OT PC Backup

fan doing the jokes. It's gttin old. It could still last ten or twenty years though. The cartel making desktops wants you to buy one every two or three years.

That may work fine with a business that can get the money back from tax expenses. But it is totally silly to think like that for home use. Talking of acting silly:

Some people on here are idiots and some are irresponsible, argumentative trolls. But some are very well clued up computer experts.

Just take a look at what Google has to show about whoever you are taking advice from. And don't pay any attention to negative replies unless they are fully backed up with reasonable explanations and insightful alternative tips.

Meanwhile; you don't say what you want to back up.

A 320 GB drive holds a hell of a lot of data. If you want to store a lot of graphics you should already have it on a second place online somewhere like Opera Community. (I suggest that one because its the only one I am familiar with, you can send them 100 images at a time with a good connection.)

They have their own compression algorithms to help out with bandwidth problems designed for mobile phone use. And Opera Unity allows great access anywhere any time. Others may know better places.

But get that drive now. At =A338 it's an hundred quid cheaper than the other stuff recommended on here so far.

I would consider buying a second hand box from a recycle firm such as TERC. (Which I use as it's local to me and very cheap.) Ask them to put a Linux OS on it for you. They may do so for nothing.

Text can be stored very nicely as a zip file set. How much space do you need? Convert all the important stuff to zip files this weekend and they will transfer very quickly for you. Linux will open Microsoft stuff but you may have a problem opening Linux stuff with Windows. (Though things have improved a lot over the last decade.)

And finally you can find out if it is a fan that is duff by unplugging it. Don't run the box for long or you will cook the CPU. But you should have two fans anyway. If you don't; then DO, asap. They cost pennies and can be fitter in minutes.

The chances are that the fan isn't even duff if it is just making a noise. It might just need cleaning, one of my boxes has a fan that needed the centre pushed in or out (can't remember which) to reseat it on the bearing and it is running fine now (either that, or I have become deaf to it.)

Clean the insides with a hoover and a soft brush. You can take the heat sink off the chip if you want to, to get it done and dusted. But you need some heat conducting grease for the interface when you put it back.

A little syringe of that stuff lasts a hell of a long time if you only clean your one case when things start squeaking. Don't go daft with it, you are just making close contact with two polished metal faces. A good pimple full is all you need.

Good luck.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer
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Does it make the funny noises right from when you first switch on? If so, switch off, open the case, unplug the hard disk's power connector, and switch on. If the noise is still there, it's not your hard disk...

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

Funny noises? Take the connectors off of all things when the unit is unplugged, then refit them. If you still get funny noises, then worry. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

...Unless you have boards/peripherals which aren't supported. :-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Thats mainly why I did at one time clone. But it was never used in practice, there are too many ifs & buts.

Shouldnt be hard to reinstall them from a backup. You do of course have info saved on what drivers work on what machine.

NT

Reply to
NT

Sure. PCI cards are handy for that, or just pass the machine on to someone else that wants windows.

Linux is /so/ much easier. It makes cloning pointless.

NT

Reply to
NT

Don't forget to remove the original before running the clone. From my experience windows gets confused otherwise.

Reply to
chudford

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