[imrnjr]

Well my lap top crashed last week about halfway thru me backing it up/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif... so far no data recovery has been achieved /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif... so I've lost about 4 years of tax data, emails (jokes and my contacts list), all my bookmarks for good train, hunting, golfing and fishing sites, the born on date pictures of 3 of my grandkids /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sick.gif (the wife is exceedingly PO'd about that) and all my business files from before retirement (not a big loss there, but would have been nice to have as fodder for a job interview if I decide to go back to work)..

Well my primary question is what is a good laptop 500-800 dollar range that I might replace it with??? I want 802,11 capability a fast HD, and at least 2GB of ram. Predominate use this, pictures (still shots) and a little business work Powerpoint, excel, Word, Corel Draw etc......any suggestions??/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/ermm.gif

Thanks in advance


Mark

 

[Rayman4449]

Sorry to hear about the laptop crash. As long as the harddisk platters can still spin and the heads still seek you probably can get the data off without sending to a high priced data recovery center.

While I don't have a specific suggestion, if you are looking at laptops, if you want a fast harddisk you will need to look for one that is 7200rpm, most are 5400 which is one reason why laptops seem so much slower the desktops. Also, a big killer of harddisks (assuming that is what happened to yours) is heat. Keeping the area cool where your harddisk is in the laptop will help ensure it lasts as long as it can. You can purchase laptop coolers that your laptop sits on with two fans that circulates air around it. They really do work at helping to keep it cool. Also suggest that you don't leave the laptop running with the screen face down. That traps more heat.

Good luck and I know this isn't what you were looking for.

Raymond

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The latest mobile intel processors make a lot less heat than the older P4's. Most have gotten smart and have the air intake and exhaust on the side, not the bottom as some earlier designs.

If you buy a new computer it will come with Vista... 2 gigs of ram is a bare minimum, most are now coming with 3. Your price range will make it a bit tough to get what you want. Look for people online who are selling last year's models of Toshiba, Panasonic, etc. Also, Dell has a refurbished program that come with full factory warranty.

You will have to do a bit of looking, but you will probably find something in the $800 range.

Hard disk rotation speed is probably not as performance impacting as a processor with a faster Front Side Bus... newer processors have them in the 800 Mhz to 1.3 GHz range, can make a lot of difference to a memory hungry operating system, that will be using over a gig of RAM, not hard disk. (Again, your pal Vista).

Regards, Greg

 

[Torby]

Ow!

Backup, man, backup!

 

[afinegan]

backup multiple places too, backup media can fail just as easily. I like using portable hard drives, there cheap nowadays, store on a bookshelf and forget.

My best luck (this is from being in IT for 11 years) is a dell certified refurbished laptop, they have GREAT deals on the refurb site, your money goes a lot further, and they all come with a year warrenty. All the laptops I got from there cert refurb site are basically brand new (I am typing this up on a xps 710 now, refurb, 3 years old most stable computer I ever had).

I might shy away from scratch and dent though.... lolol

There support is what you expect from a huge company, but I had a few dell probs here at the office (I am also a accomplished IT guy so I don't need much support ), Usually get the replacement part in 1-2 days! (or they send someone out). In the end your money will go a lot further here. Every laptop in the refurb database is sitting o the shelf, they are ready built, great deals show up all the time, sometimes you can catch the exact same laptop $200 cheaper than the one next to it with identical specs, its weird hehe.

Start by sorting price, then look at the features. http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...line/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh


Andrew

P.S. I know some of you on this board has had trouble with dells, mostly due to support, if you buy a xps, all there XPS support is in America (from what I understand, they have an entirely different support number), maybe thats why I don't have issues with them hehe. I know all the dells I have bought for my company, they are basically install and forget machines, I never have to fix them.

 

[Rayman4449]

Mark, with regards to heat and the HD, just keep what I said in mind.

If you are specifically asking for a fast HD, then the first assumption is you are performing tasks that are HD intensive(burning DVDs/CDs or video processing), thus you would benefit from a higher RPM HD. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to specify the type of HD you want in that price range and will probably have to go with off the shelf. If you are performing HD intensive tasks then you may want to seriously consider a desktop.

If your other laptop ran slow accessing the HD excessively, then more likely than not you were running low on available RAM which will grind the system to a halt speed wise. (Did you have say around 512mb total in your other system?) That might make one feel the HD was slow. In that case, I wouldn't worry about a 'fast HD' and just get the best deal you can with the 2 gig of RAM that you are looking for. Most likely you will be very satisfied with what you get as it should run plenty fast.

You've gotten some good info here and I plan to keep that Dell refurbish link handy for myself.

Good luck!


Raymond

 

[SteveC]

As for data recovery, other than professional type services, the best software that I know of is SpinRite from Gibson Research Corp.

 

[lotsasteam]

DELL VOSTRO 1400 XP !! (COSTCO) Price depent what you want!
My sony crashed i bought a small harddrive casing($ 17.00) and installed the old sony hARDDRIVE AND WITH SOME CARFUL TAPPING I COULD TRANSFER THE OLD DATA,LUCKY ME!!

I AM HAPPY WITH MY NEW VOSTRO!
MANFRED DIEL

 

[Semper Vaporo]

Another nice device to have is an IDE to USB adapter. You can take any IDE interfaced drive and connect it to the PC via the USB port. I have used it to recover data from a drive where the PC had died, but the drive was still good. It is quite possible that SpinRIte would work through that interface also to recover data from a damaged drive also.

I got mine from "Young Micro" I don't see a part number on it, just the name "USB 2.0 IDE ADAPTER". It is just a USB cable with a IDE plug on the outer end and it comes with an adapter to the smaller pin style and a small power supply for the drive with standard plugs on it.

 

[imrnjr]

Well some of the data has been retrieved....... However a large portion of it was just too corrupted to be read.../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/pinch.gif..don't know what yet......as to the PC purchase...

I'm typing this on an older Dell desktop, with almost no overhead from programs on it....just have mail, and RRtrack, and explorer and Adobe photoshop on it... and have made the decision to upgrade the laptop in a month or two./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif..(funding issues) and will look at the Dell refurb site to start with....

I want to thank you guys for the ideas and the support... I've spent the last two days rebuilding my email contact list and I've already been told it's wrong by a couple of folks..../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif but I'll keep working on it../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif


thanks again

Mark

 

[sschaer]

i'd suggest a hp laptop. far better support than dell.

keep in mind a faster hd means more rpm. more rpm means more heat. more heat means reduced lifetime.
i had a 7200rmp 100gig seagate that crashed after less than two months. in another laptop i have a 100gig 7200rmp hitachi (former ibm) disk which runs for almost 2 years now.
if you want to go the 7200rpm way then stick with hitachi/ibm. most reliable disks
if you stick with 5400rpm (which is sufficient in most cases) then choose whatever you want




as for data recovery i use "r-studio data recovery". check www.r-tt.com