Help me...Easy Ways to boost speed/clean up

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Originally Posted by beingbobbyorr

I hope this works for you, Hipcheck, but I've never found anything that worked better than scrubbing the hard drive and re-installing s/w.

This is why I'm religious about keeping my user-generated files on a seperate physical drive than my aplications. I either have a 2nd HD or a USB drive .... and I do my backups online (Mozy).

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My first choice would also be just a clean reinstall but he asked for a couple of easy steps which means format is out of the question.

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Originally Posted by Hipcheck

Im no computer guy per se so dont feel bad at all asking what DO you mean by s/w?

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software?

Go to the store and buy a new computer. ;)

I use these backup drives for both Mac and PC:

LaCie - Rugged Hard Disk - Hi-Speed USB 2.0

Comes with Intego Backup Assistant, which is a decent piece of backup software.

If you're going to use a PC, nuking and paving it every couple of years is a very good idea.

I've made it a habit every New Years day to back up and re-install my OS (Mac). Although this year, my hard drive started failing a few days before and finally died as I was backing everything up. Fortunately I only lost my itunes folder, but it's going to suck re-doing all my playlists.

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Originally Posted by kingsfan28

I've made it a habit every New Years day to back up and re-install my OS (Mac). Although this year, my hard drive started failing a few days before and finally died as I was backing everything up. Fortunately I only lost my itunes folder, but it's going to suck re-doing all my playlists.

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That drive and backup app I mentioned above work on Mac's that don't have Time Machine, and just as well.

Have you made any progress?

Backed up all my data to an external HD per RoyalPains method. Thats as far as I have gotten. Next ill make note of my registration info and serial numbers before taking the plunge to paving as someone else put it.

Next question is...whats the best way to wipe a Hard Drive?

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Originally Posted by Hipcheck

When backing up data....is that simply copying and pasting the relevant data to an external HD?

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Yes and No. For most users that is sufficient, for items like documents, images, movies, and music, this is the best method. Certain legacy applications might be a bit tricky because there is no guarantee that their file format is loadable in the latest version.

It is important to make certain if you have legacy apps that you have the installation software as well to recover this data, for example, a 2005 version of TAXMAN might not be on the market anymore, and the 2010 version might not support it. Keep that kind of thinking in mind. If you run into this issue, you need to see if you can export the legacy information into a more standard format that can be consumed by later products( CSVs, XMLs) or decide if a hardened version of the information is useable for archive(like a PDF or office file).

Lastly, if your computer is more than 3 years old you can certainly take the opportunity to think about getting a better machine. Within the last 3 years all the OSs have been upgraded, even my darling Vista. The price of a low end machine today is around 500 bucks, which will smoke most of the computers from 3 years ago, so it's now a decision if doing the work and losing that free time is worth the 500 bucks?

All important files, that you'll need handy, like a resume or form, should also have a dangling copy in your email. Just email it to yourself, that way, regardless of your PC, internet, or power situation, you can always go to the local library and get that information if you desperately need it.

-_Sf