Backup Guide: USB Sticks vs External Hard-Drives
Published by john on December 9, 2011 under Tech SupportThere are a few ways to backup your data, but probably the easiest is to backup to a USB Stick or an external Hard-Drive. These are external drives that you can plug into a USB port on your computer and then copy files to and from it.
One of the main advantages of this type of backup is that unlike a DVD backup, you can add, remove, and modify files that are on the USB Drive.
Explore This Post
- What Do All These Sizes Mean?
- What is a USB Stick?
- What is an External Hard Drive?
- What Size USB Device Should I Get?
- Determining the Size of Your Current Hard Disk
What Do All These Sizes Mean?
Before we begin, it is important to understand the sizes used to describe files on a computer, as well as hard-drives. Most USB Device’s space is measured in Gigabytes. A Gigabyte is a unit of measurement and is fairly large.
To give you an idea, you could probably fit at least 500 high quality pictures in 1 Gigabyte or several thousand low quality pictures. Text files are much smaller, so you could easily fit thousands of regular sized text documents in 1 Gigabyte.
Music and videos are much larger and depending on the video camera or video quality, you might be able to fit a couple of full length movies in 1 gigabyte or even only a few minutes of video, if it is very high quality.
What is a USB Stick?
USB Sticks are small devices, often called thumb drives, which plug into a USB Port on your computer. They are sort of like mini hard drives, which you can transfer your data too and offer the advantage of being small and easy to work with.
The less expensive thumb drives, like those you get for under $30, usually hold a lot less data than an external hard drive. They are often best suited for moving files between computers and backing up text documents. When storing movies and music, and to a lesser extent pictures, a USB Drive can be filled up very quickly!
There are some USB Sticks that are much larger, like the Kingston Data Traveler, which holds 256 Gigabytes of data, but they are also much more expensive, around $600.
What is an External Hard Drive?
External Hard-Drives usually hold a lot more data than an USB stick. As the name implies, they are similar to the hard-drive inside your computer, but designed to be easily transported without having to actually install it inside the computer.
They are typically two parts: the hard disk itself, which is surrounded in a plastic case for protection and a detachable cord that plugs into the USB port on your computer.
From a value standpoint, you will usually get more space for less than when shopping for a USB stick. It is a good idea to get one that does not require external power cord, this way you can always use it without having to try to find a plug or carry around an extra cord. Some external-hard drives use a special cord, which has a split in it, to plug into two usb ports.
What Size USB Device Should I Get?
When selecting a USB Device, you want to make sure that it is big enough to hold all of your pictures, documents, and files, while also providing room to grow.
USB Thumb Drives are usually much smaller than an External-Hard Drive. It is not common to see an external-hard drive that is less than 80GB, but you will often find thumb drives that are only a couple of GB in size.
In most cases, if you have only text documents that you need saved, you would probably be fine with an 4GB or 8GB usb stick.
For those that have a lot of pictures, music, or videos, it is probably a good idea to go with at least an 80GB external-hard drive and in most cases, it is better to go with an external-hard drive that holds more than 320GB to be safe. This will provide plenty of room to grow.
Determining the Size of Your Current Hard Disk
To determine how much space you need, it is a good idea to check the folders on your computer to see how much space you use. First, determine the size of your current hard-drive. Then, check to see how big your picture, video, and document folders are.
This will give you an idea of how much space you have, how much space you are using, and how much space you need to have a little padding!
Checking Hard Drive Size In Windows XP:
1. Goto Start Menu -> My Computer
2. Locate your Hard Drive, under the “Hard Disk Drives” section, usually it will be labeled as “Local Disk (C:)”
3. Right Click on your hard-drive and select Properties.*
4. You will see a “Used Space” and “Free Space” Section
* You can also left click on your hard-drive and the free/used space is often displayed on the left.
To Check Individual Folder Size in Windows XP:
1. Navigate to your Documents folder, or wherever you keep pictures, text, and music.
2. Right click on each folder and select properties
3. Look at the “Size on Disk” section to see the size of the folder.
Checking Hard Drive Size In Windows Vista and Windows 7:
1. Goto Start Menu -> Computer
2. Locate your Hard Drive, under the “Hard Disk Drives” section, usually it will be labeled as “Local Disk (C:)”
3. The Free Space should be visible under the name of the hard disk.
To Check Individual Folder Size in Windows Vista or Windows 7:
1. Navigate to your libraries folder that houses your music, pictures, documents, or videos.
2. Right Click and Select Properties
3. Look at the Size of Files in Library section
Backup Backup Backup
Published by john on December 9, 2011 under Tech Support
One of the cardinal rules of computers is ALWAYS make a backup. It is not a matter of if your hard-drive will fail, but rather when your hard-drive will fail! There are also many other things that can happen, like dropping your laptop, computer viruses, water damage, electrical issues, which can result in a fried hard drive.
Making a backup of your data is essential to ensure that all of your pictures, documents, and music is safe and will not be lost.
Unfortunately, this is something many people never do. It is very easy to get comfortable storing all of your pictures and family movies on your desktop computer, thinking this is safe. Usually, it only takes this happening once to realize the importance, but by that time it it too late!
All too often, I have to tell people the bad news that their hard-drive has gone bad and the data lost. So, Backup, backup, backup and then backup your backup!
This is part of a several part series on the different types of backup solutions:
Add CommentWebsite Hosting? Whats That?
Published by john on January 18, 2010 under Websites
Having your own website can be a great way to share your life with your friends, family, and acquaintances. If you own a business, having your own website is an essential part of attracting new customers and keeping your existing clients informed of changes to your business. One of the key components of setting up a website is choosing your website host.
A Website Host is the company that keeps your website online, so others can find it through their web browser. The Hosting Company maintains a number of web servers, which are connected to the Internet. They will host your website on one of their servers, which allows others to find your site.
Can I Host My Website From My Personal Computer?
While it is possible to host your website from your own home, there are a few downsides to this.
First, there are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes, so it is necessary to be a very technical user.
Also, if the power goes out, your computer crashes, or you loose the Internet, the website will go down, which means you not only have to have protections in place to prevent this, but you also need to be on call 24/7 to fix any problems. Further, while it is possible to host a website from a desktop computer, it is preferable to host it from a server using Linux, as this is the most secure. So, you would typically not want to run it from a regular Desktop Computer.
Most ISPs, like Time Warner or Embarq, prohibit hosting a web site from a residential account, so you would likely need to upgrade to a business account or risk having your Internet Service turned off.
The main advantage to using a web host is that they worry about all of these things and have plans in place in the event of an emergency. So, even though some people do host their website from home, if you need to be able to guarantee that it will be up and are not very technical, it is almost always better to use a web hosting company.
Advantages of Shared Hosting
There are many types of hosting available, but the most common and inexpensive type of hosting is Shared Hosting. Shared Hosting is when the host puts your website on the same server as several of their other clients. This means that on the same computer server that hosts your website, there could also be 20 other websites.
Shared Hosting is a great choice for low traffic sites or ones that are just starting out, due to its low cost. Even though there are other websites on the same server, visitors to your site will not be able to tell.
Downsides to Shared Hosting
Of course, shared hosting does have a few drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that you are sharing the resources of the computer with each website that is on the server. This means that if one of the websites is incredibly busy, it could slow down the entire server. There are checks and balances to prevent this, but they don’t work 100% of the time.
The other main drawback is that if your site is incredibly busy, shared hosting may be too slow. Also, for very busy sites, the hosting company may not allow you to use shared hosting and instead require you to get a Private Server
What is a Private Server?
If you choose to use a Private Server to host your website, it means that only your site(s) will be running on the server. The company will allocate a set amount of resources to your account and allow you much more control over the server. For example, when you have a private server and it starts moving slowly, you can restart it whenever you want. This is not something you could do with shared hosting.
Using a Private Server can be very expensive, but it means that your site will be more secure and it will usually run much more efficiently.
What Type of Hosting is Right For Me?
For most family websites, shared hosting is the best bet. It only costs $10 a month and unless you have an extremely high traffic site, performance wise, shared hosting will usually be fine. This is also true of most business sites, at least in the beginning anyway.
However, if you need to be able to fully control the web server or if you have a very high traffic site, using a private server may be a better choice.
Ultimately, for most users, starting with shared hosting and then moving to a private server when necessary is usually a safe decision, as well as being the most affordable.
Add CommentWhat is the Difference Between the Hard Drive and Memory?
Published by john on December 18, 2009 under Computer HardwareWhen learning about computers, often one of the most difficult concepts to understand is the difference between a Computers Memory ad its hard drive space. It makes sense to be confused, as they both use similar terminology and measurements, but they actually preform different tasks in the computer.
Table of Contents
- What is Hard Drive Space?
- What Happens if You Don’t Have Enough Hard-Drive Space?
- How Do I Find Out How Big My Hard Drive is?
- How Can I Get More Hard Drive Space?
- What is Computer Memory?
- How Do I Know How Much RAM is Installed?
- How Do I Get More Memory?
What is Hard Drive Space?
A computer uses its hard drive to save data. When you save a picture or a Microsoft Word Document to your desktop, you are saving it to the computers hard drive. When you install a new computer program, you are installing it to the Computer Hard Drive.
Today, hard drive space is usually described in Gigabytes(gb.) Gigabytes are often called gigs for short, so you might hear someone say they have a 120 gig hard drive.
Most computers at least have a 120 Gigabyte Hard Drive, with many having over 400 gigs.. Each Gigabyte is made up of 1024 Megabytes(mb,) so a 120 Gigabyte Hard Drive has 122880 Megabytes(mb.)
Terabyte hard drives are also becoming much more common and are very inexpensive. 1 terabyte is 1024 Gigabytes.
What Happens if You Don’t Have Enough Hard-Drive Space?
Not having enough hard drive space can cause a number of problems. In very serious cases, it will actually cause Windows to not turn on or to move incredibly slowly. It is not uncommon for this to cause a Blue Screen of Death, which is nickname for the blue warning screen with white writing that Windows will sometimes show.
Most often, however, not having enough hard drive space is more of an inconvenience, as you will simply not have enough space left to to install any programs or files.
Typically, music files and movies take up the most space, so if you are running low, deleting some of these types of files may be the best choice. People rarely have enough word documents to actually take up a significant amount of space, although pictures can add up quickly and if you have enough can use a significant chunk of your hard drive.
How Do I Find Out How Big My Hard Drive is?
In Windows XP, you can open “My Computer” and the amount of hard drive space will be displayed. In My Computer, you can also right click on your hard drive and select properties, to see a more detailed view of your hard drive space.
If you are using Mac OSX, right click on the hard drive icon that is on the desktop and select “Get Info.” This will tell you how many files are on the hard drive and how much space is being used.
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How Can I Get More Hard Drive Space?
One of the quickest ways to free up hard drive space is to remove any unwanted videos and music files, as these tend to take up a great deal of space. It is also possible to uninstall unneeded programs and to clear your temporary files.
However, sometimes if the hard drive space is too low, you will not even be able to uninstall any programs or delete any files through windows, without causing an error.
Another option is to install a second hard drive, which may be a better option, as you will be able to save all of your data. The price of hard drives has dropped tremendously over the last few years, so this is often the best choice. Remember that music and videos typically take up the most space on most peoples computers, although pictures and computer programs can also take up a good deal of space.
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What is Computer Memory?
Like a hard drive, computer memory is usually measured in either Megabytes(mb) or Gigabytes(gb.) Memory is often referred to as RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory.
Memory is used by computer programs to temporarily store data and every time you turn off your computer, anything stored on the Memory is deleted. For example, if you are playing a computer game, the level you are on might be stored in memory.
The reason computers use Memory to temporarily store data instead of the hard drive is because it can be accessed much quicker than the hard drive can, but most operating systems also use hard drive space like memory as well.
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How Do I Know How Much RAM is Installed?
In Windows XP, you can right click on “My Computer” and Select “Properties.” In Vista, you can right click on “Computer” and select “Properties.”
If you are using a Mac OSX, click on the Apple in the left hand corner and select “About This Mac.”
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How Do I Get More Memory?
You can typically upgrade your memory, but there are many different types of memory, so you need to make sure you get the right type for your computer. Usually, you can find this information in the Computer’s Manual or by visiting the Manufacturer’s Website.
The Operating System is also a factor in how much memory you can use, as Windows XP will only recognize up to 3 Gigabytes of Memory, so adding anything more would be a waste of money.
Why is My Computer Running Slowly
Published by john on December 10, 2009 under Tech Support
Often, many computer users will notice that over a period of time, their computer begins to run much more slowly than it did when they first got it. There are several reasons this can happen and since this is sometimes a sign that the computer could be infected with a virus, it is not something that should be taken lightly.
Viruses and Spyware
If your computer is infected with spyware or some other sort of computer virus, this will often cause the computer to run much more slowly than usual. Most people will also notice a change in the way their Internet browser works as well.
For example, when a computer is infected with malware, which is a broad term used to describe malicious software, it is common to start getting a lot more pop-ups than usual.
Another common change is that whenever a standard search is preformed in Google or Yahoo, the results are always for the same site.
You may also find that you keep on getting a strange pop-up that says your computer is infected with a virus and you need to purchase a special anti-virus program to fix it. However, if you are seeing this, it almost always means your computer has already been infected with a virus and your privacy has been compromised.
There are actually a number of different types of malware, including spyware, which steals all of your personal information and tracks your online activity, and adware, which causes advertisements to show up on your computer and in your web browser. These and other types of viruses will not only cause your computer to move much slower, but also means that your privacy and security have been compromised.
Too Many Programs Running
While often a slow computer means that it has been infected with spyware or some other sort of computer virus, this is not always the case. It is also sometimes caused by running too many computer programs at once.
This can happen because, pretty much every time you install a new computer program, it sets itself up to start when your computer turns on.
Each program that starts when the computer starts uses up precious resources, so after a few of these programs have been installed, it will begin to slow down the computer.
One way to tell if this may be a problem is to look at the Icons that are in the bottom right hand corner by the clock. Each of these icons is a computer program that is running and using resources. There are a few of these, like wireless network tools and sound controls, that are needed, but most of them are not.
In practice, it is almost always better to only allow the essential programs that your computer needs to properly function to start when you turn on Windows. This includes things like Firewalls and Anti-Virus Software. Other programs, like Yahoo Messenger, which are not required for the computer to properly function, should not be allowed to start when you turn on the computer and instead only when you use them.
What is Bloatware?
Bloatware is software that is installed by the computer manufacturer. Almost all computer manufactures, like Dell and HP, include a great deal of bloatware on their computers, as they are paid by the software companies to add these unnecessary programs.
Often, when you buy a new computer, it is packed with so much bloatware that it runs extremely slow from the first time you use it. Or, if it doesn’t run slowly right away, it will once you install a few of your own programs. Uninstalling and removing bloatware is essential for ensuring that your computer will run as quickly as possible.
One way to avoid getting computers with bloatware, or at least getting less bloatware, is to order using a business account, as most manufacturers do not cripple their business class computers as much as they do their personal ones.
However, even with business class computers, it is still usually necessary to spend some time removing bloatware.
The Computer Does Not Have Enough Memory
Another reason computers can run slowly is because they do not have enough memory. Memory is used by software to store data and variables. If you do not have enough memory, it will cause your computer to run very slowly. Often, memory problems can be minimized by uninstalling unnecessary software and bloatware.
It is important to note that even though Memory and Hard-Drive Space are often described using the same units of measurement, GB or Gigabytes, they are not actually the same thing. However, not having enough hard-drive space can also cause problems.
Add CommentWelcome to the Learning Center
Published by john on December 10, 2009 under Tech Support
Hello and thanks for stopping by.
At Knightdale Computer Repair, we know how important it is to not just fix the problem, but to also help provide our clients with the tools to better protect their computer systems. We offer the learning center to help teach our clients about how to safely manage their system and get the most out of their computer. We will also provide some information about the goings on in Raleigh and the surrounding area.
If you ever have any questions or would like to share your thoughts with us, you can leave us a comment or give us a call.
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