Driver for a Dell XPS 8500 - ?

M

magineer02

I recently upgraded from a Dell 8200 with XP to a Dell
XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1 with
Spywareblaster, CcCleaner, Defraggler, Avast, and
Windows firewall.

I have it mostly configured but I'm still tweaking
it here and there.

At present I have all my files and folders in
My Documents under the Standard Account. I
would like to separate all my files and folders
from the OS by creating a new drive but unsure
of how to do so?

Do I need to partition my HD or can I just assign
another drive to store all my files/folders?


In addition:

Whenever I open Word and then click to open a
file it flashes back and forth and seems to be caught
in a loop but if I toggle with ALT-TAB My Documents
appears. Can someone please tell me what I can do
so that it stops flashing?

I would also like to get a dedicated external HD with
software for backup purposes in case something should
happen. However, I know nothing about what I should
have or what's best or prices which is a consideration.
If you need more information just let me know.

Can a flash drive be used as a backup?

Perhaps I've asked too much and we should address these
issues one by one but it helps to have a total picture of
what's going on. and maybe there's some quick fixes.

Thoughts/Suggestions?

Thanks,
Robert
 
P

Paul

I recently upgraded from a Dell 8200 with XP to a Dell
XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1 with
Spywareblaster, CcCleaner, Defraggler, Avast, and
Windows firewall.

I have it mostly configured but I'm still tweaking
it here and there.

At present I have all my files and folders in
My Documents under the Standard Account. I
would like to separate all my files and folders
from the OS by creating a new drive but unsure
of how to do so?

Do I need to partition my HD or can I just assign
another drive to store all my files/folders?


In addition:

Whenever I open Word and then click to open a
file it flashes back and forth and seems to be caught
in a loop but if I toggle with ALT-TAB My Documents
appears. Can someone please tell me what I can do
so that it stops flashing?

I would also like to get a dedicated external HD with
software for backup purposes in case something should
happen. However, I know nothing about what I should
have or what's best or prices which is a consideration.
If you need more information just let me know.

Can a flash drive be used as a backup?

Perhaps I've asked too much and we should address these
issues one by one but it helps to have a total picture of
what's going on. and maybe there's some quick fixes.

Thoughts/Suggestions?

Thanks,
Robert

You can get a 1TB external drive for $90. The 2.5" drive
used inside one of these, makes for a fairly compact product.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178107

*******

An example of "moving My Documents" on Windows 7, is here.
It says, the folder can even be located on another partition
or a partition on another disk. There is a "Move" button.

http://www.ghacks.net/2010/04/17/how-to-move-the-my-documents-folder-in-windows-7/

*******

Unfortunately, alt.windows7.general is not available from Google Groups.
If you want to ask in the Windows 7 group, you need to set up a news reader
pointed to aioe.org or eternal-september.org, as a couple examples
of servers that carry the group. I don't know of a way to convince Google
to archive it. Similarly, the alt.comp.os.windows-8 group, where
Windows 8 questions get answered, isn't on Google Groups either.

Paul
 
M

magineer02

Thanks guys for the information and links. At
present I'm using a Flash Drive for Backup
purposes but I will look over what you've
given me.

My only remaining question is what can I do
so that Word stops flashing when I try to
open a file?

Thanks,
Robert
 
P

Paul

Thanks guys for the information and links. At
present I'm using a Flash Drive for Backup
purposes but I will look over what you've
given me.

My only remaining question is what can I do
so that Word stops flashing when I try to
open a file?

Thanks,
Robert

I'd need to see pictures of this, to figure out
what it means.

While there are tools like this for capturing
video of a screen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camstudio

the actual capture rate is pretty low. For example,
I installed it, and the preferences were set by
default to "200 FPS" or frames per second. Using
a video application, it did indeed say the movie
was captured at 200 FPS. But, what the capture
actually did, is capture 7 FPS, and fill roughly
30 frames sequentially, with the same video frame.
So it doesn't actually capture that fast. And at
around 7FPS on my machine, it misses lots of detail.

Still, if you need to capture some activity on the
screen, it is worth a try.

I used some application, to convert the video,
into individual frames (maybe TIFF format). And
that's how I was able to figure out that a lot
of the frames were exactly the same. Snipping out
individual frames and posting those as pictures, might
capture most of the details. (I.e. It doesn't have
to be posted on Youtube as a video or anything.)

You can't really post pictures of it here. You'd want
to put the pictures on Picasa or Imageshack.us or similar.

Paul
 
M

magineer02

This isn't a movie I'm trying to open it's
a Word document in My Documents. I can open
Word itself with no issues. Then when I try
to open a document in My Documents the perimeter
starts to flash and locks the screen.

To get of it and to open My Documents I toggle
the Alt-Tab Keys then My Document pops up and
it performs normally from then on.

The problem is it show go to My Documents when
I click open instead of hanging up and requiring
intervention.

Robert
 
P

Paul

This isn't a movie I'm trying to open it's
a Word document in My Documents. I can open
Word itself with no issues. Then when I try
to open a document in My Documents the perimeter
starts to flash and locks the screen.

To get of it and to open My Documents I toggle
the Alt-Tab Keys then My Document pops up and
it performs normally from then on.

The problem is it show go to My Documents when
I click open instead of hanging up and requiring
intervention.

Robert

It's possible it is some kind of file association problem.
This one doesn't flash, but it does involve Word misbehaving
when started.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080422132221AARscoL

Paul
 
M

magineer02

This gets back to my original question;
so the is the only way to have a separate
drive on the current HD is to partition
the drive?

I don't want to screw this new computer up
so if that's my only option I may just leave
things alone.

One thing I don't want to do is to open up
the 8500 to install a new drive. That is not
an option.

I probably will use Flash drives and buy the
Seagate for external backups. Don't I need
some sort of backup software to restore my
system in case something should happen or do
I just store folders/files and then copy/paste
them back?

Thoughts/Suggestions?

Robert
 
P

Paul

This gets back to my original question;
so the is the only way to have a separate
drive on the current HD is to partition
the drive?

I don't want to screw this new computer up
so if that's my only option I may just leave
things alone.

One thing I don't want to do is to open up
the 8500 to install a new drive. That is not
an option.

I probably will use Flash drives and buy the
Seagate for external backups. Don't I need
some sort of backup software to restore my
system in case something should happen or do
I just store folders/files and then copy/paste
them back?

Thoughts/Suggestions?

Robert

Part of the fun of getting a new computer,
is exploring.

In control panels on your Windows 7 system, look
for "Backup and Restore" section.

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4938040868012640&pid=15.1

There are a couple options. There is a "System Image"
option. That's the one I use on my laptop. I make an
image of C: and the SYSTEM RESERVED partitions, and
store that on an external disk. Each system image operation,
then overwrites the previous one. This is not a full
backup system, in the sense that it is rather limited.
But, it does allow me to snapshot the two partitions
that are important to me.

The other option in there, is to set up regular backups.
Those would be file by file backups, with the ability
for the user to specify what to back up. The tool does
a full backup the first time, then records only things
that changed, on the second run. By default, the built-in
backup software will only use 30% of the external disk,
but there is an adjustment somewhere to change that.
(It's the first thing I'd go looking for, if using
that backup method).

And if you don't like what you find on your Dell
(as sometimes, the OEM company replaces the built-in backup
software with a third-party product), you can use
something like Macrium Reflect Free.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

No matter what kind of software you use, if the internal
hard drive is broken and needs replacement, you'll need
a boot disc. In the case of System Image, it'll prompt you
to prepare at least one recovery CD, so you have something
to boot the computer with. Same goes for Macrium Reflect (Free).
It has a recovery CD, as part of the software, and I have a copy
of that burned to a CD. And it can be used to restore any
images I make with Macrium.

*******

When you get your Dell, there can be two groups of discs
to burn. Any where from three to four DVDs can be burned,
to back up your copy of Windows 7 (factory image). An additional
CD, is the recovery CD, the same one you'd use to restore
from a System Image.

The Recovery CD, when booted, will eventually get you a
menu like this. The "System Image Recovery", allows loading
a system image you made to an external disk. That's what I've
used at least twice on my laptop. Worked fine.

http://res1.windows.microsoft.com/r...n/66b9e3c2-bb67-47bf-802c-b753b54bcc19_48.jpg

And this little film-strip, is something I made to show
how easy it is to use Macrium. See the picture just
below "Boot from Macrium (Linux) rescue CD..." to see
what booting from the Macrium CD looks like. The
dialog changes to a file selection thing, so you can
locate the backup you want to restore from.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4512/macriumrestore.gif

*******

I expect there are plenty more freebie backups out
there. IF you need more hints, try Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_backup_software

Paul
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

I recently upgraded from a Dell 8200 with XP to a Dell
XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1 with
Spywareblaster, CcCleaner, Defraggler, Avast, and
Windows firewall.

I have it mostly configured but I'm still tweaking
it here and there.

At present I have all my files and folders in
My Documents under the Standard Account. I
would like to separate all my files and folders
from the OS


Why? Whether you should do that largely depends on how you do backups.
If you want to backup only your data, it's generally a good thing to
do. But if your backup scheme is imaging or cloning the entire hard
drive, there's normally no particular value in doing this.

by creating a new drive but unsure
of how to do so?

Do I need to partition my HD or can I just assign
another drive to store all my files/folders?


First, a word on the terminology: Some people think that the term
"partition" means to divide the drive into two or more partitions.
That's not correct: when you partition a drive you create one or more
partitions on it.

You have to have at least one partition on it to use a drive. Those
people who think they have an unpartitioned drive actually have a
drive with only a single partition on it, which is normally called C:.
The real choice is whether to have more than one partition, not
whether to partition at all, since every drive has one partition.

You can't assign another drive to hold anything until you've created
another drive (actually another partition, not another real hard
drive) to hold it. You create that other drive (partition) by changing
the partition structure of the drive from a single partition to two
(or more) partitions.


You might want to read this article I've written: "Understanding Disk
Partitioning" at
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326
 
M

magineer02

Hello Ken,

Thank you for all your good information,

I understand that the HD already has a partition and
that C: drive resides on it and in order to add
another drive you have to create a partition. Correct?

I did try and read your article but when you started
to get into cluster sizes you lost me and I don't
really think most people need or want to get that
involved. Computers are supposed to be user friendly.

To answer your question I suppose I'm more concerned
about backing up my entire OS system but I also want my
data so that if something happens I can restore
everything.

I wanted to divide the OS from my data so that the
computer would be run more efficient. Perhaps I'm wrong?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert
 
M

magineer02

Hello Paul,

You've given me allot of good information
and links to read and I'll have to digest
everything.

However my present problem still remains,
can you please tell me how to stop Word from
flashing whenever I try to open a file?

Thanks,
Robert
 
P

Paul

Hello Paul,

You've given me allot of good information
and links to read and I'll have to digest
everything.

However my present problem still remains,
can you please tell me how to stop Word from
flashing whenever I try to open a file?

Thanks,
Robert

There is an example here, of Word flashing its icon in the Task Bar,
when you attempt to open a second document. But I don't know
if this exactly matches your symptoms or not.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...bar-when/cf63d297-986c-45dc-8b11-110787bf32cf

A fix is described here. "clear the Browse in same window check box"

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2521682

Paul
 
P

Paul

Hello Ken,

Thank you for all your good information,

I understand that the HD already has a partition and
that C: drive resides on it and in order to add
another drive you have to create a partition. Correct?

I did try and read your article but when you started
to get into cluster sizes you lost me and I don't
really think most people need or want to get that
involved. Computers are supposed to be user friendly.

To answer your question I suppose I'm more concerned
about backing up my entire OS system but I also want my
data so that if something happens I can restore
everything.

I wanted to divide the OS from my data so that the
computer would be run more efficient. Perhaps I'm wrong?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

"Efficiency" isn't the reason.

+-----+-------------------------------+--------------+
| MBR | C: Operating System Partition | D: User Data | <---- internal
+-----+-------------------------------+--------------+ hard drive

+-----+----------------------------------------------+
| MBR | E: A single, big, backup partition | <---- external
+-----+----------------------------------------------+ hard drive

You separate the OS and the User Data, to make some
kinds of backup operations easier to do. For example,
if I use a tool that backs up in units of whole
partitions, then I can make an image of the OS (C:),
or if I want, I can make an image of the user data (D:).
By dividing them this way, I'm arranging the data for
really easy backup operations.

If they're mixed together (as in the next example), I can
still back things up separately, using a file by file
backup operation, but it takes a lot more work to specify
what to include and what to exclude, from the backup operation.
A good backup tool, when doing file by file, allows you to
exclude sections as you desire. (But, it might be
a lot simpler to separate them, as then you can work
at the partition level, rather than the file level.)

+-----+----------------------------------------------+
| MBR | C: OS and user data | <---- internal
+-----+----------------------------------------------+ hard drive

+-----+----------------------------------------------+
| MBR | E: A single, big, backup partition | <---- external
+-----+----------------------------------------------+ hard drive

A disk drive, can have more than one partition.
You could have three primary partitions, an extended
partition, and a bunch of logical partitions inside
the extended. So you can make partitions on a single
drive, (until you run out of drive letters).

In this example,

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista/ext-xp.gif

there are three primary partitions on the left.
The "green" boundary is an extended partition
(you're allowed one per disk drive). The Extended is a
container for logical partitions. And in the example,
there are five logical partitions inside the Extended
partition. The color key in the lower left corner,
tells you how to interpret the colors, to figure out
what type each partition is.

The Primary partitions are normally reserved for loading
operating systems, but given the right tools and methods,
operating systems can also be installed in the logical
partitions. So really anything is possible.

The only thing nasty about a setup like this, is resizing
the green box, moving the five things around inside, is
generally a pain in the ass. That's why I generally do not
place anything other than Primary (dark blue) partitions
on my hard drives. They're just easier to deal with.

Similarly, the word "Basic" on the left, just below
Disk 0, is important. You want all your disks to say
"Basic". If you prepare a new, blank disk, and it says
"Dynamic" in that box, change it immediately to "Basic",
before you put any data files on that disk. It makes
data recovery a lot easier later (i.e. Linux doesn't
particularly like Dynamic disks - it would take a
fair bit of research, to figure out a way to do data
recovery).

And if you're using an OS, where they make you type
the name of programs, to access them, try typing
"diskmgmt.msc" to get the Disk Management window to open.
That's the name of the program.

Paul
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Hello Ken,

Thank you for all your good information,


You're welcome. Glad to help.

I understand that the HD already has a partition and
that C: drive resides on it and in order to add
another drive you have to create a partition. Correct?


Yes, correct.

I did try and read your article but when you started
to get into cluster sizes you lost me and I don't
really think most people need or want to get that
involved. Computers are supposed to be user friendly.


The issue of cluster sizes is just one of history--why people used to
want multiple partitions. Feel free to ignore that portion of the
article.
To answer your question I suppose I'm more concerned
about backing up my entire OS system but I also want my
data so that if something happens I can restore
everything.


In that case, if you back up the entire drive, there's very little
reason to have your data on a separate partition.

I wanted to divide the OS from my data so that the
computer would be run more efficient. Perhaps I'm wrong?


Sorry, but yes you are wrong. The difference is slight, but as I said
in the article, doing that will make the computer a little *less*
efficient, because it puts the data farther from everything else and
it takes the heads of the drive longer to go back and forth to it.
 
M

magineer02

There is an example here, of Word flashing its icon in the Task Bar,

when you attempt to open a second document. But I don't know

if this exactly matches your symptoms or not.



http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...bar-when/cf63d297-986c-45dc-8b11-110787bf32cf



A fix is described here. "clear the Browse in same window check box"



http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2521682



Paul

That sure describes it and will have to try out the link to fix it and will report back.

Thanks,
Robert
 
M

magineer02

Lots of information, gulp! (LOL) but I think I
get it. For backup purposes its allot easier to
deal with it on the partition level:

with the C:/ = OS and D:/ = data and a dedicated
external backup. that is what I want. So in order
to do that I need to partition my HD to create a
D:/ drive, correct?

I also plan to purchase the Seagate Backup Plus
1TB USB 3.0 Red Portable Hard Drive STBU1000103
you suggested for a dedicated external HD.

Robert
 
M

magineer02

Sorry, but yes you are wrong. The difference is slight, but as I said

in the article, doing that will make the computer a little *less*

efficient, because it puts the data farther from everything else and

it takes the heads of the drive longer to go back and forth to it.


What about Paul's argument for backup purposes?
Wouldn't separation make it easier? Maybe I don't
fully understand the concept but with 12 GB of RAM
shouldn't that compensate for any slowing down due to
distance?

Also as I replied to Paul, I plan on purchasing the
Seagate Backup Plus 1TB USB 3.0 Red Portable Hard
Drive STBU1000103 for backup purposes. I didn't have
one for the 8200 and I want to get one for the 8500
even though my usage is slight (30GB (including OS)
out of 160GB) on the 8200.

I did have my OS and data separated on the 8200 but
someone else did that for me.


Robert
 
P

Paul

Lots of information, gulp! (LOL) but I think I
get it. For backup purposes its allot easier to
deal with it on the partition level:

with the C:/ = OS and D:/ = data and a dedicated
external backup. that is what I want. So in order
to do that I need to partition my HD to create a
D:/ drive, correct?

I also plan to purchase the Seagate Backup Plus
1TB USB 3.0 Red Portable Hard Drive STBU1000103
you suggested for a dedicated external HD.

Robert

You can shrink an existing partition (C:) to
make room for a D: if you want. Disk Management
has the ability to do that in Windows 7. There is
a limit as to how far it'll shrink though. Other
tools can be used to shrink the partition still
further.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html

The Dell configuration likely uses three partitions
already (not all of them visible in the OS), leaving
just one entry in the MBR to make a fourth partition.
There are a couple options as to what you can do
with the fourth partition, with the obvious one being
to make that D: a primary partition.

When you enter Disk Management, you should be able
to see how many partitions are present on that disk.

*******

Before purchasing the backup drive, you look at the
total space occupied with stuff you want to back up,
and make sure the newly purchased external drive is
big enough.

The thing is, your 8500 has options to put different
sized disks in it, and I don't know what you've ordered.

Paul
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

What about Paul's argument for backup purposes?
Wouldn't separation make it easier?


His points were correct. As I said, it depends on your backup scheme.
If you back up just your data, then separation makes backup easier.
But if you back up your entire hard drive, no it doesn't.

My point of view, as I said in my article, is that having a separate
partition for data hardly makes any sense *unless* you are backing up
only data. If I understood Paul correctly, he said much the same
thing.

Maybe I don't
fully understand the concept but with 12 GB of RAM
shouldn't that compensate for any slowing down due to
distance?



No. How much RAM you have is a completely different issue and has
nothing to do with this. If you have multiple partitions, it will make
no improvement in performance, but actually a slight slowing down as
the heads have to traverse the gaps between partitions.

But note, as I said earlier, that with modern drives, that slowdown is
so slight that you would almost certainly not notice it. I mentioned
it only to point out that having multiple partitions does *not* speed
things up, as you thought it would.
 

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