Bite the bullet - i need to buy a new computer

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

I will do that Tony, but I have run disk clean up and defragmenter. In fact I ran them two days ago! I run early in the month each month, plus Ccleanser and Adaware and anti virus scanners etc. I think perhaps my computer could be full of dust and cat hair and that is another project I can tackle. .

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Been there too with the cat hair and dust. Skip the tune up scan and just try the clean up scan and see if that helps any.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

Sounds like there are some serious problems. How long since your last defragmentation was run ? Do you have an updated AV program ? Perhaps a good place to start would be to do some clean up and problem solving. Go to:

Windows Live OneCare safety scanner: Free online tool for PC health and safety

Run each of the scans separately on a day when you need little computer time. Some scans take hours to run, the tune up scan will either do a defrag or tell you if you need one. And you do have a good idea about downloading the pictures to CD and deleting some things.

tony, I get this error message:
You have attempted to execute a CGI, ISAPI, or other executable program from a directory that does not allow programs to be executed.
Please try the following:

• Contact the Web site administrator if you believe this directory should allow execute access.

HTTP Error 403.1 - Forbidden: Execute access is denied.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Beyond my area of knowledge- but something I never saw before.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I would also recommend using an external HD. Using and external HD is like using a flash drive. Plug it in and away you go. You might have to install software that will come with the external HD. Here are some listed on Best Buy's website

The difference between using an external hard drive as a backup device is that it can break. Flash memory and CDs are the safest and cheapest method of doing backups.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

B:

Quote:
When different folks give different, opposite advice, someone has to be wrong.

Not necessarily---there is more than one effective way to migrate files from one machine to another. CDs are fine, so is network transfer.
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So, if one person says use a flash drive, only a flash drive, and nothing but a flash drive, and another person says you cannot use a flash drive, they are both right?
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In simple terms I am hearing back em up and stick em in.
Thanks

Obviously you are getting some bad advice. There are many different ways of accomplishing the task. Using a flash drive is fine as are many other suggestions. You just have to pick which method will work the best for you taking into account ease of doing it and cost.

There are 2 separate issues we are discussing. One is transferring files from one computer to another. The other issue is doing backups of files. Transferring files via a LAN and file sharing is the best way to solve issue 1 IF you can easily set up the LAN. It is not difficult to do but is probably beyond what many can or want to do. This method only solves the first issue and does not provide for backup. Flash memory is a cheap and very effective way to both back your files and transfer then to the new computer. However, it will not work if your old computer hardware ( USB ports ) does not support flash drives. You may have USB ports but they have to support the required USB standard which is usually a problem with computers more than 6 or 7 years old. CDs are also fine for file backup and transfer but not as easy as a flash drive. Also your old computer has to be able to write CDs. An external hard drive will work but is more expensive and not as safe for file backup as a flash memory or CD.

So it all boils down to selecting the best method for you based on the capabilities of your computers and you.

I am not a big fan of on-line storage but it will work.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I must be missing something here but WHAT does your Web browser have to do with transferring files and doing backups? FWIW, I have tried various browsers but always come back to using Internet Explorer which I always keep up to date.

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

USB Flash Drive


rapmarks

Which brand and size Flash Drive are you trying to use?

[Thirsty Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thirsty]

The difference between using an external hard drive as a backup device is that it can break. Flash memory and CDs are the safest and cheapest method of doing backups.

If you are talking about storing 5000 images you may need several gigabytes of storage. Do you know the size of your images? Do you know what the mega pixel is of the camera/cameras you have been using? If you are using a low end camera each image might be 1 megabyte If you are using a high end camera each image could be 4 plus megabytes. That means you will need a flash drive with a capacity between GB to 32 GB.

CD surfaces can get scratched and become damaged so they won't play. CDs are also a lot of work copying to and retrieving from. Flash drives have no moving parts to malfunction and are very reliable. A 32 GB will costs about $50.00 to $80.00.

I use a HP external HD to back up to. I have about 15000 pictures, several videos, and thousands of songs

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

The difference between using an external hard drive as a backup device is that it can break.

That's fine, as long as your main drive doesn't fail while you are replacing and repopulating your backup---and, for independent failures, that's almost certainly going to be true. The scenario this doesn't cover is fire, flood, etc. I backup all my home machines to a 1TB network-attached disk (hourly for the macs, daily for the PCs), and then clone that to another USB 1TB disk every other week---that one gets stored in my office. So, unless the entire town of Ann Arbor is wiped off the map, I'm in good shape.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

I have been trying to use a 4gb SanDisk Cruzer. computer won't read it.

Some of these pictures were copied previously, so i am going for the ones I want first. there are over 5400 pictures .

Cameras, two digital cameras one cost 200 and the other 500, so I would say that one would have lots of pixels.

I have some old stuff on two smaller flash drives. I don't know why my computer only reads cds and flashdrives on certain occasions.
I have decided to go for what I can copy and just buy a computer and what I don't save, too bad.

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

SanDisk Cruzer

The SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drive 4 GB uses a Hi-Speed USB

[jerrry94087 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jerrry94087]

Just because some programs won't always come up doesn't mean that computer is too old and needs to be replaced. Maybe OS is too old and faulty. You can reinstall or upgrade OS first and see if the problems will go away. I believe you can always borrow Windows DVDs from library or from friends.

And secondly, use flash disks to back up all important information.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I would suggest copying all the photos to CD/DVD and then delete them (after making sure you have them successfully copied). I've never had a hard disc 61% full and that may be part of the problem. You might also look at removing some programs that are not used, but be careful not to delete anything essential. Radio Shack often offers a free tune up and you might want to consider that (just don't buy extra memory{RAM} if they advise it)--they also will clean out the dust and cat hair (can't vouch for how good they are tho).

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Just because some programs won't always come up doesn't mean that computer is too old and needs to be replaced. Maybe OS is too old and faulty. You can reinstall or upgrade OS first and see if the problems will go away. I believe you can always borrow Windows DVDs from library or from friends.

And secondly, use flash disks to back up all important information.

The OS doesn't get old and faulty like hardware. The OS either supports the application or it doesn't. Upgrading the OS can cause problems. As long as your OS has been stable, there is no need to upgrade unless it is necessary to run new software. Having said that, I would definitely upgrade some versions of Windows as they never ran properly. I would also upgrade Vista as it is an abomination. Windows XP has been their best OS and the reports on Windows 7 look good.

Your system should be cleaned up and optimized periodically or it will slow down and start having problems. There are system cleaner and optimizer software packages to do this. I have been using Systweak's Advanced System Optimizer for 5 years and now use their latest one. It is the top rated one and I strongly recommend it. Here is a link to it. Do a search for it to get the best price.

Advanced System Optimizer - Performance, Power and Protection for your computer

What some people are not getting is that many older systems with USB ports do not support high speed USB that is required for flash drives. This is a hardware issue and can only be fixed by upgrading the hardware. One of my desktops that is 7 years old has 10 USB ports but there are many USB devices that don't work on it such as flash memory.