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Where To Get Sets and Parts For discussions about swapmeets, rallies, NVCF and BVWS, car boot sales, antique and charity shops, dealers, newspaper adverts, the local tip and just about any other source of equipment (other than eBay). |
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27th Nov 2018, 10:54 am | #21 |
Heptode
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Ayr, Ayrshire, UK.
Posts: 631
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Re: Cheap hard drives
OK, thanks for the advice : the laptop is more than ten years old (it's a Toshiba Satellite SA50 and originally used Win XP).
So pretty ancient - I intend to install a light Linux operating system on it and see how it performs (or not!). Andy |
27th Nov 2018, 11:26 am | #22 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,967
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Memory is likely to be the deciding factor. You will need an absolute minimum of 1GB and 2GB is preferable. This may be expensive or impossible with very old hardware.
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27th Nov 2018, 12:10 pm | #23 |
Heptode
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Ayr, Ayrshire, UK.
Posts: 631
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Thanks Paul but I'm aware of this
I have a few spare memory modules all ready to get fitted so it won't be a problem. Andy |
27th Nov 2018, 4:59 pm | #24 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Knutsford, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,500
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Re: Cheap hard drives
I use SSD's for my Windows OS (C) drive and standard machanical drives for the extra storage space and for my backup (D, E, F, etc).
Most of the advantage of SSD's is gained when using one for the OS, giving faster bootup and program launching, etc. I have stored mechanical HDD's for quite long periods of time with no data loss, so I trust them pretty well (so far!)
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...where on earth did that spring/screw go?? |
27th Nov 2018, 5:41 pm | #25 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,433
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Whiskas.
Do you leave the backup drives online when not in use? Not a good idea, any problems with the computer hardware or software could corrupt your backups.
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Frank |
27th Nov 2018, 5:43 pm | #26 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Knutsford, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,500
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Hi Frank,
Asidce from the SSD for the OS drive, I have one standard 3.5" HDD built into my PC, the others are removeable drives in USB enclosures. Never had any problems so far!
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...where on earth did that spring/screw go?? |
25th Dec 2018, 10:54 pm | #27 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Posts: 39
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Quote:
How good do these lite versions work one might ask? I also have an HP OmniBook XE3 with an Intel PIII 800 MHz CPU and a whopping 128 megs of RAM. It was originally sold with Win2000 Pro and Puppy Linux 4.3.1 will not run live as it is totally run in RAM so I installed it permanently on the drive with a swap partition to work as RAM. It flies on this software but I put this mint book in mothballs and use the IBM instead. This one I'm looking for a larger drive instead of the 30 GB IDE and it is to the point of the IDE SSD being cheaper than used overpriced mechanical. Don't forget the older HHD are 4500,5400 RPM as well slowing things down even more. Linux isn't that bad anymore for GUI slaves like myself and if your older hardware is fast enough as many still is a regular flavor or Ubuntu will work quite well! Another alternative is run the original IDE hard drive and use an external USB drive with a SATA SSD which are dropping in price. |
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26th Dec 2018, 12:05 am | #28 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,340
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Quote:
*Samsung EVO 850 |
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26th Dec 2018, 12:52 am | #29 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Cheap hard drives
I’m running a 256Gb 850 pro as my backup disk and it’s not even half full including OSX system image.
Managing data volume is the most powerful cost saving exercise... |
26th Dec 2018, 2:11 am | #30 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,340
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Re: Cheap hard drives
While my System drive is currently showing 349Gb free of 464Gb and could run a small drive, the Data drive is showing 305Gb free of 931Gb.
I have a 'thing' about drive space being available when I need it. |
26th Dec 2018, 9:12 pm | #31 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 2,181
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Re: Cheap hard drives
There is a use for old mechanical HDD.I’ve bought a couple of "clean pull", both Maxtor as I have Seagate & Powermax ,(both same firm) HDD test programs. I've no intention of using them in everyday use as I only want them as out of PC backup. And two of them- belt & braces ,just in case one fails. On the topic of SSD, I use a Kingston SSD as my main OS hard drive , as it is big enough to hold W10 and WIN XP . Boot up is very fast butI'm now on a warranty replacement as the first failed in approx six months. But saying that I've had a Maxtor 80GB go faulty in less than a week . Cheap at circa £35
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26th Dec 2018, 10:00 pm | #32 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Simple bit of arithmetic, what's your data worth (including time to re-instate OS and applications etc.) v.s. cost of drives. I have many small (2TB is the biggest) external hard disks, all for backup and a mirrored server for data/films etc., well worth the money spent on new ones. And I back up frequently.
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27th Dec 2018, 4:57 pm | #33 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 2,181
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Re: Cheap hard drives
MM- I agree and using second hand drives is asking for trouble. I only use new drives ( SSD or mech) in my PC, but I do have a couple of clean pulls ( both Seagate or affiliated maker) to act as backups. Once backed up ,they reside on a shelf out of the PC. I use two , as insurance .
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27th Dec 2018, 5:48 pm | #34 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Cheap hard drives
Indeed backing up is very important in this ephemeral digital age. I got a call from a company I worked for a while ago about a design I did "have you still got it", reply "yes" (they had some patent issue) I popped round and gave a copy of my backup to them and to my surprise was handed a quite large cheque, paid for all my backup hardware and some...
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