Expert: Bobbert - 7/11/2010

Question
Hello Bobbert -

I'm not buying a computer - I just want to take my current unit in for a security sweep, Windows and AVG re-load, etc. (it's an HP stand-alone from 2002, Windows XP Home, AMD Athlon XP2800+ processor, 512 MB RAM, 111 GB C-drive - 66 GB of it free, CDR drive - no DVD).

I have 35G of video that I'd like to put onto some storage medium and I'm wondering if I should get an extra drive (zip?) or use a cloud storage service.  If I go the latter route, can you recommend any names?

Thank you - Mark

Answer
What is wrong with the machine that prompts re-installing the OS? (You should not need to re-install your anti-virus application unless something is wrong with the existing install - it updates itself automatically (at least it should) and the system should be scanned for viruses/spyware daily or bi-daily - not as a monthly or yearly task). On top of that, generally the amount that you'll pay for such services for your machine will actually be more than that entire machine is worth (just being honest with you - you're looking at a few hundred dollars of maintenance for a machine thats worth, at best, $70).

That aside, Zip isn't a relevant storage format - to store 35GB of data you'd need something like 350 disks and an unruly amount of time to write to them (you'd also have to split your data for archiving, which means you'd have to readback all 350 disks in order to manipualte the data). CD-ROM would be a better choice in terms of price and size (roughly 7.5x the storage of a Zip disk and much cheaper) and even then I'd say don't do it - DVD is about the same price (roughly 40x the storage of a Zip disk) and additional hard-drives are much cheaper than that per GB of storage (figure that a 2000GB hard drive is only around $150). I wouldn't suggest a cloud service as the vast overwhelming majority of consumers do not have an ISP package that would make uploading of 35GB of data pragmatic (we're talking days to weeks to upload or download such a package).

Honestly, if there's something majorly wrong with your system, or you want considerably more storage or similar, a new computer is one of the most cost effective things I can suggest (quite simply, a new computer will cost about the same as purchasing some form of external hard disk and paying for the services you're talking about - it will also be something to the order of ten times faster than your existing machine and offer 10 to 20 times the storage capacity making your 35GB of video no problem at all). Otherwise, I'd say do the maintenance yourself (again, if nothing is apparently wrong I wouldn't waste the time) and find an external drive that satisfies you (Western Digital and Samsung make quality products) - you'll still be spending more than the machine is worth and will be buying a drive with vastly more storage than your system has but it will "work".

The suggestion for a new computer honestly is the best honest advice I can give you though - industry estimates and "rule of thumb" holds that every 2-4 years a desktop is to be replaced (this is standard practice for schools, libraries, government installations, professional users, etc) - your system is going on 9 years old and simply isn't up to date with the times at all (absolutely nothing in terms of modern software or video will run on your machine) - a new machine will offer the storage and features that you'll likely use over the next few years as well as providing considerably better performance with respect to anything you can throw at it.

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to ask.

-bob