just like the aforementioned webservers, the catch being the hosting OS runs on top of a Hypervisor/Virtual Container.
This helps with maintenance of the system and control over the hosting system.
Bare Metal webservers are quite more cumbersome to deal with in maintenance situations.
Shared webservers in essence are servers that do shared tasks along with webhosting such as hosting other servers on the same system.
Since multiple tasks run on the same system, The resource usage is dynamically managed.
However if one task is in a state of using heavy resources it will affect other tasks.
Shared hosting can also be bare metal or virtually hosted.
VPS services essentially provides the same kind of experience as a dedicated host but are organized in the same way shared hosts do.
Your webserver will be hosted a on cloud with limited resources, but it has full control for maintenance and is given various protection services like anti-DDoS protection, etc.
VPS services provide peace of mind as it doesn't involve too much of the design process for a proper hosting setup.
Instead, it's a set it and forget it type of service.
For more detailed info about VPS services check here.
Hostinger is a popular VPS that offers this service.
Shared and Dedicated webhosts fall into more of a similar category of self-hosted webservers, whereas other services like VPS fall into the cloud-hosted/external hosting services.
If your organization doesn't have a complex need and just needs to host a simple static web page, external hosting might be a cheaper option.
Given the complexity and available resources, self-hosting might seem more reasonable.
If you expect less traffic but want to be able to manage the server on your own, consider self-hosting.
For larger commercial organizations, self-hosting again might seem more reasonable.
If you are a single individual or a smaller commercial business, cloud-hosted/external hosting is just much more feasible, considering network limitations as well.
In short, we were able to list down the various options for hosting a webserver for an Individual's needs.
may it be commercial or Individual.
When it comes to the internet, the underlying technologies and the parallels they form can be a bit confusing.
This post aims to resolve some correlation between those things and how they can relate to your service or business.
The most essential part of any network is identification. IP addresses (or) Internet Protocol Address provides this. The IP address lends us the ability to directly communicate with the end client or website.
However it's too hectic to remember all the IP address of a website we want to visit.
Hence we rely on human readable "domain" names to access them.
Domains are name tags that signify the underlying autonomy governing that part of the internet.
They consist of various parts such as:
The subdomain identifies what network the domain is a part of (mostly www or world-wide-web).
the domain name is the name we want our organization we want our domain to be associated with, such as google, youtube, facebook etc.
the top level domain is the identifier that correlates to what part of the internet our domain is a part of, such as .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .gov (government).
Domain names are managed by ICANN (or) Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
Domains in essence are the ID tags of the internet that point people on the internet to our website, essentially an IP address that is mapped to a human readable link.
So how does our computer know what is the IP address of a given domain ?
That's where DNS comes into play.
DNS or Domain Name Service is a system that serves web users the IP address given the domain of the website they wish to connect with (like a phonebook).
Its consists of many components to look up a database of IP addresses and provide it to web user.
DNS servers are considered the backbone of the Internet.
They contain the database of every single website that one would want to access.
When you sign up for a domain names, your domain name and the IP address your website are given to a DNS server for caching.
When a person would like to access your website, the DNS server gives the IP address of your website so they can directly access it.
You don't need to communicate with a DNS server at all, your web browser takes care in handling that.
Some of the common DNS servers are 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare DNS), 8.8.8.8 (Google DNS) etc.
Note: your internet provider may also have their own DNS server too.
You can purchase a domain name from one of many domain name providers.
First you need to find out what domain you would like.
Then you need to look up the various providers to see if that domain is available for sale and if you can buy it.
Once you purchased your domain name, you can assign it to your website and when it goes live.
The IP address corresponding to your website will be given to the DNS server for look up.
Depending on your domain providers, you can also easily setup custom emails addresses for your service employees.
GoDaddy Has easy to use guide to setup email accounts with your custom domains.
For your website to be more accessible to others on the internet, its IP needs to be cached by a DNS server.
Since Google's DNS servers are very popular you can check if your website has been cached to it and is available to be looked up easily.
This is why SEO is important!
Making sure your SEO is optimal is the way to making sure your website reaches the masses perfectly.
In short,
If you host a webserver, a very important that its running optimally and is in proper conditioning.
Here is a small guide to various easy diagnostic tests you can check to see if you webserver is running up to grade.
Depending on your OS distribution running your webserver the installation methods may vary, However all the tools are all usually the same.
All of them can be invoked from the command line terminal or SSH shell, given that your webserver may be running on a remote system.
The tools include:
ping is a simple utility to see if your system is able to respond to systems on the network and check latency.
This comes pre-installed on almost every operating system.
A simple command to check if you are able to communicate with google DNS servers for example:
ping 8.8.8.8
Htop is a simple system utility to see system runtime stats like CPU usage, RAM usage, processes, etc. kind of like a task manager.
Install it on:
Ubuntu, and Debian derivatives:
sudo apt install htopFedora, OpenSUSE, and other RedHat derivatives:
sudo dnf install htopManjaro, and other Arch derivatives:
sudo pacman -S htopRun it with:
htop
uptime is a simple utility to see how long you system has been up and running for.
This comes pre-installed on almost every operating system.
Run it with:
uptime
nload is a utility to see how much network traffic passes through your system in terms of uploaded and downloaded bytes.
Install it on:
Ubuntu, and Debian derivatives:
sudo apt install nloadFedora, OpenSUSE, and other RedHat derivatives:
sudo dnf install nloadManjaro, and other Arch derivatives:
sudo pacman -S nloadRun it with:
nload(P.S pressing tab switches between network devices like ethernet and wifi to see how much traffic passed through each one)
If you are looking for a more overall system view, you might want to consider using glances.
Install it on:
Ubuntu, and Debian derivatives:
sudo apt install glancesFedora, OpenSUSE, and other RedHat derivatives:
sudo dnf install glancesManjaro, and other Arch derivatives:
sudo pacman -S glancesRun it with:
glances
Knowing these various parameters is all well and good, But one must know how to make use of them to analyze and troubleshoot issues with their webserver.
For example:
There are a lot of simple diagnostic tools for checking the server status. If you are looking for a graphical dashboard, consider using the cockpit-project.
Every year there is a cycle of release of brand-new personal computers with newer CPUs and graphics.
To keep up with the latest hardware we ought to buy brand new computers. Laptops and PCs are good for a solid 5 years for regular usage and 2-3 years for power users.
But what about your old computers? You could resell them, but maybe you want a extra PC laying around for other work, but don't want to spend more on a new computer.
An easy way is to clean up your old computer and use it as such, it's effective and cheap.
Here's a small guide on how you can do so:
This guide is mainly for two kinds of computers:
Note if your old computer is a Mac, this guide may not be applicable as Mac parts are non-replaceable. You might need to seek a professional technician to assist you.
Various tasks to look at when trying to up-cycle your old computer:
Most obviously you want to dust off your device a bit. Cleaning up your system can help reduce heat retention in the device and help make it run a bit faster and longer.
External cleaning can be done with a Dry cloth and some isopropyl alcohol.
Additionally, do not be tempted to use water, this can aid corrosion and possibly damage electronics with moisture.
As for internal cleaning, you will need some kind of duster, A plain dry paintbrush might do, canned air is probably better as you won't need to touch the electronics unnecessarily. However, note that each one has its disadvantages such as cleaning power and the ability to reach every nook and corner of the inside.
Other requirements include:
Cleaning it is as simple as opening it up and using your duster to clean our retaining dust.
Added, if you are technically capable enough, you could also replace the internal thermal paste, which is a substance used to facilitate the heat transfer between components and thermal system.
If your computer is older than 2 years, it is highly advisable to do this, or get it done by a professional technician. Old thermal paste can become dry and cakey and lead to overheating issues.
Depending on whether you have a laptop or a desktop, your upgradability can vary.
Laptops and Mini PCs mostly have soldered components, meaning they might not be replaceable. Typically, the more replaceable components would include the RAM and Storage.
Having a battery replacement might also be the way to go, to give your old computer an extra lease of life.
Check with your manufacturer's website or check iFixit: The Free Repair Manual for more info about your device.
Desktops are usually much more upgradeable, as you can change everything from the CPU, the GPU, RAM, Storage and every other kind of component easily.
Typically, if you have an old system that's older than say 3 years, consider replacing the Storage and add more RAM, if possible, as these can help your device keep up with more modern demanding software.
If you feel your CPU is getting slower, you can upgrade it and make sure your motherboard and other components are compatible.
You can take a look at buildmypc to check your components.
An important thing with old hardware is trying to get new software that has more features and optimizations compared to old versions.
But keep in mind, the newer the software releases, the more it is made for newer hardware in mind.
Things like OS driver updates etc. aid with stability and speed and help with battery life too.
If you have an older computer that you want to use for something more dedicated, you could go with a factory reset. This will clean the computer of all unnecessary things and keep it snappy.
If your computer feels sluggish, A new SSD with a fresh OS install will make it much faster.
Overall, it's completely possible to make use of your older computers by freshening them up with some software and hardware upgrades.
If you feel like you might not be technically proficient enough to do it on your own, consider giving it to a technician who might do everything needed for you without the hassle.
Modern technology has bought us a variety of storage technologies. Evolving from magnetic media to super-fast solid-state drives with no moving parts.
Flash media has become the staple for storage options everywhere from mobile phones, to portable computers, to enterprise servers.
But not all flash storage is the same, let's see the difference:
Flash storage works on the principle of holding data with transistors, and keeps the data on the transistor in a non-volatile manner by holding the charge floating.
Electricity flows from the source to the drain. When data to be written, current is also applied at the control gate. This causes the electrons to get trapped in the floating gate.
For erasing, the control gate potential is reversed.
These transistors are used in combination to store larger amounts of more useful data.
The common technologies used are nand flash, which uses a combination of transistors that form a nand gate and store data on it.
Typically, 1 bit of data is present in a single data cell, this is termed SLC, or Single Layer Cell. but many more bits can be there in a single cell as well, such as MLC or Multi-Layer Cell (2 bits per cell).
TLC which is Triple Layer Cell (3 bits per cell), and QLC which is Quad Layer Cell (4 bits per cell).
Each one of these has a cost, as well as speed and durability factors.
From SLC to QLC the cost reduces, but so does the write speed and the durability.
Flash storage being solid state technology, has no moving parts and has none of the issues associated with things such as mechanical failure.
Flash storage comes in a variety:
SD or Secure Digital is a proprietary technology that utilizes Flash memory in a compact standard package that communicates to the host via SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output).
SD cards are cheap and reliable for long term storage. their speed of communication is dependent on the specific communication revision they are based on.
In increasing order of speed there is SD-HC, SD-XC, SD-UC, and the fastest SD cards can almost reach 1 GB/s.
A lot of the speed and various parameters depend on the spec of the SD card's protocol, you can find more info about the parameters here.
SD card's best applications include photography storage, some Industrial applications which use them as ROM storage.
SD cards have relatively average durability for a flash storage medium, usually using TLC flash which can be the reason for their overall lower write speeds. Best used for long period storage which doesn't involve writing to it often.
Multi-Media Card is a technology that is widely used for media storage. As of today, the most common form factor of MMC is eMMC or embedded MMC.
eMMC is a standard maintained by the JEDEC association
It's more durable than SD, and is much faster in comparison.
However, since it is soldered to the motherboard of the device, eMMC cannot be replaced by end users.
It's used in a number of places such as smartphones, tablets, portable computers etc., Mostly applications range from portable device storage as it has better read and write endurance.
There have been many improvements and successors when it comes to a compact flash storage module, one of which is UFS (Universal Flash Storage) which comes with greater improvements too such as faster read and write speeds.
eMMC has the advantage of having an integrated controller that can do things such as wear leveling, to make sure that memory corruption doesn't become prevalent with constant writing.
This does make them more durable than SD cards, but they are still not as durable over the long run.
Solid state drives are the flash memory-based counterpart of spinning hard drives (or) HDDs, they are very power efficient, have very high storage density.
There are many types of SSDs, mostly differentiated by their protocol of communication,
The main protocols include:
SATA SSDs use the older protocol that hard disks used for communicating with the CPU.
Modern SSDs are fast enough to saturate the bandwidth offered by that protocol.
These SSDs have all the features offered by flash storage technology, like longer endurance and high storage density, and are slightly more expensive typical hard disks.
These primarily target replacing hard disk drives.
PCIe SSDs are part of the NVMe standard or (Non-Volatile Memory express), which uses high bandwidth PCIe lanes on your computer and is the fastest storage option when it comes to SSDs.
Modern PCIe SSDs use around 2x PCIe Lanes, but their speed can vary depending on the flash used and the controller bottlenecks.
Some PCIe SSDs use some extra DDR memory for caching, (the same kind your PC has) to offer a boost to speeds.
Another speed deciding factor can be the variant of PCIe generation. PCIe Gen 4 is the current fastest generation that is widely prevalent. However, the cost of the technology has it yet to be accessible to everyone.
As of now PCIe gen 3 SSDs are the sweet spot as of now when it comes to fast SSDs and reasonable cost.
SSDs overall have the best endurance when it comes to any type of storage medium, and are the fastest when it comes to reading and writing.
There are a lot of storage devices that use flash technology, for example USB flash drives.
These are the most popular portable version of flash media, Used for mass exchange of offline data.
These come with the same kind of flash technology as SSDs but in a small form factor, and communicate in a different way.
Similar to an SSD, these flash drives operate based on what version of USB they use such as a slower USB 2.0 flash drives vs a much faster USB 3.0 flash drive (which can almost be as fast as a SATA SSD).
Another common thing to note about both SSDs and USB flash drives since they use similar technology, is that the durability is proportional to their storage size, so a 16 GB flash drive has 2x the Durability compared to an 8 GB flash drive.
Different flash media have their applications in various places, from handheld electronics to powerful data centers and home computers.
eMMC and UFS power mobile smartphones, and small laptops. SSDs power most laptops these days. They also have started to become more popular in the datacenter space for high storage density, and Low power consumption.
For the daily user, you will most likely look into having SSDs for large local storage. If you need a large amount of storage prioritizing over speed, you might want to look into purchasing SATA based SSDs.
If you need a fast disk for your personal computer or desktop, an NVMe PCIe gen 3 SSDs should be suitable and provide the speed needed.
In total, flash media is a technology that has had a warm welcome and has changed computer technology for the better.
making computers faster, more power efficient, and has more improvements for years to come.
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