Inside your desktop computer.
In 1986, I carted home a 386 IBM clone PC with a 40 mega bite hard drive and I thought I was in tall cotton. Just a few months before that, I didn't know the difference between hardware and software. But, I learned early on and fast how to pop-the-top and make my own fixes because I could never get service when I needed it.
Nowadays, if my computer takes a dive for any reason, I'm usually back up and running in 20 to 30 minutes. Usually a virus or worm gets through the virus software. Sometimes you can repair it, sometimes you can't. DON'T spend forever trying to fix it. I have a drive already loaded up with Windows and basic programs. Pop it in, configure it up with the rest of the programs I need and I'm back in business.
Computer Corner . . . Making your life
easier.
Know the answer before the question.
There are basically two kinds of computer users on the planet. One kind is people who BACKUP their computer on a regular basis and then there's the people who will BACKUP from now on. (Usually just after a hard drive crashes.) Laptop people are the worlds worst about backups.
In the business of 1's and 0's, the most important function you can perform on your computer is a BACKUP. The major problem with most computer setups though is they aren't setup to BACKUP. Whether you use a backup product or hard drive system, soon or later, a hard drive will go south on you. It's not enough anymore to have just one backup, you better have a backup of the backup.
On the average IDE system, you have enough slots to run 4 disk drives. Under normal circumstances, one of those slots will probably be used for a CD ROM or DVD ROM. That leaves 3 slots for hard drives. The C Disk drive runs Windows. Here's where everything starts to work. Put all your programs along with Windows on your C Drive. Put all your data and image files on your D drive. Now, back up your D drive to C and E drives. With this configuration, you're always backed up at least twice and it's not complicated. If you have any external hard drives, you can use those for some backup functions also.
Always know one or more of your disk drives is going to crash on you. It's inevitable. At least with the configuration described, you'll be covered. If the C Drive crashes, you lose your operating system, your programs and your backup from the data and image files on the D drive. But the files on D and the backup on E are still preserved. So, you buy a new drive, grab your Windows CD, reload that, reload your programs and back your files up from your D drive and your back in business. You can do it yourself and you won't have to pay somebody to do it when they feel they want to get around to it some time in the next couple of weeks.
The same principle applies when your D or E drive crashes. If the D drive goes south on you, simply copy the data back from your C or E drive. Since your data has no effect on your Windows Registry, all your programs will run just fine.
You also have to give some thought to an external drive backup that you can put in a fireproof safe or a safe deposit box. It's not probable, but it is possible that the house or the office might burn down or get burglarized. Some people have 2-300 gigs of files that aren't exactly going to fit on a floppy drive. You might want to be sure you're covered.
OK . . . there's going to be a lot more to the Computer Corner over time. Stop back and check it out. If you have questions email me at larry@computastic.com