This article covers the SSD and RAM Upgrade of my HP 15-ay045ng (X5Z22EA) Disassembly. Here are the exact specifications, but it might also apply to other models of this series.
Model: HP 15-ay045ng (X5Z22EA)
CPU: Intel Core i3-5005U (2GHz, 3MB Cache, 2 Cores)
GPU: Intel HD 5500 Graphics Card
Memory: 4GB DDR3L-1600-SDRAM

Find all details here and a notebook test here.
I upgraded the existing M.2 SATA SSD with 128GB to a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD because I needed more storage. I also added some additional memory (RAM) because I had one some DDR3L-SDRAM in stock.

To make the upgrade really easy and simple, you should clone your current SSD to the new one. Find here the guide.

Disassembly and Parts

At first please remove the battery, this is still a model with a battery which can be removed and replaced easily 🙂 After removing all the screws, it was quite tricky to remove the backcover since there were some additional hidden screws, check the picture below. If you have removed all screws from the backcover, simply use a plastic card or some plastic disassembly tool which will help you in this step.

I used this tiny space from the other side with the plastic card to start removing the backcover, just a little hint:Finally I got it removed:

After removing the backcover you can directly see the M.2 SSD as well as the memory and the cooling system:

Here is my new M.2 SATA SSD with 256GB:

Here are the memory modules:

And here the cooling system:

Summary

If you know how to open the backcover and the hidden screws the process is very simple and I highly recommend you to upgrade if you need more storage as the device is really great for the price. I can definitely recommend this laptop because cost-benefit ratio is simply amazing.

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This article covers the SSD Upgrade of my Huawei MateBook D14 Disassembly. Here are the exact specifications, but it might also apply to other models of this series.
Model: W00D-53010GXL
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U
GPU: AMD Radeon RX Vega 8
Memory: 8GB

Find all details and a notebook test here.
I upgraded the existing M.2 SATA SSD with 256GB to a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD because I needed more storage and there was also the chance to significantly improve performance because of the upgrade from SATA to NVMe. I replaced the existing SK Hynix SC313 HFS256G39TNF with a new Samsung 970 EVO 1TB.

As I could not find the exact details for this model before ordering the new SSD I wanted to share this information with you. The Huawei Matebook D 14 offers support for M.2 SATA as well as NVMe SSDs, both connectors are supported, so I would strongly suggest you to invest in a NVMe model due to the better performance.

To make the upgrade really easy and simple, you should clone your current SSD to the new one. Find here the guide.

Disassembly and Parts

After removing all the screws, it was quite tricky to remove the backcover. According to my experience I would suggest you to start at the corner where the screwdriver is heading to in the image below. Simply use a plastic card or some plastic disassembly tool which will help you in this step.

After removing the backcover you can directly see the M.2 SSD to the top right:

For my device I replaced it with the Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 EVO NVMe M.2 1TB as mentioned in the introduction:

Because I already had the laptop case opened, I decided to replace the Thermal Compound of the CPU and GPU under the heatpipe too. After checking the current condition of the thermal compound I noticed that it was already time to renew it. At first remove the heatpipe:

Then clean both sides, heatpipe as well as CPU/GPU:

Apply your new Thermal Compound and re-assemble the heatpipe again – finished!

In case you need to replace or clean the fan, I uploaded two photos here:

Summary

If you know which SSDs are supported and how to open the backcover the process is very simple and I highly recommend you to upgrade if you need more storage as the device is really great. Unfortunately the memory cannot be upgraded at this model because it is soldered. This is the only fact I do not really like at this model because at some time it might be the bottleneck of this system. Apart from that I can definitely recommend this laptop because cost-benefit ratio is simply amazing.

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From time to time you might get into this situation. You either have an old laptop with a hard disk drive (HDD) or you have a newer model with a small solid state drive (SSD) like 120GB and want to perform an upgrade. Basically you can replace the hard drive of every device. But first I would recommend you to look up which drive is built-in into your device, there are in the meantime several building types like 2,5”, M.2, PCIe, NVMe. So I definitely suggest you to read into this topic, so you get an overview and buy the right hardware for your device. Another recommendation from my side is to check out iFixit. Probably you will find some useful information regarding the disassembly of your device and the hardware replacement/upgrade.
Clone HDD Macrium Reflect

Prerequisites

You will need the following things in order to clone the hard drive:

Depending on the type of hard drive, you will need one of these adapters (if it is a laptop, for a workstation you maybe have a second port to connect both simultaneously):

• 2,5” SATA to USB
• M.2 SATA to USB
• M.2 NVMe to USB

And an application for the cloning process. From my experience, the best one is Macrium Reflect Free, which is free for home use.

Cloning Process

When you installed Macrium Reflect successfully, please connect the new hard drive via your adapter to your laptop and start the application. Your screen should look like this. In my case there are now two SSDs available. The existing one with 120GB and the three partitions, and the completely empty new one with 450GB on the bottom.

Firstly, you need to click on Clone this Disk. Now another window will pop up where you need to select the partitions you want to copy. Probably you want to copy all of them.
Important: Please select them by dragging and dropping them. After dragging the main partition which you want to increase, click on Cloned Partition Properties before you drag & drop the next one.

Secondly, please edit the Partition Size or Free Space to increase the available partition size according to your needs or upgrade. I always edit the free space and keep enough for the last partitions. So in this case I left 674MB free for the last partition. Then I simply drag and drop the last one with 674MB to the new hard drive.

Finally, after hitting Next you can define the log file location and save your settings. After that you are ready to start the actual cloning process of the hard drive to the new one. In my case there were three operations (three partitions). Depending on the speed of the old hard drive, the new hard drive as well as the adapter and amount of data this will take some time to process.

Macrium Reflect Free: Cloning ProgressAs soon as the process is finished, you can safely disconnect the new hard drive and start replacing the hardware!
Clone HDD Macrium Reflect

Technology photo created by freepic.diller – www.freepik.com

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If your device (laptop or workstation) has a small hard drive, maybe because you have a 120GB solid state drive (SSD) as system drive, you might get into this situation. With such a setup you basically have your operating system (Microsoft Windows) and all your applications installed on the C:\ partition or drive. Due to this setup, if storage usage is growing you could run out of space on your system partition which could cause serious issues. I want to show you how to spot files or folders which are utilizing amounts of storage. When cleaning them up, you will get free space again. Windows Spot Disk Usage

TreeSize Free Portable

For this purpose I definitely recommend you to use the following application: TreeSize Free Portable. It is an portable application so there is no installation required, you can simply put it on your C:\ drive in a temporary folder for example. Just execute the application with administrator privileges so it has access to all of your system directories:

When the application started properly, you can select the drive to scan:

Now it will start to scan all directories located on the selected drive and list it. You can use the mouse or arrow keys to navigate through this structure and go into detail:

It is ordered size descending per default which is great. I definitely suggest you to check the whole directory structure where size is huge. Let us take an example here:

The SoftwareDistribution folder located inside Windows directory has a size of 4GB on this device. But 3,6GB of them are inside folder “old”. I would say that this one is not needed anymore – but to be sure, I always look up the functionality of these folders at Microsoft Docs for example. Do not simply delete any system folders or files without further checking!

Probably this is not the best example because in most cases, you will find some application eating up your storage space with cache or similar inside AppData directory which is straightforward to clean up.

Windows Spot Disk Usage

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Unfortunately you can face sometimes a Bluescreen of Death (BSOD) after installing an unsupported driver or if a driver is outdated. If you have not seen a Windows Bluescreen yet, it looks like this. I want to show you how to Windows 10 Analyze Bluescreens BSOD

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#/media/File:Bsodwindows10.png

In a really bad scenario, the BSOD can even cause a boot loop of your device. Windows starts, and before the lockscreen is visible, you get the Bluescreen. It generates the log information and reboots. Then the same procedure applies again and again. In such a case, you will need to use Safe Mode from Advanced Boot Options, but I will come back to this later.

As a first step, I recommend you to update all drivers and your system’s BIOS in case you did not install any third-party application or driver. You can download them from you manufacturer’s website or if you own a business laptop, there might be a tool to download and install all of them at once (like DELL Command Update or HP Support Assistant).

BluescreenView

The first tool I recommend to get started analyzing Bluescreens is called BluescreenView which is available here for free. Simply download it, there is no installation needed. When you download the zip archive, extract it and start the .exe file:

If you are running the application, it will automatically list all of your Bluescreen Logs which are documented as Minidumps. As my current system had no bluescreens yet, this is an example found on another website to show you how it looks like:

Image Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/6292/how-to-troubleshoot-the-blue-screen-of-death/

The application shows you very important information. You will need the following for further investigation of the error:

• Bug Check String
• Bug Check Code
• Drivers found in stack

With this information available, you can start looking up the different combinations on your favourite search engine. Probably you will find the cause and update the related driver from your manufacturer’s website. If there is nothing displayed despite you got a BSOD, please make sure the Minidumps are enabled in Advanced System Settings:

1.) Open File Explorer, right-click on This PC and select Properties

2.) Open Advanced System Settings

3.) Select Settings for Start-up and Recovery

4.) Make sure that you configure Automatic Memory Dump and check the Dump File Location

Windows 10 Safe Mode

Sometimes, especially in case of an endless boot loop, you will need to enter Windows 10 Safe Mode. This means, that only basic drivers and settings are loaded because they will not probably cause any bluescreen. There are several ways to get into Safe Mode. If your system still starts properly, you can simply hold Shift and click on Restart on your lockscreen. If it is not booting anymore to lockscreen, you need to manually shutdown your device. After it’s starting again, maybe you need to do this one more time. Lately after three unsuccessful starts, it should boot into the Recovery Environment. You can find the whole documentation at Microsoft Support

1.) Select Troubleshoot

2.) Select Advanced Options

3.) Select Startup Settings

4.) Confirm with Restart

At the last screen with the Safe Mode options, select Option 5: Safe Mode With Networking

Image Sources: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode

If you need to uninstall an application in Safe Mode, you need a little Registry tweak, because the Windows Installer Service is not running per default. Start a Command Line Window as Administrator and copy the following command to add the following registry key:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"

After that, type in the same CMD window this command:

net start msiserver

After that, you are able to uninstall any application via Control Panel. This is extremely useful, because BSODs are often caused by newly installed third party applications which might have installed additional drivers.
Windows 10 Analyze Bluescreens BSOD

Driver Verifier Manager

The Driver Verifier Manager is another tool to find the driver causing BSODs on your device. Please keep in mind that using this tool can result in an unexpected behaviour with new Bluescreens! Nevertheless it is a useful tool in my opinion, thus I want to show you how you can use it.

1.) Start Windows PowerShell as Administrator by right-clicking on Windows icon on the bottom left

2.) Type in verifier and hit Enter
Create Standard Settings

3.) Select driver names from a list

4.) Here I recommend you to select all non-Microsoft drivers as a first step.

After hitting Finish, you will get the message that these settings will be applied after next reboot. So, time to reboot now. Most probably, your system will be able to start normally into Windows because the faulty driver does not get loaded now. If you execute the Driver Verifier Manager now and select Display Information about the currently verified drivers, you will get a list of verified drivers and if they are loaded or not. Another thing which could happen is that Driver Verifier Manager creates new Bluescreens which contain more detailed information about the faulty driver causing the BSOD. Thus it is more easy for you to narrow down the root cause and eliminate the driver.

In most cases I am able to solve the issues with these methods – if you have any more methods or solutions, let me know in the comments 🙂
Windows 10 Analyze Bluescreens BSOD

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Required Hardware

• Raspberry Pi
• Power Supply
• microSD card
• Screen
• HDMI cable
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Network Connection
• External hard drive

Installation and Setup of Raspberry OS

Write Image to microSD card

At first we are going to install Raspberry Pi OS (or as it was previously named Raspbian) by writing the image to the microSD card. They provide a simple Imager tool for multiple operating systems like Windows, macOS and Ubuntu. You can download it here

After downloading the Imager application, simply execute the setup and start the installation:

After the installation is completed, you can open the application on your system. Then you can select the operating system which should be written to the SD card. Now you can select the target, which is of course the microSD card of the Raspberry Pi.

After pressing Write, you can see the progress of writing the image to the SD card on the bottom.

When the image has been written to the SD card, the image is getting verified:

If verification is completed, you can remove the SD card from the card reader or laptop and insert it into your Raspberry Pi.

Configuration of Raspberry Pi OS

When you have inserted the SD card to your raspberry, you can also connect a keyboard, a mouse, a screen and a network cable if possible. Then you can connect the power supply to boot it. At the first start, the operating system will get installed. This will take a few minutes, but not too long. After that, you can continue with the basic configuration which is pretty straightforward. You can define things like time and date, keyboard layout, WiFi Connection and so on. I would also suggest you to change the password of the default user “pi” to your personal one.

Establish a SSH/VNC connection

In the configuration of your Raspberry Pi you can also enable services. I suggest you to enable at least the following 2 services: SSH and VNC so you can remotely connect to your device from your laptop. This has also the advantage that you do not need anything attached at your Raspberry Pi (like screen, mouse or keyboard).

After activating the SSH service in the configuration, you can use your favourite SSH client. I am using MobaXterm. Simply enter the IP address of the Pi, specify the username “pi” and your personalized password. You have to use the default SSH port 22.

If you see the following output, you connected successfully to your Raspberry Pi via Secure Shell!

Another possibility is to use the VNC connection if you want the graphical user interface (GUI) of the Raspberry Pi OS. To establish a VNC connection, you need additional software like RealVNC. After installing the application, start it and enter the remote IP address of the Pi:

Then you are able to see the video output of your Raspberry Pi OS and can do everything there.

Installation of OpenMediaVault (OMV)

Now, after the setup and configuration of Raspberry Pi OS is completed, we can finally move on to the installation of our NAS software OpenMediaVault. The basic installation is truly simple, because we just need to execute one line of script in the Pi command line:

wget -O - https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/installScript/raw/master/install | sudo bash

This line of code will directly start the install script for OMV5. Basically there is no action needed from our side. So, grab a coffee or something like that because this will take up to a hour to complete. After starting it, you will see this screen:

During the execution, you might see a lot of packages getting installed on your system:

If you were patient enough to let it finish, you will finally see this screen, where the SSH connection gets lost because of a reboot of the device. When the Pi is running again, the installation of OpenMediaVault5 NAS Raspberry Pi is completed!

OpenMediaVault Web Interface

OpenMediaVault will automatically start when your Raspberry Pi boots up. You can access the web interface by simply entering the IP address of the Pi into your web browser on your laptop e.g. in the same network. In my case it is http://192.168.8.112/
The default login is:
Username: admin
Password: openmediavault

The web interface looks like that:

So, this was the guide to get OpenMediaVault5 NAS Raspberry Pi running. I will go into detail on using it as a NAS in another article, but I need some more time to write it. Hope to see you soon again on my site.

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Start PowerShell as administrator

1.) Start PowerShell as admin by right-clicking at the Windows Start button and selecting it:

Create Battery Report

2.) Now, simply copy & paste the following command:
powercfg /batteryreport /output “C:\battery-report.html”
After executing it, the report will be saved to the defined directory, in this case directly to the C:\ partition

Of course you can check out the whole documentation of the powercfg command at Microsoft Docs

Check HTML Report

3.) Open up your Windows File Explorer and navigate to the defined directory. Here you will find the .HTML file which can be opened with your favourite browser:

Windows PowerShell Battery Report

Just have a look through the whole Windows PowerShell Battery Report, it is quite interesting and you are able to gain some insights. My new laptop e.g. has a battery cycle count of 23 and the full charge capacity is nearly as good as the design capacity:

Of course you can also check the details of your battery usage with the active time of the sessions and the effective battery drain:

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Create GPX file

At first, you need a .GPX file of course, which you can import to your watch. You can have a look at https://www.outdooractive.com/, they offer a lot of pre-defined routes but you are also able to create one yourself at the planner. It is really an awesome service.

Here is the direct URL for the route planner function:
https://www.outdooractive.com/en/routeplanner/

After creating your preferred route you can download it in the .GPX format. For testing purposes I chose a pre-defined one here and downloaded it:

Import GPX file to Garmin Connect

In the next step, we need to connect our downloaded .GPX file with our Garmin Connect account, to synchronize it in the last step with the watch. So, you need to log on with your Garmin account at their web interface:
https://connect.garmin.com/signin

After you logged on successfully, select Training -> Courses in the sidebar:

On the bottom-right you will find the Import function

As you can see in the following screenshot, the supported file formats are .GPX and .TCX:

Upload your .GPX file here and select a course type afterwards, e.g. hiking

Finally, you can define a course name, adapt it and save it:

Synchronize your Garmin smartwatch

After finishing, the course is imported into your Garmin Connect account and will be uploaded to your Garmin watch at the next synchronization with the application. The route can then be accessed at your watch as following:
Navigate -> Courses -> “Course Name” -> Do course

So, that’s how you Create GPX Routes Garmin Smartwatch.

The post Creating Routes For Your Garmin Watch By Using GPX Files appeared first on HackBuddies.

Last week I decided to change my camera system/setup and got started with the the Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM. My existing equipment was the following:
Canon EOS 700D Body
Sigma 18-300mm F3,5-6,3 DC Macro OS HSM Contemporary as “Allrounder” lens
Canon EF-S 10-18mm 4.5-5.6 IS STM as Wide Angle lens
EF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 IS STM, the kit lens

Because of the heavy weight and large size of this gear (especially when carrying everything with you in the backpack), I wanted to give a small DSLM camera the chance. So I started to investigate what the best choice could be here. To be honest, I set my personal budget to start with to €1000,- (without any additional lenses). In this price segment, nearly all manufacturers offer DSLM models. After that, reading and watching a lot of reviews, I decided to choose the Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM . There is a newer model available, the X-T30, but it was too expensive for me and not worth the upcharge (in my opinion). The cost-benefit ratio was much better at the X-T20, so I ordered this one with the Fujinon XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 which is a really good lens. In conclusion I can tell you that I am truly happy about this decision.

First Impressions of Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM

Firstly, I want to share with you the first impressions after unboxing the Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM. Please keep in mind, that I had already ordered some cool accessoires which are attached to the camera in these pictures, but I will come back to them later in this article.

My first impression was: I totally love the design of the Fujfilm cameras. What do you think about it? The body has a magnesium alloy and just feels really premium but also robust. In addition, the camera has an electronic view finder, which is a must-have for me. It is different to the optical viewfinder, but the huge advantage is, that you can directly see how the image will look like before shooting it.

Secondly, The manual controls on top of the body are easily accessible and let you play around with them easily. That is a great opportunity to get to know all the different parameters of photography and playing around with them. In addition, all other settings can be set with the LCD touchscreen. There is a shutter speed dial, exposure compensation dial and others. Finally, there is also an advanced SR auto mode, which also lets you create great but quick shots.

Specifications of Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM

Let us have a short look at the main specifications of the camera:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujifilm_X-T20

The ISO value from up to 51200 is truly impressive. However, from practical use I can tell you that you can really use ISO values up to 8000 if needed if you can adapt shutter speed and exposure according to that.

Accessories for Fujifilm X-T20 DSLM

Some useful accessories are definitely needed, which I really recommend you to try:

Firstly, there is the awesome hand grip from Meike, which gives you a way better feeling when holding the camera. The slot for battery and SD card is still good accessible and you can also mount it to a tripod.

Secondly, I guess you also need additional batteries. The one delivered with the camera is capable of shooting about 350 pictures, the battery time is rather low in comparison with a DSLR camera. So I bought 2 additional batteries with an USB-C charger. I love it because I can charge the batteries with my laptop or phone charger.

Finally, there is the shutter button. Once attached to your camera, you do not want to miss it, believe me. However I lost mine when unpacking my camera from the backpack. Be careful when using it.

In conclusion I can tell you after more than one year now, that I am really happy with this camera. I also bought some additonal lenses and accessoires in the meantime.

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The difference to other Raspberry Pi images is that they offer .img.xz files, which can be written directly to the SD card without decompressing. To write the image to the SD card, the application balenaEtcher is available for different operating systems and also in a portable version, thus you do not need to install the application:
https://www.balena.io/etcher/

At first, select the downloaded image and the target device (should be the microSD card of your Raspberry):

Now, the flashing process is running:

After completion, you should see the following screen:

Great! After flashing the image to the SD card, the installation of the system will be completed after first start of your Raspberry Pi. This can take a few minutes. Please note that a network connection is required during this installation procedure. After one more reboot, the system is ready to use.
The system can be accessed via the Web Interface. Simply enter the IP address of the Pi in your browser. The default login data for the web interface is:
admin :: openmediavault

The default login data for a SSH connection is:
root :: openmediavault

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