FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  410 (13/04/04)

Q

Can you advise me as to the best way to save photographs taken on my Olympus digital camera? I take a lot of photographs and do not want to fill up my hard drive with them, but do want to free up my 64Mb memory card. I suspect that burning them to CD will be the best answer but which program do you recommend?

Christine Harrison, via email

A

CD-R is an excellent medium for both archiving and displaying your images. The best way to store you images is in their native JPEG file format so you won’t need any special software, simply transfer them to your hard disc, organise them into folders and then copy the folders to a blank CD-R, after which you can safely delete the folders on the PC to free up space. I would say, however, that if you are that short of space you should think about upgrading your hard drive, or adding a second ‘slave’ drive. Many recent DVD players can read and display JPEG image files directly off a CD-ROM, on older models you need to create a Video CD, for more details see Boot Camp 278.

Q

You explained recently, how to add a second hard drive. My current hard drive is a 20Gb Maxtor running at 5,200rpm and I wish to put all my transparencies on the new hard drive. You suggested installing the largest drive possible, but should I also go for the fastest speed i.e. 10,000rpm?

Tony Jeffreys, Rainham

A

‘Spin Speed’ is a key factor in a disc drives data transfer rate or the speed at which information can be shifted in and out of the drive. This is very important for demanding graphics and multimedia applications like video editing but it doesn’t matter so much for things like word processing or viewing still images and in practice it simply means that a still picture stored on a slower drive will take a few milliseconds longer to appear on the screen.

Q

I need to mothball my Macintosh and PC laptops. What is the best way to ensure they will still be useable when they are removed from storage?

Dr. G. W. Steed, Cheshire

A

I recently dug out an ancient laptop that had been kept in my garage for the best part of ten years and unbelievably, after a brief warning message that the clock backup battery needed replacing, it booted straight into glorious monochrome Windows 3.1. Needless to say the main rechargeable battery was exhausted and even after a five-hour charge it only lasted a few minutes (not that it ever lasted very long…) but everything else was intact, including all of the applications and data stored on the then enormous 40Mb hard drive. Providing a PC is well packaged – preferably sealed inside a plastic bag -- and stored in a cool dry atmosphere, well away from strong magnetic fields, it should keep for years.

Rechargeable batteries and clock backup batteries on the other hand start to deteriorate from the day they are manufactured. The Lithium Ion battery packs used by most recent laptop PCs typically have a service life of 3 to 5 years or around 500 charge cycles. It doesn’t seem to make much difference if they’re stored charged, discharged, or periodically charged; the only way to slow down the chemical reactions that result in their eventual demise is to keep them in cold place, though popping them in the freezer is probably not a good idea…

Q

I am thinking of replacing my aging computer and upgrading from Windows 98 to Windows XP Home. I'm told that I have to reinstall all my applications although data can be transferred. Also I need all drivers and to download my antivirus and firewall software. Sounds a hassle; is there any way of making it easier?

Mel Kent, via email

A

There is no way around reinstalling your applications and that includes the virus scanner and firewall. Data transfer isn’t a huge problem, but you can make things a lot easier for yourself by organising everything into just three or four folders (i.e. one for documents, another for images and so on). The fastest way to move the folders from one PC to another is to connect them together using a simple network. XP is quite good in this respect, type ‘Transfer Wizard’ in the Search box in Windows Help for more information. Alternatively, if the old PC has, or can be temporarily fitted with a CD writer then you can copy the folders onto CD-Rs and move them across that way. You might also want to have a look at Boot Camps 309 to 311, which deal with transferring your email messages and address book.

Q

My existing computer will be partly cannibalised and scrapped when I finish building its high-end replacement. The old computer operates under Windows XP (the upgrade version) having previously operated under Windows 98 (upgrade version) and, originally, Windows 95. The bootable HD will not be used in the new PC. Is there any way that I can transfer my existing XP to the new machine? Presumably, if I try to use my XP upgrade disc in the new PC it will not load because it will be unable to detect a previous version of Windows?

David Buckley, via email

A

It’s not a huge problem. When installing the upgrade version of XP Home on a clean hard drive it will ask you temporarily load the installation disc for a full version of Windows 98, SE or ME (XP Home has extra options, NT, 2000 or XP Home). If you can’t lay your hands on an eligible disc there are plenty for sale on ebay, for example, where Windows 98 installation discs typically sell for between £15 and £20.