[FRIAM] Advice on configuring computers

Wed Oct 10 14:00:15 EDT 2018

Depending on the size of the computer, with smaller ones being less likely to allow it, most of them will be able to have two hard drives.  A frequent configuration now is to have a primary drive that Windows is installed on, which is an SSD, and a secondary larger non-SSD drive. Annoyingly (and driven by cost), the primary SSD drive tends to be relatively small (128-256 GB).  My current personal laptop is running Windows 10 and has a ~240 GB primary SSD and a 512 GB non-SSD secondary drive.  I'm a digital packrat, and so far that has been sufficient disk space.  However, I would feel more comfortable having a larger primary SSD drive -- at least 480 GB (not sure why they don't map to the powers of two), although 1 TB  -- and a larger secondary drive (also 1 to 2 TB).  Unfortunately, that sort of configuration will almost certainly exceed a $1K price point.

The SD card is a reasonable option for adding additional storage since most laptops do have a built-in SD card reader, although I'd confirm that it can handle a 400 GB card since that's bigger than the commonly available ones and the drivers may not have been updated to handle it (the 256 GB should be fine though since that size has been readily available for at least the past year or two).  The only caution I'd have on that is to probably not install software to it (same with an external drive).
An external SSD drive connected via USB3 (preferably) can be a relatively inexpensive way to store additional data, but it definitely has the issue of being an external contraption that has to be remembered if you're using it for anything other than backup.
My recommendation, if your budget can handle it, is to bite the >$1K bullet and get a laptop with a 480+ GB primary SSD and a secondary 1+ TB internal drive (SSD or non).  It's a lot easier to handle for daily use and Carbonite should be able to back up both drives to the cloud, and you can continue to use your existing 1 TB drive as another backup device (or upgrade to a larger drive so it can potentially handle everything you could store on the laptop).
Brent

      From: Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com>
 To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com> 
 Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 12:59 PM
 Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Advice on configuring computers

If the issue is bulk, most laptops will accept these cards:  https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16820173374

Marcus

On 10/10/18, 11:31 AM, "Nick Thompson" <nickthompson at earthlink.net> wrote:

    Thanks, everybody.  

    In my world, hyperspeed is not a big deal.  The big deal for this 80 year old is cognitive burden.  So a this point I have stuff on the hard drive, stuff on  a 1t drive  and stuff on Carbonite, and this, for me, is a ticket for disaster.  So also is a system in which every where I go, I have to carry not only the laptop but a hard drive as well.  The one thing eighty-year-olds don't need (as you will soon find out) is another thing to lose.  SO, the obvious solution is to spring for a a machine with a huge SSD drive, on the theory that it is the last machine I will ever buy so what the hell.  

    Is there some reason why that ISN'T the obvious solution?  Is it just COST that has driven you all to have little boxes and wires sticking out of your laptops, or am I missing something here?  

    I HATE to spend more than 1K for a computer.  It seems a mortal injustice, an assault upon my mongrel puritan soul.  But perhaps it's time to suck it up?  

    The other kind of "suck it up" message you all might give me is to rationalize my digital storage so I don't need so much.  But for the above mentioned reasons, I will need help to do that, in which case, members of the Local Church might suggest a Digital Storage Rationalization Consultant to help me straighten out the mess I have made. 

    Nick

    Nicholas S. Thompson
    Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
    Clark University
    http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of ? u???
    Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 9:33 AM
    To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
    Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Advice on configuring computers

    You may already know this ...  Because you're probably using that *thing* called Windows, in order to do this effectively, you have to pay attention to where programs are installed.  Windows installers will try to put everything on your "C" drive.  But they usually give you the option of installing it somewhere else.  Given Windows' massive disk space requirements for Updates, I tend to keep only Windows (and the virtual memory page file) on the 1st drive and put everything else on the secondary drive(s).

    On 10/10/18 8:25 AM, Barry MacKichan wrote:
    > My guess is that your 460 GB drive is a spinning hard drive, and that the new computer has a solid state drive (SSD). This is a /good/ thing since the SSD drives are much faster. The prices on Amazon for 1TB drives are around $50 and the 2TB drives are close. My suggestion is to get the new computer, add a relatively humongous hard drive with a USB 3 connection, and make some decisions about what you want almost instantly available, and what is merely almost instantly available.
    > 
    > Better yet, buy two hard drives and start backing up regularly (there are programs to make that automatic).
    > 
    > --Barry
    > 
    > On 10 Oct 2018, at 2:25, Nick Thompson wrote:
    > 
    >    I was about to give up on my  460 Gig hd HP because [it was old 
    > and] I was running out of disk space, only to discover that the standard machine offered by my university to replace it has LESS disk space.  Wondering how people are storing stuff.  Are the days of buying larger and larger hard disks and never making any decisions over?  [sigh} Note that cloud storage is not an option to me for half the year.  Are people buying terabyte sized USB drives and running software from them or telling some software to store to them?  How’s that work?
    > 
    >      
    > 
    >    Sorry to bother you with this.  I know the rest of you have real 
    > work.

    --
    ∄ uǝʃƃ

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