On Saturday 17 March 2018 03:08:21 Baron wrote:
> Hi Gene,
>
> On Friday 16 March 2018 23:33:59 Gene Heskett wrote:
> >I pulled the one I gave out of "you
> >
> > > know where".  Blame it on oldtimers...
>
> Not to worry I'm only 70 :-) so a bit of catching up to do :-)
>
> > There is another possibility I should have mentioned. If your sata
> > data cables are red, theres something in the red dye that destroys
> > the cable in 4 or 5 years. pull the covers so you can see the
> > cable(s) and give them a gentle push with a stick, after putting a
> > tail -fn50 on the syslog. If the log blows up when you do the stick
> > bit for a 1/4" movement, its time for new cables, hopefully not red
> > ones.
> >
> > This has been a problem for cables with that dye since the mid 70's
> > of the last century when the J.A.Pan company started using it in
> > their cb radio microphone cables. You can cut the red wire off 1/2"
> > from the end that has broken, and pour the copper out of the red
> > jacketed conductors plastic sleeve as a dark brown powder. Its a
> > very poor conductor in that state.
>
> Useful information !  All my sata cables are red.
>
> > In addition to being an oldtimer at 83, I am also a C.E.T. with 68+
> > years of chaseing electrons for a living.
>
> I'm struggling with poor health at the moment and this cold one day
> and warm the next isn't helping.

It feels good for once to be the youngster in the group. (I just turned 60 
about a month ago.) I am sad to say that, though reasonably healthy, I am 
also starting to feel my age. Worse yet, I am surrounded by people who 
believe that life ends at about age 35. 

This is some interesting and useful information about SATA cables, as all of 
mine are red, as well. Indeed, I don't recall ever seeing them any other 
color. 

Nice thing about getting older, though: one tends to remember what is really 
important (stuff like this), and only forget things like appointments, or 
where I put my glasses. 

Bill