I think so. But if I go that route (as I'll have to), I'll likely order off Amazon or NewEgg.

Why would a drive go bad like that? Is it just cheap? It's not like I'm constantly swapping discs; Oblivion practically lives in my gaming computer's drive most of the time.

Ha ha okay, that makes sense.

I did have a quick look online at DVD drive prices and they're ridiculously low. An Asus drive for just over 22 bucks. LG? $17.95. But see, that makes me more nervous, not confident. Okay, here we go. Blu-ray drives are pricier. I'm seeing $60 and up to $350. Pretty sure the drive in my gaming comp is blu-ray.

Glad you got your DVD drive sorted out R!

Khajiit’s SSD boot drive will soon be out of space. Anybody here have any good tips for replacing boot drives?

I'm pretty sure there are downloadable utilities that allow fully functioning boot drive clones. I've had no need for one in years so haven't researched it. I betcha there's plenty of YouTube video's on the topic. Assuming your current SSD still has plenty of life left on it (????), have you considered a second SSD, moving certain types of programs and/or data to it? BTW, do you mean a 'traditional' SSD rather than an M2 NVME drive (assuming your motherboard accepts those)?

Ha ha okay, that makes sense.

I did have a quick look online at DVD drive prices and they're ridiculously low. An Asus drive for just over 22 bucks. LG? $17.95. But see, that makes me more nervous, not confident. Okay, here we go. Blu-ray drives are pricier. I'm seeing $60 and up to $350. Pretty sure the drive in my gaming comp is blu-ray.

Glad you got your DVD drive sorted out R!

Khajiit’s SSD boot drive will soon be out of space. Anybody here have any good tips for replacing boot drives?

I always took that as a sign that it was time to reinstall Windows on a bigger drive. Or just move things off your boot drive to a new drive.

I guess it’s a “traditional” one.

It’s this:
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U?ref=pp...op_mob_ap_share

<nods> Yours in a traditional SSD. An M2 NVME SSD would be akin to this:

Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 NVME SSD

They're faster than traditional SSDs, and having their own dedicated motherboard slots need no connection cables. That said, the BIG jump in speed / durability / longevity is between SSDs and traditionally mechanical hard drives. The jump from SSD to M.2 NVME SSD is not nearly as important.

I just did a little research and found a vid on how to clone the boot drive onto a new SSD. Showed one of those NVMEs and it’s kinda neat! If I get a new SSD though, I’ll just stick with the regular 2.5 kind as I’m sure my mobo from 2015 probably won’t support one as it seems to be fairly “new” technology? Maybe?

DVD drives are just dirt cheap is all. Don't feel bad about only paying $20 for one. Be thankful!

What I’m wanting to do is move all of the stuff on my C: drive to a more spacious SSD. I suppose I could simply move some stuff from the C: drive to the A: drive (which is a 1tb HDD), but honestly that scares me because I’m not sure what all is safe to move.

And the server is back on-line!

It's a long story. The new motherboard was just a revision of the old one, so I'd hoped I'd just plug it in, and boot up.

Well, sort of. The MAC addresses for all the network connections were new, so Linux assigned new devices. I lost eth0 to eth5 and gained eth6 to eth9. That meant hunting all the references to the old ones down, and replacing them.

Then I discovered that the socket I'd previously been using had become the IP Management Interface port, and instead of going to my web server, port 80 was now the connection to the Management Interface. Naturally, that can't find any of my pages. So I reconfigured the MI to use a different set of ports. Still no go. Although it tells me it's using a shared physical port, it's really taken over completely on that one.

I finally got it working by bringing up another LAN part and plugging into that. Now I have to figure out how to access the IPMI at the same time, but I'm not sure I really want to. I may still have issues with the router and DHCP, but so far, we're good.

Oh, forgot to mention. The IPMI has a random password, on a sticker on the motherboard, so I had to take the machine apart to get to it. It's printed so small, I needed a magnifying glass to read it. The documentation on random passwords doesn't come with the board, you have to search the manufacturer's web sire for that. When you find the document it implies that it does not apply to the board I have. It was only after getting to the IPMI that I could determine how the LAN ports were configured.

I've demoted myself back down to console player .

Well poot! They're out to get me, it seems. (Just coz I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me, does it?) First banned from the web, now this.

My new keyboard arrived during supper. Meal over, I open its shipping box. I'm greeted to a product box with a sizable chunk of its top missing. That section of box has been wrapped around with clear tape. Inside the product box, a small(er) chunk of keyboard hand-rest is damaged. Here's an image (taken with my neighbor's cell-phone) of the damaged box.

(photo link) https://i.imgur.com/O3LMfVM.jpg (photo link)

Oddly, the outer shipping box contains a small amount of damage that does NOT match inner box damage. I suspect foul play somewhere along the line, as the shipping box is not an official Amazon box. Interestingly, this is my first non USPS delivery in years. (It's UPS.)

I've already filled out the online Amazon return form, opting for item replacement. UPS is to pick it up my damaged keyboard either tomorrow or day after, depending on processing. I'll tape a note to my door telling UPS to knock LOUDLY due to my hearing.