Julian G

Join Date 08/2005

Some general questions about the computer

Hey there,

I need some tips and clarification on these matters. Thanks in advance for your help.

1) Is it okay to leave my computer on for like, a couple of weeks? Will it shorten the lifespan of my hardware, especially the HDD, because it is constantly spinning? I live in Malaysia - the weather here is basically hot, about 30+ degrees outside.

2) How do I actually back up my stuff? Do I burn them all into many discs, or is there another way to back them up completely should I want to reformat?

3) I have two HDDs. One an 80-gig S-ATA (whatever that means) that has two partitions, C:\WINDOWS and E:\GAMES. The other one is an ATA HDD with a capacity of 20 gigs which is under D:\MUSIC. I have noticed that whenever I put my computer off standby, the D drive does not "wake up". It does not appear in windows explorer and device manager - as if I do not have that drive installed at all. A reboot is needed everytime I wish to use the files in it. What is the real problem?

4) My setup:
Intel Pentium 4 2.60c with hyper threading
1 gig of RAM (DDR, 512 each)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
I am a heavy gamer. What is the next thing I should upgrade?

5) Should I come to the US, what are the good places to shop for PC hardware (and software)?

Well, that should be all for now. I have had plenty of questions, but these are the ones that are in my mind right now. I will post them as I remember.. hope you guys don't mind

Have a nice day.

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NightTrainthedark

Join Date 07/2003

+255

You will get mixed opinions on the matter. I can say that my 3 pcs are on all the time. They are never shut off. Only occasional rebooting when required. One has had a broken fan for sometime now and is about to burn up at any sentence.

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quote]I live in Malaysia - the weather here is basically hot, about 30+ degrees
Is this a typo? 30+ degrees is cold.
1 -Like Night train stated, youll get mixed opinions on weather or not to leave your computer on all the time. Mine is on basically 24/7. I only do a warm re-boot occasionally to re-vamp the memory (old computer and cant add any more memory) I think I read somewhere that leaving it on as apposed to constant shutting down/restarting is better. And I would certainly recomend you have a properly working fan and good ventilation.
2- Not sure about this one, but I think the best way to back-up data is on a removable back-up device with a large capacity such as a USB plug-in drive
3- Does your D drive show up in device manager? Maybe you need to re-assign the letter. How about Bios? Is it set properly there?
4- Not sure, but if you are a heavy gamer, a Video card with more memory would probably help
5- Comp USA and Circuit city.

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I'm in Ireland and my laptop has been running for 185 days now (desktop 50 days according to uptime, I rebooted for a security update then). I never even consider rebooting my computer, let alone switching it off. The very idea now seems foreign to me.

2) How do I actually back up my stuff? Do I burn them all into many discs, or is there another way to back them up completely should I want to reformat?

Easiest way: keep everything in folders smaller than a CD-RW, then copy individual folders on CD-RWs.

Better: use a backup program. If you have XP Pro it should have come with a backup program. I backup to my laptop and an external hard disk. Important data I keep on my iDisk. Perhaps use a Gmail account for personal files?

3) I have two HDDs. One an 80-gig S-ATA (whatever that means) that has two partitions, C:\WINDOWS and E:\GAMES. The other one is an ATA HDD with a capacity of 20 gigs which is under D:\MUSIC. I have noticed that whenever I put my computer off standby, the D drive does not "wake up". It does not appear in windows explorer and device manager - as if I do not have that drive installed at all. A reboot is needed everytime I wish to use the files in it. What is the real problem?

First, you are confused. Your partitions on the first disk are likely C: and E:, "Windows" and "Games" being directories on them (on C: there should also be "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" among others). The partition on the second disk is D: with a directory "Music" on it.

The reason your second disk doesn't wake up is likely that Windows uses a rather idiotic system to hook disks into the system for historical reasons. The problem is probably triggered by your second disk not waking up quickly enough and Windows ignoring it after trying to access it. You can perhaps convince Windows to treat the disk as an external drive.

But what might be a better solution is to get an USB2 enclosure for the disk, copying the music files on the internal, larger disk, and using this new external USB2 20 GB disk for quick backups!

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Is this a typo? 30+ degrees is cold.

Celsius

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One has had a broken fan for sometime now and is about to burn up at any sentence.

Talking about good fans- do higher-end fans generate less noise? As it is, the computer sound like someone snoring (a bit of exaggeration here). Also, I've read (and seen) those liquid-cooling systems, which replaces fans. Should I consider the liquid coolants, or just stick with getting a better fan?

Is this a typo? 30+ degrees is cold.

Sorry, I meant 30 degrees Celcius which converts to about 86-95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Does your D drive show up in device manager? Maybe you need to re-assign the letter. How about Bios? Is it set properly there?

It does not. I do not dare to meddle with the BIOS unless I have very clear instructions on what to do. Perhaps you could teach me how to check it?

Yes, you are right. C: and E: are on the 80-gig, and D: is a separate HDD altogether. How do I ""convince" Windows to treat the disk as an external drive"?

USB2 enclosure for the disk

I'm sorry but I don't quite get what this means.

Um, about 5), I forgot to mention that it has to be near Arcadia (Michigan?), as my relatives live there.

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Julian,

Looks like most questions have been answered, but I will throw in anyway:

1 = No problem leaving your computer on as long as the cooling system (CPU heatsink, CPU fan (if there is one), Power Supply Unit fan, and any case fans) are working efficiently, and are kept relatively free of dust. Rebooting would only be necessary to clear the RAM if you had a lot of file loaded and they were cached and taking up memory, which will force Windows to use the hard drive as memory (this is known as "paging") - it will be obvious due to the system slowing down while accessing or working with files.

2 = CD's are fine (if doing in preparation for a clean install, you only need to back-up your saved files, favorites, and perhaps your address book file - due to the fact that Windows set-up will restore all the system files, and your software programs will install the required files assuming you have the installer discs or files).

3 = As stated by Leauki, it could be due to the ATA drive not powering up during the period of time allowed by a file in Windows - which is measured in milliseconds. You could check with the motherboard manufacturer to see if you have the latest BIOS version, which may improve the ATA controllers initialization speed.

4 = Newer video card with 256 MB memory would help in gaming (either the nVidia 6800GT chipset, or the ATI X800 chipset would do), as well as the fastest supported memory (RAM) - bump to 2 GB if you can afford it and if the motherboard supports that much.

5 = Comp USA (as mentioned by crissy14). There is also Fry's electronics which carries many brand name components for lower prices than most retail stores. You can also look into online stores such as "newegg.com" which carries quality components at reasonable prices and will deliver. I would recommend using caution when shopping at the various retail stores, well known software should not be a problem, but ask questions about the components in the hardware - so that you do not end up with a box full of outdated, or hard to update components.

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Talking about good fans- do higher-end fans generate less noise?

For case fans, you usually have either an 80 mm diameter fan, or a 120 mm diameter fan. The larger the diameter, the slower it can spin to move air.

For all fans, the faster the spin (higher RPM), the more noise.

CPU fans (if you have one, it will be connected to the metal block with fins that covers the CPU) tend to be rather noisy if run above 2500 RPM, so some companies (zalman, for one) make large heatsinks with large fans that can cool the CPU with little or no noise (approx. 19 db, or less) - other fans that spin anywhere from 3000 - 4500 RPM tend to be quite noisy (30+ db).

If you can fit a zalman 7000 aluminum/copper heatsink fan combo, you should end up with a CPU temperature about 10 degrees celcius cooler, and a very quiet CPU fan - though you will want to check their website for the measurements for compatiblity on your particular machine (specifically the distance between the center of the CPU socket and the power supply unit, as well as any capacitors, etc. surrounding the socket).

Case fans are fairly cheap, so you could try one with a bit more speed than the stock one (Altec makes some nice fans).

I do not dare to meddle with the BIOS unless I have very clear instructions on what to do.

When you start up your computer, you should see a prompt indicating the key to hit to enter "Set-up" (usually something like - Esc, F1, F2, or Del) - hit this key a few time during the initial boot process, and you should end up on the BIOS screen. Look for the page that displays a list of drives, if you see the hard drive listed with the correct information, then the BIOS recognizes the drive.

If you are thinking of upgrading things, you might consider a new external USB drive, which is easy to configure and which you could use to hold your backup files, as well as the music files. This would allow you to remove the slower ATA drive altogether, and should eliminate the resume from standby issue.

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Thanks everyone

Very helpful info and advice. Corky, I have done according to your directions and I did see both HDDs there when I press Delete at startup, with the 80gig one as the primary and the latter the "slave" as I recall. A friend of mine is kind enough to let me try out his 100gig external HDD.

To think that I am dubbed the "computer freak" amongst my friends!

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