Oh no it's the computer numpty again

[The Beard]

I've been using a Western Digital 80GB External Hard Drive for a few years now. It's not even anywhere near half full yet and I only use it for storing pictures.

The last time I used it a few months ago I found it difficult to find certain folders, but eventually they turned up. Now I've come to put some images on it again and at least half the existing pictures have disappeared.

Equally bizarre is that after having loaded some photos, I disconnected the HD and proceeded to delete them off the computer, yet when I looked at the WD thingy they'd gone off there as well. Now I don't know much about these things but I haven't a clue how that can happen if the drive has been shut down and the cable removed.

So, er suggestions please

 

[Focus Owner]

hirens boot cd deleted search

 

[The Beard]

Er, thanks, I think. Can you possibly translate that into English? Please remember the title of this thread, with emphasis on "Numpty".

 

[Focus Owner]

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

 

[The Beard]

Slight development. Normally I bang in my SD card and use the "Import pictures using Windows" and that's how I view them, but it was in this mode that I couldn't find my images.

However, last night instead of "View pictures using Windows", I tried the "View pictures using Windows Media Centre" and found them. What I don't know is how the hell I get them back to where they were.

 

[Focus Owner]

looked though my computer?

 

[The Beard]

No, but it's worth a go. There's no reason why they should just disappear or transfer themselves into another "section".

 

[Focus Owner]

no idea, i dont use no fancy viewers for my computer pictures.
just open each folder up in my computer.

if one of your drive letters changed it could cause a simular fault

 

[fingers99]

I'd be inclined to back them up, too. An 80GB hard drive is very small by current standards -- barely more than 2 x 32mb SD cards, which are faster and more reliable, especially as your HD must be pretty old and decrepit by now.

 

[The Beard]

I thought I was backing them up by putting them on the WD thingy. What I still don't understand is how I can only view most of them by using Windows Media Centre. They all appear to be there, just not accessible in the same way they were.

Notwithstanding this problem, I can post them, for instance on here, or e-mail them from Windows but there doesn't seem to be the facility to do that from Windows Media Centre.

So, based on the premise that we are where we are, how do I post/e-mail the images from Media Centre?

 

[fingers99]

I thought I was backing them up by putting them on the WD thingy

You're only backing up if the same files exist in two different locations. For example, on the Hard Drive in your pooter and the WD thingy. Of the two, my guess is that the WD thingy will fail first.

Can't you locate them in your email application? And post them that way? Alternatively (and assuming that moderators get contributing member rights/status) the widget that this site uses to upload photos should see them.

If not -- and I don't use Windows -- there will be (please God) a "find files" utility which, if you pop in the title of one file, should find the location of them all. Windows help may, er, help.

 

[The Beard]

I'd be inclined to back them up, too. An 80GB hard drive is very small by current standards -- barely more than 2 x 32mb SD cards, which are faster and more reliable, especially as your HD must be pretty old and decrepit by now.

You are right, up to a point, but I still have 63GB of space left on it.

I know this because......

 

[The Beard]

no idea, i dont use no fancy viewers for my computer pictures.
just open each folder up in my computer.

if one of your drive letters changed it could cause a simular fault

.....you gave me an idea. So I clicked on "Computer" and there it was. D'oh! :doh:

Which is also how I know there's 63GB spare.

Thanks for your suggestions folks, and the next time I have a Numpty moment you'll be the first people I'll contact. Now I just know you'll look forward to that.

 

[The Beard]

Hello, only me.......:wave: I use my SD card to upload images on to the laptop and from there onto the aforementioned WD external hard drive. Obviously, I think, images on the laptop must, possibly, limit it's performance......maybe.

But, when I try to delete them from the computer they seem to disappear from the WD wotsit as well. I just tried deleting an image from the computer and it immediately went from the EHD as well. I then disconnected it and even removed the USB cable to be on the safe side, then deleted another image from the laptop. When I reconnected the WD the image had gone from there as well and, to be honest, I don't understand how that could happen.

So, questions:

1) Am I worrying unnecessarily about the images slowing down the laptop,

and,

2) How can this seemingly odd phenomenon happen.

Oh, and 3) If I give the WD to Mrs. Beard when she goes to visit her sister in Middlesbrough next week, will 120 miles of northern England make a difference?

 

[EvoStevo]

OMG you need serious help.
And your a moderator, do you know what buttons to push on here lol.

Simple thing is don't delete them, if you have a modern laptop you have plenty of space and they wont slow your system down.
What side of Manchester are you?

 

[Stu DemonD]

OMG you need serious help.
And your a moderator, do you know what buttons to push on here lol.

We only pick staff who know their grammar

 

[The Beard]

OMG you need serious help.
And your a moderator, do you know what buttons to push on here lol.

Simple thing is don't delete them, if you have a modern laptop you have plenty of space and they wont slow your system down.
What side of Manchester are you?

In the suburban upmarket haven of Tameside. I do know which of Mrs. Beard's buttons to push, but that's another story....

The laptop is getting on a bit I must admit, it runs Windows Vista Home Premium which seems to be disliked by people who had earlier Windows systems, and I did find out why it was loading up slowly about 18 months ago when a friend pointed out the sticker next to the mouse pad thingy. It read "1GB DDR2" and as many laptops now seem to have 4 or even 8GB that could have been a reason. It has since been upgraded to a truly massive 2GB!

I make no bones about my ineptitude with computers because I really have no interest in them. Mrs. Beard drives both her Alfa 2.0 petrol and my MJ but has no idea, nor inclination to find out what makes them different and why. I have much the same attitude to computers. Which is somewhat surprising when you find out that when he came out of the RAF in 1955 my Dad worked for a company called Power-Samas, which became ICT and then ICL before disappearing up its own backside into Fujitsu until he retired.

I worked for what must have been one of the earliest computer retailers in the country in the late '70s; Tandy. At the time the only computer customers were large companies who used mainframes or people who wore Christmas jumpers until July........every year. I remember one bloke who said that the great thing about computers was that he could do all his home accounting on this computer. I remember thinking that all he needed was a pen and paper and a number of Direct Debits.

Anyway, so what you seem to be saying is that they might as well stay on the laptop with the external hard drive as a backup. Is that about it?

 

[SeanW]

 

[The Beard]

We only pick staff who know their grammar

Grammar? Posh git. Secondary Modern were good enough for me and good enough for my father and 'is father before 'im.

 

[The Beard]

HA! Er, does that mean I can claim on my household insurance for accidentally smashing my computer with a big hammer?