waving

keith

to my computer this afternoon as it was carried off to the computor hospital.. It seems my Hard drive crashed ( no clues as to why). Luckily I didn't have any backup for the last 8 months. They will be performing a labotome tommorow to see if any info is retrevable.Never thought losing it for a day would bother me. Wrong

Steamhead

Hard Drive Crash

brings back some nasty memories, Keith. Those backups are important but they have to be easy as well. Most backup software will now let you store your backups on CD-RW, which is reasonably fast and inexpensive.

While your system is in the shop, you'll want to upgrade to at least 128MB of RAM and possibly (definitely if running NT, 2000 or XP) 256MB. This will keep Windows from having to swap from memory to the hard drive so often. Also have them see that the air flow around the hard drive is enough to keep it cool, and install an auxiliary fan if it isn't.

Both these suggestions will reduce wear-and-tear on your drive.

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Frank_5

I'd rather have............

> to my computer this afternoon as it was carried

> off to the computor hospital.. It seems my Hard

> drive crashed ( no clues as to why). Luckily I

> didn't have any backup for the last 8 months.

> They will be performing a labotome tommorow to

> see if any info is retrevable.Never thought

> losing it for a day would bother me. Wrong

Frank_5

I'd rather have............

.......a bottle in front of me, than a frontal labotomy.

Bob Bona_4

just happened to me

1500 bucks later, and some data recovered. Was not a happy camper to realize a product can be so easily corrupted/unreliable.What if car's were like this? Grrr.

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eleft_4

easily corrupted

Hey Bob,
They(cars)are! Just put the wrong stuff in it.


Just what cost that much or did you go new?


al

ScottMP

.

BA-doom

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keith

Can you

say Zip Drive? I am my own worst enemy. If I had backed everything up it would be considerably less painful.

Terry H.

If they can't retrieve the data

Have them send the drive to on-track. Those guys can perform magic on bad drives. If you need it I can probly find the phone number. They saved me a few years worth of data once. I don't remember how much it cost but it was sure worth it.

Terry H.

Terry H.

Found it

Ontrack data recovery (800)872-2599 or 612-937-5161.

And remember have a good tape drive put in your computer and back-up regularly.

Terry H.

keith

Thanks

I'll call on Monday. Do you think the fact that the in house computer guy didn't call today means he was unable to get any info out?

Sven

RAID !!!!!

No - not the bug spray.

A "RAID controller" in your PC with two drives will go a long way in protecting your files. This well proven technology protects you because if one drive fails, the other drive continues to works! Instead of reading and writing to one drive, it writes to two simultaneously.
The correct term is RAID 1 controller card.

One well known vendor is Promise Technology:
http://www.promise.com/product/subsys_detail_eng.asp?pid=8&fid=2


The card is inexpensive and saves a lot of headaches should a drive go down.

Sven

USB Flash drive / Disk On Key

is an alternative to ZIp drives. These little gizmos plug into your USB port in the back of the your computer and show up as an external hard drive. Drag and drop the files, and you have a backup of your files. Prices have been coming and many companies sell their own version.

If you are still running Windows 98, you need to install some software which is provided.

The original and to many still the best, is Disk-On-Key which you can buy retail under the FujiFilm or Targus name. If you need more info just email me. For technical reasons, this is the one I prefer & recommend.

http://www.diskonkey.com

http://www.fujiusbdrive.com/

http://www.targus.com


These are fantastic gizmos!
Creative Labs (SoundBlaster) makes one that is also a MP3 player. It is called Creative Numad MuVo
http://www.creative.com/

keith

technology

Thanks for the advice. I got a replacement with a zip drive already. I'm using the XP version. Is there a advantage to backing up your info thru a zip drive or thru the disc on a key?

Sven

The USB flash disk ..

is still somewhat expensive - 64MB is around $100. On the other hand, it is very reliable, easily transportable and most all PC's built in the last couple of years have the USB ports built-in. These devices have no moving parts.

You do not have to install any software on the newer operating systems. (Windows 98 being the exception, anything older than that is not covered)

You plug it in and it works instantly!

If the price is hard to swallow, you can buy an external hard drive with a USB cable and just plug it in. This is somewhat bulkier but is a good alternative. You just have to remeber this is still a physical hard drive with moving parts though.

The key here is if you want to save your important files, and not backup everything on your hard drive they are a good option. Even the newer laptops have USB ports built-in now and is a good way to transfer files from PC to laptop.

The Fuji site has some good info:
http://www.fujiusbdrive.com

Steamhead

Backup Drive Capacities

Zip drives have been made in 100 megabyte (MB) and 250MB versions. They just came out with a 750MB version to compete with CD-RW which has a 650MB capacity, but I'm not sure how well they will hold up (remember the Jaz drive?).

As far as I know, those USB Key memory units max out at 128MB or so, but that capacity is likely to increase.

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Sven

they are up to 512MB now (NS)

Terry H.

It all

Depends on how busy he is. If the drive motor is out there's probly not a lot he can do about it, short of putting in a new drive, but that doesn't save your data. The guys from ontrack have a clean room and they can open the drive and replace parts without losing the data in most cases. As far as backups go I'd go for the high capacity tape drives. Mine is a seagate that uses 20 gigabyte taravan tapes. I used to backup to zip drives but it takes too long and too much of my time switching disks. Used to take all day to back up on zips. Now with the tape it takes 2 hours but I don't have to baby sit it, I can go and do sometihing else or go home.

Terry H.