Mendocino Real Estate Tax Ripoff

 We have mountain property in Mendocino County California. Recent legalization of cannabis and the way Mendocino County managed it caused property values to plummet where we live. Out property that was "worth" almost one million dollars about 10 years ago is now worth $300,000 if we can get it.

Mendocino county is trying everything they can do to rip off tax payers because tax payment have gone down and they are trying to get money any way they can.

When we bought out our co-owner of the property it was reassessed (half) which was allowed under "prop 13" guidelines. We were prepared for this but the property value has dropped not increased.

The assessor appraised out property with no reference to "comps" that would have reflected the decreased value. They just made up a number out of the blue.

If we are going to apply for a lowered assessment we need to provide comps (i think they want three in tea past three months) but there are no comps. However the worst thing is what Mendocino did in order to prevent lowered assessments.

Appraised valuation and actual market value have always been two different numbers. There is a ratio that is applied by the assessor to the market value to get the assessed valuation on which taxes are based. In Mendocino county taxes are 1 percent per year of assessed valuation plus add ons for voter approved bonds. Prop 13 allows for 1% per year tax increase. When property is sold all bets are off but the assessment ratio should still apply. 

I can go to a lot of effort to determine what the assessment ratio has been for the last 20 years but this will involve a lot of research, getting comps for each tax period and calculating the ratios.

I know for a fact that the ratio was never 100%. Our assessed valuation was something like $200,000 when the market value was close to $1,000,000 These are not actual figures, I need to do a lot of research to provide true values. However I do know that the ratio was never 100% Even after reassessment our appraised value is less than the paltry market value.

In order to apply for a reduction in taxes we need to get recent comps and they need to be lower than our assessed valuation in order to change the tax base. This is because Mendocino has decided that the assessment ratio is 100%  This is total bullshit, it is their way to make tax reduction impossible just by lying about what the ratio actually is. 

Really clever, I think it is time for a taxpayer's revolt.

Protect Your Dog With Remote Temperature Sensor

I previously posted about a device by Motorola that sends alerts about temperature and humidity via cellular network. It worked well but the product has been withdrawn.

Fortunately there is another device that works very well. Iwish I had known about it instead of wasting time with the Motorola unit.

It is called the Marcel by "Sensored Life" If the following link does not work just search for Marcell by SnesoredLife

https://www.meetmarcell.com/?_ga=2.123306190.452975794.1717878614-1885916765.1717878614

This is a new model but I do not see any difference between my older model and the new one.

The device reports every 30 minutes to a server from which data can be downloaded. Alarm points can be set and text messages will be sent immediately when the alarm point is reached. However this does not offer the degree of protection that I want. If any part of the system went down (battery charge, cellular network etc) there would be no notification even though a hazardous condition existed.

You can purchase bundles of instant access tokens so you can use the phone based application to interrogate the device. However you need to check regularly and keep purchasing tokens. I found a way around this:

The device reports whenever power is cut to the device or restored. My solution is to use a programmable cycle timer which turns power on and off to the device alternating every 5 minutes. This forces the sensor to send reports every 5 minutes without my having to remember or pay for tokens. 

If I do not hear a SMS notification for 5 minutes I know something may be wrong and I should check on the dogs. 

This is a fail safe solution. If five minutes has expired without a notification a physical check is required. 

The temperature and humidity are included with the power off/on message so you can check every time you get an alert.

You do need to be aware enough that you notice if no report has been sent for more than five minutes.

I post a sign on the curb side window to let passersby know that the dogs are safe in the car. "Well meaning" people may call the police or break a window if they think your dogs are unsafe in a locked car with the windows partly up. Hopefully they will call the number on the sign instead. I did have a nasty note left on the car before I posted the sign.

 
Saffie and Darcy will be safe this summer thanks to Marcell

Wazer Desktop Waterjet Machine Review

 I am posting this reluctantly because I really like the idea of a desktop waterjet machine for the small shop. I have owned the Wazer for a little over a year. It is really cool what it can do when it is actually working and I have the patience to deal with the horrible software and work-arounds.

I did not do my homework before buying the Wazer or I might have known how horrible the necessary software that makes gcode files for the machine is. I own and have built several CNC machines so I know the good bad and the ugly.

My favorite machines are my CNC router and laser engravers. Both are a joy to operate using a variety of programs for creating gcode files. 

LightBurn is a well though out versatile program suitable for both amateur and advanced users, pretty much the opposite of WAM (the program provided by Wazer)

The garbage software that comes with the Wazer is an embarrassment. I have given them many opportunities to improve it. Many owners agree with me that the software it badly written to say the least  and forces the user to spend much more time making test cuts etc instead of just making the parts they want.

The firmware that drives the machine is equally horrible treating the user as a total moron and requiring a lot of wasted time and provides few useful options.

This is a hobby machine at best forget about fine degrees of control or precision without a lot of extra effort.

If you are making stained glass and your requirements for precision are low this might be the machine for you. If you want to make precise prototypes prior to professional manufacturing or for one offs that need to be accurate, basically forget it. You are better off with some files, chisels and a other hand tools.

In order to placate those who want a reasonable degree of control over the design and cutting process, Wazer offered me a plugin for Corel Draw that was contracted by their European Distributor. This offers some degree of improvement but they have not been able to get the plugin to work with the new 2024 version of Corel that I bought specifically for this purpose. It has been six months and no success yet. I did get the plugin to work on an older hacked version of Corel but at some point in experimentation the installer for the plugin (I am not making this up and have never seen this before) erased the contents of the activation code file. So at this point I can not even use the hacked version and multiple communications have not prompted Wazer to do anything about it.

It is interesting that Wazer now has a new model that supposedly fixes some of the issues with the older version. They are offering a new version and have not bothered to improve their crap software first? Yes they did fix a few bugs but the whole program is a joke. 

There was also an issue with the display blanking out during a cut and although it was possible to finish the cut there was no control such as speed override or pausing without a display. The problem is pretty obviously caused by electrical interference due to bad design of the communication between the display and the main control module. I was jerked around for months over this and finally was given an add on dongle to replace the display. This does work but it is going to make it difficult to sell this thing if I am able to at all. Makes it look a lot more like the piece of junk that it is. 

The Best Dog in the World

Sophie was an amazing dog. I have had all good dogs in my life but Sophie was different. From the minute she picked me as her future dad she was a devoted best friend. I never had to "train" her, she just figured it all out by herself. A simple glance or hand signal and she knew what was wanted. Sophie didn't necessarily agree with what I wanted her to do but if it was important, she knew. Occasionally we had to discuss things a little.  Sophie got along with almost everyone but had a good sense for people to be avoided. She didn't need to be leashed very often. At about 6 months we had the opportunity to add Sophie's sister Lily to our family. Sophie and Lily were the best of friends. When we rescued Elliot (a problem child but sweet) the family dynamics changed a lot but Sophie took it in stride and did not get jealous. She knew she was my special soul mate and that no one could take her place. I am not exaggerating this. Everyone who knew Sophie knew how smart and perspicacious she was and what a special relationship we had. She was an amazing cuddler and got me through many scary nights alone with just the dogs. Lily and Elliot are good dogs (Lily is one of the sweetest and most sociable dogs I have ever known) but Sophie was something else. She was incredibly smart but not obsessed or neurotic as smart dogs often are. It was amazing to watch her analyze a situation and make a decision. She always knew where to position herself so she could keep track of dad. She knew the consequences of running through a field of sticker burrs and chose alternate paths unless there was an irresistible temptation. Sophie was always thinking, always loving and always caring.

SunFounder Raspad defective worthless garbage and no support for defective units

I normally like to keep my blog positive but I have to give some information on the Raspad that is completely negative.

I was one of the first run of crowd founders for the Raspad by SunFounder. I never was able to get it to work, contacted support several times and got no help. Since it took over 6 months to get to me and for me to test it, my credit card company can not reverse the charge.

As soon as iI tried it, it was clear that the touch screen was fucked up. I found a suggestion to update the touchscreen driver which i did and it did not help. The problem is that the upper 3/4" of the display does not respond to touch. Support told me to update the driver after I informed then that i did this and it did not help.

I have since reinstalled raspian, calibrated the touch screen and tried everything else i can think of. I have come to the conclusion that the touch screen unit itself is defective.

I asked SunFounder if they could fix or replace it and got no response after 5 e-mails to support. They basically do not give a shit.

Sunfounder Raspad is a piece of garbage which is clear after disassembling it. They use the cheapest components and assemble them in a horribly engineered case. Good luck trying to fix it.

I decided to sell it as is on E-Bay but after trying to calibrate it decided to cancel the listing because i could not guarantee anything about this p[piece of junk and if SunFounder will not respond to my demand for fixing it, they will not for the new owner.

So, I took it apart and could not find anything like a loose connector. My guess is that one of the lines to the touch capacitive grid is not connected, in other words that the touch screen itself is defective. The display and touch screen are bonded together and there is no chance of fixing either the display or the touch screen if defective.

SunFounder has terrible quality control as evidenced what i found on disassembly. They are probably aware that a large percentage of units do not work (i have found others complaining of similar and many other problems) and just do not give a shit.

Interesting that after crowd funding on Indigogo and meeting their goal and supposedly shipping units to their funders, they are now listing the exact same thing again as if it was something new. This is completely against Indigogo's policies but they will not investigate other than sending me some bullshit boilerplate and telling me that i can sue Sunfounder.

Sunfounder is also selling the same device on kickstarter funding site. How many times do they need to collect money from funders for the same piece of shit. They have discovered that they can get money in advance and not deal with non working units. They probably have a pile of non functional units and want to sell them to unsuspecting crowd funders.

Sunfounder is criminal. Do not buy anything from them unless you are willing to throw it our if it does not work. I wasted too much time trying to get this POS to work and wish I had thrown it out immediately.

So for being a nice guy and sending SunFounder $200 and waiting over six months to get the POS and try to get it to work, all i have to show for it is a Raspberry Pi model 3B and a bluetooth keyboard of marginal quality.

DIY Calibrate a Torsion Prescription Pharmacy Apothecary Balance Scale

I could not find instruction on calibrating a Torsion Pharmacy Balance anywhere on the internet. In the US it was legally required that a Pharmacy have a torsion balance on hand for compounding prescriptions. So these scales are very common and since they do not have delicate knife edges and bearings to wear or break, they are often in usable condition but calibration is uncertain especially if they have been shipped improperly or mishandled. You can find information on the internet about use and how to ship them properly but I have never found instructions on calibration techniques.

First basic shipping considerations. All balances should have provisions for locking the balance beam for shipment. Find the mechanism for doing this and be sure to lock the beam. On the balances made by The Torsion Balance Company there are stanchions that are moved into place after loosening a knurled nut on each one on the underside of the balance and then tightening it once in the locked position.  Remove all loose parts and pack separately. Turn the knob that clamps the scale and tape it in place. Also tape the cover in place and wrap the whole thing appropriately for the method of transport. If you balance has a fluid filled dashpot, you will need to remove the cover and secure the top plug and or remove the oil.

Now for calibration secrets. I developed the method on my own so anyone who does this professionally is certainly welcome to comment and suggest other or better methods.

The torsion balance has two rails that operate in parallelogram fashion. Three torsion units act as the main fulcrum and as the fulcrums on which the weighing pans are placed. These are made in the factory with special tools and are difficult or impossible to repair if damaged. So check to be sure that the parts are all in place and that the tension bands are under tension. If you pluck or tap the bands gently you should hear a tone, not a thud. There is probably a desired musical note for each brand and size of scale but I don't know what they would be. If it is a thud there is little or no tension and there is no point in trying to make the balance work.

In all you do to adjust the balance, be aware that the bands can easily be broken and that whenever loosening or tightening any screws or nuts, be sure to oppose the loosening or tightening with a suitable tool so you are not stressing other components, especially the torsion bands. (How do I know this, you may ask?)

The torsion balance is quite simple so anyone who collects and works with scales should be able to understand how it works. Basically there is a center fulcrum and outer fulcrums that the weighing pans are mounted to. Since there are upper and lower beams connected with top and bottom tension bands (actually one band on each position serves as both top and bottom) the balance acts like a parallelogram  and the top and bottom fulcrum points will always be vertically inline if the balance is level and in balance. There is quite a bit of tolerance for error in level and leveling is in fact the method used to fine tune the zero balanced position.

Depending on the type of balance there will be one or more adjustable weights for balancing the torsion assembly. My balance has a dashpot and for that reason there is a lot of additional mass on the right side of the beam assembly. So, there is a large counterbalance on the lower left side. On the right top beam is a fine adjustment. If your balance does not have a dashpot, it may not have the coarse adjustment. It is pretty obvious that these weights are used to get the balance balanced.

To calibrate the balance, you obviously need to remove the cover and put all the parts back on except the cover so you can make adjustments with the balance in working order. Start by leveling the balance with the built in bubble level or a separate one if there is none. My balance has a front to back level but not a side to side one. This is because it is assumed that the balance is calibrated professionally and the side to side is how you zero the scale. Since this might not be the case it is good to level the balance side to side as well as front to back for the calibration procedure.

If you have a dashpot, make sure it is not sticking on the dip rod or internally. Best to take it off and clean it if there is any doubt. Then adjust the various rods and levers to allow it to move from one extreme to the other without any parts touching or binding.

It is obvious how you get the basic leveling of the beam done. Just slide the adjustment weights after loosening the relevant clamp screws. What is not as obvious is the fact that the right fulcrum assembly can be move in and out with respect to the center fulcrum. This is critical in getting the balance to work properly with different loads. If one end fulcrum is closer or farther from the center than the opposite one, the balance will not behave linearly. Adding weight to one side will not be the same as adding weight to the other side for obvious reasons. On my balance the adjusting screws are made with two different pitches on the one screw. The fixing point for the tension band is movable within the beam. Turning the screw cause a differential motion between the fixed and the movable nut because the pitches are different. On my balance turning the screw clockwise (viewed from the end) moves the fulcrum closer to the center. This is the intuitive choice but other balances might be different or they may have entirely different methods for adjusting the position of the tension bands.

To get the arms of the beam equal you may have to adjust the screws that move the right side fulcrum both top and bottom. You can check for the need to do this using two weights that are as close to identical weight as possible. You will get the most amplification of error if you use weights near the limit of the balance but if you are careful and if absolute balance is not critical you can get by with smaller weights. I used 10 gram weights because my set had two of them. When I was finished adjusting the beam I tested with two 50 gram weights and the error was less than 1 mg.

I happen to have an old Mettler analytical balance so i used that to calibrate the 10 gram weights and to make them identical within about .5 mg. Both were a little over according to the Mettler so i sanded them a tiny bit at a time until they were right. The Mettler uses precise rings for reference and as long as you zero the scale and the balance has been cross checked for alignment errors the absolute weight is probably pretty accurate but that does not matter as all you need for calibrating the Torsion balance is two weights that are very close to each other. Another source of very close weights is freshly struck coins from the same run from a reliable mint such as the Canadian government. Uncirculated Canadian Maple leaf coins are probably the best you can get for precision. I checked several from the same batch and they are very close but they do vary by a few mg.  Wire runs pretty accurately as long as it is from the same spool. You can measure identical lengths of wire and cut it squarely. Use a lot of fine wire so the cut does not matter that much nor does absolute precision in measuring length.

Getting the balance to balance with equal weights is easy, just move the adjustment weights until it balances. However that does not insure that it will balance with 10 times the weight or 1/10 the weight on either side. For that the distance between the center fulcrum needs to be precisely the same on both sides of the beams. Critically balance the balance with no weight on the pans. You can do this with both the adjustment slider weights and also using the leveling legs. Be sure that the front to back level gauge is centered and as a final nice touch, balance the scale with the side to side also level so you will then have the most adjust ability when the scale is used.

If the right fulcrum adjustments have not been messed with you can probably get the balance calibrated by adjusting the top and the bottom screws by equal amounts. When noting fractional turns of adjustment take into account that there may be some free play due to thread inaccuracy and it may be different on the top and bottom screws due to wear or ??? Take up the slack each time you change direction of adjustment.

After balancing with no weight on the pans, put equal weights on each side. Note if the balance moves to one side. Whichever side goes low indicated the side where the side fulcrum is farther from the center fulcrum. Adjust the screw both top and bottom little by little until the balances balances with the added weights. Be sure to damp the scale each time you add or remove weights. Undamp it slowly and allow it to settle before deciding if the adjustment was correct and if it was adequate. It is almost certain that the first adjustment will not be enough. When you move the fulcrum you also change the balance point with no load so when you check again you will find that the adjustment weights will also need to be changed likely in the direction opposite to the direction you moved the fulcrum. This is an iterative process, you will probably have to go back and forth several times.

The centering of the fulcrums is critical and will certainly limit the accuracy of the balance if not correct. If the top and bottom are not exactly even and if the scale passes the adjustment procedure described above the error is probably minor and can be ignored. If you are concerned, you can probably figure out how to use a caliper to check that the distance top and bottom are the same but this will be difficult and it is my inexpert opinion that if the balance balances at both minimal and maximal loads it is not a concern if the top and bottom fulcrum distances are not exactly the same. If you can not achieve this then the difference might be too great and this should be investigated. Assuming that the torsion bands were installed precisely and that the adjustment screws were at the same positions when this was done at the factory then the degree to which the screws protrude from the end of the beam should probably appear the same, certainly not varying by a huge amount that is visually apparent. If the band clamps have been disturbed you can not depend on this.

It is a real pain to unlock move and relock the adjustment sliders each time. Every time you lock or unlock them you will move them a little as well. So it is better to add various weights to the top beam or the pans until you have it right and then use the sliders just once. If you get tired of trying to lock the slider weight in place and finding it moves a little each time, you can glue little bits of correction weight on the beam instead. Or use a small piece of wire tied on at an appropriate place. On a scale with a dashpot, the dashpot arm is a convenient place to tie on a wire.

The other adjustment you can make is the knurled weights that move vertically on threaded rods on each side of the lower beam. Their is probably a name for these and for the property that they control but I do not know it. It is difficult to describe what they do but if you move them from one extreme to the other you will see for yourself. They basically adjust for sensitivity vs stability. When the weights are moved higher up, it takes less off balance to move the beam. If the weights are on completely vertical rods then they have no effect on balance when the scale is perfectly balanced. When the scale goes out of balance the weights move the center of mass of the beam farther out thereby adding to the offsetting that occurs. If the weights are too high up the balance will never be stable, the tiniest amount of off balance will send it to the extreme position. The lower the weights are, the less sensitive the balance will be. There is probably a specified amount of off balance that one division is supposed to represent. If you know what this is or if you are after a certain number, you can carefully adjust the knurled weights to achieve this value. Either adjust each side the same amount of check the sensitivity in each direction separately and adjust the weights on the side you want to adjust but be aware that this will also slightly change the sensitivity on the other side too.

Most of the adjustments on the balance will also change other settings. So whenever you make a change, check basic operation again and know what else you might have screwed up. If you use the torsion balance as recommended, the beam is always balanced when taking measurements so all the nasty non linear errors caused by minor geometrical misalignment are likely to be minimal. There is probably a procedure for each balance with a specified order in which adjustments are to be made but that does not seem to be public knowledge. The scale companies keep that a secret so they can charge for calibration services. My Mettler balance has something like 150 points of adjustment so needless to say, i fiddle with just a few of the most obvious ones and cross check everything i do. A torsion prescription balance is a much simpler device and it should be possible to get very good sensitivity accuracy and repeat ability with no special tools and the suggestions made above. I have compared measurements on my torsion balance with the Mettler after i calibrated the torsion and  agree well within the stated accuracy of the torsion balance so i must have gotten the calibration pretty good.

Sweet Lillums

Sweet Lillums has joined her beloved sister Sophie. I'm sure they are tearing up the turf in doggie heaven. Lily never met a dog or human she didn't like. She was just 100% sweet by nature. She is immortalized as the Poodle silhouette adorning our gate in Mendocino and  the Poodle Christmas lights I made with her image.

STL files for 3D printing from image files

I finally figured out how to make STL files for 3D printing using a variety of sources for drawings. I am not good at freehand drawing, especially on the computer with a mouse or a crappy digitizer which I have. So I am stuck with tracing art from other sources. I have screwed around with 123D design and it is so terrible in windows 8.1 that I finally gave up and swore to never open that program again until i hear that the many many bugs have been fixed.

So I have been looking for a way to make an occasional 3D print without paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy software that I might use a few times a year. Here is what I want to do and what I finally succeeded at doing:

Create a 2D drawing using ordinary image files as the source and to extrude these into 3D models and edit then in the normal ways. 123D documentation says it will do this but the PC version does not allow import and if you have win 8.1, it will not connect to the cloud based program. It works with my win 7 computer but I hate that computer for other reasons and 123D has such crappy documentation that I am probably best avoiding it for a while anyway. OReilly is supposed to publish a book in February 2014 or so which might change the documentation aspect of things but I am afraid that the reason the book's release date has been pushed forward a few times is that 123D is still in development and is sort of a mess of features that don't really work. O'Reilly published really good books and probably does not want to be associated with a product that doesn't work.

Here is the procedure that actually works. I have tried several others that don't work for a variety of reasons:

Google Sketchup is now a for sale program sold by Trimble but they have a trial version that seems to work. I forget what the limits are or how much a full version costs. Hopefully I can use the trial version indefinitely. It may be possible to use an old Google free version of Sketchup but I don't know where to find one or if it does export .dae files which is necessary for this method. Sketchup allows the import of a variety of standard image files, jpg, png, gif, etc etc and allows the export of COLLADA (.dae) files. You can import almost any image file, trace it with the freehand draw tool (not available from the toolbar icons, you open it from the draw dropdown and selecting freehand) and then export as .dae which can them be converted with another program, MeshLab http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/  This is a great program that allows the import and export a a variety of file formats and will produce STL files that can then be used in your 3D printing program such as Repetier Host.

If you have a recent 64 bit version of windows, don't bother with the 64 bit version of MeshLab. It requires an old version of the Microsoft Visual C++ whatever they call it. MeshLab will not install if you have a newer version of the C++ plus on your computer. Fortunately you can just install the 32 bit version.

I tested this method and it does actually work and produces an STL file that is correctly opened in Repetier Host. Will make a real test file soon and print it to make sure there are no errors in the file that I don't yet see.

A great sound card

I am posting this mainly for my own reference but also for others who want a good sound card to use with a media server running Media Monkey. I have heard the results and will be getting one of my own as soon as I can afford it. Here is the link at NewEgg for the Asus card that I like:

ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132005

It uses a PCI express X1 slot so make sure you have one.

Olive Opus Goodbye for good !!!

The next two paragraphs of this entry are background. If you just want to learn how to get audio files off the Olive Opus version 4, you can skip to paragraph four.

A few years ago, a good friend bought an Olive Opus version 4 with a 1 TB hard drive. His intention was to rip his entire CD collection. This seemed good until he realized how tedious the process would be with the Opus and once accomplished, how terrible the user interface would be. After investing a lot of time he finally gave up and gave me the unit. We put together a system based on Media Monkey and a high quality sound card that works flawlessly. Other entries on this blog cover some of this but I do need to cover this some more.

I also wasted a bunch of time ripping CDs to the Opus assuming that I could deal with the interface and other issues as I do not listen to CDs as much as Richard. Once I was done, I soon realized that the interface options are so horrible that I would never use the system. I tried to find a way to get all of my files off the Opus and contacted support for their help. They had no solutions other than one suggestion that was a total waste of time for reasons I won't bother with here. Typical well meaning but useless support. So, the rest of this entry covers how to get your audio files off the Opus when you decide to give it the hefty heave.

The Olive Opus version 4 (and probably other versions, so please let me know if you have a newer or older version and if these methods work for you ) runs under Linux and uses Linux partitions on the internal hard drive. If you are a Linux person, you will have an easier time getting your files from the drive but for Windows people, it is also possible.

The Opus is a UPnP compliant device and can be accessed through a network for access to the files but as far as I can tell, there is not utility for accessing folders of files in a way that will allow you to download thousands of files all with names such as track 1 track 2 etc, while keeping them from overwriting each other. I could write such a utility but have other things to do. Therefore, it is necessary to temporarily disconnect the internal hard drive and connect it to another computer in order to copy the files. This is also much much faster than UPnP access.

The Opus hard drive is SATA (serial ATA) so you will need a computer that has a SATA drive interface. You can physically remove the drive and temporarily install it as an additional drive in a desktop computer that has a SATA controller. You can also connect it via USB with a suitable adapter or you can use an E-SATA connector. If you use E-SATA you will also need to provide power to the drive so it is best to buy an adapter that does this. Another option is to use an external hard drive that you probably already own and have outgrown to provide the interface. This is what I did because I could not find my other adapters. I had an old 250 gig external drive with USB 2 which I now use as an interface. Before you hack apart an old external drive, check to be sure it uses SATA internally. The universal USB, E-SATA,firewire interfaces that come with power supplies are pretty cheap and useful so it probably makes sense to just buy one of these and try to not loose it. I have two of them somewhere.

If you have a Linux computer, all you have to do is connect the drive and access the relevant partitions. The Opus drive has 7 partitions with the OS and other stuff you will not need on the first 6 of them. It is the 7th partition (may be called partition 6 if a utility is calling the first partition number 0) contains your ripped files. These will be in a folder called "Library" if I remember correctly. I have the Opus back together so I can not verify this but it is the largest folder in partition 7 if you have more than a few CDs ripped. Within this folder are individual folders for each ripped CD. These are named as CD_ and a unique number that was generated by the Opus. Look in any or these folders and you will see a file for each track in the format you ripped to such as MP3 or Flac. These are the files you need to copy. I have not been able to find where the Opus stores its database because of silly computer problems. Since I had all Flac files with metadata within I did not bother to look further and try to find the database. There was one large file named blahblah.dat that looked like a candidate but I could not copy it (silly reasons for this so go ahead and try it if you have WAV files and need to get the metadata some other way) that is probably an Sqlite database or some other accessible format.

If you do not have a Linux computer, fear not. There is a wonderful utility that allows you to "mount" Linux partitions on a Windows computer and copy the files within them. This is "Extsfsd" and is available at http://www.ext2frsd.com There are other utilities also available but this is the first one that I got to work so I know it is a good choice. Unfortunately it did not work on my Win 7 64 bit computer so I had to use an old XP machine. I have Win7 pro and have virtual XP but I have never been able to get USB support for hard drives to work so I did not even try the program in virtual XP. Others may have better luck. Some of the other Linux to Windows PC tools might work under Win 7. If anyone finds one that does, please let me know.

So now, you have an XP machine with either a SATA drive controller and the Opus hard drive connected to it or an external adapter such as a USB to SATA adapter. All you have to do is install Ext2Fsd and give a few waves of your magic wand and you can copy your files to the Windows hard drive. There is a help file that explains all you need to do to access Linux partitions and also a web site with faqs in case the following is not clear enough.

After installing Ext2Fsd and running it you wil be presented with a screen that shows all the attached volumes. Hopefully your Opus hard drive will be shown with all the volumes it contains. Select the largest of the Linux partitions (number 6 or 7 depending on how you like to count) and select "mountpoint management" from the "tools" menu. An "add a drive letter" box will appear. Choose an appropriate drive letter and other options if you wish but in general, the default choices will work fine. If you now check your windows explorer you will fine a newly listed drive letter. Be sure to refresh the "my computer" window if it was already opened. If you double click this letter, Windows will probably tell you that it is not formatted. If this is the case, it is because the "management service" is not running. If you see your folders under the drive letter, all is well, if not, you need to start the "management service". Choose "service management" from the "tools" menu and click the "start" button. If you do not fiddle with default settings, the service will be started each time you run Ext2Fsd. If at any time Windows does not recognize the partition, check to make sure it has an unambiguous drive letter assigned and that the "management service" is running.

Once you have access to the files from the windows browser, you can copy them anywhere you want. For some unknown reason I had copy errors when copying my 6500 tracks. The windows copy system is unforgiving and stops at the first error leaving you to figure out what was and what wasn't copied on your own. I therefore use "Beyond Compare" to do all but the most trivial copying. This is probably the best Windows program ever written. If you don't have it, get it and thank me for recommending it. Get it at http://www.scootersoftware.com/

Be sure to read my blog entries on using Media Monkey and Team Viewer for remote audio file serving. I really should add some more on this and will in time.