Copying stuff!

[Hilly]

Okay, after deciding my computer's about start pushin' daisies, I've copied all my photos and most of my important stuff onto an external hard drive.

Here's some of the stuff I copied:

Photos

windows address book

bookmarks/favorites

personal address/phone book

leatherwork stuff

contents from my documents folder

Is there anything else you can think of that I'm forgetting?

One thing I haven't been able to figure out is iTunes.... I'm NOT in the mood to burn tons of music CDs, and wonder if there's a way for me to copy my purchased music and playlists onto this external hard drive? I'm sort of (pretty much) a redneck when it comes to computers and certain programs.

Tonight if I find time, I'm gonna open up the computer case, and dust it out. I'm sure it's full of dust and dog hair! Hopefully this will alleviate some of my computer glitches. Is it okay to make sure I'm grounded and then use a soft paintbrush to brush out the dust, or is it better to blow it out with the compressor? I've heard that compressed air can cause static, but so can a nylon paint brush if you're not careful...

I've also done a disk check and defragged the hard drive. I've done a virus scan, and made sure all of my Windows updates are current. Anything else you can think of to help me drag a few more months out of my computer? I really don't want to buy a new one just yet, I'd rather save towards a new heavy leather stitcher.

Thanks for all of your computer help!

Hilly

[dickf]

If you use an email client, you may want to compress and save your saved email messages so you can import them into the new computer. (also you may want to export your account settings so you don't have t dig around for usernames/passwords, smtp settings, etc).

Here's iTunes info on moving your files to an external drive: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

Just because you got an error doesn't mean your PC is going to die soon. I'd be interested in knowing what the error was and how much RAM you have in that thing. You can score some good quality memory pretty cheap these days - same with a new internal hard drive. (Here's a 160GB drive for $41.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136075 )

In any case, you may also want to check if some of your common programs use settings files that you could hang on to. I know I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver on a daily, and have customized shortcuts, keys, etc. I wouldn't want to be without those settings files.

[Hilly]

If you use an email client, you may want to compress and save your saved email messages so you can import them into the new computer. (also you may want to export your account settings so you don't have t dig around for usernames/passwords, smtp settings, etc).

Here's iTunes info on moving your files to an external drive: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

Just because you got an error doesn't mean your PC is going to die soon. I'd be interested in knowing what the error was and how much RAM you have in that thing. You can score some good quality memory pretty cheap these days - same with a new internal hard drive. (Here's a 160GB drive for $41.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136075 )

In any case, you may also want to check if some of your common programs use settings files that you could hang on to. I know I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver on a daily, and have customized shortcuts, keys, etc. I wouldn't want to be without those settings files.

Thank you for the help with iTunes.

I bought an external a couple years ago (350 GB), and just now hooked it up. It's been in the original pkg till now.

The computer has been acting really quirky lately, freezing up for no reason. The other day I was trying to close a program, and the computer locked up, and made a horrible noise, like the hard drive was stuck. I ended up having to push the power button to shut it down. When it started back up, I got a message that stated something like "Windows has recovered from a serious error...."

It's been slowing down for no reason. I thought I may have had some type of spy/malware. I did a couple scans of my computer, including all drives, and came up with nothing. I also keep getting this message that says my virtual memory is too low, and this normally happens when I'm not doing anything more intense than checking my email. I don't have a lot of programs running in the background, either, so this makes no sense to me. I installed Ascentive software to clean up the junk and clutter, search for spyware, etc., but I only launch it manually, and it does not launch at startup.

That noise I heard, and all the other symtoms my computer has been having are telling me in my gut that the thing is on it's way out. Of course I've been known to be wrong before...

To answer your question about how much memory I have installed, I only have 1G of memory. I realise it isn't much when it comes to memory hogs like photoshop. Generally, I don't do tons of layers or lots of "actions" on my photos, and I always close other programs when I work in PS, so my 1G of RAM has done what I need it to do. Of course, it would be really nice to have at least double that. I'll keep that in mind if and when I start shopping...

[Vikti]

If you have a web browser that stores your username and passwords you might want to jot those down.

Damon

[TwinOaks]

If your external drive is big enough, you might just want to copy the entire drive over to the external. The result would be a carbon copy of one disk on the other. You can even go so far as to run the computer from the external drive.

That horrible sound may have very well been the read head on the hard drive crashing into the disk. If it sounds kinda like the old modem squelch when you used dial-up......Death is imminent. I had that happen on this laptop about six months ago. Data can be recovered from a crashed disk, and it ranges from costly to VERY expensive (like several grand).

Usually, that type of recovery is reserved for large companies who have gobs of financial data on a disk that's GOT to be recovered. Regular back-ups are lots cheaper.

If you aren't up to getting everything done, or are unsure of how to do everything, try some service like Geek Squad. Just take the computer and external drive to them and say put everything on here (old) on this (new).

[hivemind]

The computer has been acting really quirky lately, freezing up for no reason. The other day I was trying to close a program, and the computer locked up, and made a horrible noise, like the hard drive was stuck. I ended up having to push the power button to shut it down. When it started back up, I got a message that stated something like "Windows has recovered from a serious error...."

It's been slowing down for no reason. I thought I may have had some type of spy/malware. I did a couple scans of my computer, including all drives, and came up with nothing. I also keep getting this message that says my virtual memory is too low, and this normally happens when I'm not doing anything more intense than checking my email. I don't have a lot of programs running in the background, either, so this makes no sense to me. I installed Ascentive software to clean up the junk and clutter, search for spyware, etc., but I only launch it manually, and it does not launch at startup.

These things you're saying it's doing are not, to me, indicative of imminent failure - but let's make sure.

Go to your Control Panel, and open up the Administrative Tools section. Double-click the Event Viewer, and then click on System on the left side. It'll help to maximize the window, there's a lot of data here. Now, click on the top of the right hand side where it says "type" to sort the results. We're not terribly interested in anything other than the errors. Scroll to where the errors are, and take a gander through them. We are particularly interested (really, ONLY interested) in System Errors and Disk Errors.

You seeing any of those?

[Billsotx]

Once you have backed-up everything I'd look for a restore point before you noticed the first glitch and see if that might resolve that. You didn't say what version OS, on my XP the email is in My Docs and every once in awhile I just open two Windows Explorers and drag my email folder onto the email folder on my ext. HD. At least you haven't fooled around and been caught just wringing you hands. Good luck with what you decide.

[Hilly]

These things you're saying it's doing are not, to me, indicative of imminent failure - but let's make sure.

Go to your Control Panel, and open up the Administrative Tools section. Double-click the Event Viewer, and then click on System on the left side. It'll help to maximize the window, there's a lot of data here. Now, click on the top of the right hand side where it says "type" to sort the results. We're not terribly interested in anything other than the errors. Scroll to where the errors are, and take a gander through them. We are particularly interested (really, ONLY interested) in System Errors and Disk Errors.

You seeing any of those?

Tons of em. Most all having to do with cdrom, all of the ones listed are from yesterday and today.

[hivemind]

With that information Hilly, I don't think your PC is really on it's last legs. Those CD ROM errors aren't showstoppers, and those errors are will probably go away with a driver update for the drive.

Does it crash or shut down unexpectedly, or is the issue just general pokeyness?

Also, go ahead and blow it out with the compressor - we do it quite often on PCs that are deployed at our industrial customers. We use their compressors right there on their production floor so we don't have to make the filth go all over our shop.

[Hilly]

With that information Hilly, I don't think your PC is really on it's last legs. Those CD ROM errors aren't showstoppers, and those errors are will probably go away with a driver update for the drive.

Does it crash or shut down unexpectedly, or is the issue just general pokeyness?

Also, go ahead and blow it out with the compressor - we do it quite often on PCs that are deployed at our industrial customers. We use their compressors right there on their production floor so we don't have to make the filth go all over our shop.

Thanks for the info.

I just disabled the CD drive. I can play music in the DVD just as easily. No more errors.