Tiplet expert tips & tech support

March 10, 2009

How and Why to Keep Data and Applications on Separate Drives

by David Hakala

When you create a user account under Windows, the operating system sets up a number of different folders to contain data specific to that user. These folders are placed on the same drive with the Windows operating systems files by default. There are some good reasons to change the location of these user files to a drive other than the one which Windows resides.

First, it makes backup operations faster and more efficient. User data changes very frequently, while the operating system changes seldom. If you make backups daily, as you should, then your backup program must a) work to sort changed files from unchanged files before backing up only the changed files, or b) back up unchanged files unnecessarily. Either way, backups take longer and consume more system resources while they are running, slowing down other things you may be doing.
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March 3, 2009

Pros and cons of Solid State Drives

Filed under: computer hardware,computer performance — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Q: What are the pro’s and con’s of switching to a Solid State Hard drive? Is it faster and is it reliable? – Bill.

A Solid State Drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store data. “Solid-state” means that the device stores data as patterns in the on/off states of transistors. A transistor in its “on” or positively charged state is considered a binary “1” bit, while a transistor in its “off” state is considered a “zero” bit. “Solid” refers to the fact that there are no empty spaces in a transistor for mechanical parts to move around in; the transistor is turned on and off by the application of electricity, not by the electromechanical movement of a physical switch.
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