Tag Archives: computer storage

Quick Review: Samsung Bar Plus 512GB USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive (MUF-512BE4/APC)

Posted on September 28, 2025 by lui_gough

A while back, I purchased a Samsung Bar Plus 256GB for cheap thanks to a few promotions. For the most part, it seems to have stayed working, so when a new promotion arrived, I decided to snag the 512GB “titan … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: The Solid-State Hybrid Drive (SSHD) ft. ST500LM000

Posted on September 9, 2025 by lui_gough

Right now, it’s hard to think of a world where SSDs didn’t succeed as the dominant form of primary storage for running a computer. They’re physically robust, relatively reliable, have sufficient endurance for most users, are silent, use less power, … Continue reading →

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Tested: Amethystum Storage Technology 100GB 2-6x TL BDXL BD-R (BDR-M100BAZ)

Posted on September 7, 2025 by lui_gough

Late last year, I made a series of posts examining BDXL, which is perhaps the last hurrah for 12cm optical media in the short term. After my trip to Japan, I thought I might have sampled every available BDXL media … Continue reading →

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Flashback+: Pioneer 1x DVD-RW (DVS-RW47B/U) and a DVD-Rot Issue?

Posted on August 22, 2025 by lui_gough

While some people like to collect trading cards or Pokémon, I prefer to collect technological artifacts which includes optical media. Now that most people have abandoned the use of optical media on a regular basis, the era for optical media … Continue reading →

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Quick Review: Orico 25PW1-C3 2.5″ USB-C 5Gbit/s Hard Drive Enclosure

Posted on August 22, 2025 by lui_gough

What happens when I run out of 2.5″ SATA to USB 3.0 enclosures to stuff old spare hard drives and SSDs into? I buy some more. But instead of buying more of the same, it was time to insist on better … Continue reading →

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Experiment: Verbatim UltraSpeed+ 32x CD-RW on Non-US+ Drives?

Posted on August 18, 2025 by lui_gough

When it comes to recording Compact Discs (CDs), most of the time people would have used dye-based CD-Rs which were write once, read many (WORM). While you could spend a little more for an inorganic phase-change-based rewritable CD-RW, this was … Continue reading →

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PSA: Validate Your Storage! JMicron JMS583 + KIOXIA BG4 Series SSD Issue?

Posted on August 17, 2025 by lui_gough

After recently purchasing a refurbished Dell Latitude 5420 and upgrading its internals, it liberated a 256GB KIOXIA BG4-series SSD (KBG40ZNS256G) 2230-size M.2 NVMe SSD that’s somewhat worn but still very serviceable. Rather than let it go to waste, I threw … Continue reading →

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Teardown, Tested: Pioneer DVR-218LBK DVD-R/RW Writer Unit w/LabelFlash

Posted on May 4, 2025 by lui_gough

Some people like to catch Pokemon … well, I’m currently catching optical discs and optical disc drives. Somehow, in my head, I thought that would make the hobby more relatable to the average person, but maybe it just sounds equally … Continue reading →

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Tested: Yihui 16x DVD+R (A “Fake” MCC-004-000 Made in China)

Posted on April 19, 2025 by lui_gough

As optical media is on the way out, I’ve been on a bit of a quest to collect different types of media before they disappear for good. While I generally gravitate to the high quality options which I often didn’t … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Lite-On DVDScan v0.04 Beta (feat. SHM-165P6S & LH-20A1S)

Posted on April 18, 2025 by lui_gough

Living life on the leading and trailing edge of technology is an interesting thought. Given that the heydays of the optical disc have passed, it’s become a motivation to look closer into the technology before it disappears completely. Part of … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Pioneer DVR-A04 DVD-R/RW Drive: Affordable DVD Recording in 2002

Posted on April 6, 2025 by lui_gough

It’s been quite a bit of fun going on my recent optical media binge, but the media is only one part of the equation. The other part of the equation is, of course, the drives themselves. So I decided to … Continue reading →

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Tech Flashback: Double the Data on a CD-R with HD-BURN (ft. Optorite DD0203)

Posted on March 29, 2025 by lui_gough

It almost seems like yesterday when the CD burner became mass-market and consumers rejoiced in having a low-cost, capacious storage medium that could be used for a myriad of uses. While the CD was relatively capacious relative to other storage … Continue reading →

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Tested: Northern Star DataTresorDisc “Write Once, Read Forever” Archival DVD+R

Posted on January 27, 2025 by lui_gough

As we ride off into the sunset for optical discs, it’s nice when you get a message from a fellow optical disc enthusiast and a reader of the blog. After some chatting, I was offered a rather interesting proposition – … Continue reading →

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Tested: Ritek M-Disc DVD Recordable 4.7GB Permanent Storage

Posted on December 2, 2024 by lui_gough

When it comes to optical media and archival, the M-Disc brand has a nearly cult following. The technology of their DVDs promised to etch your data “into stone” and keep it safe for 1000 years – bold claims, but the … Continue reading →

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Review: Pioneer JIS X6257 DM for Archive BD-R 1-6x 25GB (IPS-BD11J03P)

Posted on November 25, 2024 by lui_gough

When it comes to optical media for archival, many love the M-Disc. I certainly enjoyed their M-Disc DVDs which were innovative for their time and obviously different to the dye-based discs which were somewhat less durable. Their later M-Disc Blu-ray … Continue reading →

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Experimenting with BDXL – Part 4: Scanning BDXL Discs feat. LG BH16NS55

Posted on October 28, 2024 by lui_gough

In my earlier post about buying the Pioneer BDR-X13JBK drive from Japan, I said that I wouldn’t buy another LG BH16NS55. So, I compromised with myself and bought another LG BH16NS55. No, I haven’t gone crazy … there’s a method … Continue reading →

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Experimenting with BDXL – Part 3: Quality Scanning Gone Wrong ft. TSST SE-506CB

Posted on October 27, 2024 by lui_gough

Having some hesitancy about the quality of BDXL burns from my last posting, I set out to see if I could do some quality scans. After all, the discs themselves are really only rated to 4x and while the Pioneer … Continue reading →

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Experimenting with BDXL – Part 2: Burning Some Discs

Posted on October 27, 2024 by lui_gough

In my last post, I detailed the haul of BDXL media that I managed from my trip to Japan earlier this year. Now it was time to put the discs to use, by backing up the photos I took from … Continue reading →

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Experimenting with BDXL – Part 1: The Media

Posted on October 21, 2024 by lui_gough

Earlier this year, I found myself on vacation in Japan, so being the nerd that I am, I decided to pick up some Japanese produce. At first, it was the Pioneer BDR-X13JBK external BDXL writer – what may be my … Continue reading →

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Quick Look: Pioneer BDR-X13JBK USB3.2 Gen1 External BD/DVD/CD Writer (16x/16x/48x)

Posted on October 1, 2024 by lui_gough

It would seem that the optical disc may not be long for this world. Many computers have shipped without optical drives for years with users choosing to back up their ever-growing data libraries on hard disks, solid-state drives or cloud … Continue reading →

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Review, Teardown: NewQ Portable SSD Touch 1TB (NQ-FS-01)

Posted on August 4, 2024 by lui_gough

Just over a month ago, I was approached by a representative of NewQ with their latest product, the Portable SSD Touch 1TB (NQ-FS-01) for review. This compact USB-C external SSD comes with a fingerprint sensor and inbuilt encryption for data … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tech Flashback: Intel Optane (3D XPoint) Memory

Posted on July 28, 2024 by lui_gough

At the present time, most computers now use flash-memory-based solid-state drives as their non-volatile storage medium of choice. Hard drives being bulky, slow, fragile and power hungry are generally relegated to lower cost bulk storage applications. But flash memory is … Continue reading →

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Review: Samsung Bar Plus 256GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive (MUF-256BE3/APC)

Posted on July 21, 2024 by lui_gough

Onto something a bit more modern, this post will look at Samsung’s Bar Plus USB 3.1 Flash Drive. Looking online, whenever this drive goes on sale, many people have great things to say about it compared to the competition. My … Continue reading →

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Salvage, Tested: An Elderly, Forgetful 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD

Posted on July 20, 2024 by lui_gough

In the modern world of NVMe SSDs, the Samsung 840 EVO is nothing particularly interesting. However, I was delighted when I recently stumbled across one in a salvage as this was one SSD I never owned. At the time, the … Continue reading →

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Review: Generic USB 3.1 to NVMe SSD Enclosure (721659253754)

Posted on July 15, 2024 by lui_gough

Years ago, I wouldn’t be thinking I’d have spare M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs floating around with little to do … but the previous flash memory price-crash and a few laptop upgrades mean that the last few batches of Orico cases … Continue reading →

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Review: Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (CT2000P5PSSD8) @PCIe3.0x4

Posted on June 29, 2024 by lui_gough

During the height of the flash memory oversupply, decent 2TB SSDs could be had for about AU$130. This Crucial P5 Plus, bought via Amazon US, is an example. Having dealt with the YMTC mess and being essentially two SSDs down, … Continue reading →

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Review: WD PC SN740 2TB 2230 NVMe SSD (SDDPTQE-2T00) @PCIe3.0x4

Posted on June 24, 2024 by lui_gough

The flash memory oversupply is likely to be over, as SSD prices have started trending upward again. While a 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive could be had for under AU$130 around nine months ago, prices are edging higher towards AU$180-220 … Continue reading →

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Quick Review, Teardown: Orico M2PV-C3 USB-C 10Gbit/s M.2 SSD Enclosure

Posted on June 10, 2024 by lui_gough

I had previously bought some inexpensive Orico USB-C enclosures for M.2 SSDs. I wasn’t too pleased in the end with the build quality overall and the thermals seemed sub-optimal as it featured a heatsink but only to the closed internal … Continue reading →

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Review: WD_BLACK SN770 2TB NVMe SSD Game Drive (WDS200T3X0E) @PCIe3.0x4

Posted on November 5, 2023 by lui_gough

When something fails, my instinct is to replace it with twice as much. Previously, it was goodbye Fanxiang S501, hello Lexar NM610 PRO, but that was only half of the equation. The other half came courtesy of an OzBargain posting … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

PSA: SSDs with YMTC Flash Prone to Failure? Check Your SSDs!

Posted on October 10, 2023 by lui_gough

This is a bit of an out-of-cycle update as the bargain-hunting season starts to ramp up and flash memory prices seem to have bottomed out, people may be on the lookout for SSDs. I am certainly no stranger to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing, Flash Memory, Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 43 Comments