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So 2 days ago, at roughly 4:00am, the PC I've been using essentially as a poor man's NAS started to make some loud noises...an Acer easyStore H340. I could've sworn I got it in 2007, but the earliest discussions I can find right now that mention it go back to 2009. This goes back to when MS was trying to push the idea of having home servers. I remember it came with Windows Home Server 2007, which was based on Server 2003. There was also a Home Server 2009, based on Server 2008, but I just blew it away and installed Windows 7.
Anyway. Turns out it's the tiny fan in their proprietary PSU. I probably could find a suitable replacement, but...after 14-15 years, I figure, it's time to let it go. It's been running 24/7 all that time.
It's dog slow, running one of Intel's earliest Atom CPUs, and 2GB of RAM. But, its only job was to provide network shares; who needs a fast CPU and tons of RAM for that? It's got 4 front-loading bays - you can just slide drives in and out. I bought it, as mentioned, as a poor man's NAS. Absolutely nothing fancy, but just to share files...it did the job nicely enough.
In the end, I never really did take advantage of the multiple front-loading drive bays; whenever the data drive got full, I replaced it with one of larger capacity. I can't remember the size of the first data drive I had initially put in it, but the current one is 16TB. I just moved it to another PC in an external enclosure and re-set a few shares (so other systems using it, except for changing the name of the host PC, aren't even aware of anything being different). But I'll probably move it as an additional internal drive in one of my full-tower systems. I don't trust USB not to randomly lose its connection, even though I'm currently going directly from the enclosure to a PC (and avoiding additional chained USB hubs and such).
Normally I try to keep old PCs going for as long as I can. Right now, it's just suddenly gotten too noisy to ignore. I suppose I could put it in another room (where my main, just-as-noisy VM host currently sits), but I figure it was time to let this one go.
What's your oldest still-in-use PC's war story?
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Great post and question. 
I've had a h/o server for as long as I've been WFH. I've been having creeping thoughts about the current server's health/mtbf due to the fact that the hardware (with the exception of SSDs) is nearing the 14 year mark. I assembled this box in 2010. It originally had Server 2K8 r2, then 2013, and now 2016.
This server is a file server, web server, sql server, mail server, print server and is currently hosting one of the company websites, over a dozen company web applications, and half-a-dozen customer web applications. Even with all of those roles, it still seems blazing fast and doesn't seem to break a sweat.
Your story reminded me of a night probably 7 years ago that I was awakened in the middle of the night by a strange noise...an ominous repeating pattern coming from my office, across the hall from the bedroom. That was the sound of a 6y/o Seagate spinner crashing. Long story short, I lost a bit of data, but was able to recover within a few days. It was a learning experience for sure.
I have been thinking of replacing it with a laptop and repurposing the UPS. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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Seagate spinner crashing.
I always want to give Seagate the benefit of doubt. I really want to.
My past experience says otherwise, and these anecdotes add up.
Your server - that's a lot of responsibilities for one box. Would virtualizing it be an option? That would mean you could trivially bring the VM from one host to another. And backups could be done with a single VHD file.
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Quote: Would virtualizing it be an option?
I'm on the fence over just replacing vs. moving the entire thing to 'the cloud'. We already have a few Azure VMs, so I could just add it to the collection and change the DNS recs. The only problem that I have run into here is my inability to get standard FTP to work on an Azure VM. Maybe eventually, I'll move it all to SFTP, but I don't have the time to do so now. Maybe this box can hold out for another year! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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I wasn't even thinking about Azure VMs.
Even a client OS like Windows 10 supports Hyper-V.
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The same thing about re-purposing old stuff. Old, 2011 Dell server running ESXi. We replaced it for new hardware hosting 4 servers, including DC.
Put Windows VM hosting surveillance camera software and Linux VM with CPAI on the old one. In SOHO, I bought 8 year old Dell workstation on eBay (~$300) and installed TrueNAS for file storage and a Plex server. My SOHO ESXi system is only 7 years old, running 24/7 for most of those years. Hosts XP VM with Visual FoxPro. Anyone want a copy of Warp? 
Some of the older fans had bushings and the shaft was covered with a foil label. Removing the label allowed for lubricating the fan.
>64
There is never enough time to do it right, but there is enough time to do it over.
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Anyone want a copy of Warp?
Warp? As in, OS/2 Warp? I think I have an .ISO of Warp 3 somewhere, but I remember that Hyper-V doesn't like it. I believe VMware got farther, but it's been many years...
[Edit]
Yup, "OS2Warp3.iso", under 250MB in size. With a readme I apparently wrote that says the ISO isn't bootable. So, I don't even know how I'd get the process started...boot a VM from a DOS disk, load a CD driver (I don't know if I'd still remember how), and run a setup.exe or equivalent on the mounted ISO?
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IIRC: you have to boot from a diskette. Too lazy to look.
I belonged to a computer club back then (89'ish?) and we volunteered to Beta test. Had 10 volunteers. Some had both 3.5 and 5.25 diskette drives. It never occurred to IBM that the A drive might not be 3.5.
The first hard drive I bought was $300+ for 120 MEG! The biggest they sold. That computer came with a whopping 40 meg. My first system had 10 meg. Never filled it up.
So, were those "the good old days"? No virii, no spam, no Internet, no CP, no OG! We actually had to RTFM.
>64
There is never enough time to do it right, but there is enough time to do it over.
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No virii
Oh, I don't know about that. I remember back in high school, we had IBM PC XT systems, which all booted from DOS disks (an entire classroom, not a single hard drive). I never found out where it originally came from, but those boot floppies eventually all got infected with a virus - repeatedly.
We couldn't write-protect them, because part of the class' exercises was to modify the config.sys and autoexec.bat to configure different things at startup. So, the virus kept propagating from floppy to floppy. Part of my job as head of the high school computer club (in hindsight, there was no reason to want to be that guy) was to clean up those floppies...
[Edit]
Now I remember. The Stoned virus.  Good times.
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And the FM was at least 1,000 pages thick. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I've done the same thing to make old PC fans quiet again for a while.
Under the fan's label there is a rubbery plug that can be removed to add a bit of WD30 motor oil. The plug is then replaced but the sticker can't because of the oil on one's fingers.
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It is freezing in Houston...
Out water heater - since 2007 - quit...
since I got no other "honeydew..."
I took it a part....
the "thermometer coupler line " has little tiny , less then penny size , actual gizmo which sense the pilot light working ....
It was physically broken - no connection....
TEMPORARY bypassed it - so when you hear about gas exposing in Houston...
Waiting for whole burner assembly to arrive...
They say everything (technology) is good for about seven years...
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They say everything (technology) is good for about seven years...
If that's the case, then I'm really stretching things out. Even my gaming machine goes back to 2012. That's purely based on the first firmware update I installed myself. It might even be a year or two older. Somehow, something even as recent as Red Dead Redemption 2 was playable (at low resolution, but still very much enjoyable).
I have about 5 laptops that were given to me as people moved on to something else, and didn't know what to do with them. I'm sure one of them is also a dozen years old. I have a Macbook Pro from 2008 that I bought (used), as I wanted to tinker with and learn the MacOS (which in the end wasn't really much of a worthwhile endeavor).
I still use a Zune daily - great podcast device. I didn't get one until Microsoft officially cancelled support for it, which according to Google also goes back to 2012.
I'm sure I have older gear still, but those are the ones that still get regular use.
Heck, my car is going to be 18 years old this summer.
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When I retire my PCs or parts they go to my sister and family. I don't wait for them to get terrible.
Usually I just want something more capable.
Currently my oldest PC in use is about two years old? I think. It's a champ. Probably hang on to it for another few years but I'm going to upgrade to a 4TB system drive as soon as samsung gets around to undelaying my order and shipping me my 990 Pro.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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My oldest PC (actually a laptop) is about 12 years old - an Intel 2670QM CPU, still going strong. It is competitive with the i5-1035Gx series which was released 8 years later. The only issue I have with it is that it can't support Win11 (no TPM 2.0, unsupported processor), so when Win10 goes out of support I might have to consider retiring it. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I don't wait for them to get terrible.
PCs don't "get terrible" (unless they break down), if you just keep doing the same things with them and don't try to extend their original use.
Just like PCs don't "slow down". Newer software just gets more and more demanding.
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Well, I'm taking that into account. The fact is, after several years, even a clean old system will show its age. It just is.
And while you're not wrong in theory, I think when the rubber meets the road it's more realistic to consider software inflation.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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software inflation
I like the term.
The system I just retired had one of Intel's first Atom CPUs. It was slow on day one, but after all this time, I honestly can't say I found it any slower today than I did back then. I set up Win7 on it, kept up with updates (as long as MS kept pushing them), had no software installed on it beyond the OS, and just used it to host file shares.
Most of my systems each have a very limited role that doesn't grow much over time. Maybe that's how I manage to stretch my PCs' useful lives that much.
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Right, but the machine was special case and dedicated. I'd consider it an appliance at that point more than PC.
A PC if nothing else, is probably going to run a web browser, and that alone will continue to demand faster hardware. I can barely run Chrome on Win10 with 8GB. That's one reason I got rid of that machine.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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"Appliance" is not a bad term.
And you're absolutely 100% correct. How you use a "general use" PC evolves over time. With few exceptions, most of my systems might be considered mere appliances, as you put it. The exception might be the PC on my desk. It's used primarily to RDP into other systems elsewhere, and general browsing locally. And "browsing" today is nothing alike browsing even just a few years ago.
I have an aunt who - poor her - only "browses the net and plays games on Facebook", with a Windows 7 laptop with 1GB of RAM. I don't know how she can tolerate that. I would imagine it might not have been all that bad initially, but nowadays, a browser - any browser - sharing 1GB of RAM with an entire OS - is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure she just spends less and less time on it over time.
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Last Christmas, I asked my girlfriend what she wanted from Santa.
She said "nothing would make me happier than diamonds."
So I bought her nothing.
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It's a bugger to wrap! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I hope you did not pay too much. The cheapest nothing I found on Amazon cost $5.99 .
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Typical usage of English language
put emphasis on adjective....
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as if it were not like that in other languages...
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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