Replies

Here’s the link
http://http://lifehacker.com/341950/belvedere-automates-your-self+cleaning-pc

“MrB”

Hello…Don’t think your link is working..Please check. :cheers: Regards Fred

I will Google the Macrium and go from there.

Neil,

Hello.. I had another thought …

1. Did the ASUS board come with a disk ? If so, the necessary drivers will be on it (SATA AHCI) …You can also go to the ASUS website and download them from there.

2. Does the BIOS have the ability to switch from SATA to IDE ? My ASUS does.. You could then try that as outlined in my post #1:cheers: Regards Fred

PS: Macrium Reflect Comparison Chart You would need the “PRO” Version

PPS: With Macrium Reflect you can switch the license Key from one OS to another, or run it from a boot Recovery Disk

When everyone was going crazy trying to download the latest Win 8, Ubuntu released their latest version, which I have downloaded without difficulty. There seems to be less traffic on that site, or more servers or something, for anyone who wants something new to talk about.

“db”

I have tried Ubuntu years ago …it was an exercise in frustration (various reasons) Question: I would be willing to give it another go…If

1. Does the new Ubuntu still use the “Terminal” to do even the most simple things? ( lots of “Geeky” input code) The “true believers” really love this.

2. Have they included more GUI ( user interface) to make things a bit easier to navigate?

3. Have they improved the ability to connect to the internet if you use a modem (air card) to connect ..? Had lots of problems with this one

Thanks for any input….:cheers: Regards Fred

Nope! A blue screen of death informing me that I had wrong drivers! Well, duh! Of course I have – let me install the new ones! I tried this a number of times as well as checking my H/W installation several times over. The H/W build seems perfect. I don’t know what to do next. How can I install the new drivers if I have no booted Windows? Anyone? I might add that I stripped all cards/devices out so that all I had left was my original drive C:.

Neil,

Hello… I have done this with a ASUS Mobo (990FX) and XP.. I had similar problems with blue screens as well ..There were several problems that i had .

1. XP had IDE drivers and my disks were SATA .. The choice was either to Slipstream the SATA drivers using “nlite” (then using the disk for the install) or setting the BIOS for IDE.(After booting you then could install the SATA drivers..then switch the BIOS Back at boot time) There is an ( i believe ) a F6 option if you have the XP disk ..but you will need a “Floppy drive”

2. I had another option ..Made an Image of the XP install and used Macrium Pro to install the drivers using the recover image to different hardware feature ( called Re-Deploy)… With it you can point Macrium to a CDDVD or flash drive that contains the appropriate drivers.

3. One other thing make sure that the ASUS intel i5 combo will work with the board …with my ASUS i could only use the AMD CPU’s ( for XP) :cheers: Regards Fred

I am just annoyed when I see technically baseless advice, Fred, it’s nothing personal. Technically baseless advice, in “my cheeky obnoxious opinion”, of course. What I really wanted to say was that the OP is totally free to ignore your technically baseless advice. All he needs is to follow a decent imaging routine and he will lose nothing.

You know Fred, when people lack sensible arguments to back their opinions, they do this that you did here. It defines you way better than I whatever I could have said. Thanks for that.

Rui,
First off “opinions” are just that… Mine is no more correct than yours … There is nothing “technically” Incorrect or “baseless” about recommending to someone who is considering purchasing a new “Desktop” to think about having two Hard Drives …One for the OS and one for DATA ( personal , Pictures , Image’s etc.)… Many loungers do this in various ways … I was offering the OP ( George) my experience …to say it’s “technically baseless” …well your way out of line… I might suggest that you go and have a “nice lie down” :cheers: Regards Fred

Common sense in what relates to technology takes many variants. It really depends on what you use your system for, which, in some cases, means a lot of stress, with web servers, database servers, multiple compilers, etc. Also, in some scenarios, it’s quite hard to tell an app that it should get its data from where you want it.

Regardless of that, the implied idea that you would lose information from any disk, SSD, hybrid or HDD is a wrong. The issue is not how much data you lose, but making sure you don’t lose any data at all, no matter how many disks you have.

Both my laptops are SSD only now. If I could justify the cost, I would replace my desktop HDD (500 GB) by a 480 GB SSD. Cost will come down. When it does, my only HDDs will be external (or internal), but used for backup only.

I will also keep using a single partition per drive. With SSDs and fast USB 3 drives, every backup op takes less than an hour. It’s just not worth the hassle of multiple partitioning your disks and configuring the OS to deal with it.

Rui,

Hello…The “OP” (George) asked for adviseopinions about “Desktop PC’s ” I gave him my 2¢ … He then asked a followup question (TO ME) I obliged him, and gave “my opinion” …I don’t recall the OP asking for your “Opinion” about my “Opinion” …. (With your “cheeky obnoxious comment”) Besides being in violation of rule #3 …the thread is about PC’s …not Imaging …Different topic. If you want to start a thread about the “joy” of you’re particular “Imaging paradigm” ..get after it and don’t let me get in the way of your success and happiness ….:cheers: Regards Fred

Oh really?! Have you heard of imaging

Rui,

My point was that the “DATA” HD ( non OS) is almost always much larger and less stressed ( used for storage) than the OS HD and not as likely to go “Belly Up” Most would agree that it makes much more sense to save both “Images” and “Data” off your OS (Including Imaging software People) Than to have your Images Data Pictures etc. saved on your main OS HD. Oh really?! Have you heard of common sense?… Regards Fred

@ Fred. a. Isn’t a separate hard drive for the OS, rather than a partition, over the top unless getting a SSD for the OS? They seem to be both expensive and short-lived.

I’ve become more or less convinced by the argument for keeping data on a separate partition, and will probably be back later to ask how one overcomes Windows habit of putting My docs, pictures, etc all on the one drive. Furthermore, modern PCs seem to come with unnecessarily huge hard drives – my 120 GB drive is still half empty, despite containing 15 years of files I wish to keep, and a few GBs of photos.

George,

Hello.. A “separate partition” means that all your Data and the OS are all on one HD, it’s just divided up into individual segments.. My suggestion is that the OS should be on a small HD SSD and the DATA on a large storage type HD …HD’s are not expensive anymore.. HD’s have a good track record for “life span” and reliability…. SSD’s have come along way also.. We have a “Notebook” with a 22GB SSD for the OS and a 500 GB HD for DATA.. For now my other PC’s (desktops) are all “plain Jane” HD’s If you use just one HD or SSD if it goes “belly up” you loose everything Data and OS… Hope this is some help:cheers: Regards Fred

I then ran it in W7, failed as you indicated.

Jim,
Hello… Unless i missed it ..are you running Win 7 64 ? or the 32 bit OS ?….My screen shot shows that there is no boot support for the 32 bit Win 7 with GPT…. Regards Fred

PS: Here is a screen shot of my GPT HD … Win 7 64 OS

I’ve uploaded the W8 and W7 view of Disk Management, thanks.

Jim,

Hello… I’m confused… One screen shot shows that you have a GPT HD, and your Win 7 OS shows a “boot” page file , etc.. Thought that a GPT HD handles the Boot chores utilizing the two small partitions?:cheers: Regards Fred

PS: Think that only 64 bit ( Win 7 ) can use GPT…

Am I missing something here? I’m trying not to spend $50 for acronis because this new laptop set me back enough for right now. Has anyone out there had any success with a win8 or 7 backup or sys image?

mtbarbee,

Hello… Forget the Windows Backup … It’s a horrid , clumsy and clunky program when even compared to the free alternatives.. Also forget Acronis … Their support and Imaging program’s have gone downhill since 2010 ( my opinion only) I have Acronis 2012 and 2013 and won’t use them again .. I have used Macrium Reflect Pro ( pay for) and the Free version …They work ! There will be a learning curve …but the lounge can offer help. Don’t “fool” with DVD CD backups ….much better off with an off PC HD or Flash drive…. Checkout Macrium and post back with any questions:cheers: Regards Fred

My desktop PC is on its last legs and needs replacing – but with what?

A few other points I need to know when making my choice:
I believe 4GB RAM is the minimum with Win 8, and preferably more – correct?.
What are shared graphics?
I don’t understand how Intel i3, i5 etc compare with the old classification, but assume i5 is faster then i3.
Finally, being technically illiterate where computers are concerned, perhaps I don’t need better sensors, etc. It’s just irritating when I bring my problems to the lounge and am unable to answer some of the questions I’m asked.

Many thanks for any guidance offered,

George,

Hello..Wow what a question.. You will get about as many answers as there are PC’s.. I’ll try to answer some of your questions

1. 4GB of Ram is the Max for any 32 bit OS.. So unless your getting a 64 bit machine that’s the limit it can use.

2. Some PC’s use a separate Graphics card …others use “on board” graphics ( part of motherboard )

3. You can check out this site for a CPU comparison

As far as which PC …well only you can make that call ..You would have to weigh the price vs performance you want .. Things that would be important to me wouldn’t necessarily matter to you.. My list would include .

a. Space for more than one HD (one for OS and the other for DATA)
b. A CPU with mulit cores …at least 4
c. A large Power Supply .. At least a 500W
d. large monitor ..At least 22″
e. Nothing remotely resembling Windows 8, Secure Boot, or GPT formatted partitions.. My 2¢… Windows 7 64 Pro is the best choice

Basically i would probably not be able to find what i wanted …so would just build another myself… You could too :cheers: Regards Fred

And I am still open to other ideas–I just won’t be able to acknowledge them or act on them for the next week or so.

Joe,

Hello… After thinking a bit …what might be the problem

1. When you “wiped” the HD the system “protected” the GPT bits ( first two partitions) so it wasn’t complete .. and GPT remains.

2. Check with a boot time Partition manager like ”G Parted ” to see “whats sup” with the HD

3. It’s possible that you did “wipe” the drive , but left it “Unallocated” . Then it would appear with the message ” no bootable device found” So you would need to make it Primary Active …drive letter etc.

4. If that is the case ..you could then load the “7” disk and you should be good to go…That’s only if the “secure boot security” thing will accept the Win 7 disk.. Worth a try:cheers: Regards Fred

I also deleted all the drive partitions (five of them) during the Win 7 installation process, creating one partition for the entire drive.

Joe,

Hello… Late to this but would like to comment… New Win 8 OEM PC’s come with UEFI GPT and some form of “Secure Boot” If you try to install an older OS like “7” (MBR NTFS Image) to the GPT formatted HD …the PC wont boot ( been there …done that)..You can make it boot by getting rid of the two GPT partitions, and reformatting the HD (NTFS)…although these are protected system partitions and are not easily removed. Also it could be that the BIOS security (secure boot) wont let you install anything but a Win 8 OS ( depending on the PC and it’s BIOS security settings ) …Just my 2¢ :cheers: Regards Fred

suggestion of using msconfig is a good one and I had thought of that but was a little concerned that I might uncheck something that would cause the computer to not boot at all. I will have to (carefully) give that a try.

Exiled,

Hello… You can check the box to hide all MS entries … so “no problemo”:cheers: Regards Fred