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Hi Arvydas,

Hardware concerns have already been addressed by other people, so I'll bring up the software side of 10 year old confocals in a core facility.

With Windows 7 losing support in January 2020, our IT department is planning on isolating any computers from the {intra, inter}net.

While our FV1000s still function, the following will be disrupted.
1. Stratocore, our usage tracking software for cost recovery, needs internet access.
2. Images acquired on our scopes get robocopy'd to network attached storage for ease of access/discouraging flash drive usage


We also inquired how much it would be to get our Nikon A1R to a Windows 10 system. The giga channel board was ~$6000 by itself.

Side note: I want to clear up the misconception that "M.2 drives are better than SATA drives." "M.2" refers to the form factor. There are M.2 SATA SSDs and M.2 NVMe SSDs.

Best,
Will


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Arvydas Matiukas
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2019 9:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [External] Confocal lifetime question

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Dear Microscopists,

I am worried that high usage volume over 4000hrs/year that started  two years ago and likely will continue can  shorten useful lifetime of our confocal (in terms of service years or hours).

I expect properly maintained confocal to last about 10 years or 20,000 hrs. Similarly, a car is expected to last 10 years or 100k miles, however sometimes it drives 100k in 3 years ending at  the intermediate condition and value. Please share your experience after how many hours or years of usage  Core should start planning the replacement of the heavily used confocal.

Thanks,
Arvydas







+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Arvydas Matiukas, Ph.D.
Manager of NRB Shared Equipment
Director of Confocal&Two-Photon Core
SUNY Upstate Medical University

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