RMA WD Purples

I got two Western Digital 8TB SATA Purples which arrived from Amazon today. When I plugged them into my first computer the BIOS hung for a few minutes then powered off the computer. Huh? So I took the drives out and put them in another computer, and before the BIOS screen I got this:

Western Digital Purple drive asking for password

I tried a few passwords (blank, “admin”, etc) but nothing worked. I searched for the default password, couldn’t find one. I installed the WD Security software on my MacBook Pro and tried connecting the drive with two different USB adapters, but nothing worked.

I’m just gonna send these back and never buy Western Digital purples again.

My RMA note are:

Why are you returning this? Item defective or doesn’t work

Comments (required): It asked me for a password, but it didn’t give me the password. I wasted a lot of time on this trying to find and fix the problem.

Administering PostgreSQL

So I found this article which said:

 $ sudo -u postgres psql
 postgres=> alter user postgres password 'apassword';
 postgres=> create user your-user createdb createuser password 'passwd';
 postgres=> create database your-db-name owner your-user;
 postgres=> \q

Note: to enable password logins for the ‘postgres’ admin account, edit: /etc/postgresql/9.4/main/pg_hba.conf and after this line:

local   all             postgres                                peer

Add this line:

local   all             postgres                                md5

Password Best Practice

I read Password Primer today:

  1. Use at least 8-10 characters.
  2. Interchange upper and lower case letters with numbers and symbols.
  3. Consider a “Passphrase” like “Every good band deserves fans”: “!eGbAdfns2”
  4. Change your password every 6 to 8 months and immediately if you believe it’s been compromised.
  5. NEVER share your password with anyone you don’t trust – some would say never share your password PERIOD.
  6. Don’t write your password(s) on sticky notes and then post them to your monitor!
  7. Avoid using the same passwords for all of your accounts.
  8. Never send your password to someone in an e-mail.
  9. Don’t use the “Remember Password” option in browsers or websites
  10. NEVER make your login and your password the same thing.