[PLEASE HELP] New laptop or external hard drive?

[Porter's Dad]

Situation is this.

My beautiful laptop, which I've had for about 2, maybe even 3 years, is now at the horrible point where it is working at a speed which I simply do not have the patience for. For 2 years, I've enjoyed fast as hell speed and functionality on it, and to now reach a point where a few times a day it all grinds to a ****ing halt, which I either have to sit through and wait till my browser is no longer "not responding" or simply have to turn my computer off and start again, is galling.

It's basically compleley full. I used to download a few films, albums, boxing fights a week, but I can't do that anymore. In fact, I have had to delete anything even vaguely superfluous, and now I only have everything that is basically essential. Everything is stripped down. There is nothing more I can delete.

And still, I just about get by.

Now, I need your advice - would getting an external hard drive solve my problems? Could I put alot of my **** onto it, and then regain some of my speed on my comp? Is that how it works? Sorry if I sound ******ed about this but I don't know how they work. Basically, I'm just wondering if I could get some speed back by transferring alot of my **** onto the external hard drive?

Or should I just get a new laptop? Because ultimately, I want a nice fast laptop, which doesn't take 5 mins to load, and doesn't tell me 5 times a day that I have very low disk space.

I have become incredibly attached to this laptop. It's got all my **** on it, it's got history and I don't feel quit ready just yet to give this little gem up. But laptops are kinda cheap right now, so....I dunno.

Give me some advice, guys. Thanks.

[fight_professor]

Same predicament. My desktop is slow as hell, it makes Valuev look fleetfooted. Its a few years old. I have a external HD which holds most my stuff, but its still slow. The reason: new packages/programs require large amounts of processor power and RAM.

My machine will struggle.

I am going to buy a new one this week. Buy a new one.

[Clegg]

I can relate.

My old PC was slow as hell, prone to freezing up and low on memory.

In the end I did get an external hard drive, however the increased space didn't seem to help much. I re-formatted it, and that seemed to make a big difference. Although it still dies on me every now and then, it runs a lot faster.

[Porter's Dad]

Thanks, guys.

Clegg - what does reformatting involve and how does it work? Could a cyber ****** like me do it?

I can relate.

My old PC was slow as hell, prone to freezing up and low on memory.

In the end I did get an external hard drive, however the increased space didn't seem to help much. I re-formatted it, and that seemed to make a big difference. Although it still dies on me every now and then, it runs a lot faster.

[Porter's Dad]

Buy a new one.

Leaning towards it, man. But I love my current one so much

[Clegg]

Thanks, guys.

Clegg - what does reformatting involve and how does it work? Could a cyber ****** like me do it?

I had someone help me with it, but it seemed fairly simple. You insert the operating system disc that you got with the laptop (Windows 2000 or XP or whatever), and set the PC to boot from the disc, then you get the option to reformat up on screen and it guides you through it from that point on.

Not 100% sure that every system works the same way, but I'd say it's quite easy to get to grips with. It removes everything though, so any programs/games would have to be downloaded and installed all over again.

[Porter's Dad]

I had someone help me with it, but it seemed fairly simple. You insert the operating system disc that you got with the laptop (Windows 2000 or XP or whatever), and set the PC to boot from the disc, then you get the option to reformat up on screen and it guides you through it from that point on.

Not 100% sure that every system works the same way, but I'd say it's quite easy to get to grips with. It removes everything though, so any programs/games would have to be downloaded and installed all over again.

That sounds incredibly scary, Clegg. I don't even know if I could find that operating system disk for a start. But I'm gonna have a look and look into the whole reformatting thing. Maybe it ain't so bad.

Thanks for your help, man.

[TheJoker]

That sounds incredibly scary, Clegg. I don't even know if I could find that operating system disk for a start. But I'm gonna have a look and look into the whole reformatting thing. Maybe it ain't so bad.

Thanks for your help, man.

Formatting is simple. Laptop is easy, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) should be able to recognize any DVD/CD ROM drive that's attached. I recently helped format a computer for my friend with a BIOS so old it wouldn't boot from a DVD and had to boot from an external HDD through the USB. Pain in the ass...

Few things you'll want to remember though, back up your drivers for (at least) your network card. If you don't and the OS disk doesn't have compatible drivers you might not be able to access the internet (and most manufacturers will let you download sound/video drivers from their websites, so as long as the internet works you can recover those).

When your computers POST's (Power On Self Test's) you'll need to hit something like F1, F2, DEL, etc. (mine is F10) to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so your hard drive doesn't start up first. If you're going off a DVD, make sure the DVD ROM boots first. When that happens the rest is straightforward. It will ask if you want to format, etc.

Personally I would get an external HDD because there are good quality (Western Digital I just bought recently) and cheap ($99.99 CAD+tax). It is 1TB, nearly half full but I have a ton of movies/videos/audio. The only things that should be installed on the laptop itself is the programs you need to run.

[Mad]

If its an older computer I would just re-format and buy more memory for it.

1GB of DDR RAM should fix your speed problems after you re-format. This will fix you up with out buying a new PC.

PM me if u need help ordering memory for your laptop.

[Porter's Dad]

Formatting is simple. Laptop is easy, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) should be able to recognize any DVD/CD ROM drive that's attached. I recently helped format a computer for my friend with a BIOS so old it wouldn't boot from a DVD and had to boot from an external HDD through the USB. Pain in the ass...

Few things you'll want to remember though, back up your drivers for (at least) your network card. If you don't and the OS disk doesn't have compatible drivers you might not be able to access the internet (and most manufacturers will let you download sound/video drivers from their websites, so as long as the internet works you can recover those).

When your computers POST's (Power On Self Test's) you'll need to hit something like F1, F2, DEL, etc. (mine is F10) to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so your hard drive doesn't start up first. If you're going off a DVD, make sure the DVD ROM boots first. When that happens the rest is straightforward. It will ask if you want to format, etc.

Personally I would get an external HDD because there are good quality (Western Digital I just bought recently) and cheap ($99.99 CAD+tax). It is 1TB, nearly half full but I have a ton of movies/videos/audio. The only things that should be installed on the laptop itself is the programs you need to run.

Hey man, thanks for taking the time to respond.

I'm gonna be honest with you; not only is reformatting outside of my capabilities, but I've decided that I'm gonna buy a new laptop. I just need to start afresh, I think. As attached as I am to my current one, I checked out some new laptop todays while investigatings some hard drives, and they look sexy as hell. And after 3 years, it's time, I think.

However, I'm still gonna buy an external hard drive. I actually think I saw a 1TB Western Digital today - and now that yo've recommended it, I might take the plunge next time I go and buy it.

Hey, I've seen you make a computer related posts ands you're obviously very savvy about such things. Could you recommend me a laptop too? I wouldn't mind paying a good price for one.

Cheers.