|
Redundant, offline backups?
Although I fully realize that, eventually, keeping a 500GB drive around is pointless.
I must have 40+ "spare" hard drives right now. By now I've given up all pretense that I'll ever do anything with the IDE ones. At least I don't have a single SCSI drive anymore...
I still have people who show up every once in a while with a laptop with a dead hard drive. More often than not, I'll just give them one of my spares, which is still larger in capacity than the dead one I'm replacing for free.
|
|
|
|
|
I purchased a Sabrent external drive reader -- it accepts SATA and SSD drives. Essentially, it turns them into stable flash drives. I use my stack of HD for backing up large data sets, such of photos.
I also have a stack of small EIDE drives that I can't read. My current MB doesn't have an EIDE connector and the external caddy doesn't have the interface. I'm afraid to recycle them as I have no idea what's on them. Could be old files backups, including financial records.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes. Eventually, I drill a hole through them and discard in the appropriate bin at the waste recycle joint.
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
I don't drill a hole through them; I just use DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) at its DoD setting to wipe and zero them before taking them into IT at work for disposal. They have a repurposing program for old hardware (for families who can't afford a computer), so if someone can use my unneeded hardware - why not?
Unless you are storing media on your system drive, a 500GB drive is likely to be more than enough for your needs.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
I like the idea that it gets repurposed at least once instead of right to a landfill.
Thanks for that tip!
Maybe that will be my motivation to clean them up!
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, speaking of which, does anybody have a running computer that can read a SCSI disk? Asking for a friend.
If pigs could fly, just imagine how good their wings would taste!
- Harvey
|
|
|
|
|
Okay, Child 1 is due to go to university in October.
She'll need a laptop for writing that student shizzle that they do. I'm thinking of a minimum spec of 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, i5 processor and 14" screen. And light.
She's reading History & French so doesn't need a dev machine and doesn't game or anything. Watches too much foreign art films though.
So does that spec sound okay?
Recommendations? NOT Dell, they're a pile of elephant and no one will ever persuade me differently.
[OT: Yea, fine thanks. Double dosed of 5G today and Bill says hi!]
veni bibi saltavi
|
|
|
|
|
Nagy Vilmos wote: Watches too much foreign art films though.
Needs intervention more than a laptop. 
|
|
|
|
|
Sadly she's a linguist - like the ma - and watches a lot of French, Hungarian and Korean films.
Can't stop that, but she claims it's all art...
veni bibi saltavi
|
|
|
|
|
Korean and Hungarian?! Wow, I'm impressed.
|
|
|
|
|
She also speaks a bit of German.
Hungarian and English are her home languages - wifely and I - she learnt French & German at school - top grades obvs - and is self taught in Korean for the fun of it!
veni bibi saltavi
|
|
|
|
|
Je trouve que c'est très bien.
|
|
|
|
|
You what? She's the nutter wot speaks forn, not me!
veni bibi saltavi
|
|
|
|
|
I kinda like my dell...
Ask her what she thinks she needs. Personally, I'd want a larger screen, but I'm old and blind.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
|
|
|
|
|
She is as tech savvy as a fish, so I'll have to best guess. I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
veni bibi saltavi
|
|
|
|
|
Nagy Vilmos wrote: I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
Oooh Errrr!
|
|
|
|
|
Nagy Vilmos wrote: I have a 15" and she thinks it's a bit too big.
Heh.
The Phone Generation(tm), obviously.
|
|
|
|
|
What does the University suggest for incoming students? If the most prevalent laptops among the professors are fruit, you might want to have her join the dark side. 
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
Unless it's socketed which most thin and light laptops don't do anymore, I'd probably go with 16GB of ram. Maybe she'll never need it; but if she does buying it now will save a buying a new laptop in 2 or 3 years.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
+1 for the 16GB of RAM.
8GB is fine if you boot up Windows 10 and leave it running and not do anything all day, but given how memory-hungry browsers are nowadays, 16GB buys you a little more future-proofing.
|
|
|
|
|
I had a long search to find a laptop (price and functionality) but I found that ordering direct from HP was the way to go. It took a while because the build literally came from China but it was well worth the wait.
I went with AMD chip, but they have Intel too if you're stuck on that.
Here's the link to the laptop catalog: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/mdp/pavilion-15-344522--1#!&tab=vao[^] .
Quote:
HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eh0097nr
(8)
2B4R7UA#ABA
Part number: 2B4R7UA#ABA ENERGY STAR
Windows 10 Home 64
AMD Ryzen™ 7 processor
AMD Radeon™ Graphics
16 GB memory; 512 GB SSD storage
Tech spec
See all offers
$799.99$699.99
|
|
|
|
|
I second this choice. While I dislike much of the hp bloatware, I really like their recovery features from the BIOS, saved me and my data a few times already. And had no trouble with the HW so far, but for a few minor things after windows updates.
|
|
|
|
|
Rage wrote: While I dislike much of the hp bloatware,
Agreed! Took a few sessions to keep noticing unnecessary stuff and uninstalling, but after you get it all rooted out, it's not a bad laptop (especially considering price).
|
|
|
|
|
I'd second most of these specs, with the exception of the screen size. A 13".3 screen is too small for prolonged typing, but a 15" screen is too heavy to lug around for a full day. The 14" screen is the happy medium.
Even at my advanced age (57), I have no problems working on a screen of that size when on the go. Obviously, at home I connect the laptop to a larger screen.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
Nagy Vilmos wrote: NOT Dell, they're a pile of elephant and no one will ever persuade me differently.
Looks like the subliminal ads from the second jab are already kicking in. On a scale from 0 to 10, how is the urge to buy a Surface ?
8Gb is the minimum, since the OS sucks up to 2Gb and browsing (which is the main activity with student laptops) takes about 200Mb per open tab, all the rest is fine.
I would not go for a too thin one, since they need to be a tad robust - student laptops are not sitting on a desk waiting like most work laptops do, they are more than often on the road.
Maybe you have additional requirements for connections (USB B ? C ? ), or whatever can spare you a costly docking station at home.
Fingerprint unlock is quite handy, since the damn thing locks often when you are sitting listening and typing in a course. (No, setting the locking time to more minutes is not an option, unless you want someone to spam the campus if you go for a minute and forget to lock your laptop).
And one or two solid graphics cards to mine bitcoins to pay for the student loans 
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
