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Trina's Column - March
| From Slave
To Master A New Hard Drive Can Improve Performance |
Adding a new hard drive can extend the life of your computer by years,
giving you gigabytes of space for saving documents, e-mails, and
pictures of the kids. But simply using your new hard drive as a data
annex can be a waste of its full potential.Today’s hard drives not only deliver more bytes per buck than older drives, but they also save and retrieve data much faster. A 7,200rpm (revolutions per minute) hard drive runs 80% faster than the 4,000rpm drives common on PCs just a few years ago, fast enough to store and play back digital video in real-time. So why waste that speed just to load documents, data, and images? By using your new drive to boot your computer, you can open programs faster and boot your computer in less time. Moreover, you can gain an extra measure of reliability by transferring the data from the existing drive to a new drive. And you can still use your old hard drive as a backup. You could also install the “old” drive on another computer, perhaps a hand-me-down PC that the kids use for homework. Installing a new hard drive is a relatively simple process and one of the most common upgrades that PC owners make. Switching drives so that the new drive becomes the boot drive is a bit more complex but still well within the skill level of the typical PC user. By being patient and paying attention to details, you can look forward to the satisfaction of a successful hard drive transplant. (NOTE: If you’ve already installed a new hard drive and it is working properly, you can skip the first three steps and go straight to the “ Copying the Old Drive Data to the New Drive” section in this article.)  Preflight
Your Computer For Its New Drive. Although it’s unlikely
that anything will go wrong installing and transferring data to your new
drive, it’s still a good idea to back up the data on your existing
drive. You can back up to removable media, such as Zip disks or CD-R
(CD-recordable) discs, to a network, or to an external hard drive. You
can also back up to a notebook computer using a parallel-to-parallel,
serial-to-serial, or wireless connection and the DCC (direct cable
connection) utility built into Windows. (For more information on setting
up a direct cable connection, see PC
To PC Data Transfers.)In the course of installing your new hard drive, you’ll need to make certain that your PC can use, or “address,” all the storage space. Depending on the age of your computer, it may be unable to address more than 528MB of data storage. There are a couple of ways to work around these limitations. The easiest fix is to upgrade to a new version of Windows and reformat your hard drive to FAT32 (file allocation table, 32-bit version). Even if you aren’t adding a new hard drive, it’s a good idea to upgrade to FAT32 because it makes more efficient use of the space on your hard drive. It’s also possible to “partition” your new hard drive into several virtual drives with no more than 2.1GB in each. For example, you could format a 30GB hard drive into 15 “virtual” drives containing 2GB each. Although there would only be one actual hard drive, your OS (operating system) would act as if there were actually four different 2GB drives. In some cases, partitioning a drive is an effective way to organize information. You might, for example, want to use one partition as your “working drive” and another for backing up data. But if you’re creating multiple partitions just so your computer can address the full capacity of the drive, you’re wasting the drive’s capabilities. You’re better off upgrading the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and/or the OS.
Configure
The New Hard Drive As The “Slave” Drive. Even if you
eventually intend to use your new hard drive as your computer’s
primary, or “master,” drive, you’ll need to start out by
installing it as a secondary, or “slave,” drive. In the language of
computing, the hard drive used to store and load the OS, your
computer’s C: drive, is called the master drive.Two physical factors control whether a hard drive is the master or slave: jumper settings and where it plugs into the flat, gray cable (frequently called the ribbon cable) that carries data from the drive to the computer’s main circuit board. Jumpers consist of a set of tiny metal pins clustered in pairs on the hard drive near the ribbon cable socket. Small plastic connectors (the “jumpers”) placed on the pins complete circuits, literally “hard wiring” the hard drive to act as master or slave. Jumpers can also be set to format a drive as a standalone drive (that is, the only drive on the system) or for a cable-select option. Follow the instructions that came with your new drive and set the jumpers to make it the slave drive. For your existing drive, find the users manual for your computer and look up the jumper settings to make it a master drive. (By default, it will probably be set as a master drive.) If you can’t find documentation to set the jumpers, look for a diagram printed on the top of the drive. As a last resort, look for the information on the Web site for either the company that built your PC or the manufacturer that built your hard drive. You will need a ribbon with three connectors on it: a connector on one end that plugs into the hard drive controller, a connector that plugs into the existing hard drive, and a connector in the middle that will plug into your new drive. Each hard drive controller can control two hard drives: a master drive and a slave drive. If the ribbon cable connected to your PC’s hard drive controllers lacks the middle connector, look for a three-connector ribbon cable bundled with your new hard drive. You can also purchase ribbon cables at most computer stores. Connect the new drive to the middle ribbon cable and plug in the power cable. You can slip it into its drive bay if you like, but it’s not essential that you actually bolt it in place. After all, you’re going to have to change the jumpers to make it the master drive. Reattach any other cables you may have disconnected but leave the cover off your PC. Install
& Format The New Drive. Make certain to connect the new
drive to the connector in the middle of the ribbon cable. The existing
drive, the current master drive, should be connected to the end of the
ribbon cable.Install the new drive following the instructions that came with it. You’ll start out by modifying the computer’s BIOS to recognize the new hard drive. Then you’ll format the drive so that it can store data using the same Windows OS as your existing hard drive. Unless you purchased your new hard drive out of a bargain bin or at an auction, it should come with a floppy diskette containing software to streamline the installation process. Depending on the installation software, you may have the option of copying all the files from your existing hard drive to the new drive. If this option is available, you can save a few steps and copy the data from the old drive to the new one right away. Don’t worry about the safety of your existing drive’s data because a) it simply copies the data and does not move it, and b) you DID back up the data beforehand, didn’t you? Once you’re finished with the installation software, exit the program and let the computer open Windows. In Windows 95/98 /Me, open the My Computer icon to verify that the new drive has installed (probably as the D: drive), then open the new drive icon to verify that it has been properly formatted. (If you’re running Windows 3.x, open the File Manager utility and double-click on the icons representing the C: and D: drives.)
Copy
The Old Drive Data To The New Drive. Now you’re ready to
copy the data from your existing master drive to the new drive. You can
either use a drive mirroring utility such as Norton Ghost or use the
XCOPY command that is bundled with Windows.Drive mirroring. Drive mirroring creates a copy of all of the data on one hard drive, then stores that duplicate data on another hard drive. In the process of making copies of programs, drive mirroring also copies the adjustments to the settings in the original program. If, for example, you copy Microsoft Word from one drive to another as part of the mirroring process, the mirrored version will retain all of the spelling exceptions and defaults (such as the fonts and margins in your default document template) in the original version of Word. Mirroring also copies the adjustments made to the Windows OS on the original drive. That includes everything from the way Windows displays data in file folders to the sound your computer makes when you launch a program. You do need to be careful with mirroring, however. If your mirror a drive to a drive that already contains some data, you run the risk of overwriting files on the target drive. If, for example, the “old” drive being mirrored contains an old version of Microsoft Word (winword.exe), mirroring could inadvertently overwrite a more recent version of Word (also named winword.exe) on the “new” drive. Specialized mirroring programs, such as Ghost or PC Upgrade Commander, are designed to recognize such problems. They are designed to recognize newer versions of executable files (better known as programs) and not overwrite them. Be aware that Microsoft Office XP, the newest version of the Microsoft Office suite of programs, uses special software to prevent it from being illegally loaded onto more than one computer. When you transfer Office XP to another hard drive as part of the mirroring process, Office XP may respond as if it had been loaded onto a different computer and require you to reactivate it. If this occurs, contact Microsoft to obtain another confirmation ID. The XCOPY command. If you’re installing a new drive with no existing data or programs, however, you won’t encounter such problems. You can save a few bucks by using XCOPY. XCOPY is a command that runs in character-mode under MS-DOS, the OS that preceded Win95. Win95/98/Me let you run DOS commands by clicking Start, then Programs, then the MS-DOS icon to open a DOS window frame. In Win3.x, you’ll have to open the Program Manager Group and double-click on the MS-DOS icon to open a DOS window frame. In Windows 2000 and Windows NT, you’ll need to log onto the computer as the administrator. Click File, choose the Run command from the Program Manager window. In the Run line, type c:\dos\command.com and click OK. This launches the WindowsNT Virtual DOS Machine, or NTVDM. Similar to most MS-DOS commands, XCOPY uses options, or “switches,” to control the way it works. To use XCOPY, you’ll need to open a copy of MS-DOS. At the DOS prompt, type cd/ and press ENTER to display the C:> prompt. (The command “cd” stands for change directory.) Now type C:>xcopy c:\*.* d:\/s/e/h/k/c/i/r to copy the data from the existing C: master drive to the new D: slave drive. Here’s what will happen: XCOPY will make a duplicate copy of a file at one location (the C: drive) and store it at another location (the D: drive). The asterisks (*.*) tell XCOPY to duplicate and archive every file regardless of its name or extension. The switches that follow the slash tell XCOPY how to proceed. The /s switch tells XCOPY to copy subdirectories and directories; the e/ switch tells it to copy directories even if they’re empty; the /h switch tells it to copy hidden files; the k/ switch (which doesn’t stand for anything) tells XCOPY to copy file attributes (such as whether a file is read-only); the c/ switch tells it to continue copying even if there’s an error; the l/switch tells XCOPY to store the new files in the appropriate location (or directory); and the r/ switch tells it to overwrite (or rewrite) read-only files with the same name in the new directory. Are all of these switches necessary? Absolutely! Without them, the new slave drive won’t be identical to the existing master drive. And that’s essential in the next and final step, changing the slave and master drive designations. Make
The New Drive The Master Drive. Close the MS-DOS window, log
out of Windows, and power down your computer. Change the jumper settings
on the two hard drives. Make the new drive the master drive and the
existing drive the slave drive. Now switch the ribbon cable connectors
by plugging the middle connector on the ribbon cable into the existing
hard drive (the old master drive/new slave drive) and plugging the end
connector on the ribbon cable into the new hard drive (the former slave
drive /new master drive).You still don’t have to bolt the new drive into place, and you will still want to leave the cover off the computer. However, you can reconnect any other cables as necessary and power up your computer. If everything has been done right, your computer will boot as normal. It may boot up more quickly if you’re using a faster master drive, but you probably won’t notice any other difference. Just to reassure yourself, though, open the MY COMPUTER folder, right-click the C: drive icon, and click the Properties command. You will see that the new C: drive fits the dimensions of your new hard drive. Now repeat the process for the D: drive icon; its properties should match your old C: drive. If everything works correctly, you can either leave the D: drive in the computer or remove it and install it in another PC. If you decide to remove your D: drive, double-check the documentation for your new drive. In some instances, the jumpers on the new C: drive may need to be changed if it will operate as the only hard drive in your computer.  |
Trina's Column - August
Top 5 Computer Necessities
1. A digital
camera
There are scads of digital units around. A three-megapixel camera is more than enough for
most non-professionals. This camera will produce quality prints up to 8 by 10 inches. Look
for one that has an optical zoom 3X or higher and takes short videos with audio. Cameras
in this class include the FujiFilm FinePix 3800 ($332) and the Olympus Camedia C-740 Ultra
Zoom ($500).
2. A decent computer
This is a great time to buy a good computer. Prices are low and computers are powerful.
Expect to pay less than $800 for a desktop, a little more for a laptop.
In a desktop, you'll need a 2.4GHz Intel chip or 2400+ AMD chip, 256 megabytes of RAM, a CD-RW drive, and a 60-gigabyte hard drive. If your grad already has a monitor, there's no need to buy another.
In a laptop, you need a 2.0GHz Intel chip or a comparable AMD chip; 256MB of RAM, a CD-RW drive and 30GB hard drive. Either Home or Professional edition of Windows XP should be fine.
In the Macintosh, microprocessor speeds are lower, but the computers are about as fast. The other specifications are good for the Mac, too. Prices are higher.
3. A portable music player
Downloading tunes, you will need a portable MP3 player. Look for one that is at least
20-gigabytes. It will store about 5,200 MP3 tunes.
4. A personal digital assistant
A PDA will help keep you organized. These powerful little computers are easily
distinguished by their operating systems and prices.
Palm is the most widely used operating system. This means your will have greater software choices. But it suffers from a non-intuitive handwriting-recognition program. The alternative, Pocket PC 2002, is easy to use because it follows Windows closely. There are fewer choices in software, but that's not a big handicap. Its handwriting-recognition program is much easier to use.
Under-$300 machines will give the graduate adequate RAM to store phone numbers and some programs. The over-$300 group generally offers wireless access to the Internet right out of the box.
5. Cell Phone
It's confusing to find the right calling plan. Telebright (http://www.telebright.com) makes the
chore easy. Simply enter in your ZIP code to get providers in your area. Afterwards, check
up to three boxes to get a side-by-side comparison.
