Emachines E625 for £180 Bargin or not?

Thrifty_Ruby

closed wrote: »

back them up to dvd and external hard disk if you have one (don't delete them from the pc, the more copies the merrier), in case your hard disk fails.

The Photos?
Just had a look at my sons computer Acer (c) was almost full, Data (D) almost empty does that mean its Music taking up the space?
Thanks so much for your help
Dx

closed

It means you have more than one partition, move the music or whatever is taking up space to d and c is no longer full

Yes, backup (which means make multiple copies on different media, not move) the photo's if they are important. Don't delete the photos from the hard disk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2674229

macman

Copy the music (or any other files you like-photos, Word files etc) from the C drive to the D drive. When you are sure they are there, delete them from the C drive, thus freeing up some space.
Sounds like you have been saving all your data to the C drive.

Thrifty_Ruby

Thanks to all of you,

I really don't understand all what you are saying but hopefully my son will! You have been a great help. Can I just confirm something? The 1GB/2GB etc means the speed that the computer runs? Is that right?

Dx

closed

no, the 1/2 is the amount of working memory you have RAM, the machine needs this to load programs into when you click on the icon to run them, if you have insufficient ram the pc can slow down a little, but anything in the 1GB upwards range is ok.

Your disk is split into more than one partition, a c drive a d drive, maybe an e drive, so c is the default space for saving data, but you can just save it to d instead because it isn't being used, and is empty.

The backup suggestion was there as a reminder, if you have never backed up those 2000 photo's you should, your hard disk could die at any time, if it does they could be gone forever. They will all fit on one DVD, costing a few pence. Retain you existing copy as well, in case the dvd fails in future or the copy fails

You can't just copy programs from c to d and expect it to work, but data can be moved, (you have to be a little bit careful with data held in a library, eg itunes), before moving anything, find out where the space has gone.

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/windirstat_portable

macman

The analogy I sometimes use to explain it is to think of your PC as a car. So RAM is the horsepower of the engine, and hard drive capacity is the boot space.
So your computer is a bit slow 'cos it has a small engine and now the boot is full...

Hammyman

macman wrote: »

The analogy I sometimes use to explain it is to think of your PC as a car. So RAM is the horsepower of the engine, and hard drive capacity is the boot space.
So your computer is a bit slow 'cos it has a small engine and now the boot is full...

A better one is to think of RAM as your memory your brain uses and the hard drive as a notebook/filing cabinet. It is quicker to recall from your memory than to recall from a notebook. The more memories you can store in your brain, the faster you can retrieve the information. Likewise, with a computer the more RAM it has, the more it has to store information its currently working on. When that "working" space runs out, it stores it on the hard drive. Then when it needs it, it reads it back off the hard drive at a much slower speed. Of course the hard drive also works as a filing cabinet storing all your documents.

closed

only if you forget everything when you go to sleep

Thrifty_Ruby

Thanks for all your replies,

I decided against buying the Laptop & I am going to get a better one when I find another good deal! Now that I understand (well sort of...) I will try & sort out my sons laptop. At 46 I am learning something new every day! Thanks a million

Dx :beer: