new computer

[Anthony KnightsParticipant @anthonyknights16741]

"Acronis True Image" will back up files and clone hard drives. Google "Acronis True Image bootable ISO"

Edited By Anthony Knights on 04/11/2019 11:04:11 edited for typos

Edited By Anthony Knights on 04/11/2019 11:05:18

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Sorry Douglas – our posts must have crossed!

[Old ElanParticipant @oldelan]

Posted by MichaelR on 03/11/2019 17:47:03:

As a very satisfied customer have a look at this company Here I have had my computers built to my requirements by this company they will give you all the help you need in choosing what you require.

I have a All in One built by the above.

MikeR.

Mike's position is the same as mine. Exactly. I've had 'commercial' PCs in the past (Dell, HP etc.) but their options aren't as flexible as PCSpecialist in my opinion.

The only problem that I encountered was the build time. Otherwise very happy with my AIO.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Posted by old mart on 03/11/2019 19:14:43:

Out of 14 SSD's that I have bought, from 32 to 500 Gb, only one has failed, a 120 Gb. I have had 4 hdds fail over the years. If I was going to buy a new pc, I would look at what Novatech have to offer in the UK. Or something like this if second hand:

**LINK**

I bought a lot of stuff from novatech back when I was in business. I can't speak for them these days but back then they were always helpful and quick.

pgk

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

My last laptop began giving me those messages too and told me that if I did not do something about it, it would switch off "To protect the system", and it did, full stop !

When I went about having it repaired, I was told that it needed a new hard drive plus new cooling fans and maybe something else .Might be cheaper to buy a new one. How old was it ? seven years !

It seems that these things are updated every week and no-one is really interested in repairing them.

How long will my "New" one last ? Good question.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Dependant on current hard drive size you may want to consider a new SSD hard drive from the likes of Crucial + kit as it comes with a clone option to copy your current drive to the new drive, instructions are simple enough, I've done it with 3 desktops and a couple of laptops all with a major speed boost.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Will second the company MichaelR linked to, I have 3 true workstations. one built by Pc Specialist, 1 built by Scan Computers and 1 built by Utopia, all superb builds, anyone of those companies will do a superb job.

[RMAParticipant @rma]

This is an interesting thread. I've had several computers over the years and the last two were/are laptops. You're lucky in some respect that you have actually been given a warning….I've never had that, usually instant failure. The last being when away in Spain for a while, so I had to resort to using my phone for everything. When I returned to the UK I bought another laptop, very high spec but unfortunately loaded with Win10!

I thought I'd try and see if the hard drive from the old one still worked, so I bought a slave housing off ebay and linked it up to my new laptop and hey ho….it worked, so nothing was lost. The new laptop has an SSD so less of a problem with hauling the laptop around on planes etc.

I find the above info from members both useful and a bit scary……you can't not power off a laptop to my knowledge, and I thought an SSD would be good for the life of the laptop. Oh well, nothing last forever……must get back to the habit of backing up each day!

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by John Hinkley on 03/11/2019 16:48:09:

Whatever you do, don't ignore the warning! I did – twice and the next time I switched it on, the hard drive failed. In some respects it wasn't a problem in that it wasn't the main drive which held the operating system and program files, but was the second drive which had all my engineering and CAD files, etc going back five years or more. All lost. I had some backed up on a couple of USB sticks, but by no means all. A local computer data retrieval company could only recover a couple of text files and a photograph, though they did suggest a firm that does work for the "boys in blue"

When all the usual file recovery methods fail …. one thing you can try is to wrap/seal the drive in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer overnight. Next day quickly connect it to an external USB drive (just connect the cables) and see if you can read it.

I know it sounds a bit daft, but it worked for me for a drive that was in the same position as yours. I got all my data off it over several repeats of this process.

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

The hard drive is still working so it will be interesting to see how long it lasts. I am now considering replacing the drive rather than buying a new computer but wonder if my machine is too old (about 9 years ) to be able to fit a SSD rather than a HDD. The old motherboard might not be up to the task of running a SSD in which case I may revert to plan A and replace the computer.

Doug

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

I will just add to the vast amount of good advice above, that if you use a 3d graphics program, like fusion360, or any sort of CAD/CAM, a gaming machine can be a very good choice, as they have much better graphics and main processors than business computers. Playing a fast 3d game is the hardest thing that any computer will ever do, and when you try to do it on business computer, it quickly becomes obvious that they are not up to the task.!

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Douglas Johnston on 04/11/2019 20:01:59:

I am now considering replacing the drive rather than buying a new computer but wonder if my machine is too old (about 9 years ) to be able to fit a SSD rather than a HDD. The old motherboard might not be up to the task of running a SSD in which case I may revert to plan A and replace the computer.

You'll need it to have a SATA HD interface to start with. Preferably SATA-3 (6GB/sec) to take full advantage of modern SSDs.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

what is the make and model of your existing machine ? also what is the size of the hard drive (if over 320G (or more usually 160GB) then almost certainly a SATA – the two killers of hard drives are heat (in laptops usually caused by clogged filters as air flow is generally poor) or power supply glitches (eg operating near motors etc) replacement PATA drives are available often at relatively low prices – if it was a near top of the range business machine of that vintage it probably has a SATA interface and a hard drive replacement + extra memory will be all that is required. I’d only consider buying a new one if your needs have changed (eg you are trying to get into CAD)

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

I doubt a 9 year old PC is too old to accept a SSD hard drive after all the Intel Core I5 is now 10 years old. May not work at optimal speed but still considerably faster than a mechanical drive. Do you know make and model of motherboard and processor? "Belarc Advisor" will tell you, only a small application. 

 

Edited By Bob Brown 1 on 04/11/2019 22:16:26

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Went into a small local PC repair shop this morning and the very helpful chap ran me through what he could do for me. I ended up leaving my machine with him to replace the hard drive with an SSD drive and swap the operating system and all other stuff onto the new drive. Provided I get a few more years out of it I will be happy.

Doug

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Good to hear you are supporting local shops Douglas, if we don't use them we will lose them and be at the command of the large chains.

Emgee

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Yippee Yippee.. got my computer back this afternoon from my wee local repair shop and have just connected it back up. The guy fitted a 500Gb SSD, swapped the operating system and all my files, sorted a few other minor problems and all done in one day and the cost was very reasonable.

The result is very impressive with everything flying along at a good speed. You are absolutely right Emgee, it is good to support local small shops, the level of service is often far better than the big boys offer.

Doug

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Douglas, hope all your old programs work with the new operating system, some of mine fail with Win10.

Emgee

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Fortunately I was on the latest version of windows 10 before the hard drive showed signs of failing so my machine was returned exactly as it left me in terms of the operating system so no problems there. I have spent hours in the past sorting out computer problems myself ,so was delighted to have it all done for me this time. I might have tried replacing the hard drive myself but I had no experience of transferring the operating system ,so was best left to an expert.For the very reasonable cost it was well worth it.

Doug

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

Doing it your self using Crucial's or Kingston's free software is straight forward, as I said earlier have done it a few times now and well within most peoples capability and is probably how the computer shop did it. I assume the computer is now booting much faster and in general faster which extends it's life for minimal outlay.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I have a cheap cloning tool that you just pop the drive to be cloned and the new drive in then press the button, 2 hours later job done, worked a treat to replace my old drive with a SSD hybrid drive.

Mike

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

One thing to remember is with an SSD you don’t need to run defrag or optimisation .

I know that my Norton offers this and i had to disable it in the Norton settings, I would also look in computer management just to make sure there is no defrag schedule set .

Try to keep the download and delete of files to your C/ drive to a minimum as SSD have a finite amount of cycles in them – Don’t. worry ! you are not likely to exceed this unless you are downloading a massive amount of very very large files like movies and deleting them shortly after , you are better off either leaving them on there until you start to run out of space ( unlikely with 500gb ) then delete all of them or download these files straight to an external drive or storage device and not to your C/ drive if possible .

I always try to support the small operators especially when the big chain/ box stores have bought into just about every market here in Australia which is driving the small independent retailers out of business as they simply can’t get the bulk buy discounts that the big retailers can barter for with their suppliers .

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

That's interesting about the defrag not being required, I must check to see if that needs disabling. With regard to changing the drive oneself, I could have saved a few quid but there could have been complications with a drive on its last legs and it is many years since I have delved inside a computer. In the past when money was a lot tighter I would probably have done it myself, but there is a lot to be said for the convenience of having it done by an expert.

When I had a look online about SSD's I did discover that they have a theoretical limited life but that does not seem to be a major issue for most users.

Doug

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Douglas Johnston on 07/11/2019 09:40:37:

That's interesting about the defrag not being required, I must check to see if that needs disabling. With regard to changing the drive oneself, I could have saved a few quid but there could have been complications with a drive on its last legs and it is many years since I have delved inside a computer. In the past when money was a lot tighter I would probably have done it myself, but there is a lot to be said for the convenience of having it done by an expert.

When I had a look online about SSD's I did discover that they have a theoretical limited life but that does not seem to be a major issue for most users.

Doug

Defrag – that's a Microsoft feature – how quaint!

Seriously though, a file stored on a hard disk consists of a linked list of smallish blocks. On an empty disk these are physically written in sequence on the magnetic media and can thus be read very quickly. But as the disk fills up and files are deleted, new blocks will be written into whatever spare space has become available. Then, in order to read a file, the head has to jump from track to track as it follows the list. As physically moving the head takes an eternity, it may be worth defragmenting the disk every so often. All this does is to reorganise the physical blocks so that more of them can be read in order without the head changing track. Being electronic, with no delays due to head movement, an SSD doesn't care much about where blocks are located in memory – it can read and write fragmented files as fast as unfragmented files. And, because SSDs have a relatively limited read-write life, it doesn't pay to waste them on unnecessary defrag reorganisations.

As disk fragmentation has been an obvious problem since disks were invented much effort has been put into developing file-systems that minimise the effects. Microsoft's NTFS is not the best of all possible file systems, and UNIX / Linux / Mac / Android systems all use 'better' alternatives that don't need the same level of periodic cleansing.

A good combination if there's space is to combine the advantages of SSDs and Hard Drives by using both. An SSD is excellent at speeding everything up but they are pricey and short lived compared with a hard drive for storing bulk data. It pays to organise a computer so everything system is on the SSD while everything user is on a hard-drive. Then the time sensitive operating system goes like the wind, whilst less time critical user data turns up in due course. As operating systems can use both drives in parallel, an SSD + HD will perform nearly as well as a single SSD computer, whilst the HD takes much of the strain that would otherwise reduce SSD life times.

That said, these days I wouldn't worry too much about SSD lifetimes, as with all things electronic they get better every year.

Personally, I prefer replacing unreliable computers over about 5 years old because new ones are so much better! As technology is still advancing rapidly, new computers come with more cores and memory, plus faster processors, memory, bulk storage, graphics, networking and multi-media. The improvement will be obvious.

As a career IT person I normally do computer maintenance myself but I think taking a sick computer to a professional is a sensible way to get it fixed. I'm always conscious the facilities I have at home for diagnosing and mending computers are inferior to what was available at work. A professional should have skills, experience, knowledge and tools. Paying for them rather than bumbling around in a fog is often the smart option!

Dave

 

 

 

 

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 07/11/2019 14:02:28

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I suggested just a replacement SSD as I got the impression from the original post that Doglas was not a big PC user. I addd the caveat "if you are not planning to buy any new software". It's easy for computer "nerds" to forgetf a machine is otherwise OK and powerful enough to run the existing software does not have to replaced. A faster disk and "tune-up" can work wonders.

Robert G8RPI

[Author]

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