The VH Trade Site Forums Archives

[Lance]

I wanted to know ...what you guys use to clean out the computer from hidden or left over trash....I know that even if you delete it in the recycle bin...it still may be on your pc ? So is there something to kind of clean the pc ?

thanks

[macdon22shipp]

Hey i'm no expert but this is what i did. Had to clean out my laptop before i crossed the Canada/US border so i just went in and transfered everything i still wanted to an external HD. Once it was transferred i then deleted everything i wanted to get rid of. Went to "SEARCH" entered key words for the things i deleted, and deleted them from there as well. Ran "crapcleaner" to clear out any usernames from a few sites i go to. There's alot more to cleaning the laptop out for border crossing but you won't have to do that for a PC unless you're crossing a border or if you're sending the PC out of the country. Hope that helps you out.

Mike

[Lance]

jus a ?...Why do you have to clean out your pc when crossing a border ?

[ron]

Lance wrote: jus a ?...Why do you have to clean out your pc when crossing a border ?
Cause you never know... http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10004646-38.html

[macdon22shipp]

Just some MP3 and a few of my kids movies that i have on the HD so when we go on trips i don't have to carry all our movies. You know they can seize your IPOD or MP3 player if you have songs on there that aren't paid downloads!!!!! I'm not even sure about music that i've ripped from my own collection don't know if that's even legal. So just to be sure i take eveything off. Even software to copy my movies for backup for the lake so i get rid of that too then i reinstall when i get back. What they are really looking for is pictures and video with child pornography and terrorisim and other items. I've read when they get your laptop they type in JPEG so pictures come up. I'm sure there's other stuff though.

[BadassMOFO]

I'm scared to delete all my F.L.A.C. files from my HDD even though I backed them up!

[sickman]

In the past I have transferred all my info to an external including apps and then did a clean install from the boot dvd's that came with my laptop. I am actually thinking of somewhat doing it again. I want to upgrade my HD to a 7200 rpm 250 gb for my laptop. I have to buy a new external though because my current 500 gb one is full and the 160 on my machine is half full. Thinking of going with a 1TB hard drive to store all my music and shows. Anyone know of any good software that I can use to transfer my OS over to the new hard drive without having to totally re-install everything.

[Warno]

BadassMOFO wrote: I'm scared to delete all my F.L.A.C. files from my HDD even though I backed them up!

Back them up to a removable media source (without moving parts) like CD or DVD. Backup HDDs still can fail if they're dropped or the mechanics inside fail but if you can burn the data to removable media that can be read on any computer, you're good to go. Stored properly, CDs and DVDs are the most secure forms of backup.

[BadassMOFO]

I have backed the files to DVD and the back-up partition that I can't let myself delete just in case the DVD's are missing data maybe I should just burn the files to DVD's again and then I might be brave enough to delete the backup partition?

[Warno]

BadassMOFO wrote: I have backed the files to DVD and the back-up partition that I can't let myself delete just in case the DVD's are missing data maybe I should just burn the files to DVD's again and then I might be brave enough to delete the backup partition?

Pop the DVDs in your computer and check the files out. Compare the file size on those with the same files on your HDD. I've never heard of missing data on backup files when compared to originals with both showing the same file size. If there were differences, you probably would've gotten some error message while burning. Another good tip is to burn at a slower speed (I use 4x for DVDs, 16x for CDs). With higher speeds, you run a greater risk of having errors. Of course a lot depends on the age of your burner, the quality of the media you're using, the processing power of your computer, etc. Newer machines can handle higher speeds effectively but 4x and 16x are a pretty safe baseline.

[frankm]

BadassMOFO wrote: I have backed the files to DVD and the back-up partition that I can't let myself delete just in case the DVD's are missing data maybe I should just burn the files to DVD's again and then I might be brave enough to delete the backup partition?
As long as the files have MD5 checksum files or FLAC Fingerprints you should be fine. If anything goes wrong those should tell you there's an issue. 99.99% of the discs I burn I create MD5 files before burning so I know the disc is good and if something goes bad, again it is an easy check.

Hard Drives may go bad but Optical Discs can also go bad, especially if you are using inferior quality discs. Use Grade A discs and you'll probably have the longest retention but everything is subject to break down in time. Stinks the way time does that.

[Warno]

frankm wrote: Hard Drives may go bad but Optical Discs can also go bad, especially if you are using inferior quality discs. Use Grade A discs and you'll probably have the longest retention but everything is subject to break down in time. Stinks the way time does that.

Yeah, nothing lasts forever but stored properly, I'd bet on the Grade A media discs over the drives only because they have no moving parts to break. I just had a user at the office today lose a 325 GB external HDD. When it's plugged in, you can hear the reader arm clicking against the disc over and over and over.... All that data went POOF!