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  #21  
Old 06-18-2005, 11:27 PM
Timer Timer is offline
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Default Re: my turn for help please

I've been looking at the HP 2610 four in one Printer, fax, copier and scanner. It also has all of the slots for your cameras and camcorders, etc. Cost is about $179 at Fry's.

Is your video card dual-head? This might be a dumb question, because I'm guessing that most state of the art video cards are dual-head these days. It's nice to be able to hook up a second monitor even if your main monitor is a 21 inch mac-daddy.

My monitor is the Samsung 21.3 inch 213T, and it's very nice. They're going for anywhere from $500-750. Highly reccommended.

I built my PC with a Maxtor drive, but its been a few years and it had a noise problem. This fluid bearing stuff sounds good though. I'd never heard of that before.

Now I have a couple of newbie questions. What does SATA mean in relation to hard drives, and what are the advantages/disadvantages over the older type HDs? Is SATA necessary for the average user?

What's this cooling system you're talking about? Is it just a fan, or an entire system?

I just bought an NEC 16x16 DVD+ RW drive. Is this a dual-purpose drive like everyone is talking about? Any opinions on the model?

Another question: if you only need one drive how do you copy from one CD to another?

Just reading this thread made me realize how much I'm out of touch about this stuff. For example I didn't know that a DVD disk held so much information. Can you burn your data to a DVD instead of a CD? Is it a permanent burn, or can you overwrite data like you can with some CDs. Are there two different kinds of DVD disks?

Enough for now, thanks.
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  #22  
Old 06-19-2005, 04:14 AM
BluffTHIS! BluffTHIS! is offline
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Default Re: my turn for help please

Ray,

Even though you want to buy locally, the Dell monitor I mentioned is about 749 w/no coupons which you might be able to find, and you won't be disappointed and they ship quick.
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  #23  
Old 06-19-2005, 12:42 PM
Ray Zee Ray Zee is offline
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Location: montana usa
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Default Re: my turn for help please

timer, these are the same questions i am trying to find out.
what happens is that those that arent all that computer knowledgeable have a big gap in their ability to use them.
i would like to understand better those things you pose.
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  #24  
Old 06-19-2005, 02:37 PM
MyMindIsGoing MyMindIsGoing is offline
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Posts: 41
Default Re: my turn for help please

"I built my PC with a Maxtor drive, but its been a few years and it had a noise problem. This fluid bearing stuff sounds good though. I'd never heard of that before."

Hard drives are among the parts witch will last the shortest time. If it has a like whining sound it is startning to get old, if the sound is more of a scratchy type, then backup everything important now and get a new one as soon as possible. If it has clicking sounds, avoid having your computer on and prepare for emergency backup, the drive will fail soon.

"My monitor is the Samsung 21.3 inch 213T, and it's very nice. They're going for anywhere from $500-750. Highly reccommended."

I would also recomend the Samsung 213T over the dell 2001fp for a general purpose computer.

"What does SATA mean in relation to hard drives, and what are the advantages/disadvantages over the older type HDs? Is SATA necessary for the average user?"

Sata is the connector type and the way to transfer the data to and from the device. Sata is standard nowdays, and what is standard is what you want. It is not "necessary" but what is "necessary" in life realy? If you gonna get a new hard drive (and your mother board supports sata, witch all new ones does) then buy a sata disk.

"What's this cooling system you're talking about?"

Me? I was talking about the cpu cooler: http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product...=145&code=

Review: http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041213/index.html

From review: "The copper version of the new cooler should cost around $50, giving it a decent price-performance ratio considering both its cooling power and ultra quiet noise levels"

"if you only need one drive how do you copy from one CD to another?"

You copy the disc to the hard drive, then insert a blank one and then transfer it to the cd.

"I just bought an NEC 16x16 DVD+ RW drive. Is this a dual-purpose drive like everyone is talking about? Any opinions on the model?"

Many dvd drives are acually nec inside, so buying a nec directly is not a bad thing. That dual purpose talk felt very old-style. All new drives can burn both cds, dvds and what ever else you wanna burn. The pioneer 109 can burn: dvd-r, dvd-r dual layer, dvd+r, dvd+r dual layer, dvd-rw, dvd+r, cd-r, cd-rw. Everthing you want.

"Can you burn your data to a DVD instead of a CD? Is it a permanent burn, or can you overwrite data like you can with some CDs. Are there two different kinds of DVD disks?"

Yes DVD is very good for data, each disc can take about 4gb of data. There are both dvd-r discs witch can be written to once, and dvd-rw that can be written to several times (just like cd-r and cd-rw). Yes there are two types of dvd discs (actually three), dvd-r and dvd+r. Any new burner (like pioneer 109) can handle both types. So just get a good burner and worry about the discs later (i prefer dvd-r though).
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  #25  
Old 06-19-2005, 07:02 PM
Timer Timer is offline
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Default Re: my turn for help please

[ QUOTE ]
"Can you burn your data to a DVD instead of a CD? Is it a permanent burn, or can you overwrite data like you can with some CDs. Are there two different kinds of DVD disks?"

Yes DVD is very good for data, each disc can take about 4gb of data. There are both dvd-r discs witch can be written to once, and dvd-rw that can be written to several times (just like cd-r and cd-rw). Yes there are two types of dvd discs (actually three), dvd-r and dvd+r. Any new burner (like pioneer 109) can handle both types. So just get a good burner and worry about the discs later (i prefer dvd-r though).

[/ QUOTE ]

You have been ever so kind with your help. I just have a couple of follow-up questions.

This is exactly what it says on my receipt for my NEC burner:

DVD+,-RW NEC 16x16. I'm assuming it does the things your Pioneer does. Am I correct? If I'm wrong, what am I missing? Also, what is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?

What exactly are fluid bearings? Do all of the modern drives have this feature?

Thanks again for your help.
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  #26  
Old 06-19-2005, 07:42 PM
MyMindIsGoing MyMindIsGoing is offline
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Posts: 41
Default Re: my turn for help please

I see no reason to get rid of that nec and buy a pioneer, it will do fine. If I am not mistaken Piooneer 109 has a Nec chip in it. So they are pretty much the same thing.

As far as the fluid bearing is conserned, my english is not good enough to explain. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc...id_bearing.htm has some explenations:

"In addition to their long life, fluid bearings generally have very low friction -- far better than mechanical bearings."

Lower friction = less heat and less noise and longer life. There are of cource some very good hard drives without fluid bearings. The main reason I like it beacuse it is less noisy. All new Maxtor Diamondmax drives has fluid bearings.

The diffrerence between dvd-r and dvd+r is not that big realy, just how they worn internaly and the discs are somewhat diffrent. There used to be burners that only burned one type but those days are over. There also used to be big compability issues when you tried to play the disc somewhere else than in your own burner. Nowdays they are almost the same.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvd has some info about both formats.
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  #27  
Old 06-20-2005, 04:22 AM
Rick Nebiolo Rick Nebiolo is offline
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Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,179
Default Re: my turn for help please

Ray,

Get two internal hard drives and use a partitioning scheme to isolate operating system and programs from data as much as possible.

My first HD is partitioned as follows:

C: WinXP and Programs (30 GB)
D: Data (except music) (75 GB)
E: Spare (10 GB) (now using for PT databases)

Second HD:

F: Page File (2 GB) (some geeks think this speeds things up, not sure myself)
G: Music (95 GB)
H: Ghost Image: 16 GB (I use Norton Ghost to make a perfect, restorable image of my C: drive. Ghost works from a floppy, so if I had a HD failure I can get back to EXACTLY where I was.)
I: Downloads (1.2 GB) (this is overkill).

I use two external drives to back up music and data. One is just an old drive in a special converter case.

If you don't have that much data you can use your second internal drive for a data backup partition and for your Ghost partition.

I like Radified's advice and guides for creating partitions and maintaining a stable computer and using Norton Ghost.

Good luck with your new machine.

~ Rick
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