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01/30/2010 7:10 pm

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Long story short, I was formatting a laptop of mine and inadvertantly formatted my external harddrive as well. After smashing all the furniture in my apartment and driving my car off a bridge, I was able to recover everything from my external harddrive using Recover My Files. Anyway, my external HardDrive now doesn't show up in my computer, and I think it's because the partition style is Master Boot Record, and I assume it needs to be formatted in NTFS. How do I format my ExHD to be able to use it again?

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/30/2010 @ 07:13:07 PM
well, of course, as soon as I give up and ask for help I find my answer.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/30/2010 @ 07:16:58 PM
And just to clear something up, I didn't drive my car anywhere, but I was in a state of absolute panic for a little bit. My brother got a bad computer virus a few weeks ago and I joked that reformatting the harddrive was a solution the same way as burning your house down and building a new one is a solution for termites, either way, you are basically giving up and starting from scratch. Then I, completely voluntarily, decide to reformat my nearly 5 year old laptop, and essentially burn my house down because I wasn't quite paying attention to what I was doing.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Sarah - 4671 Posts 01/30/2010 @ 07:28:54 PM
Stop watching Lord of the Rings and reformatting ur hard drive. Guys can't multi-task.		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Scott - No, I did not change your screen saver settings 01/30/2010 @ 07:41:54 PM
I'm half-way through the third movie.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 02/01/2010 @ 09:14:11 AM
Sarah Wrote - 01/30/2010 @ 07:28:54 PM Stop watching Lord of the Rings and reformatting ur hard drive. Guys can't multi-task. I can't do anything without multitasking. Talking to a customer on the phone right now.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Micah - I didn't make that! It fell out of your hair that way! 02/01/2010 @ 11:35:20 AM
Not only is this article appropriate, but also has some eye candy for the ladies for no real discernible reason. Multi-tasking is bad		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - "If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." 02/01/2010 @ 12:53:26 PM
HEY- while we're all here, whatchoo (in honor of Who Dat) know bout Asus? Looking for a minor-use machine sub $500, and all the Best Buy geeks were telling people about was how cool Asus is. I know almost precisely what the person I'm researching for needs, and pretty sure I'll suggest a custom-made Dell. Just want to know your opinions, experiences, or raging cases of bias towards technology.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 02/01/2010 @ 04:44:48 PM
I think they're fine. I'm not sure it really matters all that much.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 02/01/2010 @ 04:50:45 PM
Really just buy the cheapest thing that meets your needs, and be realistic about those needs. Unless you're a gamer, just get something cheap. It's not an investment. No need to talk yourself into the $800 machine because of what you might need out of it someday when you can buy a $400 machine now and in 2 years when you come to that point you foresaw where you need something better, the machine you would have spent $800 on is a relic, and what are now the $400 machines are 4 times better that it would be. (Not to mention you get the benefits of the time-value of that $400!) (Unless it's a laptop, where the rules still more or less apply, but it's a bit harder to upgrade in parts, and, more importantly, build quality is something to actually be concerned about.)		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy messed with this 4 times, last at 02/01/2010 5:13:04 pm

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 08:06:18 AM
It's a sub 500 laptop for internet, email, and pictures, I estimate 13-15 incher, lightweight, durable. I do honestly believe that brand matters more than just the cool-factor, but also found out that Asus makes almost all of the motherboards and many components for the other laptop mfrs. I'll have to go play with one at the idiot store. EDIT- probably important note; it's for my Mom- she does all that stuff I mentioned above, but will want it to have some decent processing speed for picture editing as well. Durable because her grandkids live there too, and good battery live as well. Like I said, I'll smack around an Asus, but am more likely to build a Dell.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Carlos44ec messed with this at 02/02/2010 8:14:02 am

	Scott - 6225 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 09:22:58 AM
I bought a Dell laptop in December 2005. It had XP, 40GB HD, 1.6Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM. I subsequently put Vista on it, and then this weekend put XP back on. Anyway, 5 years ago, that laptop cost about $1000. The computer I just bought was a toshiba for about $550, with 4 times the ram, 8 times the HD space, and I'm sure a processor much improved as well. Anyway, now that I have this new "high powered" laptop (I surf the internet, and that's about it), my old laptop probably just gained about 4 or 5 years more of life. And unlike my previous 2 computer purchases where I did indeed go a bit cheaper on certain things, I was unwilling this time to go with anything less than 4GB of RAM, knowing that the last 2 computers I bought I always was left saying that it needed more RAM. Comparing brands, I just bought a Toshiba and I still have a Dell Inspiron. I'm sure both are fine, but just comparing the feel of the two, the Toshiba doesn't feel quite as durable as the Dell. The casing seems slightly more flimsy, the keys on the keyboard seem a bit more hollow, and the fan seems a bit louder. I'm not saying one is definitely better than the other, and I am very satisfied with what I bought for the price at which I got it, but I have noticed some things that I found at the very least interesting.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Scott edited this 2 times, last at 02/02/2010 9:25:10 am

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 09:36:37 AM
I have a toshiba satellite (SLi-5) and it's fans are huge- but then again the model I have is 17" and has a monster video card. Their support is excellent, but I agree that Dell feels a bit more solid (had an Inspiron in the desert- 2003-2004). Those two are second and fourth in reliability on most of the sites I saw, Asus is usually number one.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 09:53:30 AM
Carlos44ec Wrote - Today @ 08:06:18 AM I do honestly believe that brand matters more than just the cool-factor, but also found out that Asus makes almost all of the motherboards and many components for the other laptop mfrs. I'll have to go play with one at the idiot store. For a laptop yes, take a dell laptop vs a desktop for example. The components, for the most part, are all going to be made by whoever makes them. Other than their warranty (which you generally pay more for) it's basically irrelevant that the western digital hard drive and intel processor were put together inside a desktop case that says Dell on it. The case buys you nothing, and a trained monkey could assemble that. You're interacting with a replaceable mouse, keyboard, and screen. The manufacturing process becomes much more important for a laptop. The case is everything, and if something breaks, or your needs change, you can't just replace a part. If they made a poor decision on where the power plugs in, or fan placement, or the piece that holds the screen open breaks a year later, then that matters. You're stuck with pretty much everything except the ram and hard drive. Sarah got a cheap Toshiba from best buy on a black friday a few years ago and everything about it did indeed feel cheap, and it became unusable shortly there after. Ram is actually one of the perfect examples not to overbuy on. The price of ram crashes down quickly. If you aren't buying the biggest size available in the fastest speed, you can get it really cheap, and if you want that (still not that) expensive stick, wait 2 weeks and it'll be half the price. It's also one of only two components you can actually upgrade. Though it's also hard to make a case you "over bought" because it'll be a big improvement on everything, and it's not like adds $1000 to the price either. Just don't get whatever is the best option, because they are generally "artificially" expensive.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy edited this 2 times, last at 02/02/2010 9:56:03 am

	Scott - 6225 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 10:37:57 AM
My Dell laptop has 2 slots, and it contains 2 512MB sticks. If I wanted to upgrade to say 2GB, I would need to buy two 1GB sticks. I'm assuming that would run me about $50+ a piece, right?		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - A Vote for me is a Vote against Terrorism! ...or atleast just wasted. 02/02/2010 @ 10:44:39 AM
depends on the type of memory, scott.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - Robots don't say 'ye' 02/02/2010 @ 10:48:45 AM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/SupplyFinder.aspx?cat=mem&Category=17&name=Memory-Configurator&cm_sp=MemoryCat17_left-_-MemoryFinder020110-_-http%3a%2f%2fpromotions.newegg.com%2fproductfinders%2fmemory.jpg		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 02/02/2010 @ 10:53:37 AM
Your Dell might be so old that the prices start going up again (there's only so much left, no one makes it anymore, and there's still a need for it) but it looks like a pair 1GB sticks would be about $50 total, assuming appropriate ram is in this list, which is might not be. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170381%201309121117&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICED		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.