I finally located the Acronis True Image 11 disc I used to review the product (Acronis has been strangely uncommunicative recently) and it works with this setup so I've moved to it for the backup images.

Vista did not like it when I turned on the JMicron AHCI eSATA controller. It was all of a sudden hanging during boot. I imagine trying to figure out what that controller and drive were doing there. I had to boot to safe mode to install the driver. Even booting into safe mode took a long time. Perhaps if I'd been more patient with the normal boot, but I thought ten minutes was enough.

I have the Logitech Z-5500 speakers out of the box. With the size of the subwoofer, I imagine they'll disturb folks blocks away. Personally, I don't like bass braggarts unless they're at a dance club. Unfortunately, Logitech didn't include an optical light pipe or RCA cable for digital hookup so I can't take a listen yet. At least with the EMU 1616m which will only drive them that way. I could use the analog out of the on board HD audio. Nah.

I'll grab a couple of these from my personal stash at home and bring them in tomorrow. At least they tinned the ends of the analog speaker cables and marked the positive leads clearly. The connectors on both the sub woofer and the satellite speakers are pressure clamp types. I do very much like the way the base on the four front and back speakers swivel for wall mounting or simply sitting on a suitable surface.



It occurs to me after just watching someone struggle mightily with a large package, many folks could use a couple of tips on box unpacking and packing.

The Rollover Technique

When you have something heavy in a box, don't kill yourself or your back trying to lift it out. Open one end, pull the flaps back so that they lie parallel to the box surface, roll the box over so the open end is facing against the floor, then simply slide the box up and off. Be careful. The way some boxes are packed, loose stuff can fall out. Examine the contents before you attempt this and perhaps enlist a friend to watch and assist in case of such a circumstance.



Organize the Packing Materials

If there's a chance you're going to send the item back, place the packing materials back in the box exactly as they were when you opened it. This of course means you must observe how they are oriented, before and during the unpacking. Believe me, when you revisit the box two weeks later for the repacking it will save you a ton of time. Be careful to observe arrows and up/down markers on molded foam pieces.

More later.

Cheers, Jon