[rescue] Biggest drives (and SVM) in a U60?

[velociraptor]

On 5/25/06, der Mouse <mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca> wrote:
> > [A]s a packrat, I have to add this - make sure that junk and
> > "someday-useful" parts don't take over your life.
>
> This is very true.  I'm trying to shake free from something similar
> (though not quite as phrased here) myself.

Scarcity does not necessarily equal value.  A lot of us retain objects
due to emotional reasons more than anything else (_Organizing From the
Inside Out_ covers many of the emotional reasons which cause
"organization projects" to fail.)

> > I've found that this simple rule has helped a lot - I collect, but
> > anything that I've not made use of in the past year, I find a new
> > home for, giving things away as necessary.
>
> Perhaps.  But too often I've had something in live use break and been
> able to go to a spare that's been sitting idle for two, three, five
> years and be back up almost immediately.  I see some of my live
> machines as becoming harder and harder to find spares for, so I've been
> picking up spares against the days when they are made of unobtanium -
> spares I am unlikely to use within a year, some of which I am unlikely
> to use within five years, but which I judge worth the space to keep
> against the trouble-savings having them could bring.  (Much like any
> disaster insurance, actually.)

But that is a practical decision, and much different from collecting
stacks of things that "might be useful".  You are hedging against a
real concern.  I think about the quantities of things I have kept, and
compare it to the ridiculous amounts of things I've seen other geeks
keeping.  I *know* I have a problem, but it pales in comparison to
some.

> There's that.  If I've got plenty of spares of something, or if it's
> something I could get along comfortably without with minimal work, and
> someone has a reasonably pressing need for it, I'll often give it away.
> (I'm not entirely comfortable yet with doing this, but I make myself do
> it anyway; knowing it's going to be used and appreciated makes it a lot
> easier.  And "practice makes perfect"; the more I do this the less
> difficult I find it.)

That is an excellent mantra.  It works for a lot of things we resist
doing because of discomfort level.