The era of cloud-based computing is vastly taking hold, and if you are a computer user who juggles between one or more computers, plus a few mobile devices, then cloud-based storage is nearly essential to accessing your digital media and other data.

What is cloud-based computing, you ask? It essentially involves uploading computer files to a web-based network, which in turn means you can access those uploaded files from any computer or supporting mobile device that gets an Internet connection. So for example, if you have lots of music files on your home computer, you can’t play that music when you’re away from home. But if you have your music floating somewhere in a cloud network, then you can access and stream your songs nearly anywhere via the Internet. Dropbox, for many of us MUO writers and avid readers, is one of the most popular uses of cloud-based computing. Read How Cloud Computing Works for more information.

If you’re looking for more cloud-based storage, one of the largest online stores on the planet, Amazon.com, now provides its customers with 5GB free online space. That amount of storage, Amazon says, could hold up to a 1,000 songs, 2,000 photos, or 20 minutes worth of HD video. If you just wanted to use the storage for backing up all your text-based files, I’m sure 5GB would be more than enough.

Using The Cloud Drive

To use Amazon Cloud storage you need to have or open an Amazon account. You are not required to actually purchase stuff from Amazon to use the Cloud service.

The Cloud Drive is where you upload your documents, music, pictures, and videos. The process is as simple as clicking the Upload Files button and from there adding your files to your Amazon Cloud drive. To keep things from getting messy, you might want to use the existing folder structure Amazon has set up for you. You can also create new folders within existing folders for even better organization.

Using The Cloud Player

As Amazon is the business of selling music, as well as books, it has also developed an Amazon Cloud Player. But even if you don’t purchase music from the Amazon store, you can still upload your own DRM-free (Digital Rights Management) music to your cloud account and stream it over the web and through your Android phone.

When you first start using the Cloud Drive, you might think you have to upload all your music files from there, but if you’re wanting to get a significant amount of songs into your Drive, then you will want to use the free Amazon MP3 Uploader, which requires that you have Adobe Air installed on your computer. If it is not installed, the Uploader will ask you to download it. You download the Uploader by clicking the Uploader button in the upper-left of the Cloud Player.

The MP3 Uploader

When you launch the Uploader, it will scan for all the music files on your computer. If your music is organized in iTunes or Windows Media Player, the Uploader will recognize and upload all your playlists, tags, and album covers.

If your computer is brimming with music files, you may think Amazon’s meager 5 gigs of storage is useless for your needs. Well, you do have the option to purchase more space, but if you want to keep it all free, uploading just your favorite playlists or individual songs could suffice.

The Uploader allows you to cherry pick from your computer music collection what you want to upload to your Cloud Drive. To make selections, click the Start Upload button. The Uploader may inform you that you do not have enough Cloud space available in your account for all your music. If you get that notice, click “Edit selections“ to narrow the amount of files you can upload.

When your list of music on your computer appears, deselect the Playlists box and then scroll down the list and select the songs, albums, or playlists you want to upload.

There are some exceptions to the files that Uploader supports, including DRM files and Non-MP3 and non-AAC format files. If you have a long list of files, you might first consider creating a playlist in iTunes or a folder on your computer that consists of only the music files supported by Amazon’s Uploader.

In iTunes, for example, you can create a smart playlist (see screenshot above) of all your non-protected music, then upload your songs via the Uploader. If the Uploader didn’t locate all your music, you can click, “browse for more music,” at the top of the Uploader to manually locate your missing songs.

After selecting your songs or playlists, simply click the “Start upload” button. The Cloud Player is a web-based music player. Similar to iTunes, you can browse music by albums, artists, genres, and songs.

Though cloud-based computing is no longer in its infancy, there will no doubt be many more features added to services like Amazon Cloud that will make accessing your files via the Internet an essential and economical way of storing, accessing, and using data.

Let us know what you think of the Amazon Cloud Drive and Player. Are there similar services that you already use? Let us know about them.

See also our articles about other cloud services, including Amazon’s free S3 Cloud, ZumoDrive and Sipgate storage services.

More articles about: Amazon, cloud, file sharing, music player, online storage

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/jumper-300.png" alt="how to install a new hard drive" height="220" />A few months back I showed you how to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive/">install a second SATA drive, appropriate if your computer was bought sometime in the last 5 years or so. We also taught you all about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/">partitions and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/">formatting drives, and to completely href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive-replace/">replace your old drive with a new one – but I skipped over the subject of physically installing IDE hard drives as I considered them to be too old to warrant a tutorial.

However, as some readers pointed out, the process of adding an IDE drive is significantly more difficult than a SATA drive, so in the interests of completeness and for those of you with old PCs, here is a complete tutorial for how to add a second IDE drive.

id="more-66018">

Background On IDE Interfaces

IDE was a significant limiting factor in older PCs. Though modern machines will often include a single IDE connection for the sake of backwards compatibility, most machines from the IDE era of computing were equipped with two IDE sockets – each connection being referred to as an IDE “channel”. On each channel, you could add up to 2 IDE devices – so that meant a maximum of 4 hard drives and/or CD-ROM drives.

On each channel, there is a master and a slave device. The master device is connected in the middle of the cable, and the slave at the end of the cable. Each device must also be set with a hardware switch (a jumper) as to whether it is supposed to be the master or the slave. This is where almost all headaches and problems came in.

IDE Cables

Let’s look at some standard IDE cables and connectors. There are 3 identical looking connectors – one at either end and one in the middle. However, one of the gaps between the end connectors and the middle connector is longer – this is the end that plugs into your motherboard.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ide-cable.png" alt="how to install a new hard drive" width="464" height="236" />

On the motherboard end, the socket looks like this. On my fairly modern motherboard, the cable is actually colour coded so you know which end plugs where – but more than likely your old PC won’t be, so you’ll need to figure which end of the cable is longest and plug that into the board. There is a notch on one side of the connector to prevent you plugging it in the wrong way, so make sure you align that.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/motherboard-ide-connector.jpg" alt="how to install a hard drive" width="464" height="338" />

The Drives & Jumper Settings

Whether it’s a CD-ROM drive or hard disk, IDE drives are identical in terms of connectors.

The power cable you will plug in has four female plugs in it, and will only go in one way due to the shape of it, so that shouldn’t be too hard. Take a look at one of your other devices to work out which the power cables are in your case. The IDE connector is also easy, the same as the motherboard it has a notch in it which you can align.

The difficult part is the jumper settings, which will vary according to your device. Basically, you’re looking for something that mentions CS or Cable Select, as well as Master, and Slave. There will be a diagram somewhere. The digrams indicate which pins a jumper should connect. You should be able to remove a jumper with your finger nails, if not then use a pair of very small needle nose pliers and don’t bend the pins.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ide-drives.png" alt="how to install a hard drive" width="464" height="263" />

As you can see, some drives have helpful diagrams just above the jumper pins. Others will have a note on the drive label instead:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/drive-separate-label.jpg" alt="how to install a hard drive" width="464" height="322" />

Figure Out Your Existing IDE Scheme

It’s more than likely you currently have both a CD-ROM drive and hard disk plugged in through IDE. Write out a quick table to figure out how it is currently set up, like this:

CHANNEL 1, MASTER: /> CHANNEL 1, SLAVE: /> CHANNEL 2, MASTER: /> CHANNEL 2, SLAVE:

Probably your hard dive is configured as Channel 1 Master, with the CD-ROM either on separate channel as Master, or Slave on Channel 1.

Now figure out where your additional drive is going to go. A couple of things to consider though:

1. Try to keep your CD-ROM either on a separate channel, or as a slave.

2. The cable length will affect your choice too, as IDE cables are usually quite short. If the CD-ROM is far from the hard drives, you will need one cable for the hard drives, and another going to the CD-ROM.

Set The Jumpers & Plug In

Since I only have a single IDE CD-ROM and single hard disk to show you today (as well as only a single physical IDE connector on my motherboard), I’ve opted to make the hard disk as Master and the CD-Drive as slave.

For the CD-ROM, the diagram indicates that 2 is Slave setting. What does this mean? Well, looking at the back of the device, we have 3 pairs of pins. So, to make it a slave device, I place a jumper over the central (second) pair.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ide-cd.png" alt="install new hard drive" width="522" height="207" />

The hard disk is similar, but this time I chose “Master with Slave Present“. Then I connect the cable up, bearing in mind that the hard drive as the master should be connected to the centre of the cable, with the slave CD-ROM drive being added at the end.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/plugged-in.jpg" alt="install new hard drive" width="406" height="303" />

Note: You wouldn’t normally run devices outside of the case like this, but for the purposes of checking if they work, it’s a lot easier than unscrewing them and poking around inside a cluttered case.

Sure enough, the BIOS shows two devices loaded and functional.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bios.png" alt="how to install a new hard drive" width="464" height="346" />

Further Reading

Well, I hope that’s explained the whole IDE thing a bit more clearly. Once you’ve got it in, don’t forget to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/">format the drive (or learn about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/file-system-find-runs-drives/">what a filesystem is). If you’re up for a more up to date and practical guide on adding a hard drive to your computer, my guide to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive/">SATA drives is probably more relevant. Don’t forget to check our fantastic href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pc-hardware-guide-download/">downloadable guide to all computer hardware too. />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/&title=How To Install A Second IDE Hard Drive On An Older PC&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-ide-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive/" title="How To Physically Install A Second Internal Hard Drive">How To Physically Install A Second Internal Hard Drive (41 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive-replace/" title="How To Install A New Hard Drive To Replace An Old One">How To Install A New Hard Drive To Replace An Old One (12 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-connect-your-xbox-360-hard-drive-to-your-pc/" title="How To Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive To Your PC">How To Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive To Your PC (19 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-backup-your-computer-with-an-old-hard-disk/" title="How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk">How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk (18 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/play-video-smoothly-pc/" title="What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC">What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC (31 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-requirements-installation-tips/" title="Upgrade To Windows 7: Requirements & Installation Tips">Upgrade To Windows 7: Requirements & Installation Tips (14 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-windows-7-upgrade-issues-avoid/" title="Three Windows 7 Upgrade Issues & How To Avoid Them">Three Windows 7 Upgrade Issues & How To Avoid Them (16 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/thomasnet-an-awesome-repository-of-technical-information/" title="ThomasNet – An Awesome Repository Of Technical Information for DIY Men">ThomasNet – An Awesome Repository Of Technical Information for DIY Men (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-best-freeware-to-do-an-easy-wordpress-auto-install-n/" title="The Best Freeware To Do An Easy WordPress Auto Install">The Best Freeware To Do An Easy WordPress Auto Install (22 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/basic-parts-computer-upgrade-technology-explained/" title="The Basic Parts Of A Computer & How To Upgrade Them [Technology Explained]">The Basic Parts Of A Computer & How To Upgrade Them [Technology Explained] (15 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/LogoText.png" alt="linux boot from usb" width="300" height="101" />Trying out Linux should be easy; with the help of Linux Live USB Creator it is. Quickly get any Linux distribution to boot from your USB key, complete with a persistent mode for keeping applications and documents in place. You can even install a portable version of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/virtualbox/">Virtualbox to your USB key so you can run Linux comfortably from within Windows.

With support for a shockingly high number of Linux distributions and an easy-to-use Windows interface, Linux Live USB Creator makes the creation of USB boot disks effortless. From downloading the ISO to formatting your drive, there’s not much about USB booting this application doesn’t make easier than similar software.

id="more-65110"> /> Feel free to href="http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/home">download Linux Live USB right now, and keep reading for an overview of the program.

5 Simple Steps

First things first: fire up the program. You’ll see 5 sub-windows, representing the five steps to making a Live USB key. The first is simple enough:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-1key1.png" alt="linux boot from usb" width="580" height="244" />

That’s right: you need to pick which key you want to boot Linux from. Once you’ve done this, pick the version of Linux you want to boot. If you’ve got an ISO or a CD handy you can use that, or you can pick from many downloadable distros:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-2source.png" alt="linux boot disk" width="579" height="176" />

If you select a distro from this list the program will take care of downloading the ISO for you:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-download.png" alt="linux boot disk" width="580" height="148" />

So far, so good. If you want your key to keep downloaded programs and documents in place, you’re going to want persistence mode. This is step 3; simply scroll to leave room:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-3persistence.png" alt="linux boot disk" width="577" height="123" />

Step four is optional, but includes some handy tools:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-4options.png" alt="usb linux boot jump drive" width="577" height="115" />

Here you can choose to hide the created files on your key from being seen by Windows, useful if you plan to use your key for more than just booting Linux. You can optionally format the drive you’re writing to, and choose whether or not you want your Linux distro to be loadable in Windows.

Once you’re done you can click the lightning bolt in the fifth box to start the creation of your live CD. Congratulations; you’ve got yourself a bootable USB key.

Live Virtual Machine

The options include a step for launching your key in Windows. What is that about? Well, once your disk is created, open it up in Windows Explorer. You’ll find a new file that looks like this:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lili-virtual.png" alt="linux boot from usb" width="170" height="189" />

You can click this to boot your Linux distro without rebooting Windows, which is handy from time to time. Naturally you’re going to want a pretty powerful computer to try this out, but it’s a nice added touch.

Supported Distros

Wow. Just, wow. This program supports the automatic downloading and installation of many different Linux distributions. Highlights include:

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu/">Ubuntu and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/versions-ubuntu-technology-explained/">Ubuntu’s many versions.
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gparted-ultimate-partitioning-software/">The GParted Live CD
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/jolicloud-operating-system-download-for-netbook/">Jolicloud
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/uberstudent-custom-operating-system-students-linux/">UberStudent
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/xpud-quick-booting-easy-64-mb-linux-distro-linux/">xPud
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-advanced-hard-drive-cloning-solution-from-clonezilla/">Clonezilla

There’s more; check out href="http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/supported-linuxes">Live Linux USB’s official list of Linux distros for a complete list.

Conclusion

Linux Live USB isn’t the first program to help users make live USB keys; href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-linux-with-ease-using-unetbootin/">uNetBootin does the same job. What Linux Live USB does better than this program is make the process painless. It’s worth checking out just for that, but href="http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/02/lili-for-windows-the-easiest-way-to-try-linux/">according to blog OMG Ubuntu, this program works more consistently than others. So it’s easier and better.

Do you like this tool? Let us know in the comments below. Also feel free to share other tools for the job, and to discuss your favorite Linux distributions. />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/&title=Linux Live USB Creator: Easily Boot Linux From Your Flash Drive&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-live-usb-creator-easily-boot-linux-flash-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-usb-ubuntu-linux-boot-jump-drive/" title="How To Create & Use A USB Ubuntu Linux Boot Jump Drive">How To Create & Use A USB Ubuntu Linux Boot Jump Drive (16 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/prevent-pc-from-booting-if-your-usb-drive-is-not-inserted/" title="Use Your USB Stick As a Key to Boot Your Windows PC">Use Your USB Stick As a Key to Boot Your Windows PC (54 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/customize-boot-splash-screen-logo-linux/" title="How To Customize The Ubuntu Boot Splash Screen & Logo [Linux]">How To Customize The Ubuntu Boot Splash Screen & Logo [Linux] (9 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-drive-from-your-windows-cd/" title="How To Create A Bootable USB Drive From Your Windows CD">How To Create A Bootable USB Drive From Your Windows CD (21 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-back-up-data-on-your-computer-that-wont-boot/" title="How To Back Up Data From Computer That Won’t Boot">How To Back Up Data From Computer That Won’t Boot (17 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hirens-boot-cd-allinone-boot-cd/" title="Hiren’s Boot CD – The All-In-One Boot CD For Every Need">Hiren’s Boot CD – The All-In-One Boot CD For Every Need (14 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/winhack-tweak-the-windows-logon-win-xp/" title="Change The Windows Logon Screensaver And More (Win XP)">Change The Windows Logon Screensaver And More (Win XP) (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/boottimer-objectively-measure-windows-xp-boot-time/" title="BootTimer – Objectively Measure Your Windows XP Boot Time">BootTimer – Objectively Measure Your Windows XP Boot Time (7 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/15-great-tips-for-ubuntu-power-users/" title="15 Great Ubuntu Tips For Linux Power Users">15 Great Ubuntu Tips For Linux Power Users (85 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-chat-history-manager-recognize-login-details/" title="WinHack – Speed Up Your Windows XP Computer (Part 1)">WinHack – Speed Up Your Windows XP Computer (Part 1) (22 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD01.png" alt="format hard drive" width="250" height="180" />In a recent article I detailed  class="vt-p" title="How To Format a USB Drive" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-usb-drive/">how to format a USB drive and in a follow-up article I explained what class="vt-p" title="What Is a File System" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/file-system-find-runs-drives/">file systems are good for. In both articles I mentioned that there is a 32GB size limit for partitions when formatting with FAT or FAT32. Well, as some of you certainly know, that is not the entire truth. FAT / FAT32 itself can handle up to 16TB hard drives and up to 2TB are supported in most operating systems. Microsoft has set a 32GB partition size limit for the FAT / FAT32 file system to promote NTFS, which is generally more efficient when working with large partitions.

So first of all, this limitation only exists in recent versions of Windows. Secondly, Windows does recognize large hard drives formatted with FAT / FAT32. And finally, you can circumvent the 32 GB limit.

id="more-64517"> /> In this article I will show what you can do if you need to format a large hard drive with FAT / FAT32 or create a 32+ GB partition with said file system.

The Manual Way

You don’t need a tool to circumvent the 32 GB partition limit, you can do it manually and it’s fairly easy. Rather than using the standard Windows formatter, you switch to the command line.

In Windows XP, go to > Start > Run. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, go to > Start, type > Run in the search field, and launch it. Type > cmd into the text field and click > OK.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD02.png" alt="Command Line Formatting" width="417" height="222" />

Enter the following command at the prompt: format /FS:FAT32 X:

Replace the letter X with the drive letter for the external device you wish to format and hit > Enter.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD06.png" alt="Command Line Formatting" width="580" height="238" />

That’s it! The formatting may take a long time as it did in my 15.2 GB example above, but it works.

The Tools

If you don’t want to mess with the command line, you can use tools that apply the same principle, but provide a nice graphical user interface (GUI) for your convenience.

class="vt-p" title="SwissKnife" href="http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-411-swissknife">SwissKnife (Windows XP)

SwissKnife is a simple partition manager that lets you do more than just format your hard drive with different file systems. You can also use it to delete, create, and resize partitions and it works faster than Windows.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD04.png" alt="Manage partitions" width="580" height="355" />

However, the free version of SwissKnife is only available for Windows 95 through XP. If you would like to use it on more recent versions of Windows, you have to purchase class="vt-p" title="SwissKnife Premium" href="http://www.compuapps.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=126&Itemid=190">SwissKnife Premium or try one of the other free tools below.

class="vt-p" title="Fat32 Formatter" href="http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/index.html">Fat32Formatter

Windows 7 users can try Fat32Formatter. It’s a self-executable tool with a decent GUI that allows you to format large hard drives with FAT32. Balloon tips guide the user through its functions. No other documentation is available.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD07.png" alt="file allocation table" width="564" height="373" />

This tool is almost too simplistic. While you can delete a partition and create new ones, you cannot choose the allocation unit size, which does make a different as I class="vt-p" title="How To Format a USB Drive" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-usb-drive/">outlined previously.

class="vt-p" title="FAT32 Format" href="http://www.pendriveapps.com/format-fat32-larger-than-32gb/">FAT32 Format

FAT32 Format is another very basic portable GUI tool that doesn’t require installation. It just does one task, and it does it very efficiently: format drives with FAT32.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FormatHD05.png" alt="format in fat32" width="412" height="397" />

FAT32 Format works with Windows XP through 7 and supports up to 2TB partition size. You can choose the allocation unit size and give the partition a new volume label. Unfortunately, it can not create new partitions.

If you want to manage your partitions, i.e. create new ones or change their size, I recommend that you use dedicated software. First, create a partition that you want to format with FAT32. Then, in case your partition manager can’t do it, use one of the tools above to carry out the FAT32 formatting.

For detailed instructions, see James’ article on class="vt-p" title="How To Partition a Hard Drive in Windows" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> How To Set Up A Second Hard Drive In Windows: Partitioning. For a third party alternative to Windows’ partition manager, see Justin’s article on class="vt-p" title="GParted Partitioning Software" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gparted-ultimate-partitioning-software/">GParted – The Ultimate In Partitioning Software. If you are interested in the class="vt-p" title="Limitations of FAT32 in Windows XP" href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463">limitations of FAT32 in Windows XP, check out the respective Microsoft Support article.

What is your favorite file system? Did you switch from NTFS to FAT32 before and what were the reasons?

Image credit: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-59644207/stock-photo-hard-disc-management-icons.html">Kar />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/&title=How To Format A Large Hard Drive With Either FAT Or FAT32&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-iphone-idevices-external-disk/" title="How To Use An iPhone & Other iDevices As An External Drive">How To Use An iPhone & Other iDevices As An External Drive (5 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/" title="How To Set Up A Second Hard Drive In Windows: Partitioning">How To Set Up A Second Hard Drive In Windows: Partitioning (26 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/drives-control-paragon-partition-manager-giveaway/" title="Get Your Drives Under Control With Paragon Partition Manager [Giveaway]">Get Your Drives Under Control With Paragon Partition Manager [Giveaway] (13 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-lost-space-on-your-hard-disk-with-space-sniffer/" title="Find Lost Space On Your Hard Disk With Space Sniffer">Find Lost Space On Your Hard Disk With Space Sniffer (10 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-create-edit-windows-partitions-with-partitionmagic/" title="Create & Resize Windows Partitions with Free PartitionManager">Create & Resize Windows Partitions with Free PartitionManager (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-analyze-your-disk-usage-pattern-in-linux/" title="6 Great Apps to View Disk Usage in Linux">6 Great Apps to View Disk Usage in Linux (7 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/win-a-free-one-year-subscription-to-extensoft/" title="WIN A Free One Year Subscription To Extensoft!">WIN A Free One Year Subscription To Extensoft! (59 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-trim-important-to-solid-state-hard-drives/" title="Why TRIM is Important to Solid State Hard Drives? [Technology Explained]">Why TRIM is Important to Solid State Hard Drives? [Technology Explained] (10 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/file-system-find-runs-drives/" title="What A File System Is & How You Can Find Out What Runs On Your Drives">What A File System Is & How You Can Find Out What Runs On Your Drives (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/visualize-your-hard-drive-with-windirstat/" title="Visualize your Hard Drive Usage with WinDirStat">Visualize your Hard Drive Usage with WinDirStat (17 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/2445114424_17c1d9d0b0.jpg" alt="organize text notes"/>Microsoft OneNote is a great note-taking application that saves your notes in different folders for you, but you usually packages the files into the proprietary format that you can’t see in say, the mobile app for Dropbox, or your web browser. I’ve talked about several other open-source note-taking alternatives, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rednotebook-rocks-fullfeatured-private-journal-tool/">RedNotebook, which suits users looking for locally-stored journal entries in a chronological view, and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/">PNotes, a sticky notes program for Windows that I feel, packs more features than most other sticky notes programs.

id="more-64418"> /> I have found the cross-platform and open-source href="http://rasm.ods.org/keepnote/">KeepNote project to be a very good OneNote alternative in that it integrates all notes in an Explorer-like shell so you can see and navigate through your notes more efficiently. So if you’re, say, reviewing notes for a class, you can easily view and switch back and forth between notes using the explorer. It, however, takes the word processor approach to notes, and doesn’t create free-form notes like OneNote. For free-form notes, the open-source href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/notes-annotate-pdfs-easy-jarnal-crossplatform/">Jarnal does a really good job, and it lets you annotate PDF files as well! Here are the two major reasons you should check out href="http://rasm.ods.org/keepnote/">KeepNote.

Saves In Easily-Readable HTML

Having notes in HTML format means you can view them in any browser, and have lots of ways you can format the text with indentations, fonts, pictures, and there will be no loss of those features in the end files. As soon as you create a notebook, which turns out to be folders in the main location you choose (which you can set in the Preferences), you can create pages for notes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64583" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/01.png" alt="organize text notes" width="580" height="400" />

As you can see, the titles for pages are on the top right panel, as well as on the left panel. You can start typing away in the bottom panel, which is the word processor area.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64584" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/05.jpg" alt="manage notes" width="580" height="748" />

What’s also enticing about href="http://rasm.ods.org/keepnote/">KeepNote is that you don’t have to rely on a third-party application to jot down your notes as everything is kept in your hard drive. Backing up isn’t hard from the application either.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64588" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/06.jpg" alt="manage notes" width="579" height="446" />

You get the options to export a single notebook or everything in a zipped tarball (.tar.gz) file, and restore your backups easily.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64585" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/041.png" alt="manage notes" width="488" height="436" />

Use It As An Outliner

One feature I really wish href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/evernote">Evernote had (besides better synchronization since I sometimes had issues syncing notes), is a way to organize folders or tags. I had to use names like “recipes/asian” and “recipes/pastas” in order to see the folders sorted. So then, I decided Evernote was a great idea, but it wasn’t for me. I’d just have to use Wordpad to create rich-text files and folders in Windows Explorer to see an outline, which became cumbersome when I wanted to see where I had talked about such term and search through my older files. KeepNote allows for instant organization as there is a built-in file browser with user-designated folder and note hierarchy.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64586" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/031.png" alt="manage text notes" width="542" height="613" />

You can link notes together just like you do in a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/store-your-thoughts-ideas-anything-else-in-your-wikipad/">wiki, insert images, take and insert screenshots. Taking screenshots is always more efficient if you have keyboard shortcuts, which KeepNote aces as it provides shortcuts for nearly all the editing options.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-64587" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/02.png" alt="organize text notes" width="318" height="486" />

Now, for the things I wish this app had would be to facilitate the copying and pasting of text. Most online apps have bookmarklets to immediately transfer over selected text and images, and the only desktop applications I have seen that do this are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-sync-notes-with-cintanotes-and-dropbox/">CintaNotes and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quotepad-quick-notes-set-reminders-windows/">QuotePad. If you’re looking for more note-taking applications, check out this post on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-alternatives-synchronize-multiplatform-quick-notes/">multi-platform notebooks.

What’s your favorite note-taking application? Also do you know of any other alternatives to OneNote?

Photo credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvortygirl/2445114424/">Dvortygirl />
/> Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/">MakeUseOf Answers!

/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/&title=Navigate The Unsorted Text Files On Your Hard Drive with KeepNote [Cross-Platform]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/navigate-unsorted-text-files-hard-drive-keepnote-crossplatform/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-and-manage-notes-in-linux-with-basket-2/" title="Take and Manage Notes in Linux With BasKet">Take and Manage Notes in Linux With BasKet (7 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/notational-velocity-creating-notes-speed-light-mac/" title="Notational Velocity – Creating Notes At The Speed Of Light [Mac]">Notational Velocity – Creating Notes At The Speed Of Light [Mac] (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/store-your-thoughts-ideas-anything-else-in-your-wikipad/" title="Store Your Thoughts, Ideas, Notes, ToDo’s etc. on WikiPad">Store Your Thoughts, Ideas, Notes, ToDo’s etc. on WikiPad (9 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/recycle-reusedocument-scraps-ms-office-save-time-windows-xp/" title="How To Recycle and Reuse Document Scraps in Microsoft Office [Windows XP]">How To Recycle and Reuse Document Scraps in Microsoft Office [Windows XP] (11 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/four-free-quick-text-tools-for-the-mac/" title="Four Free Quick Note Taking Apps For The Mac">Four Free Quick Note Taking Apps For The Mac (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/evernote-the-killer-app-for-the-android-mobile-phone/" title="Evernote – The Killer App For The Android Mobile Phone">Evernote – The Killer App For The Android Mobile Phone (12 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ditching-evernote-check-5-free-web-clipping-alternatives/" title="Ditching Evernote? Check Out 5 Free Web Clipping Alternatives">Ditching Evernote? Check Out 5 Free Web Clipping Alternatives (22 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/become-a-rockstar-note-taker-with-evernote-review-100-invites/" title="Become a Rockstar Note Taker with Evernote (100 Invites)">Become a Rockstar Note Taker with Evernote (100 Invites) (29 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-to-make-use-of-evernote/" title="7 Ways To Make Use Of Evernote">7 Ways To Make Use Of Evernote (32 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-to-add-your-information-to-evernote/" title="6 Ways To Add Your Information To Evernote">6 Ways To Add Your Information To Evernote (23 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/disks.png" />A few days ago, I showed you how to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive/">physically install a second hard drive into your system, and today we will be looking at the software side of that.

Even if you didn’t crack open the case and add in another drive, you might still want to read on if you’d like to learn about the drive management system in Windows, and what href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/drive-partitions">partitions are.

id="more-63523">

Background – Partitions, and Filesystems

I’ll be throwing around some fairly technical terms today so it’s important you have an overview of what all these terms mean.

To begin with, a partition is a block of space on a hard drive. In Windows terms, you might think of a partition as a single drive letter (like C: or D:). Windows also likes to refer to a partition as a “volume“, but they are the same thing for our purposes. A single hard drive may consist of one, or many partitions – each of which will be assigned their own drive letter in Windows. For most people, a single partition is enough – however most home computers actually have another partition, hidden from Windows, on which recovery programs are placed. If your computer has a message like “Press F2 to enter recovery mode” when you turn it on, chances are you have a secret partition. Some people like to partition their drive so that Windows runs from a small section of the disk, with the data stored on an entirely separate partition – this means that re-installing Windows won’t overwrite your data. In other cases, a hard drive is partitioned in order to allow multiple operating systems to be installed at the same time – on booting the computer, you can then choose which partition you will boot from.

A Filesystem is the particular method by which data is stored on that partition. Which filesystem to choose has been known to cause violent arguments among many geeks, but suffice to say Windows XP used FAT32, Windows 7 uses NTFS, and Linux and Macs use something different entirely. Each filesystem has limitations and advantages, but for our purposes it is useful to know just that:

(a) If you’re planning on dealing with large files (like 4+ GB movies, etc.) you should use NTFS.

(b) If you want to swap drives between systems, you should use FAT32 as Mac OS X cannot write to NTFS without additional software, but you won’t be able to deal with large files.

If you’ve installed a second drive into your Windows machine, I suggest you use NTFS. To make matters more difficult though, a lot of drives come pre-formatted as FAT32 – grrr, what a headache!

Partitioning and Formatting Your Drive in Windows

Launch the disk management app by clicking Start, and typing in diskmgmt.msc – click the application that pops up in the search results. You should see a screen similar to this:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/disk-manager.png" alt="" width="580" height="521" />

The top half of the display shows what partitions currently exist. The bottom half displays the physical devices – the drives – in your computer. In this case, I have a single 64 GB NTFS partition, which is my C: drive where Windows is currently installed. Beneath it, we have my new 50 GB drive, shown in black because it is currently all free space. Your setup may different though – Windows 7 often creates a 100 MB hidden partiton called “System Reserved” for recovery options, for instance. Note, if you drive came preformatted as a FAT32 partition, Windows may have already assigned a drive letter to it. Make sure you identify exactly which is the new disk.

You can perform various operations on the partition, or the empty space, by right-clicking on it.

If you have an existing FAT32 partition you want to get rid of (be very sure this is the new second drive and not something else), then simply right-click on the existing volume and choose either Format or Delete Volume. Choose Format if you’d simply like to make it into a fresh NTFS partition instead of FAT32. Choose Delete Volume if you’d like to make more than one partition on the drive – for example, one for music and one for movies. You can also choose Change Drive Letter and Paths if you’d just like to change the letter that Windows has automatically assigned it.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/delete-volume.png" alt="" width="580" height="467" />

Now, having deleted your existing partition or if there wasn’t one to start with, we can go about creating a new one. Right-click on the black empty space to create a new partition by choosing New Simple Volume.

You’ll be greeted by a standard wizard opening screen, and after clicking Next, you can choose how large you partition will be. 1 GB is roughly 1000 MB. The default setting will already be the maximum size, but in this case I’m going to split the drive into two 25 GB partitions (25000 MB) to store different kinds of data.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/volume-size.png" alt="" width="580" height="421" />

On the next screen, you can assign it a drive letter. Choose NTFS as the format and give it a suitable name so you can identify the drive. You can then repeat the process by clicking on the remaining Unallocated free space. If it’s the last partition you are making, just leave the size option at the default to use all remaining space. Now you should have some more drives, so check Computer from the Start Menu to see:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/new-partitions.png" alt="" width="580" height="329" />

I hope you’ve learnt a little about disks and partitions today. They might seem scary and somewhat high level at first, but in reality they’re quite simple. So long as you are careful about what you’re deleting, managing your own disks and partitions is a lot more rewarding than simply taking the options that the manufacturers give to you.

There are also some alternatives to the built in Drive Management application that you might want to consider – like the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-create-edit-windows-partitions-with-partitionmagic/">Free Partition Manager, or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/paragon-hard-disk-manager-giveaway/">Paragon suite of tools. />
/>Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. />
/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/&title=How To Set Up A Second Hard Drive In Windows: Partitioning&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/setup-hard-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-websites-error-codes-troubleshooting/" title="Top 10 Websites for Error Codes & Troubleshooting">Top 10 Websites for Error Codes & Troubleshooting (22 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remote-pc-assistance-with-crossloop/" title="Remote PC Assistance with Crossloop">Remote PC Assistance with Crossloop (25 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/microsoft-fix-center-offers-quick-streamlined-troubleshooting/" title="Microsoft Fix It Center Offers Quick Streamlined Troubleshooting">Microsoft Fix It Center Offers Quick Streamlined Troubleshooting (16 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/start-windows-safe-mode/" title="How To Start In Windows Safe Mode & Its Uses">How To Start In Windows Safe Mode & Its Uses (26 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-hard-drive/" title="How To Physically Install A Second Internal Hard Drive">How To Physically Install A Second Internal Hard Drive (25 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-format-a-new-internal-hard-drive/" title="How To Format A New Internal Hard Drive">How To Format A New Internal Hard Drive (10 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-computer-windows-restore-xp-vista-7/" title="How To Fix Your PC Using Windows Restore in XP, Vista & 7">How To Fix Your PC Using Windows Restore in XP, Vista & 7 (19 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-fix-bootloader-problems-due-to-grub/" title="How To Fix Bootloader Problems Due To GRUB">How To Fix Bootloader Problems Due To GRUB (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/clean-computer-original-state-reinstalling-windows/" title="How To Clean Up Your Computer Back To Its Original State (Without Reinstalling Windows)">How To Clean Up Your Computer Back To Its Original State (Without Reinstalling Windows) (13 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whocrashed-sheds-some-light-on-bsod-errors-windows/" title="How To Analyze A Windows Blue Screen Of Death With WhoCrashed">How To Analyze A Windows Blue Screen Of Death With WhoCrashed (15 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/intro4.png" alt="" width="300" height="83" />Note-taking applications, such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-alternatives-synchronize-multiplatform-quick-notes/">Evernote, Simplenote, etc. abound, each with pros and cons, but most work tailored to a specific need. Want to add stickies to your documents? There’s class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/attach-notes-document-gumnotes/">GumNotes. Want to access your notes anywhere but don’t want them on your hard/flash drives? class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-cool-ways-sticky-notes-online/">Here class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wrttn-fast-note-taking/">are class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/shrib-quickly-notes-save-online-securely/">some class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/walnote-keeping-notes-online/">web-based class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/jotstore-notes-online-share-easily-securely/">sticky class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/lessmemories-simple-note-taking/">notes applications (my personal favorite is class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/super-simple-sticky-notes-from-jjot/">Jjot) or you can even try class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/make-your-own-sticky-notes-with-notepad-windows/">making your own with Notepad.

class="vt-p" href="http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/">PNotes, short for either Pinned Notes or Portable Notes, is a feature-packed sticky notes program, but not just any. It’s a worthy addition to your collection of portable applications as it includes ways to protect your notes, reminder alerts, support for drag and drop of pictures, it’s been translated to class="vt-p" href="http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=3">many languages, etc. Here are some of the more interesting features of PNotes.

id="more-61230">

Password-Protect & Encrypt Your Notes

Once you grab the latest version of PNotes, 7.0.107, class="vt-p" href="http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=5">here, you’ll see a lot of options on system tray icon right-click.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/110.png" alt="" width="214" height="570" />

This is perhaps one of the big features that held my attention at first: You can set a password to protect your notes in the Control Panel for PNotes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1a.png" alt="" width="499" height="316" />

Once you set it, you’ll be give the option to store your notes as encrypted files, and even hide the program icon from the system tray when it’s locked. Thus, this is probably THE notes program you should have on your flash drive so if your jump drive gets stolen, your precious tidbits of information will be locked away.

Create Notes With Rich-Text Formatting & Add Pictures

You have most options you’d want in rich-text formatting, including ability to insert bullets, change fonts, and even highlight text. What’s also neat is that you can create a new note from the text contents of your clipboard while retaining clickable links.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2.0.png" alt="" width="580" height="558" />

The feature reminded me of class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-sync-notes-with-cintanotes-and-dropbox/">CintaNotes and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quotepad-quick-notes-set-reminders-windows/">QuotePad, applications which allow you to customize a hotkey to create a new note instantly from highlighted text, but of course, PNotes can do it also with just two or three more clicks, and it looks like it bundles a lot more features, like hierarchy of notes, grouping and ability to include images.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2.2.png" alt="" width="372" height="348" />

While it says in the class="vt-p" href="http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/help/index.html">Help section for the program that you can insert images by copying and pasting them, I couldn’t quite get the copy-paste of images to work (only text was copied).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2.11.png" alt="" width="483" height="316" />

Luckily, drag- and dropping pictures worked really well. You can also right-click on each note, then selecting Insert > Insert picture to paste an image from your hard drive. PNotes also has an extensive collection of smilies, which could be useful for the Diary notes. You can set transparency, font, color and size (unless you use a custom skin) defaults for all or individual notes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2.3.png" alt="" width="580" height="445" />

Honestly, there are so many customization options that you can spend more time exploring those than actually creating notes. I’d just start writing notes and then customizing things as I go because the defaults might work just fine.

Set Reminders For Any Items

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/34.png" alt="" width="375" height="491" />

You can set reminders or due dates for notes at very specific schedules. You can choose to remind yourself at repeated intervals as well, and whether PNotes should track the overdue items or not.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3a.png" alt="" width="297" height="404" />

You can also toggle high priority status for individual notes, and sort notes by high priority, completed items, schedule, last saved times, and tags (which you need to define first in PNote’s Control Panel).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3b.png" alt="" width="580" height="218" />

Diary Mode

If I can encrypt my notes and/or password-protect them, I’d definitely want to use this program for my journal entries. It’s highly convenient that PNotes also bundles a Diary mode or category, where each entry’s title is automatically populated with the date.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="472" />

So if you’re wary of publishing your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter or even dedicated journal applications (like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/keep-a-personal-online-diary-with-penzu/">Penzu) that are still hosted on third-party servers, PNotes can be a good alternative as you can password-protect your note database and encrypt your notes.

Overall, this program has an unbelievable set of features. You can even set hotkeys for hiding and showing your desired group of notes. As someone who relies on keyboard shortcuts a lot, I would like the program even more if it had more keyboard shortcuts than the universal ones for copying, pasting, saving, printing, etc. but I shouldn’t ask too much as this powerful program is being offered for free, and it’s open-source so the developer probably isn’t making much money.

Do you use an offline note application or prefer web-based services, like Evernote? Share your experiences in the comments below! />
/>Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already! />
/>

href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fbfeedfooter.png" />

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/&title=PNotes – Fast, Lightweight, Open-Source Sticky Notes Program For Your Desktop/USB Flash Drive [Windows]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pnotes-fast-lightweight-opensource-sticky-notes-program-desktopusb-flash-drive-windows/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tinypad-replace-notepad-automatic-syncing-sharing-built/" title="TinyPad – Replace Notepad With Automatic Syncing & Sharing Built In">TinyPad – Replace Notepad With Automatic Syncing & Sharing Built In (26 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/notes-annotate-pdfs-easy-jarnal-crossplatform/" title="Take Notes & Annotate PDFs The Easy Way With Jarnal [Cross-Platform]">Take Notes & Annotate PDFs The Easy Way With Jarnal [Cross-Platform] (13 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sharedcopy-lets-bookmark-annotate-websites-style/" title="SharedCopy Lets You Bookmark & Annotate Websites With Style">SharedCopy Lets You Bookmark & Annotate Websites With Style (3 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/orangenote-smart-note-taker-clipboard-manager-desktop/" title="OrangeNote – A Smart Note Taker & Clipboard Manager">OrangeNote – A Smart Note Taker & Clipboard Manager (12 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/notational-velocity-creating-notes-speed-light-mac/" title="Notational Velocity – Creating Notes At The Speed Of Light [Mac]">Notational Velocity – Creating Notes At The Speed Of Light [Mac] (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/make-online-searchable-notes-with-ketchup/" title="Make Online Shareable Notes With Ketchup">Make Online Shareable Notes With Ketchup (14 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/icyte-capture-web-pages-and-highlight-text-in-a-flash/" title="iCyte: Capture Web Pages And Highlight Text In A Flash">iCyte: Capture Web Pages And Highlight Text In A Flash (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-sync-notes-with-cintanotes-and-dropbox/" title="How To Sync Notes & ToDo’s Across Your PCs and Mobiles with CintaNotes">How To Sync Notes & ToDo’s Across Your PCs and Mobiles with CintaNotes (4 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/four-free-quick-text-tools-for-the-mac/" title="Four Free Quick Note Taking Apps For The Mac">Four Free Quick Note Taking Apps For The Mac (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/evernote-the-killer-app-for-the-android-mobile-phone/" title="Evernote – The Killer App For The Android Mobile Phone">Evernote – The Killer App For The Android Mobile Phone (12 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Mail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.

View full post on FileHippo.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/harddrives1.jpg" alt="buy hard drive" width="252" height="252" />Your computer’s hard drive is its only form of long-term storage. Music, photos, documents, games – it all goes on your hard drive. There isn’t a lot you can do to increase the capacity of your hard drive, either.

You can always try to compress files, but that’s not much fun, and this often just delays the inevitable. If you’re running out of hard drive space it’s only a matter of time before you need to buy a new drive. But what should you buy?

id="more-57693">

Inside or Out?

First things first – before anything else, you need to decide what type of hard drive you’re looking for. External or internal?

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/harddrive2.jpg" alt="buy hard drive" width="400" height="230" />

These drives are very different. External drives loiter outside your system and connect to your computer via class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/usb/">USB, eSATA or FireWire connection. These hard drives are portable and incredibly simple to use – most are plug and play.

However, external drives are generally more expensive per gigabyte of storage than internal drives. They also take up space on your desk, which may not be ideal. Finally, external drives usually don’t perform as well as internal drives, so you may notice that copying files to and from the external drive takes a long time.

External drives connected via class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/usb-30-technology-explained/">USB 3.0 are an exception to this – but remember, connecting an external hard drive via USB 3.0 requires that both your computer’s motherboard and your external drive support the standard. If your motherboard doesn’t support USB 3.0 you’ll need to buy an expansion card and install it inside your computer.

Internal drives are better value overall, but an external drive is fine if you’re not comfortable mucking about inside your PC.

External Concerns

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/harddrive4.jpg" alt="choose replacement hard drive" width="342" height="320" />

Let’s assume you decided on an external drive. If you went internal, skip to the next section.

There are two general types of external drives. On the one hand you have small drives based off 2.5” mechanical hard drives. These usually connect via USB and are powered via USB. They’re often small enough to carry in a pocket. Seagate offers a 1.5 TB drive in this category – all other options max out at 1 TB.

On the other hand you have large external drives based off 3.5” mechanical hard drives. These drives sometimes require power from a wall socket. They’re heavier and not fun to lug around without a bag, but they’re available in capacities of up to (and beyond) 3TB. They’re usually better value, too. The choice here is simply one of portability vs. storage capacity and value.

You should also pay attention to how a drive connects to your computer. The quickest connections are USB 3.0 and eSATA, but these are also the least common on desktops and laptops, so check to make sure you have the proper connection before buying. USB 2.0 and FireWire connections are more common, but not as quick.

The spindle speed of an external hard drive should also be considered – higher is better. The fastest external drives available max out at 7200 RPM.

Internal Affairs

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/harddrive3.jpg" alt="choose replacement hard drive" width="400" height="400" />

If you’re comfortable installing a hard drive you’re probably best off going internal. Doing so opens up a world of options.

You don’t have to worry about the portability of internal drives, so picking an internal drive is a straight compromise between performance, storage capacity and price. You do have to worry about size, however, because laptops and desktops use different drive sizes. Laptops use 2.5” drives, while desktops generally use 3.5” drives. Be careful, though – some of today’s slim systems and all-in-one PCs do use 2.5” drives.

Performance is determined by the spindle speed and cache available on a hard drive. The maximum spindle speed on consumer drives is 10,000 RPM (enterprise hard drives are quicker still, but forget about them – they’re outrageously expensive). Cache is usually between 16 and 64 MB.

Storage capacity is incredibly various. The smallest internal drives offer about 80 GB of space, while the largest external drives tops out at 3TB.

Prices rise with performance and capacity. For example, Western Digital sells its low-end “green” 1TB 3.5” internal drive for $60. Upgrading to the high-performance “black” version requires that you hand over an extra $30.

Connection type isn’t really an issue with internal drives. Almost all internal drives use SATA. You only need to worry if you have a computer older than 5 years, as it may use a legacy connection instead of SATA. You can add SATA support by installing an SATA expansion card.

A Note About Solid State Drives

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/harddrive51.jpg" alt="buy hard drive" width="440" height="330" />

Everything I’ve said so far applies to mechanical hard drives. These are still the most popular by far, but the performance a class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-trim-important-to-solid-state-hard-drives/">solid state drive can offer is hard to ignore.

If you are considering a SSD, keep in mind that they’re virtually always 2.5” drives. They can be installed in a desktop, but you may need an adapter to secure the drive. Also, be sure to read the reviews. Spindle speed and cache size give a good impression of a mechanical drive’s performance, but there is no easy way to guess the performance of an SSD without reading a review.

External SSDs are basically just thumb drives. They’re very expensive, but extremely portable. As with internal 2.5” drives there is no easy way to guess performance without researching first.

Conclusion

Almost everyone runs out of hard drive storage eventually, but this is nothing to worry about. It’s easy to buy a new hard drive, and most drives with less than 1TB of storage can be had for under $100.

Just be sure to do your homework – otherwise you may end up with a drive that is slower than you hoped, or a drive that doesn’t work with and/or fit in your computer.

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/&title=The Things You Need To Know When Buying A New Hard Drive&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-computer-case-technology-explained/" title="What To Look For When Buying A Computer Case [Technology Explained]">What To Look For When Buying A Computer Case [Technology Explained] (3 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-top-10-windows-desktop-computers-for-every-occasion/" title="The Top 10 Rated Windows Desktop Computers For Every Need">The Top 10 Rated Windows Desktop Computers For Every Need (27 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/specifications-buying-gaming-computer/" title="The Specifications To Look For When Buying A Gaming Computer">The Specifications To Look For When Buying A Gaming Computer (23 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mac-video-cards-graphics-designers/" title="The Best Mac Video Cards for Graphics Designers">The Best Mac Video Cards for Graphics Designers (3 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-connect-your-xbox-360-hard-drive-to-your-pc/" title="How To Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive To Your PC">How To Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive To Your PC (19 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/choose-video-card-for-pc/" title="How To Choose The Right PC Video Card [Technology Explained]">How To Choose The Right PC Video Card [Technology Explained] (11 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buy-brand-generic-hardware-gadgets-price/" title="How To Buy Brand New & Generic Hardware and Electronics For Cheap">How To Buy Brand New & Generic Hardware and Electronics For Cheap (21 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-backup-your-computer-with-an-old-hard-disk/" title="How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk">How to Backup Your Computer With an Old Hard Disk (18 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-computer-hardware-review-sites-for-the-pc-enthusiast/" title="5 Computer Hardware Review Sites For The PC Enthusiast">5 Computer Hardware Review Sites For The PC Enthusiast (41 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-online-sources-finding-buying-computer-parts/" title="3 Online Sources For Buying Old Computer Parts">3 Online Sources For Buying Old Computer Parts (13 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dvddrive.png" alt="fix dvd drive errors" width="280" height="177" />Every once in a while, a DVD or Blu-Ray drive starts to go on the fritz. Sometimes video gets choppy or a brand new disk doesn’t even get recognized. Maybe once you put in a disc the drive starts spinning but the disc is never available on your computer.

Whatever the problem, we have some simple tips to try to fix DVD or Blu-Ray drive errors.

id="more-53896">

Dust – An Optical Drive’s Worst Enemy

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: left;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dvd-dust.jpg" alt="fix dvd drive errors" width="376" height="225" />Even though a DVD or Blu-Ray drive is mostly enclosed, dust still has an opportunity to invade through small openings and also while the drive is open. This depends heavily on how dusty the environment is but it can really wreak havoc on a drive.

In my experience, when a drive gets dusty, a disc will either take a long time to read initially or it will show random errors and slowdowns while the disc is being read from.

It helps to know how a optical drive, such as a CD, DVD or Blu-Ray drive works to know why this happens. The disc is a round plastic disk with a shiny reflective coating on the top and several layers of plastic. The way data is read from the drive is that there is a tiny laser which shoots up onto the disc, and depending on the configuration of the plastic and reflective layer, data is returned and read back to the drive. In reality it is much more complicated than that, but at the core this is what is happening.

When dust gets into the drive, specifically around the laser, it can block or refract that light causing a number of errors to be returned, and make the drive and/or disc unreadable.

There are several ways to get rid of dust. The first is with compressed air. It is available at many stores and is very cheap to buy. You can also get a special optical drive cleaner disk. This is comprised of a disc with tiny little brushes on it. The DVD disc usually has a program on it to ensure that the laser read head will move over the brushes several times to clean off any dust.

Disc Scratches

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dvd-scratch.jpg" alt="how do i fix my dvd player" width="500" height="193" />

Most of the time, the drive isn’t even the problem! Discs become class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-unreadable-cds-or-dvds-in-windows">scratched fairly easily and this can cause a lot of read problems on the drive. The way to check is two-fold:

• visually inspect the disc to see if there are any scratches.
• check the drive with another disc, alternatively try the disc in another drive.

Once you have confirmed the disc is scratched you can try a few things to fix the problem.

The first is to use a wet or dry cloth to clean the disc. Use circular motions to clean it, or wipe from out-to-inside or inside to out. Never wipe in the direction around the tracks, as this can cause track skippage and actually make the problem worse.

The second is to use some sort of abrasive compound, such as class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/geeks-weigh-in-can-you-fix-a-scratched-cd-with-toothpaste-nb">toothpaste (not gel) to grind out scratches. I’ve never actually used this method but I have heard it works well.

The final one, and preferred, is to use a motorized disc cleaner. They are available from retail stores for about $20-$30 and automate the above procedures for maximum effect. I think this is the safest way to clean a disk, as there is less chance of human error.

Is Your Firmware Old?

Sometimes there are bugs within the firmware of the optical drive. The firmware is like an operating system for the drive, telling it when to spin, where to move the read/write head, and so on. Sometimes this is a last ditch effort but updating the firmware has raised several drives from the dead for me.

Check the manufacturer’s website to see if there are firmware updates. It might involve burning a CD with the firmware and rebooting the computer or player off of the disc, or there might be a way to update it right in your normal OS – it just depends on the manufacturer’s process.

If you have a Blu-Ray drive – in your PC or as a Home Theater component – then there is a good chance you will need to flash new firmware. This is due to the encryption keys stored on the drive. New protections are put out all of the time on new discs and if you have an older drive you simply might not have the right keys to decrypt the disc. A sign of this is if you have no problem playing older Blu-Rays, but new ones simply don’t work.

Is It A Hardware Problem?

class="alignleft" style="margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; border: 0px none initial;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/monitorsmash.jpg" alt="fix dvd drive errors" width="138" height="267" />Finally if all else fails, you could simply have a hardware problem. This goes anywhere from a cable that was unseated, to a bad drive or motherboard connection somewhere down the line.

The first step is to try a new cable and connection port on the motherboard to see if that fixes your problem. If it doesn’t you can try to plug another know-good drive in to see if the problem is coming from the old drive or the motherboard.

If it turns out that your DVD or Blu-Ray drive is bad, then it is bad. You can try to send it in for warranty service, but depending on the age of the drive and how much it would cost to replace it, it could just make sense to buy a new one. Buying a new one has other benefits: faster access times, transfer speeds and new features.

Whatever the issue, the steps above should be enough to try to fix your DVD drive on your own. Let us know your own tips and tricks to reviving zombie DVD drives!

Photo Credits: class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/513845749/">William Hook, class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/czarcats/2763944155/">czarcats, class="vt-p" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7762644@N04/2533281806">nickwheeleroz, and class="vt-p" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimateslug/109566859/">Don Fulano. />
/> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/&title=How To Fix Common DVD & Blu-Ray Drive Errors&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-common-dvd-bluray-drive-errors/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-websites-error-codes-troubleshooting/" title="Top 10 Websites for Error Codes & Troubleshooting">Top 10 Websites for Error Codes & Troubleshooting (22 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/six-steps-to-help-you-fix-common-dvd-drive-errors/" title="Six Steps To Help You Fix Common DVD Drive Errors">Six Steps To Help You Fix Common DVD Drive Errors (9 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-troubleshoot-your-windows-with-the-msconfig-utility/" title="How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility">How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whocrashed-sheds-some-light-on-bsod-errors-windows/" title="How To Analyze A Windows Blue Screen Of Death With WhoCrashed">How To Analyze A Windows Blue Screen Of Death With WhoCrashed (15 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/deal-day-bluray-disc-player-89-110/" title="Deal Of The Day: Blu-Ray Disc Player… For Only $99 (*$100 Off*)">Deal Of The Day: Blu-Ray Disc Player… For Only $99 (*$100 Off*) (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-blurays-replacement-dvd/" title="Blu-Ray Technology History and The DVD [Technology Explained]">Blu-Ray Technology History and The DVD [Technology Explained] (11 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/play-video-smoothly-pc/" title="What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC">What You Need to Play Video Smoothly On Your PC (25 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/two-very-useful-web-apps-to-get-the-most-out-of-netflix/" title="Two Very Useful Web Apps For Netflix">Two Very Useful Web Apps For Netflix (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/trade-books-cds-video-games-for-free-with-swaptree/" title="Trade Books, CDs, & Video Games for Free with SwapTree">Trade Books, CDs, & Video Games for Free with SwapTree (14 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-freeware-registry-cleaners-that-improve-pc-performance/" title="Top 5 Freeware Registry Cleaners That Improve PC Performance">Top 5 Freeware Registry Cleaners That Improve PC Performance (47 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/bigfoot1.jpg" alt="free online simulation games" />When it comes to href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/simulator">simulations, I’m very picky. I remember when I first played Microsoft Flight Simulator, I was so disappointed because the graphics were horrid and the plane was nearly impossible to fly. On the flip side, a few years later I played A-10 Tank Killer and was obsessed with it for months. When it comes to simulations, there are three things that I always look for to gauge quality – landscape graphics, realistic controls and of course the overall atmosphere.

As I was searching for software to review, I went through about five free online simulation games before stumbling upon the one that I’d like to share with you today called href="http://wiki.rigsofrods.com/pages/Portal">Rigs of Rods.

id="more-51695"> /> Now, at MakeUseOf we’ve covered some cool simulations, like href="http://makeuseof.com/tag/feel-the-need-the-need-for-speed-with-google-earths-flight-simulator/">Google Earth Flight Simulator and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/nemexia-free-online-space-simulation-game/">Nemexia. However, Rigs of Rods isn’t your typical simulation software. It’s not only about cruising through an interesting landscape or test-driving various exotic cars (although that’s available too). The cool thing about Rigs of Rods is that it focuses representing realistic physics.

Rigs of Rods Takes Physics Into Account

The fact that the creators of this free online simulation game took actual physics into account for every little detail is remarkable. According to the website, the makers planned vehicle behavior based on “weight distribution, construction, and/or suspension.” The way planes or boats handle depends upon the physical dimensions, structure and the environment. When you first install the program, make sure to include the “content stream” with the vehicles that you want. Just keep in mind that some of them take a lot of space, and downloading the module can take a very long time during installation.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods1.jpg" alt="free online simulation games"/>

When you first launch the game, you can choose from different landscapes. In every case you will start out standing in front of a vehicle garage. If you’re more interested in a plane or boat, make sure to walk around and check to see whether there are any in the vicinity.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods4.jpg" alt="car driving simulation program" />

When you walk through the garage door, you enter the vehicle menu screen. This is where you can pick from a very wide range of vehicles, including sports cars, trucks, buses, and all-terrain vehicles. For my first vehicles, I chose a huge city bus.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods5.jpg" alt="car driving simulation program"/>

The view when you are inside a vehicle is 3rd person, but you have the dashboard at the base of your window, so you can see current speed, RPMs and more. Driving these vehicles definitely has a lot of realism. Hit the curb and the whole bus bounces just as it would in real life. Drive on a slope that’s too steep, and the whole thing will roll right over.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods6.jpg" alt="truck driving games simulation"/>

Changing landscapes, I decided to cruise for a bit. I chose a nice, large mountainous region and then selected the coolest looking sports car I could find. I have to say, the sound effects are awesome – every time you hit the gas you’ll hear the engine rev. The only problem I found was that the steering was super touchy and I could barely keep the car on the road.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods8.jpg" alt="truck driving games simulation"/>

Switching to a huge 2 ton pick-up truck with double rear tires was a whole different story. Steering wasn’t quite as difficult, and this thing really has some power. Another cool touch to the simulation is that if your vehicle has large exhaust pipes, you’re going to actually see the smoke every time you hit the gas hard.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods9.jpg" alt="truck driving games simulation"/>

And if you have a bit too much fun peeling out and strike a dip in the road, you may end up exactly like I did.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods10.jpg" alt="free simulation games"/>

I wanted to see if handling and behavior changed significantly between vehicles, and sure enough when I chose this monster (literally a monster truck), I found that the vehicle acted exactly as you’d expect a truck like this to behave. It bounced over small hills, climbed slowly up one side and raced down the other. The great thing about the monster truck is that when you flip over, all you have to do is hit the gas hard and it’ll spin and bounce upright again!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods11.jpg" alt="free simulation games" />

Exploring the simulation a bit further, I changed landscapes to an island and came across this beauty just parked in the middle of a runway. So what did I do?

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rod11.jpg" alt="free simulation games" />

I got in and flew it of course! You may find that the airplane controls take a little getting used to. It took three crashes, two of which the wings actually disintegrated in the air, until I realized that I had to ease off the throttle once I was in the air. You can switch between external and internal views by pressing “C”.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/rods12.jpg" alt="free online simulation games"/>

I have to say that exploring the virtual landscapes with these vehicles is a real blast. Seeing how objects interact and how the vehicles respond to different things is really fun – I could see easily burning several hours some Saturday afternoon playing around with this simulation – and I bet you could too!

Have you ever tried Rigs of Rods? What did you think? Do you know of any other cool, high quality simulator apps? Share your opinion and insight in the comments section below. />
/>NEW: href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/makeuseof/id366921965?mt=8" target="_blank">Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!

/>

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/&title=Rigs of Rods – A Free Online Simulation Game To Test Drive Vehicles&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rigs-rods-free-online-simulation-game-test-drive-vehicles/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

Similar MakeUseOf Articles

class="st-related-posts">

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/project-torque-free-incredible-online-racing-madness/" title="Project Torque – Free Incredible Racing Car Game Online">Project Torque – Free Incredible Racing Car Game Online (15 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/muo-games-the-best-free-online-racing-games/" title="MUO Games – The Best Free Online Racing Games">MUO Games – The Best Free Online Racing Games (11 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/live-it-like-a-spy-create-a-fake-you/" title="Live it like a spy: Create a fake “You”">Live it like a spy: Create a fake “You” (2 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-have-fun-with-online-personality-quizzes/" title="How To Have Fun With Online Personality Quizzes">How To Have Fun With Online Personality Quizzes (6 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fun-senses-tests-visual-hearing-reaction-disgust/" title="Fun Senses Tests: Visual, Hearing, Reaction, …, Disgust">Fun Senses Tests: Visual, Hearing, Reaction, …, Disgust (2 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feel-the-need-the-need-for-speed-with-google-earths-flight-simulator/" title="Feel The Need For Speed with Google Earth’s Flight Simulator">Feel The Need For Speed with Google Earth’s Flight Simulator (10 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/big-city-racer-free-multiplayer-racing-game/" title="Big City Racer – A Free Multiplayer Racing Game">Big City Racer – A Free Multiplayer Racing Game (8 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-google-earth-games-fun-frolic-globe/" title="6 Google Earth Games For Some Fun & Frolic Around The Globe">6 Google Earth Games For Some Fun & Frolic Around The Globe (13 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-cool-free-car-driving-simulation-programs/" title="2 Cool Free Car Driving Simulation Programs">2 Cool Free Car Driving Simulation Programs (4 comments)

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zomgies-god-zombies-a-zombie-survival-game/" title="ZOMGies! – An Addictive Zombie Survival Game">ZOMGies! – An Addictive Zombie Survival Game (32 comments)

View full post on MakeUseOf.com

According to the music, audio and video loving public, MP3 players are one of the greatest creations ever invented. They not only allow you to build humungous sound file libraries, but you can also take those files with you and listen to them wherever you go, whether it’s into the next room or an entirely different country. And actually, it’s not only sound files that you can travel with. The MP3 player market has greatly expanded to include mini digital screens that allow you to store and watch videos and keep and display photo ‘albums’ as well. It doesn’t get much better than that in terms of convenience.

And although MP3 players are a great convenience and are not difficult to use, there are differences between them, specifically in terms of their inner workings. Let’s take a look at the technological differences to get a better idea of what this means.

Hard Drive Based MP3 Players

Also referred to as Digital Jukeboxes, a hard drive based MP3 player can incorporate, nowadays, up to a 100 gigabyte memory card. That’s an awesome size providing an abundant amount of space to store all of your digital files. A hard drive based MP3 player affords you with the opportunity to download and store all of your music and other digital files directly into your MP3, where they will remain for safe keeping and your listening and viewing pleasure until you either delete them, add to them or copy over them. Once the hard drive is full, it’s full, however it would take a very, very long time and an enormous amount of digital files to fill up 100 gig hard drive.

There is also something called a micro-hard drive MP3 player that is available as well. These have a smaller memory capacity, but are also much lighter than the MP3 players with the larger hard drives.

Flash Based MP3 Player

Flash based MP3 players are latest craze to hit the portable audio and video device market. Unlike the hard drive based MP3 player, a flash based player only provides you with up to 4 gigabytes of memory on each card, but those cards are interchangeable. So you can still collect music, videos and photos with a flash based MP3 player, however they don’t have nearly the same amount of storage space. But as mentioned, you can change the flash card as frequently as you like, almost like changing a CD on your stereo. Keep in mind that you need special, additional, compatible equipment such as a flash reader for your computer in order for you to be able to download the digital files and then transfer the card to your MP3 player.

MP3 file will “lose” in certain situations. For example, it may lose a MP3 file if MP3 player software is forced to quit unexpectedly, or if your computer has a power interruption while you’re playing, or if you close the file without saving changes,or virus attacks,or fomatted by a mistake,or deleted by a mistake operation.
If you format hard drive and deleted MP3 files by a mistake operation will loss data,you need data recovery software to recover MP3 files.
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3( MP3 ), is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players. MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group as part of its MPEG-1 standard.
The use in MP3 of a lossy compression algorithm is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for most listeners. An MP3 file that is created using the setting of 128 kbit/s will result in a file that is about 1/11th the size of the CD file created from the original audio source. An MP3 file can also be constructed at higher or lower bit rates, with higher or lower resulting quality. The compression works by reducing accuracy of certain parts of sound that are deemed beyond the auditory resolution ability of most people.

The MPEG-1 standard does not include a precise specification for an MP3 encoder, but does provide example psychoacoustic models, rate loop, and the like in the non-normative part of the original standard.
Decoding, on the other hand, is carefully defined in the standard. Most decoders are “bitstream compliant”, which means that the decompressed output – that they produce from a given MP3 file – will be the same, within a specified degree of rounding tolerance, as the output specified mathematically in the ISO/IEC standard document.
Several bit rates are specified in the MPEG-1 Layer 3 standard: 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 kbit/s, and the available sampling frequencies are 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz.

When performing lossy audio encoding, such as creating an MP3 file, there is a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically, the creator is allowed to set a bit rate, which specifies how many kilobits the file may use per second of audio. Using a lower bit rate provides a relatively lower audio quality and produces a smaller file size. Likewise, using a higher bit rate outputs a higher quality audio, but also results in a larger file.

New different material! This is a new video on advanced data recovery by Scott A. Moulton. This is from August 2007 at Defcon 15 on how to do your own hard drive recovery.

Know On the Go! – To Download this and other useful ViewDos to your portable viewer for free visit www.viewdo.com Add storage space to your computer by either adding an additional drive or swapping out your old one. Note: This is for Parallel ATA type drives only.

Promo for the single