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--- computerclub:helpcenter:currentevents:oldercomputers [2019/07/06 21:49] – pb
+++ computerclub:helpcenter:currentevents:oldercomputers [2021/12/14 13:11] (current) – [Hard Drive failures vs SSD upgrade.] phillip
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Today is June 16, 2019. In the past 2 weeks I have seen a rash (4) of hard drive failures. Two of the failures were not obvious. All of the failures were on older (at least 6 year old) computers. The failures were on desktops and laptops. Hard drives are electro mechanical devices. When they fail, it will probably be at an inconvenient time.
-Today is July 6, 2019.  The clock has continued to tick and serveral more "//**Needs a new hard drive**// " computers arrived in the Help Center.   The computeres were older desktops and laptops.   Curiosity and Google led me to this:  [[https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175089-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives|Who makes the most reliable hard drive]].   Note that this item does not address SSD (Solid State Drive).
+Today is July 6, 2019. The clock has continued to tick and several more "//**Needs a new hard drive**//  " computers arrived in the Help Center. The computeres were older desktops and laptops.  Fortunately, the storage requirements for each of the computers was satisfied with a 250 GB SSD.   Curiosity and Google led me to this: [[https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175089-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives|Who makes the most reliable hard drive]]. Note that this item does not address SSD (Solid State Drive).  If you need BIG and reliable storage, the article might be for you.
 ===== Preventative medicine =====
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 Backups. At a minimum, backup your data. For many users, the free version of Google Drive offers enough space for your data. 15 gigabytes is FREE. Google also stores pictures for FREE. The picture storage does //**NOT**//  count as data, unless the pictures are high resolution.
-Look at the [[:smart_hard_drive|S.M.A.R.T]] information on your hard drive. Or get someone in the Help Center to show you how to look at S.M.A.R.T..
+Look at the [[computerclub:helpcenter:smart_hard_drive|S.M.A.R.T]] information on your hard drive. Or get someone in the Help Center to show you how to look at S.M.A.R.T..
 Upgrade to SSD (Solid State Drive). Upgrading to SSD on a computer can deliver dramatic performance benefits. Windows and many applications (antivirus programs particularly) are disk abusers. 99% of the time, when I analyse performance on a Windows computer, the first obvious indicator of system slowness is: The disk drive is 100% busy. The disk drive is often the "neck of the funnel", when it comes to getting things done with your computer.
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 The people that have good backup practices, probably do not show up in the Help Center. If you have good backups, I am guessing you are proabably not intimidated by replaceing a hard drive.
-If your hard drive is still working, upgrading to an SSD is a simpler process. There are software tools that facilitate "cloning" the content of your HD to an SSD. Once the drive is cloned, you can boot from the SSD. A tool I have used for cloning is: [[https://www.lifewire.com/minitool-partition-wizard-free-review-2624947|Minitool Partition Wizard]]. With a desktop computer there is usually room in the computer for the SSD and HD, so there is the possibility you can retain the HD for additional storage. Is backing up to an old HD a good idea. This day and age, my preferance would be some sort of cloud storage for backups of data that is not important to my financial well being.
+If your hard drive is still working, upgrading to an SSD is a simpler process. There are software tools that facilitate "cloning" the content of your HD to an SSD. Once the drive is cloned, you can boot from the SSD. A tool I have used for cloning is: [[https://www.lifewire.com/minitool-partition-wizard-free-review-2624947|Minitool Partition Wizard]]. With a desktop computer there is usually room in the computer for the SSD and HD, so there is the possibility you can retain the HD for additional storage. Is backing up to an old HD a good idea?  This day and age, my preferance would be some sort of cloud storage for backups of data that is //**not**//  important to my financial well being.
 ===== Conclusion =====
-Upgrading to SSD might encourage you to rethink about the cost of a new computer. WIth SSD, reboots, program loads and updates are dramatically faster than traditional HD. The title of this page implies older computers will benefit. However, even newer computers can show significant performance gains with an SSD, if they are presently equipped with a HD.  One observation worth noting about reduced boot time with SSD vs HD is:   If your computer is configured to //**Hibernate**//  instead of //**SHUTDOWN**// , your first impression of SSD boot times being shorter than HD may not be the case.
+Upgrading to SSD might encourage you to rethink about the cost of a new computer. WIth SSD, reboots, program loads and updates are dramatically faster than traditional HD. The title of this page implies older computers will benefit. However, even newer computers can show significant performance gains with an SSD, if they are presently equipped with a HD. One observation worth noting about reduced boot time with SSD vs HD is: If your computer is configured to //**Hibernate**//  instead of //**SHUTDOWN**//  , your first impression of SSD boot times being shorter than HD may not be the case.