G
Guest
Where do I check to know what type of hard disk I have?
I want to know the Interface, RPM, and Access Time of my HD.
I want to know the Interface, RPM, and Access Time of my HD.
G
Galen
In Dan <[email protected]> had this to say:
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Something here should do the trick for you:
Disk Tools:
http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/system/fwdisktools.html
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Something here should do the trick for you:
Disk Tools:
http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/system/fwdisktools.html
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
G
Guest
This doesn't tell me my hard disk's Interface, RPM, and Access Time.
Anyway the reason I asked about this is to buy a second hard disk that's
similar to mine, or better. I want to decide what HD to get before I buy one.
What type HD do you recommend?
When I do get another HD, is it difficult to add it to my computer?
Anyway the reason I asked about this is to buy a second hard disk that's
similar to mine, or better. I want to decide what HD to get before I buy one.
What type HD do you recommend?
When I do get another HD, is it difficult to add it to my computer?
G
Galen
In Dan <[email protected]> had this to say:
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
There's a number of apps on that page that will give you all but the RPM
probably. Seeing as you don't know more specifics about your computer's HDD
and you likely would if it was SATA I'd say that I'd recommend a 7200 RPM
Maxtor IDE drive. I'm fond of Maxtor though people have had problems with
certain models (likely true with all hardware of any name brand) and
recommend it for price and my own experience with them. The problems people
have are often due to heat and the best idea is to put the drive in a slot
at least one slot away from the other drive. Most cases will easily allow
this. Installing the drive should be fairly easy. In some cases you'll
remove slides that are included inside your case, mount them to the side of
the drive with the screws provided, and simply snap the drive into place.
Otherwise you'll simply slide it into the slot and screw it into place with
the screws provided or robbed from another area on the PC. (You don't need
four of them holding the case on for instance and two will hold it in place
just fine. Trust me on this, I've had them just hanging out all over the
place for months at a time but I don't recommend that other people try
that.)
Before you do that you will, of course, read the papers that come with it.
You will set the drive to SLAVE. I don't recommend cable select. Slave is
what you want. The manual will tell you all about it and you can just pull
the jumper (a pin on the front of the drive where everything plugs in) to
the appropriate position, plug it in, plug in the power cable, plug in the
second slot on the cable the current drive is using, turn the PC back on,
press what ever button you need to enter the BIOS setup utility, check to
make sure it's recognized - usually automatic by the way - and power up. XP
should pick it up. It may not be formatted already so you can simply press
start > click Run > type "compmgmt.msc" without the quotes > click on disk
management, highlight the drive, right click, format, and assign it a letter
when that's done. If that sounds difficult you can rest assured that it's
not at all that much of a problem. I dare say it's really rather simple and
you'll figure it out in no time. From my point of view adding a drive and
adding RAM are in the list of top five hardware projects that any computer
user should be comfortable trying and feel reasonably secure. The other
three are adding cards such as video or sound, changing a power supply, and
swapping the CPU. After you can do all five you're pretty much done with
everything you will ever need to know inside your box most of the time. Not
one of them is difficult when undertaken properly and with a bit of prep in
the education department. Even swapping a motherboard or building one from
scratch isn't really that difficult nor time consuming. What better way to
understand the workings of your PC than to build it yourself? <g>
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
There's a number of apps on that page that will give you all but the RPM
probably. Seeing as you don't know more specifics about your computer's HDD
and you likely would if it was SATA I'd say that I'd recommend a 7200 RPM
Maxtor IDE drive. I'm fond of Maxtor though people have had problems with
certain models (likely true with all hardware of any name brand) and
recommend it for price and my own experience with them. The problems people
have are often due to heat and the best idea is to put the drive in a slot
at least one slot away from the other drive. Most cases will easily allow
this. Installing the drive should be fairly easy. In some cases you'll
remove slides that are included inside your case, mount them to the side of
the drive with the screws provided, and simply snap the drive into place.
Otherwise you'll simply slide it into the slot and screw it into place with
the screws provided or robbed from another area on the PC. (You don't need
four of them holding the case on for instance and two will hold it in place
just fine. Trust me on this, I've had them just hanging out all over the
place for months at a time but I don't recommend that other people try
that.)
Before you do that you will, of course, read the papers that come with it.
You will set the drive to SLAVE. I don't recommend cable select. Slave is
what you want. The manual will tell you all about it and you can just pull
the jumper (a pin on the front of the drive where everything plugs in) to
the appropriate position, plug it in, plug in the power cable, plug in the
second slot on the cable the current drive is using, turn the PC back on,
press what ever button you need to enter the BIOS setup utility, check to
make sure it's recognized - usually automatic by the way - and power up. XP
should pick it up. It may not be formatted already so you can simply press
start > click Run > type "compmgmt.msc" without the quotes > click on disk
management, highlight the drive, right click, format, and assign it a letter
when that's done. If that sounds difficult you can rest assured that it's
not at all that much of a problem. I dare say it's really rather simple and
you'll figure it out in no time. From my point of view adding a drive and
adding RAM are in the list of top five hardware projects that any computer
user should be comfortable trying and feel reasonably secure. The other
three are adding cards such as video or sound, changing a power supply, and
swapping the CPU. After you can do all five you're pretty much done with
everything you will ever need to know inside your box most of the time. Not
one of them is difficult when undertaken properly and with a bit of prep in
the education department. Even swapping a motherboard or building one from
scratch isn't really that difficult nor time consuming. What better way to
understand the workings of your PC than to build it yourself? <g>
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
G
Guest
Thanks. Now I want to ask something off-topic.
My dad occasonally smokes while using our PC. The compuer is in a cabinet.
If my dad smokes fairly far away from it, like about 75 cm away, and blows
the opposite direction of the computer ( []<--Computer[In Cabinet with door
open] ((Dad)) Blows this Direction===>>>), will the smoke still damage the
computer?
I read something about smoke damaging the computer somewhere on the web.
My dad occasonally smokes while using our PC. The compuer is in a cabinet.
If my dad smokes fairly far away from it, like about 75 cm away, and blows
the opposite direction of the computer ( []<--Computer[In Cabinet with door
open] ((Dad)) Blows this Direction===>>>), will the smoke still damage the
computer?
I read something about smoke damaging the computer somewhere on the web.
N
NoNoBadDog!
**** SNIP *****Dan said:
Yes, cigarette smoke can and will cause problems with your computer, no
matter how "careful" the smoker is.
Cigarette smoke, in addition to the tars and nicotine, contain substances
like creosote, which is used to preserve wood, and formaldehyde, which is
used to preserve organic tissues. These substances can damage the
electrical circuits inside your computer. In addition, it can accumulate in
areas like the lens of your CD drive, the heads of the floppy disk, etc, and
cause those devices to behave erratically or fail.
When I open a clients computer to service or clean it, I can tell a lot of
things about the environment the computer is kept in. I can tell
immediately if the use smokes. I can tell if the user has a cat or a dog,
and what color that cat or dog is. I can tell if the computer sits on the
floor or on a desk. If it is an older computer, I can tell what side of the
computer faces a sunny window, because the finish on that side will fade
after a long exposure to direct sunlight. I can often tell by the condition
of the connector on the back of the computer if the computer is kept in an
air conditioned office or a hot, damp environment such as a warehouse.
I smoked for more than 20 years before I finally quit. Quitting was the
second best thing I have ever done (marrying my wonderful wife was the best
thing I ever did). Smoking leaves a film and deposits on both the filters
and the inside of the computer. Blowing the smoke "away" form the computer
makes no difference, and the particles that we are talking about are
extremely small and stay airborne for long periods of time. The resultant
film also attracts dust particles and other particles in the air, and then
"glues' it to the area where the film is. We won't even talk about the
unpleasant odor that it causes. I am still amazed that *I* used to smell
like that when I smoked.
Now that it has been 13 years since I smoked, I can tell when someone smokes
just by the terrible odor that permeates their clothes, hair, etc.
Okay, I went longer than I meant to with this answer (spoken as I step down
form the soapbox).
Bobby
G
Guest
Then what should be done? Tell my dad not to smoke near the computer? And is
it possible to remove the film deposits?
it possible to remove the film deposits?
NoNoBadDog! said:
G
Guest
And Galen, just to ask, how many slots does a HDD Bracket usually have?
NoNoBadDog! said:
N
NoNoBadDog!
Can't give you any advice on family matters...choice is strictly yours.
It's your computer and you have the right to ask him to smoke while using
it.
Cleaning the film is a delicate process. Go to any good electrical parts
store and look for cleaners meant for circuit boards. I would also
recommend buying some lint-free micro-weave cleaning cloths while there.
Simply dampen a corner of one of the cloths with the solvent and then
gently, delicately wipe the surfaces. Make sure that you use very little
solvent and very little pressure. The solvent will evaporate very quickly,
so you will have to re-wet the corner often. Keep the contained closed
between applications. If you but light colored cloths, you will see the
"gunk" as it comes off. Use fresh portions of the cloth for each new area.
If you are doing it properly, they will be no solvent left when you are
finished wiping an area. If you are leaving behind a "wet spot", you are
using too much solvent. Let the area you clean dry thoroughly. Keep in
mind that what you are using is a solvent, so don't use it often. Once or
twice a year will be sufficient. In between these "wet" cleanings, you can
simply use compressed air to keep the inside clean.
Do not use any other cleaner except one that is specifically designed to
clean electronic circuits. Any other cleaner will leave behind a residue
that may be conductive and that will be a bad thing the next time you power
up the computer...
Bobby
It's your computer and you have the right to ask him to smoke while using
it.
Cleaning the film is a delicate process. Go to any good electrical parts
store and look for cleaners meant for circuit boards. I would also
recommend buying some lint-free micro-weave cleaning cloths while there.
Simply dampen a corner of one of the cloths with the solvent and then
gently, delicately wipe the surfaces. Make sure that you use very little
solvent and very little pressure. The solvent will evaporate very quickly,
so you will have to re-wet the corner often. Keep the contained closed
between applications. If you but light colored cloths, you will see the
"gunk" as it comes off. Use fresh portions of the cloth for each new area.
If you are doing it properly, they will be no solvent left when you are
finished wiping an area. If you are leaving behind a "wet spot", you are
using too much solvent. Let the area you clean dry thoroughly. Keep in
mind that what you are using is a solvent, so don't use it often. Once or
twice a year will be sufficient. In between these "wet" cleanings, you can
simply use compressed air to keep the inside clean.
Do not use any other cleaner except one that is specifically designed to
clean electronic circuits. Any other cleaner will leave behind a residue
that may be conductive and that will be a bad thing the next time you power
up the computer...
Bobby
Dan said:
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 124
- Reaction score
- 0
NoNoBadDog! said:
Bobby, I also smoke, not in the house but I have for 20 years to date. HOW DID YOU QUIT?lol. I have seen what cig smoke can do to a pc and it can be pretty nasty. I have found ashes in pcs, tar buildup and cig burns on the towers. I heard that tar can actually short a circuit in a pc. Is this true? I personally havent seen it and I don't know if tar is a low voltage conductor but anything is possible. And i agree marrying my wife was the greatest thing also, now just quitting smoking!
N
NoNoBadDog!
PCDaddy said:
Never saw one short, but I have seen an amazing layer of gunk from smoking
now and again.
I have seen PCI cards "welded" into place by the same gunk.
As far as quitting...I just did it cold turkey. I didn't think I could do
it...but I managed to just stop. I can clearly remember my last cigarrette.
I gathered the wife and kids, made an announcement that this was my last
cigarrette, and went to the backyard to smoke it. I relished every bit of
the experience, and then I buried the butt in the corner of the yard. I
took a large paving stone, scratched the date into it, and made a tombstone
for the "coffin nail" buried there. Every time I got the urge to smoke, I
went it a looked at the marker, and believe it or not it helped. I do
recall eating a lot of carrot sticks grapes, and I think I went through a
ton of Wrigleys Juicy Fruit gum.
Bobby
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 124
- Reaction score
- 0
NoNoBadDog! said:
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, when i try to quit it's ice breakers gum. People ask me to quit and i say, i have , many times. I like the way you handled the cig quitting, I would bury the pack but I would resurrect it, I think i'll try it your way, i have 3 kids and they would love me to stop.
G
Galen
In Dan <[email protected]> had this to say:
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Varies by computer but I'm almost 100% certain you'll have room for two at
least, this PC has room for 4 HDDs and 6 front drives and room to add
additional drive bays at the bottom. Most others have at least two slots for
the HDDs.
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Varies by computer but I'm almost 100% certain you'll have room for two at
least, this PC has room for 4 HDDs and 6 front drives and room to add
additional drive bays at the bottom. Most others have at least two slots for
the HDDs.
Galen
--
"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."
Sherlock Holmes
G
Guest
Just another couple of questions.
When you said to use very little solvent, NoNoBadDog!, how little do you
mean? 3 drops?
Something concerning me about opening the cover, how do you ground yourself
properly? I heard about wearing anti-static wristbands, but I can't find one.
I saw in a diagram to hold onto a lamp that's plugged to a wall, but I need
both hands to add and clean stuff.
Galen, if my bracket unfortunately has only a total of 2 slots, what would
you suggest?
When you said to use very little solvent, NoNoBadDog!, how little do you
mean? 3 drops?
Something concerning me about opening the cover, how do you ground yourself
properly? I heard about wearing anti-static wristbands, but I can't find one.
I saw in a diagram to hold onto a lamp that's plugged to a wall, but I need
both hands to add and clean stuff.
Galen, if my bracket unfortunately has only a total of 2 slots, what would
you suggest?
PCDaddy said:
N
NoNoBadDog!
You should use just enough of the solvent to dampen an area of the cloth
about the size of a half dollar. There should not be enough solvent that it
leaves behind a noticeable wet residue. The solvent will evaporate very
quickly, but you'll have time to wipe away the "crud" before it needs to be
re-applied. Work in small areas.
If you cannot find a grounding strap (they sell them at Radio Shack), here
is what you should do:
Make sure the computer is sitting on a solid, non-conductive surface, and
for the purpose of this cleaning it should not be plugged into an outlet. I
use a wooden table.
After removing the cover of the computer, but before touching any internal
components, touch the metal casing of the power supply with both hands.
This will allow any static discharge to go into the metal frame of the
computer. You should not be wearing socks and working on a carpeted floor;
If you are working on a carpeted floor, wear tennis shoes, as they will
insulate your feet from building a static charge as they rub on the carpet.
You should get into the habit of frequently touching the metal case or the
housing of the power supple while working inside. For general cleaning and
things like installing a hard or optical drive, this technique is fine. For
changing the processor or the RAM, I would most definitely NOT attempt this
with a ground strap. Both the processor and RAM modules are *EXTREMELY*
sensitive to the slightest static discharge.
Bobby
about the size of a half dollar. There should not be enough solvent that it
leaves behind a noticeable wet residue. The solvent will evaporate very
quickly, but you'll have time to wipe away the "crud" before it needs to be
re-applied. Work in small areas.
If you cannot find a grounding strap (they sell them at Radio Shack), here
is what you should do:
Make sure the computer is sitting on a solid, non-conductive surface, and
for the purpose of this cleaning it should not be plugged into an outlet. I
use a wooden table.
After removing the cover of the computer, but before touching any internal
components, touch the metal casing of the power supply with both hands.
This will allow any static discharge to go into the metal frame of the
computer. You should not be wearing socks and working on a carpeted floor;
If you are working on a carpeted floor, wear tennis shoes, as they will
insulate your feet from building a static charge as they rub on the carpet.
You should get into the habit of frequently touching the metal case or the
housing of the power supple while working inside. For general cleaning and
things like installing a hard or optical drive, this technique is fine. For
changing the processor or the RAM, I would most definitely NOT attempt this
with a ground strap. Both the processor and RAM modules are *EXTREMELY*
sensitive to the slightest static discharge.
Bobby
Dan said:
G
Guest
"I'm fond of Maxtor though people have had problems with
certain models (likely true with all hardware of any name brand) and
recommend it for price and my own experience with them. The problems people
have are often due to heat and the best idea is to put the drive in a slot
at least one slot away from the other drive."
Galen, you say placing HDs next to eachother can produce heat? How does that
happen? Should I still do this IF I find out I only have 2 slots?
"After removing the cover of the computer, but before touching any internal
components, touch the metal casing of the power supply with both hands.
This will allow any static discharge to go into the metal frame of the
computer."
Where does the static go after I touch the metal case?
certain models (likely true with all hardware of any name brand) and
recommend it for price and my own experience with them. The problems people
have are often due to heat and the best idea is to put the drive in a slot
at least one slot away from the other drive."
Galen, you say placing HDs next to eachother can produce heat? How does that
happen? Should I still do this IF I find out I only have 2 slots?
"After removing the cover of the computer, but before touching any internal
components, touch the metal casing of the power supply with both hands.
This will allow any static discharge to go into the metal frame of the
computer."
Where does the static go after I touch the metal case?
N
NoNoBadDog!
It is dissipated into the metal frame (as stated). This is of courseDan said:
preferable to having it discharge through a component to the metal casing.
Electricity always follows the path of least resistance, so when touching
the metal casing, it will not flow "backwards" into circuitry.
Bobby
G
Guest
When I touch the metal chassis, how many seconds am I suppose keep my hands
there?
And is there another way to discharge static buidup (before I open the case)?
there?
And is there another way to discharge static buidup (before I open the case)?
M
Matt Silberstein
Some nice looking tools there. I was amused by TreeSize. It says that
it does not have the graphical pie chart "feature" of the Pro (paid?)
version. I would think that pie charts are what you give away, useful
charts you charge for.
--
Matt Silberstein
All in all, if I could be any animal, I would want to be
a duck or a goose. They can fly, walk, and swim. Plus,
there there is a certain satisfaction knowing that at the
end of your life you will taste good with an orange sauce
or, in the case of a goose, a chestnut stuffing.