Pros: Cheap. Works perfectly with WPA2 in WinXP using ralinktech.com drivers on a DD-WRT v24 SP1 router (Linksys WRT54GL). No dropped connections, very good signal reception.

Cons: The driver CD is outdated. *shrug*

Overall Review: Got this to replace a broken D-Link adapter in my wife's old laptop. Gateway Solo 9300, Pentium 3, 440BX chipset.

Pros: Cheap. Works perfectly. Shipping is high, but it's still cheaper overall than buying retail.

Cons: None

Pros: Good price, good layout. Tons of BIOS options. Lots of USB ports. Was able to get eSATA hotswap working in XP using AHCI mode. Google "Hotswap!" for a helpful program to add/remove eSATA drives. Flashed BIOS immediately to version F10 using a USB key (SO NICE!), which seems to have fixed the problems others were complaining about early on.

Cons: BIOS options for OC settings can be confusing. AHCI booting from optical drives can be flaky - to workaround, add both "CDROM" *AND* the name of the drive itself to the boot priority list, or hit F12 during POST to get boot menu). AHCI booting from hard drive works perfectly though. The disable option for the IDE port doesn't work when SATA drives are in IDE mode. Mobo cannot control CPU fan speed when using 3-pin fans, only works with 4-pin. Northbridge gets really hot, but that is apparently normal for P45 chipset. Incompatible with 3Com 905B PCI NIC, causes intermittent BSOD with it installed in either slot.

Overall Review: Was able to crank the FSB to 400 and run at 3.8GHz with no voltage bump. Sweet. E8500, Scythe Ninja Rev.B w/Thermalright Bolt-thru kit, 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800, Corsair VX450, Plextor 755SA, Western Digital 2500KS, Sapphire 4850 dual-slot, Antec Solo.

Pros: Fast and quiet. The Hitachi Feature Tool (available from the support website) makes for a very flexible install - (I needed to use it to change the max transfer rate to 33MB/s (Ultra DMA mode 2) in order for it to work properly on my old 440BX laptop (Gateway Solo 9300). Amazed at the difference in speed from my old 6GB, 4200rpm, 512KB cache drive.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Hitachi Feature Tool does not provide any disk cloning capability, so if you need to clone your old disk, you will need to use Ghost or Acronis True Image (I highly recommended the latter).

Comments: UMS Firmware Version 1.0c UMS stands for "USB Mass Storage". Devices that are configured as "UMS" devices will show on a computer as an external hard drive. The advantage for the iFP player is it will no longer require iRiver Music Manager to load files onto the device. To reconfigure your iFP player as a UMS device, you will need the UMS firmware found at the bottom of this page.