Friday, June 26, 2009
Analyst: $120 for Windows 7 ‘way too much’
I am thinking I'll buy in to the $50 special offer these 2 weeks, just to have a copy on the shelf that I can install on a backup machine for testing. That offer is a good deal for someone like me who must get early hands-on experience.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Backing up your data
A customer called the other day stating that their PC had "crashed" and it would not boot, and it was feared that all was lost. Unfortunately I was not in town to assist, so I recommended another PC professional to do the job. Instead the customer went ahead and reinstalled the operating system, basically starting from scratch, and LOST ALL OF THEIR DATA! Just think what this would mean to you. Your pictures, music, perhaps small business financial data, documents, etc., all GONE and never to be seen again.
Let me say this first: it has been many years since I have seen a hard drive crash where data was not retrievable. In many, many customer cases I have been able to retrieve all of the customer's data from a crashed system. You see, what normally happens in these cases is that the operating system is unable to startup, usually because a system file or two or three get damaged. The result: an apparent system crash and lost data. But hold on. Your hard drive can be removed, if necessary, and placed on another system where it is entirely readable, not as a system disk, but as a data repository. In this way I, or any other PC professional, can copy all of your data to some portable external device - maybe a flash (or thumb) drive, a DVD or multiple DVDs, etc. Just like that, all of your data is retrieved and saved. Usually NOTHING is lost! This can be completed for something less than $150. Compare this price to the value of your lost data. If something like this happens to you, please call me or your PC professional of choice for help.
All this leads me to my subject of the day, and this is not new from me. Look at some old posts and you'll find I have been on my soapbox preaching backup of your data on a regular basis.
I use an external hard drive for data backup. I happen to have a Western Digital My Book with a 1TB capacity for this purpose. There are dozens of other choices available to you. These devices attach via a USB cable to your PC (or in fact other PCs in your home as well). Using Windows Explorer, I manually copy all of the contents of MY DOCUMENTS to a new folder on my external drive. It takes me maybe 15 minutes, and I have complete backup of all of my data. I do not want to lose my family photos or my music, so this is my insurance. I keep about 4 copies of MY DOCUMENTS on this large external hard drive, these being the last 4 quarters' backups.
The 1 TB My Book, or most other solutions like this one, cost under $150. This is a one time expense, and is certainly worth it for the comfort it will provide you.
I have no affiliation with Amazon or any other retailer, but I just checked on Amazon and see my drive on sale for $119. How can anyone afford to be without one of these devices?
Let me say this first: it has been many years since I have seen a hard drive crash where data was not retrievable. In many, many customer cases I have been able to retrieve all of the customer's data from a crashed system. You see, what normally happens in these cases is that the operating system is unable to startup, usually because a system file or two or three get damaged. The result: an apparent system crash and lost data. But hold on. Your hard drive can be removed, if necessary, and placed on another system where it is entirely readable, not as a system disk, but as a data repository. In this way I, or any other PC professional, can copy all of your data to some portable external device - maybe a flash (or thumb) drive, a DVD or multiple DVDs, etc. Just like that, all of your data is retrieved and saved. Usually NOTHING is lost! This can be completed for something less than $150. Compare this price to the value of your lost data. If something like this happens to you, please call me or your PC professional of choice for help.
All this leads me to my subject of the day, and this is not new from me. Look at some old posts and you'll find I have been on my soapbox preaching backup of your data on a regular basis.
I use an external hard drive for data backup. I happen to have a Western Digital My Book with a 1TB capacity for this purpose. There are dozens of other choices available to you. These devices attach via a USB cable to your PC (or in fact other PCs in your home as well). Using Windows Explorer, I manually copy all of the contents of MY DOCUMENTS to a new folder on my external drive. It takes me maybe 15 minutes, and I have complete backup of all of my data. I do not want to lose my family photos or my music, so this is my insurance. I keep about 4 copies of MY DOCUMENTS on this large external hard drive, these being the last 4 quarters' backups.
The 1 TB My Book, or most other solutions like this one, cost under $150. This is a one time expense, and is certainly worth it for the comfort it will provide you.
I have no affiliation with Amazon or any other retailer, but I just checked on Amazon and see my drive on sale for $119. How can anyone afford to be without one of these devices?
Western Digital 1TB My Book on sale at Amazon
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Used IT gear: How to get good stuff cheap and avoid the lemons
This may be a timely article. There are many sources of good, used computer equipment out there.
Used IT gear: How to get good stuff cheap and avoid the lemons
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