Brian

What is the Make and Model number of the laptop? The one that works and the one you are having issues with?

What’s your budget? I started piecing together / making a list for a Windows Computer and keep going over $3000. LOL.

How many MP is your camera? Have you checked for video driver updates? How much video RAM does your laptop have or is it shared with the RAM? What about the specs with the other laptop that the 5 images merge? The current version of PS CC use the Graphics Processor for things like this now, so if it’s underpowered, you might have to set your preferences to “basic” under the “use graphics processor” section.

Make sure you have the Spyder5 Pro latest version 5.3. There could also be a couple of issues with your Security and Privacy Settings. Head to the Gear Icon on the Dock Bar, and then look at the top row, towards the right for "Security & Privacy," the icon will look like a little house. To make changes, click the Padlock in the lower left corner, and type in your Admin / Account Password. The Padlock should unlock. Things to look for... On the General Tab, towards the bottom, make sure that "App Store and Identified Developers" is selected. The default is "App Store Only." Under the Privacy Tab, in the right section titled, "Allow the apps below to control your computer," you might have to add the Spyder5 Pro software in the list. Click the + button and find the Spyder5 Pro Software then add it to the list.

Is "eodhu" the profile name you log in with? I'm used to "C:\Users\YOUR_PROFILE_NAME_GOES_HERE\desktop. I have no idea why your Desktop items are going into the OneDrive folder. For example, if your login was "TammyH:" C:\Users\TammyH\Desktop

For the record. I’m always at a target of “80” with the ColorMunki and my iMac. 100 is just too bright. The other number I can get to around 82 or 80. After calibration, I make sure my brightness is 2 or 3 ticks from the left, depending on which printer I use; regardless what what the calibration software says. “82” is even too bright, I just use the ColorMunki for color accuracy and experience has shown me that 2 ticks from the left is a safe number. Sometimes I push things to 3 ticks, and which works well for web photos.

Head to your Windows Control Panel and look for "Power" or Power Configuration. I'm thinking Hibernation is messing you up, try turning it off. Also, while there set your computer to "High Performance." It will kill your battery quicker, but your laptop will run faster. You might have to turn off a few things as well, like setting the HD while on AC Power to "Never" Spin down (Or set them to 0 minutes,) and even disable sleep mode while plugged in. If you don't have "Control Panel" on your start menu, that's ok, just click the Start Button, and just start typing...control panel. It should appear and you simply click on it. Then change the view to "Small Icons" (Click the down arrow towards the right.) Then the Control Panel will appear and things are in alphabetical order. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what to try or what setting is guaranteed to work, it's a laptop...all trial and error.

I’d look them up and see comparable prices and listings. Keep in mind, just because something is rare, doesn’t always increase its value. The demand for the rare piece is what drives that. That will be the real trick in getting the gear in someone’s hands that will appreciate it. Good Luck!!

Market? Sure...but it's extremely small, if at all. The F2 was quite popular back-in-the-day, so I'm thinking your lenses might have some better value than the F2 itself...and those lenses need to be extremely rare. Unfortunately, the only places I've seen gear of your era listed is e-bay, or places like KEH.com. Here is a couple of Articles on NikonRumors.com of what I'm talking about: Rare Nikon Multiphoto Macro Lens Set Rare Nikon F Camera with original cloth-type shutter listed on eBay. So, as you can see, there is a small market but in my humble opinion, it's gotta be rare and exotic to get any real money.

Where did the corruption occur? In camera or when you saved them to the HD? Do you still have the images on the cards?

It looks like you have a larger D : Drive meant for storage. That’s where your data files go. You answered your own question; now is a time to come up with some sort of folder hierarchy. You could start with two folders, “Business” and “Personal.” Then create the years then months or project name / session name. Under each of those folders have Raw and PSD folders. Keep things organized. Of course, this is all relative and totally up to you on how to organize things.

It’s only money, right?

It's the age of your computer. Adobe's products really use the graphics processor these days, in addition to the CPU and RAM. Even on my fancy 2017 27" iMac, when I do things similar to what you are doing, I hear the fan kicking on and it just works harder. More so if you have a camera that has lots of MP, 24MP or more. Also, 8GB RAM just isn't enough these days; I recommend a MINIMUM of 16GB with 32GB Recommended. In fact, I just upgraded to 64GB myself. Bottom Line: Start saving for a new computer. Right around the 7-8 year mark is when I replace my computers.

Hopefully the trend will continue with larger SSD Boot Drives. Even though I really recommend a 1TB drive, you could get away with a 500GB model. Fingers crossed.

That's the drive I was looking to purchase!! Buy It!!

It does have all the right specs. The only problem that I have with Acer laptops is that if you move them around a lot, like daily here and there, all the time, they don't hold up well physically. Other than that, they are fine. So if you tend to stay in one spot most of the time, and only move it from time to time, you should be good.

Prices & Models fluctuate so quickly. I'm sure within 4-6 weeks the model that I recommended will change completely or slightly. Though the budget you have in mind, $1200-$1500 will probably stay the same. There is a push for computers being replaced and backorders are common, due to Windows 7 being taken behind the barn and shot dead on January 7, 2020. Microsoft will no longer provide any updates or patches and drop support for that OS. So now is the time to replace that outdated computer. Have fun on your trip and we can revisit things within the next few months. Who knows? Things might be cheaper.

Wow, you have other problems than just a quirky hard drive. Stupid question alert! Are you sure you are using a USB 3.0 port on your computer? Have you tried using another port? Or are you using the eSATA option?

What I would do? Look at purchasing the $1249 model and buy a Samsung EVO 1TB SSD. Have someone clone your Main HD over to the SSD and use the existing 1TB HD for storage. If you don't want to go that route, I'd still buy the $1249 single 1TB HD model without the 256GB m.2 drive 1TB HD combo. Oh, in case if anyone is wondering, why do I recommend Dell? The answer is simple: Availability. Dell, like Apple is a World-Wide company and they are easy to find / configure and purchase. The Dell XPS line is decent for what they are. If you want fancier stuff, feel free to find another brand with similar specs that I recommend.

This is the main issue with "What to Buy" threads: The information is outdated so quickly. Bear in mind that the majority of members here are Photographers, so their needs are a bit more than your average user that wastes time on FB, watches Netflix and buys stuff off Amazon. That's why I recommend the same things over and over and the reason that "BRIAN!! JUST TELL ME WHAT TO BUY!!!!" almost never works. Brian's 2019-2020 Windows Computer Recomendations Intel i7 (or i9 if you can afford it, but not a huge deal-breaker unless you are editing video.) 16GB RAM at a Minimum - 32GB or more preferred, like 64GB 1TB Hard Drive for the main drive. I don't care how fast that 128GB / 250GB SSD Drive is, it won't to you a damn bit of good if it's full. Of course the bigger the better when it comes to hard drives. Windows updates can be huge, so I would shoot for a 1TB at a minimum, though a person could get away with a 500GB HD. That said, as I write this, 500GB HD are becoming "Too Small" for today's modern Photoshop and 24MP+ cameras. A video card that has separate & dedicated video memory. 2GB - 4GB is fine (like 4GB) and since Adobe's products are using the graphics cards for a performance boost, a video card with 8GB of Video Memory is a good thing. So call it 4GB recommended / 8GB preferred when it comes to Video RAM. Windows 10 Home is fine for personal use; that said, f you are connecting to work for a day-job, be sure to get Windows 10 Pro. The main issue with those small SSD Hard Drives is that the lack of capacity can get away from you pretty quickly. Remember, you don't get the full Hard Drive Capacity that is advertised after partitioning, formatting and having Windows 10 installed. A 256GB SSD Drive and Windows 10 Installed, should leave you around 200GB or so available. After formatting, your capacity goes from 256GB to about 240GB and Windows 10 takes anywhere from 20GB or so just for itself, not including the large Windows Updates and Backup Data / Patch files. In reality, you have around 189GB to play with. Meaning, your Hard Drive ("C Drive") is no longer a dumping ground where you can click "NEXT-NEXT...I AGREE...NEXT-NEXT-NEXT...FINISH INSTALLATION." without thinking. Or just dump a session or two to edit while you do other things. You will need to be super-anal about what is stored on a small SSD Drive and where those files reside at all times. A 256GB is the absolute bare-minimum that I recommend for the Windows 10 Operating System and a Program or two, like Bridge and Photoshop, ONLY! No photo sessions, no data files, none of that stuff. Those files need to be stored on a Secondary Hard Drive or at the very least, an External Hard Drive. As far as a 128GB SSD, forget it. You are just wasting your time with today's current version of Windows and programs. There is also the pesky thing that comes along with Windows and Photoshop: Areas of the Hard Drive that are used to supplement the lack of RAM or system resources, we know them as the "Photoshop Scratch Disk" and Windows Swap File. The less space you have available for those areas means the less performance you have for your programs. Especially if you have a 24MP or more camera, as those RAW files tend to be on the larger side as compared to a 12MP-16MP camera. That's why I jump up and down about the HD capacity; unfortunately for the consumer pre-built / store-bought computers seem to have small SSD Drives these days. Why? Because they are cheap. Cheap-Cheap-Cheap. The COGS for the manufactures is way low and they get to brag on how fast their computers boot, usually it takes 15 seconds from a powered off state to a login screen. Plain and Simple. They are also fast and weight less than your typical HD, which saves on shipping costs. Yes, a few ounces adds up very quickly if you have a bunch of computers in a shipping container on a boat or in a trailer of a truck. If eliminating just two olives from a jar saved an airline $450,000 per year in fuel savings makes a difference, or the fact that UPS only makes right turns saves millions in fuel each year, you can bet the farm that PC manufactures also are doing the same thing. But I'm digressing here, where does that leave you? Having a realistic budget to start with, which in my opinion is anywhere from $1000 - $1500, just for the computer. With my recommendations, I'm a bit on the higher side as you won't see me recommend the "$999 Special / Package" that comes with a printer, a monitor, surge protector and a bunch of crappy add-ons to make it seem like it's a good value. I'm sure you have seen these deals at Costco or Best Buy, or some other box retailer from time to time. I used to sell computers A LONG time ago, before I became a Service Technician and those bundles would always sell, and the computer that had better hardware on the hood, which would last longer and have less problems, was only the computer being sold-and nothing else...for few hundred more...would sit. That's why we put THAT computer next to the "$999 Special." LOL!! Because it worked. Huge profit for the store and the customer got a "Okay Computer/Good Enough" with lots of extra stuff to make them feel good. As you can see, I'm not in Sales any longer. Right now it seems that RAM is cheap, but processors seem to be expensive. It used to only be a $200 difference between a i5 and a i7, but I just checked the Dell Website and it's like a $300 difference, but now you are getting 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB to start with. Bottom line, it's all the same amount of money, maybe $100 more at the end. It's just that the final cost of a CPU Chip and RAM Sticks Flipped. Another thing to keep in mind: The US Trade-War with China. The majority of computer products or components are either made or built in China. With the current pissing-contest and the value of the US Dollar being high, reflects in the prices that we see. So what do you buy? On Dell's Website, the one that matches most of my recommended specifications, is the $1249 Model. Bear in mind, not only do my recommendations are on the bit of a high-side, there is a method to my madness: When I buy computers, I have an Eight Year Time Frame in my mind. Of course you could get the $799 model or whatever, but you will be replacing that in about 2 years or so. I hate wasting money on this shit. "It's just as good as... or I can only afford..." ultimately costs you more money in the end. Save up, make a plan for it and work with what you have now to purchase what you should buy, instead of half-assing it. Sure, it's important to live within your means, but wasting $700 now and then $1000 later when you could have bought the $1249 model and be done with it...is a better choice long term as you have saved about $450 in the end. Or more if you bought three computers within that 8 year period. KWIM? An i5 CPU will work just fine with Photoshop. Is it a huge deal-breaker? No. Is there a difference? Only with the latest versions of PS CC. If you are still running CS6, there is only a 5-7% difference in speed between a i7 and a i5 CPU. But if you have PS CC 2019 version 20.0.5, yes, there is a difference as the current versions of PS are starting to take advantage of the architecture that makes a i7 or i9 so fast.

How about copying a single file to your main HD? Does that work?

You can not undo a RAID without nuking it. To undo a RAID Setup, you delete both drives. No way around it. My main concern is WHY you aren’t able to copy / paste your files to a new EHD. I’d attack that problem first.

Easiest way, copy everything over to a larger EHD. The Drag & Drop you mentioned. It’s not copying anything? You might have a problem with your RAID controller / housing / case and the drives are fine. After you are 100% sure that everything is copied over, you can then replace one HD, rebuild the RAID and see if that fixes it. Or purchase two WD Gold Drives and Setup a new RAID1 and then copy the files from the EHD back over to your RAID. Just make sure you have the latest firmware and software that controls your RAID.

I don’t mean to sound like a Arse but you are headed in a direction that will only waste you time money and cause frustration.

It’s setup as a RAID. You can’t do what you want to do unless you delete the drives / the RAID configuration itself and start from scratch. Both drives are united as “one” with one drive automatically mirroring the other. Other RAID setups, like Zero, Five and “1+0” aka “Ten” treat the data differently across the drives. RAID Level 1 is mirroring. IF A FILE IS MISSING OR CORRUPTED ON ONE DRIVE IN A RAID CONFIGURATION, IT IS NOT GOING TO BE ON THE OTHER DRIVE. PERIOD. THEY STOPPED BEING SEPARATE DRIVES WHEN YOU SET THEM UP AS A RAID 1. It’s not like they are two independent drives; you can’t just pull one and put it in another computer and have access to your files. That’s not how a RAID setup works. You have to get “independent” drives out of your head with dealing with a RAID. If you can’t find a file or it’s corrupted, it’s GONE. What is RAID? Multiple hard drives act in unison for a common purpose. All that is different between the RAID Levels is how the data is mirrored and striped (written) across multiple hard drives. As far as you are concerned, you only have one HD. So what’s the point of RAID? Recovery from Catastrophic Failure. Meaning that in your situation, if one hard drive failed completely, you still have access to your files on the working drive. That’s it. It’s not like BackBlaze or some other service (like Time Machine on the Macs) that has a copy of a file that was accidentally deleted and you can restore; this is why the servers that I work on still backup to Tape or another backup destination and have RAID setups in them. Usually multiple RAIDs. Return that docking station. It’s not going to do what you want it to do. You are just wasting money at this point.