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Are You Running Out of Hard Drive
Space?
As
computers get faster, software and operating system developers are creating
products that consume more memory and take up more hard drive space. You may
have only purchased your computer just a year ago and already you're finding
that your 8.4GB hard drive that you thought was huge is filling up. Or, perhaps
you've got a 3GB drive that is nearly full and you need to upgrade.
There are several steps involved in the upgrade process. First you must decide
whether you're going to replace or keep your existing drive. Next, you will
need to either transfer the entire contents of your present drive to your new
one, or at least copy all of the data, graphic and other important files you
created to some other media. With that done, you must physically install the
drive in your computer and get your computer to recognize that it is there. If
you are going to be reinstalling your operating system, programs and data to
your new drive, you'll need to do that also.
This will be the first in
a series of articles about hard drive upgrading. In this issue, I'll present
several upgrade strategies for you to consider along with guidelines that help
you make an intelligent decision about which is best for you.
There
are two basic types of hard disk drives: IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) and
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface). Until recently, IDE drives were much
slower than SCSI drives, and a lot less expensive. Unless you specified SCSI
when you ordered your computer, it has an IDE drive. Although the SCSI
interface is still the preferred specification for high speed server computers,
the new IDE drives feature much faster transfer rates which continue to make
them an attractive and appropriate choice for most computer users.
At
today's prices, 20GB to 40GB hard drives are a bargain, so go ahead and take a
big step up. You're best choice (although it costs a bit more) is one of the
7200RPM drives (as opposed to 5400RPM) that offers 66MB/second transfer rates
(33MB/second was the old standard). Nearly all new IDE drives, both 5400RPM and
7200RPM drives, support the ATA-66 transfer specification. If your mainboard
does not support 66MB/second transfer (look in the mainboard manual, ask your
IT department or call the manufacturer of your computer, if you're not sure),
you'll also need to get an adapter card that will enable your computer to take
advantage of this much faster data transfer rate.
In most instances,
installing a new hard disk drive is easy. Retail packaged drives include
easy-to-follow directions that just about anyone can understand. On the other
hand, if you're one of those who has trouble setting your VCR to record a
program, perhaps you should consider having someone with a bit more technical
knowledge do it for you. If you need or want help and are unsure of a reliable
provider, contact us here at Office
Helper and we'll arrange to do it for you if you're located within our service
area.
Keep in mind that you have a couple of choices when it comes to
upgrading. You can replace your smaller drive or you can keep it and simply add
a new drive.
If you choose to replace your existing drive, you'll
probably want to transfer everything from your old drive to the new one,
something you must do prior to permanently installing it (unless you have a
full-system backup stored on a tape drive or CD-ROM). Of course, you may just
want to start 'anew' by completely reinstalling everything (if your computer is
experiencing frequent problems or if you want to upgrade to a newer or
different operating system, this may be your best bet). Even if you go this
route, I'm sure there are data and graphic files (including your Internet
browser bookmarks, address book records, and email files) you'll want, so
regardless, you're going to have to copy these files to floppy or zip disks, or
to some other storage media. Actually, I don't recommend floppies because they
simply are not reliable despite what their makers guarantee! Zip or Orb drives
(internal or external) are very reliable and easy to use, as are CD-R disks.
So, what's best for you? Here are some basic guidelines that will help
you make the 'right' choice.
- If your current drive is 3 years old or more replace it. Don't
make it a second drive, unless you plan to use it purely as a backup (see #3
below). Although it could last another 10 years (many do), why do you think
most manufacturers only offer 3-year warranties on their
drives?
- If your present drive is smaller than 3GB, replace it, except
as noted below in #3.
NOTE: If you choose to
keep your existing drive, you'll want to make it your 'secondary' (not your
primary) drive, which means you'll need to either transfer everything on it to
your new drive or save the data you want to other media (as mentioned
above).
- Reasons you may want to keep your existing drive include using
it as a backup for everything stored on your new drive; provided it is large
enough to store your operating system, programs and data files (if a
full-system backup requires 5GB and your backup drive is only a 2GB, obviously
this won't be an option). Use it to back up just the important data, graphic
and business-critical files you create, in which case it's size really won't
matter. You'll just be limited as to how much data you can store on it. Backing
up to a second hard drive (as opposed to another location on your primary
drive) is good strategy, because if your primary drive ever takes a dump
(crashes), it will be relatively easy for you to recover with minimal data
loss, provided you are religious about backing up.
NOTE: If you really want backup security, you should
periodically back up to media that you store in a location away from your
computer...in a separate building. This could be to a zip, orb, CD-R, tape or
even the Internet (yes, you can backup to various sites on the Net for free or
for a very reasonable cost...I'll discuss this more in a future article). The
reason? What if your computer is stolen or a fire destroys your office? Don't
think for a moment it will never happen to you, because although it probably
won't, it could and being prepared for every catastrophe could save your
business. Remember the Scout motto, "Be Prepared".
Hopefully, I have provided enough
information above to help you make a suitable decision. If you still have
questions, please email me. In the next
article, I help you install and configure both your new drive and, if you
decide to keep it, your old drive.
Don't forget, Father's Day is just
around the corner (June 18) and this might be just the right time to upgrade
Dad's hard drive.
We, at Office Helper, appreciate the opportunity to
bring you Everything Office. Don't forget to
check out this week's
great tip on our website.
...Rich
Poremba
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