PC Problems? I am a PC TECH.

[johndowe]

Hi there.

Hey, Excaliborg, i agree, partitions are useless, unless you have a hard drive that is bigger than the max partition.

And, win 2000 to xp, i concur.

JohnDowe.

[Naked Freedom]

Originally Posted by johndowe

Hi there.

Hey, Excaliborg, i agree, partitions are useless, unless you have a hard drive that is bigger than the max partition.

And, win 2000 to xp, i concur.

JohnDowe.

i prefer to have 2 partions on one hard disk...one smaller (about 10 Gb) where i load the os and the bigger for other purposes....
i have multiple hard drives and have partioned the master only to separate 10 Gb space for loading the OS.

[johndowe]

Originally Posted by Naked Freedom

i prefer to have 2 partions on one hard disk...one smaller (about 10 Gb) where i load the os and the bigger for other purposes....
i have multiple hard drives and have partioned the master only to separate 10 Gb space for loading the OS.

Hi there.

Partitions seem like a good idea, but they aren't, the problem arises later, and the problem is that often one of the partitions is full and the other has a lot of free space, to solve the problem you have to save all the data and reformat the hard drive, so where's the advantage then?

If you want one drive for the OS and another for data, buy a decond drive more expensive but far better in the long run.

And 10Gb for XP is minimal, when fully upgraded with office, it takes about 6-7 gigs, add your favorite programs, no more space! Then what, backup and reformat, do win, drivers, software, restore, install the programs you couldn't...

The reason partitions were created was when the PC was the new kid on the block, hard drives were very small 5-20Mb, MICROSCOPIC by today's standards to be sure, and DOS could only handle a maximum of 32Mb drive, so to handle the increading drive size microsoft offered partisionning as a solution, before they came out with FAT16+ and later FAT32, and NTFS which can handle 100's of TeraByte drives or more, it wasn't elegant then it isn't now.

JohnDowe.

[Naked Freedom]

do you think CDs and DVDs are reliable.....
Cyclic Redundancy Error , i don't know why it happens but it left me quite unsure of the optical disks....so i stopped creating backups on them....i think blu ray disks will suit the purpose better....but they are quite expensive comparatively.
what do u think of the static external hard disks? are they reliable??
but here also the cost is way too much...what to do???

[johndowe]

Originally Posted by Naked Freedom

do you think CDs and DVDs are reliable.....
Cyclic Redundancy Error , i don't know why it happens but it left me quite unsure of the optical disks....so i stopped creating backups on them....i think blu ray disks will suit the purpose better....but they are quite expensive comparatively.
what do u think of the static external hard disks? are they reliable??
but here also the cost is way too much...what to do???

Hi there.

CD's and DVD's are reliable, but bad burns do happen occasionally, read my post on burning CD's & DVD's post #4 on this thread, if you use NERO, you can have it verify the disk right after the burn, if your data is important, it would be very wise to check the verify box, and follow my instructions and you should make very few bad copies, over the last few months i have made over 1000 CD & DVD's and only made 5 or 6 bad copies, i always use the same brand of disks that work well with my burner to minimize the number of bad copies.

Blu Ray is essentially the same technology as CD's and DVD's, only the write density is increased, and the light emiting diode is blue instead of infra red, so the reliability should be the same, but you will have to have a more powerfull computer to burn a disk, because the burn speed is higher, you will need at least a 2GHz dual core computer, the Blu Ray recorders are expensive also, the capacity is 25Gb single layer 50Gb dual layer, so you will have to have at least that amount of free hard disk space free to make a 1:1 copy, but less if you copy files that are on your computer, in DVD drives i like LG, they will burn almost any CD & DVD BRAND, i would ASSUME that they would put the same effort in their Blu Ray drives as they did for their DVD drives, but it is just an assumption, maby mr.Excaliborg can have more practical info about Blu Ray drives.

JohnDowe.

[Excaliborg]

blue-ray? i'd rather take a death-ray gizmo thank you very much. but anyway if you really want to find out the nitty gritty of blu-ray go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc.

i have burnt one cd and one dvd in the last year and i only had about ten faulty burns since i bought my first writer. so yes optical storage mediums are reliable. but the thing is that you have to take care of your discs. put them in a case, dont leave them in a cd/dvd drive for extended periods, no excessive heat or cold. and dont touch the recorded surface.

i always tell people when it comes to pc parts and accessories, you get what you pay for. so dont buy cheap blank discs or components. it sounds silly to do it but one of the best pieces of advice i can give anybody is that before you buy something computer related, google it and read more than one review of whichever product you are going to buy. it may save you from buying a lemon.

[Excaliborg]

first off let me say that at one stage or another we were all n00bs. someone who knew nothing when it came to technology. we learn by looking, reading and asking. lucky for me only two people saw me as a n00b, and they fixed that by giving me a stack of pc mags and a pile of hardware and telling me to have fun.

but i digress. all too often i see people asking help in an infantile manner, using excessive question makrs and exclamation marks(not here though). the only thing this does is piss everyon else off. so dont whine, cry, moan and groan. state the nature of the problem in the best english(or whatever language you use) possible. also include what you have done to resolve the issue. provide as much detail as possible, what you were doing at the time the error occured, etc. remember that google is your friend, use it wisely.

the same goes for walking into a store and buying a pc or pc components. dont just walk up to the nearest salesperson and plonk down your cash and shout "GIMME PC!". you should have a clear mental picture of how much you are willing to spend and what you are going to use the pc for.

i hope these rambling thoughts of mine help in some way.

[johndowe]

Originally Posted by Naked Freedom

do you think CDs and DVDs are reliable.....
Cyclic Redundancy Error , i don't know why it happens but it left me quite unsure of the optical disks....so i stopped creating backups on them....i think blu ray disks will suit the purpose better....but they are quite expensive comparatively.
what do u think of the static external hard disks? are they reliable??
but here also the cost is way too much...what to do???

Hi there.

External hard disks, there are 3 sizes, the microminiature ones, that can fit on your key chain, 40gigs or so, bigger than flash drive but much more fragile, then there are the medium and large size, they are made with laptop and regular computer hard disks, so they are just as reliable, they are housed in a small case with a USB to hard disk interface, the laptop version uses the USB power, the bigger version uses an external power supply, they are a good media for back-ups and are very easily updated, the price is a bit high ($150) but, what is the price of losing your data? If your data is VERY importand and valuable you should have multipls back-ups, external hard disk AND CD/DVD.

JohnDowe.

[johndowe]

Hi there.

Hey Excaliborg, I like your avatar, cute kitty.


JohnDowe.

[tslover586]

is there a software that i can get my hands on for free that will allow me to watch live tv over the internet.
if not what is the best priced best quality software that i can get to do this.

[Excaliborg]

Originally Posted by johndowe

Hi there.

Hey Excaliborg, I like your avatar, cute kitty.


JohnDowe.

yeah me too. thats stoner cat. he and i are alike in some ways.

[johndowe]

Hi there.

BACK-UPS

One often neglected aspect of computing is making back-ups of one's data, yes computers are very reliable, and getting more and more reliable all the time, but they do fail eventually, and even prematurely sometimes, also some retards, make viruses, why? Just to cause mahem, and inconvinience as many people as they can, so the more important your info, the more you need to make back-ups and the more often. There has been a few companies that had their accounting on their computer, and it was stolen or broke down and the companies died because the billing info was lost, their supplyers sent new bills, but their customers didn't recieveany bills and did not pay because of that, so if the files on your computer are important to you, wheather they are pics of your kids, or your businesses accounting you have to safeguard that information, you can use CD's or DVD's and do it manually, which is my prefered methode, but there are many back-up software packages, and NERO, and EZ-CD/DVD CREATOR, have a back-up option, and shouled your computer fail, you can recover with your back-up, and you RESTORE your files, you may lose a little, (the files that you changed before you did the new back-up, but a little is way better than loosing all.

Also, the more important your info you may consider making several backups one on premesis, one at a freind's or budiness partner's, and maby in the bank's safety deposit box, should your info be VERY important, avluable or sensitive.

JohnDowe.