Maximum PC - USA (2019-07)

maximumpc.com aug 2019 MAXIMUMPC 95

drives is best, but I used

existing drives and deleted

all partitions, which works

just as well. However,

the drives I used had GPT

partition tables, which

may be why I had difficulty

defining the storage tier

sizes. Max drive capacities

(in my case, $ssd, $hdd

-StorageTierSizes 232GB,

4580GB ) didn’t work. Once

I realized that some of

the drive was being used,

I decreased the sizes by

2GB and 10GB respectively,

and it worked. Once set

up, I went into the GUI and

optimized and expanded the

pool. Also, advice to anyone

following the boxout: Run

Get-PhysicalDisk – CanPool

$True to see all the drives

that will be pulled into the

pool. You may not want

some of the drives in there,

and if you don’t, disable

them before you run $disks

= Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool

$True. Lastly, in the New-

StoragePool command, I

was unable to get it to run

with $disks , but it did run

with the singular  $disk.

Now Storage Spaces are

smoking and, as advertised,

“better than RAID.”

–O.B. Schooley

ExEcutivE Editor, AlAn

dExtEr, rEsponds: Glad

you enjoyed the article,

and found it useful.

You’re right—it’s the

boxout that makes actually

doing it really worthwhile.

You’re also right that it

should be singular: $disk

not $disks for the New-

StoragePool command.

Open Classic

In the June 2019 issue, in

“Letters,” you mentioned

Classic Shell. Are you guys

slipping? Classic Shell was

picked up by Passionate

Coder and renamed Open-

Shell ages ago.

I install it on all my

long-time Windows user

friends’ computers every

time I help them upgrade

to Windows 10. Check it

out: http://www.majorgeeks.com/

files/details/classic_start.

html. Oh, and you do know

Windows 10 upgrade

from activated Windows 7

upward is still free? Keep

up the good work! –Mike

ExEcutivE Editor, AlAn

dExtEr, rEsponds: The

original Classic Shell still

works on the latest build

of Windows 10 (1903),

although Open Shell does

seem to have been updated

with a few more features,

so stands on its own. To be

honest, we haven’t found

ourselves needing to use

these recently, as we don’t

find Windows 10’s interface

as horrendous as Win 8’s,

but it’s good that projects

like this still exist and are

supported. And good work

helping others upgrade.

Clipboard Sync

I’m writing about the “Sync

Your Clipboard Across

Multiple Devices” article

in the June 2019 issue. My

System Settings screen

doesn’t have a “Clipboard”

tab. Methinks you’re

running the Pro version of

Win 10, and I am out of luck,

as I am running the Home

version.... –Alan Cohen

ExEcutivE Editor, AlAn

dExtEr, rEsponds: We’ve

just checked on a variety

of machines, some running

Pro and some Home, and

it’s on all of them. The one

thing we did notice from

the screenshot you sent

us was that your version

of Windows is more out of

date than our machines

(you seem to be running

1803—the latest Windows

Update takes you to 1903 ;

the previous version was

1809 ). Update Windows,

and you should find you

can sync your clipboard

with the rest of us.

Rural Connections

I read, with great interest,

about Microsoft’s Xbox

One S All-Digital Edition.

I understand companies

wanting to make a profit,

but let me plead the case of

those of us who are outside

a decent infrastructure of

fiber optic or cable. Digital

content for us rural folks

will be very difficult and

unreliable. I am on DSL

(which I understand is

viewed in the same regard

as a dial-up modem), and

our download speeds hover

between 0.5 and 2.5Mb/s,

or 3.0Mb/s on good days. I

have a PlayStation 4, and

every game I buy has to

download a network file or

game update, which takes

hours. If I had to download

the entire game, I’d be

unable to use my purchase

for two or three days.

Also, not having a

physical disc places

another burden on us. If,

for some reason, we are

unable to access the cloud

server, our money is spent

and we receive nothing in

return. I was also informed

by my Internet provider,

that if I ever disconnect

from DSL, I won’t be able

to reconnect, as they

are phasing it out. Yet

we still do not have any

infrastructure to tap into.

In short, it will become

financially burdensome

and, in some cases,

impossible to enjoy gaming.

And let’s not get into

satellite Internet. I have my

own personal experience

with that from my former

job (it was horrible), and

stories abound about

unreliability, slow-to-

non-existent speeds, and

technical problems. –Ben

ExEcutivE Editor, AlAn

dExtEr, rEsponds: It will

be interesting to see how

the All-Digital Edition

fares (with no second-

hand market, it may be a

non-starter for those in

cities as well). We do feel

your pain, though, as your

gaming experience doesn’t

sound fun, and not having

Internet access does

undermine the likes of

Google Stadia, too. Maybe

5G will be the answer.

No, we doubt that as well.

Hopefully, there will be a

solution at some point.

[NOW ONLINE]

PCI ExPrEss 6.0 PavEs

way for fastEr ssDs anD

graPhICs CarDs I n 2021

The standards body in charge of overseeing the PCI

Express protocol is following an aggressive upgrade

schedule. It will still be another few weeks before the very

first consumer motherboards supporting PCI Express 4.0

(PCIe 4.0) arrive in retail, courtesy of AMD’s Ryzen 3000

CPUs and X570 motherboards, but the body that oversees

the spec is already looking ahead to PCIe 6.0.

PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special

Interest Group) announced this week what is essentially

a draft spec for PCIe 6.0. What about PCIe 5.0? That’s not

being skipped—in case you missed it, PCI-SIG formally

ratified a finalized PCI 5.0 spec in May.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/2MYzXv2

©^
ASRock