Computing desk
< February 15	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 17 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

February 16

External drive

I have a 1.5tb drive I am using in a powered USB2.0 external caddy. I have been having trouble unpacking large (multi-Gb files). I recently saved a more modest 1.13 Gb gz file and can't unpack it (tried WinRar and 7Zip). Turns out that the drive is disappearing from the network (and host). I can't even copy the file off the drive without it disconnecting. Experience suggests that heat could be a problem, as with IDE external drives in years gone by, so I have pulled the aluminium case off, and the file is now copying. However it is getting slower and slower from "very fast" down to 330 kb/s.

Does the panel think this is still a heat problem?
Is this well known with SATA enclosures?
What are some cool ways to cool an external drive? (I have a bunch of fans, heatsinks, tubes of Arctic Silver and Peltier devices knocking around...)

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 02:12, 16 February 2016 (UTC).[reply]

Others will know a lot more than I will about this. But you can download Speccy, here - choose the free download. Then run it and it will show you a lot if information about your computer. Look in the "Storage" section at the temperature of the drive. I think they should be under 50C, but it may vary by brand/model. Most of mine are running under 35C but I have one that is at a marginal 50C. Anyhow, to me it sounds like your drive is failing. Bigger ones are pretty cheap these days and USB 3 is a lot faster than USB 2, if you can use it (it is also backwards compatible). I got a 5TB USB drive for about $120. 5TB is the sweet spot right now - the largest for the money. The 6TB ones cost more per TB. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:45, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

S.M.A.R.T. confirms that there was a temperature problem. It also shows that my main drive has been running for 7 years. Probably time for new hardware all round. Stuff is more expensive in the Uk sadly. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 03:25, 16 February 2016 (UTC).[reply]

The drives installed in external cases are less cooled then internal drives. Some of them have identiocal specifications and internal drives can be installed into such cases and connected to the USB adapter. Some cases are just designed for eyes only. Missing thermal a design and not shockproof at all, be carefül You spend money for. Some failures result from a voltage drop of the 5 volts. It is not recommended to use a charger to power the drive. Chargers may not be designed to cover brownouts. Before opening the case, check if file system did not cut the oversize file silently. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 15:22, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

How do I edit or delete comments I post on You Tube?

When I view a video at You Tube, I can leave a comment under the video. Is there any way to later edit that comment? And/or to delete it? Or are there no such options? I could not seem to find anything. If I want to correct a typo/error, what do I do? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:13, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Also: how come I am able to "reply" to the comments of some You Tube users, but not others? Some users have a "reply" button underneath their comment, but some do not. Why is this? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:32, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Youtube's new Google+-based comment system isn't backwards compatible with the old one, so comments left before a certain date cannot be replied to. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 07:14, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 21:12, 18 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Stuck in 'Special characters' ?

I have had and am still having a problem editing in commons. The problem is such that I cannot ask for help there. I cannot even type four tildes to sign. I went to the Teahouse yesterday at 5.24am and asked for help there in a section I titled 'Stuck in special characters'. [1]. The advice I was eventually given was to post here. I am copying the text below:

Enter more ~ ? --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 15:14, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please see the copied text in the section below. SovalValtos (talk) 18:07, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

They are not normal tildes and do not give the effect of signing in the preview as they do here. If you go to the page [2] and the 5 Commons:Deletion requests/File:Boron5 a Boston terrier.jpg section you will see only one mini tilde displayed and no signature after my last contribution "Sorry, my mistake. I should have checked", but if you then go into edit mode you will see four. SovalValtos (talk) 08:27, 17 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Stuck in special characters

Note: this is a duplication of conversation that took place at the Teahouse.

I am having a problem on commons which means that I cannot sign with four tildes. I am not familiar with the commons version of the Teahouse but I suspect the problem is not specific to commons rather to me! [3] The colons at the start of a line are also not displayed or inserted correctly. I think I must have got stuck in special characters and cannot work out how to escape. Most embarrassing, help please. SovalValtos (talk) 05:24, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi SovalValtos. I looked at what occurred but I was hoping for some clarification of context. Assuming you are using a relatively standard QWERTY Roman alphabet computer keyboard (if not clarify that), are you saying that when you try to place colons by hitting shift and the colon key to the right of the "L" key, you place triangular IPA colons like this ː rather than standard colons? And when you press shift plus the key for tildes – just above the tab key and to the left of the 1 key, it somehow does not work? What happens when you try?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:39, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Don't forget that the position of some keys will vary according to the keyboard layout. On my UK keyboard the tilde is shift + hash, on the right, not at the top left as you describe. --David Biddulph (talk) 17:20, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please note I am likely to use words in a non technical and perhaps confusing manner. Replying first of all to Fuhghettaboutit. There is no problem in my current editing on the Teahouse. The problem is only on commons. I am using a relatively standard QWERTY key board on a Toshiba laptop which is just over 3 years old. I have just checked and the problem is evident on other pages on commons, but I shall refer to the page[4] for my explanation, and to the section Commons:Deletion requests/File:Boron5 a Boston terrier.jpg where my edits have been made.

The first visible abnormality shows when I press the 'edit' at the end of the title line of the Boron5 section. The edit box that appears, unusually has a sub box at the top, with several lines of symbols. Currently 'symbols' is selected within that box to the left, though I can change to IPA or Latin.

If I then place the cursor at the bottom of the edit box in the usual manner to start a new edit, and then press together shift and the semicolon keys a faint version of a colon appears. If I then repeat shift + semicolon the faint colon is changed to showing just the top dot rather than adding the expected second faint colon to the right of the first one. A third press of shift + semicolon returns the first colon to two dots and completes the second faint colon. The faint colon could be what you describe as a 'triangular IPA colons' but I can only see the triangles after magnifying the page considerably and I find the page you linked, triangular IPA colons like this ː confusing.

Tildes. After completing the text of my edit the first press of shift + # gives what looks like a very small tilde up high in the place where an apostrophe would normally go. A second press of shift + # moves it down to where a comma would normally appear. Even when I had four of them and I tried to save the page, it did not have the effect of signing.

There were further problems when I tried to make a strike through, but I will not go into that now unless you want as I think the problem must be based around having accessed the symbols box, activated it, and not knowing how to get out of it.

David Biddulph I do not think it can be due to my keyboard layout as I am having no problems here. Luckily so as I would not be allowed to ask a question without being able to type four tildes!

Thank you both for your time. SovalValtos (talk) 19:06, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hey again SovalValtos . I don't have the slightest clue what could be causing that nor how it could be stuck and I would think virus, except it's too weird that it only does it there. My half-assed technical advice would be to clear your cache, dump all cookies, restart and if that doesn't fix it, post to the computing section of the reference desk with the context you posted here. You might also tell them the browser you're using and your operating system. Tech gurus also hang out at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical), though I suppose technically its; for Wikipedia questions, but I doubt anyone would jump down your throat for posting about a Commons issue. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:03, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Again please do not underestimate how dim I can be. It could be something as simple as not knowing to click on the red X to close a page! I have found how to get rid of the box at the top of the edit box. There is an arrow at the left of 'Special characters' which toggled them out of sight. However the weird colons persist. I think I have completely cleared the cache including Favorites website data. I do not know how to 'dump all cookies'. I have Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11.0.28 . I have a paid version of Avira anti virus recently renewed.

My editing on Wikipedia as here is unaffected. I am not a total tyro (10,000) edits but stick to the restricted paths I know, so some things you might expect me to be aware of, I can be in ignorance. Thanks in advance. SovalValtos (talk) 11:19, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate that getting an answer relies on a volunteer editor wanting to give one. So far there has been given no clue to what might be happening to cause the problems I have had. Soon my question looks as if it will be dropped off the page and be archived. If there is not likely to be an answer forthcoming here, can anyone suggest where to try next? I was directed here by the Teahouse. SovalValtos (talk) 21:02, 20 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

USB cables

Is there a physical difference in USB cables that makes them slow charging vs. fast charging? I have a USB cable that came with my Raspberry Pi which I'm using to charge my phone. It's plugged into my laptop (which itself is plugged in and charging using the cable that came with the laptop). And my phone is telling me that it is charging slowly. I'm working from home today and that is the cable that is available. Meanwhile, I have a cable at work that is plugged into my monitor which my phone has no speed warnings with. So, is the difference in the cables? Or just what? Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 14:27, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. The fast charging cables typically have DATA+ and DATA- shorted. This allows more current to the phone (typically jumps from 500mA to 1.5A or 2A I believe?) Justin15w (talk) 15:06, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting, Justin15w! So how can one tell the difference, if one doesn't have a device that displays a message like "charging slowly"? — Sebastian 17:54, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See also USB specifications and the specifications of USB plug chargers. Those need to be save and cheap. How would You design an inexpensive charger? --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 15:13, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I assume "save" is a typo of "safe". StuRat (talk) 19:33, 16 February 2016 (UTC) [reply]

Light-weight, long (over 3metres), cables can reduce the charging rate. LongHairedFop (talk) 20:09, 17 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think actually providing different cables with the device, other than ensuring the cable is of sufficient gauge is particularly common anymore. Some do do it [5] but it isn't recommended due to the risk the consumer will plug a charging cable in to a device which isn't actually capable of supplying the current but lacks proper protections against over current supply. (You can see how this is a problem with improperly made type C to type A cables.) If you're shorting the data pins, it also means your cable can't be used for data so you have to provide 2 cables if you want to provide one for data. Instead the norm is for the charger to be the one which signals if it's capable of high current charging [6] [7] and to just provide one normal cable for both charging and data. Shorted or other such charging only cables are probably more common as third party cables intended to be used with third party chargers which don't signal in a way the device understands. Most commonly the charging device uses the Apple standard and the device follows the USB charging standard [8] although I think even this is becoming less common as many devices are becoming versatile enough to understand most standards including the Apple one. Nil Einne (talk) 03:43, 20 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

GIFs

Does anyone ever use the GIF image format for anything else than animation? Or has "GIFs" become synonymous with "animations"? JIP | Talk 21:11, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, many webdesigners do, for transparancy. But GIF is oldskool, see Video alternative to GIF. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 22:03, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can still find transparent GIFs here and there, but the "modern" choice for transparent images on the Web is PNG. The historical issue was that Internet Explorer didn't properly support transparent PNGs until version 7, so many Web designers avoided transparent PNGs until use of older IE versions dropped off. --71.119.131.184 (talk) 22:19, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I am not sure why, but many of those 1x1 pixel web bugs are still GIFs instead of PNGs. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 15:40, 17 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes, but it's become uncommon. GIF is a bit of an old and clunky image format dating from the 1980s. The chief reason why it's hung on so long is because it's the only image format supporting animations that's universally supported by all visual Web browsers. As discussed in the GIF article, there is no successor format for animated images with similar levels of browser support. This may become largely moot in the future, as HTML5, which does have broad support, explicitly makes video a first-class Web citizen. --71.119.131.184 (talk) 22:19, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]