1) C: vs D: and 2) Hard drive clicking - future safeguards
by Joe
(Chicago)
Warning....very long...
First, let me say that I find this website to be amazing. Much of this stuff is over my head, but there is also so much that I do understand...for a sub-novice DIY'er.
What led me to your website was doing a search on Yahoo Answers about C and D partitions on an internal hd. I noticed that the C drive at 15.5 Gigs, seems to be used the most for storage (presumably for applications and a very minor amount of file folders as I have recently done a system restore). C: only has about 50% capacity leftover.
On the other hand, the D drive has 61 gigs of capacity and has 99% capacity leftover (virtually empty). When pulling my computer out of the box, what default storage should be going to the D drive if everything seems to be going to C:? AND, should I be mapping more storage to the D drive? In other words, should I keep applications on C: and maybe map "My Documents" storage to D:? If so, how do I do that?
My second question is about a crashed external hard drive. Monthly, I create a folder of all stuff on my internal hard drive, then transfer it to an external drive and delete from the internal hard drive, thinking that my external was completely made of kryptonite and would never fail. This external drive just crashed (clicking), so I gave up on it as so much of the stored files will not end my life if I don't have them and it will cost hundreds and maybe over $1000 to get the data recovered. For the future, would you suggest that I get two externals and backup identical folders to both in case one crashes. I don't like to keep files on my P.C. very long as I just like having my P.C. really clean of files to keep it running as fast as it can, so I am comfortable using external drives despite my recent disaster.
Lastly (and thanks for your patience to this point) Even after my recent reformatting of my hard drive, deleting applications I don't need, defragging, removing an unsecure wireless network router, connecting my comcast broadband modem directly into the wall, upgrading my links with RG-6 and Cat 5e, I still have slow internet. More specifically, when I talk and play online games via Skype with my gf. On her end with a newer Toshiba laptop with wifi via comcast broadband and me with my older Sony Vaio with comcast broaband. Her laptop works at decent speed and my end running very slow. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks so much
Joe in Chicago
