-=PCTechTalk=- Re: re organizing my drives/computer project
- From: GuitarMan <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:03:47 -0400
Rose,
First, I'll address Don's reply here since I figure both of you will be
reading this anyway. Don's points are both extremely valid. I'll also add
that Microsoft's Live Onecare has already earned a much less than
enthusiastic reputation among AV app testing labs. I also find it ironic
that the company in charge of keeping our operating systems secure now is
getting into the (for fee) market of supplimenting what they should have
already been doing all along. Seems to me that they are now trying to make
money off of their OS's shortcomings (lack of security), which means they
now have less incentive to fix all of the OS problems. Alos, since they ARE
the OS maker, they can roll out some of their less critical Microsoft
Updates as part of this new 'paid' service, rather than give away the
repairs for free. I'm not saying that any of this is going to happen, but
it just doesn't sit well with me that it's not a big leap. (Are you still
considered paranoid if they really ARE out to get ya?) ;O}
And now onto your post.
Partition Magic basically ceased to be the moment Symantec purchased the
product. They bought it to 'kill' the competition with their own 'Ghost'
application.Although I have tested several other partitioning tools since
that purchase, my feeling is that Acronis is quickly becoming the new
Partition Magic.
If you were using Norton systemworks, you don't have to give up
everything in that suite. I have replaced Norton AV and Norton Internet
Security (firewall) with ZoneAlarm Security Suite, which I like MUCH better.
However, I still have the Norton Utilities installed. Of course, this is
still WinXP, so it would take an upgrade for you to make it work. I figured
I'd bring it up here in case you wanted to consider doing something similar
with the older systems.
Internals for everyday and externals for backups is pretty much what
I'll be suggesting, too. The only strong exception I would have is to
perhaps put topics that you might only use once a month (or longer) on an
external. But this option should only be carried out if it becomes obvious
that keeping them internal is not going to allow enough 'breathing room' on
the internal drives. Of course, only you can decide if any of the topics
(Scrapbooking, Stationery, Family Projects, etc.) qualify.
I understood what you meant when you brought up RAID. The thing is that
it adds a level of complexity that I'm not sure you would care to add to an
already complex organizational system. If you do decide that it's the right
way to go (and we'll discuss this in length in a later subthread), you'll
need two hard drives of the same capacity for this option. The drives
should also be the same make/model from the same maker to ensure success.
Speed is not an issue with a new system, so redundancy would be the focus.
I will end this reply by reminding you that today's computers run
significantly hotter than those made even a couple of years ago. For this
reason, I strongly suggest that you never mount one hard drive directly over
another. There should always be at least an inch between them to allow air
to circulate so the drives do not overheat. Of course, this may further
limit the number of drives you can keep internally.
Keep me informed of any changes, thoughts, ideas &/or questions and give
Jerry a big kiss from me (uh, no tongue, ok?). ;O)
Peace,
GMan
"The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tech Rose - LoveBytes" <TechRose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 5:04 AM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- re organizing my drives/computer project
> Hi GMan,
>
> I found out today I will have to buy Acronis to partition my hard drives
> on
> this new Vista Computer.
> Partition Magic is not Vista Friendly.
> While Windows will partition a drive, its use is limited.
> I have 2 500 GB internal hard drives and one 400 GB hard drive.
>
> I am able in Windows Vista to 'shrink' the drive in half, but that is it.
> Also, the Windows Vista ability to 'shrink' does NOT take into
> consideration data that may have been saved on the drive beyond the 1/2
> way
> point. So, if a file or table was saved at the end of the drive... it
> would
> no longer be in the same directory.
>
> With Acronis, like Partition Magic, if I repartition a drive, the data
> will
> stay with the original drive partition (providing I make the partition
> large
> enough to hold all the data - and that is NOT an issue here)
>
> After using Norton for years, I am going to give the Microsoft Live
> OneCare
> a shot.
>
> I will use the Norton Removal Tool to get rid of Norton first of course.
>
> Most of the stuff I have written above, I am sure you already knew, but I
> am
> just putting this out here for everyone. It has been a while (months)
> since
> we spoke of my re-organizing my hard drives.
> I am finally near ready to do so.
>
> My mind at the moment is to utilize the internal drives for my day to day
> use and use the gazillion external fire wire drives for backups. I am
> thinking I would set a backup to run each day. I am thinking setting up a
> schedule will be good. I can set a reminder for myself so I know which
> drive(s) to turn on.
> I will probably give one external drive for a backup to Jerry's (The
> Gateway) current, soon to be old computer. I will then probably give a
> couple to my old computer (The Sony) , soon to be Jerry's new computer.
>
> Again, nothing is in concrete..I am just thinking.
>
> By the way, when I said the other day, that the computer was set up for
> raid, I meant that there were two specific serial drive ports on the
> motherboard for the raid setup. That is in addition to the 5 serial ports
> for internal hard drives. There were only spaces available for 3. One
> has
> an open space, but the 'thing' (technical term) that you sit the drive
> on..is not in one of the bays. We think they took it out to put the card
> reader in the front of the machine and then there was something else
> (maybe
> the BIG graphics card) blocking access to the other bay. I do not need
> that
> space anyway) I did not ever see that on the Sony, so that was new to me.
> When I was a kid, Raid was a funny bug killing commercial! (Ok, so maybe
> I
> was not exactly a kid.... lol!)
>
> I will try to update the spread sheet I had done before. I am leaving the
> physical drives in the Sony. They are PATA drives anyway, but I need to
> take the data from the second drive. I do not want to do that until we
> decide what to do.... But that will hold Jerry up from getting the Sony
> as
> HIS computer. His Gateway is on its last legs and is crashing a lot...and
> is tired. I think part of his problem is that it is a 2.0 GHz machine and
> he is trying to do too much with it. He has a bunch of external USB
> drives
> and leaves them on most of the time. He only has 1 GB of ram.
>
> The Sony will be better for him as it is a 2.6 GHz machine with 3 GB of
> the
> ddr ram.
>
> While I am still feeling my way around Vista, little by little I am
> starting
> to 'get it'!
>
> Microsoft has been excellent in responding to my inquiries and has even
> phoned me back to ensure everything is working ok on two different issues
> I
> have had.
>
> I think I have about 2 - 3 weeks of FREE tech support available to me. (I
> think you get 90 days)
>
> So, hopefully tomorrow, I will send you directly, my hard drives
> listing..and what is on them..and then be ready for your insightful
> input....
> Oh! By the way, I absolutely agree about the Utility partition being done
> away with. I will put those files on the Programs directory under
> Utilities.
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