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- Powerware 1000VA UPS
- HDD Data Recovery
- Flash Data Recovery
- MSI Nx7600GT VGA
- Belkin 1000VA UPS
- Crucial PC2-6400 RAM
- ECS RS40-M Mobo
- Asus Silent 7600GT
- PCstats Weekly Tips
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Power Blackouts and Lost Data Issue
Hello,
It's blackout season -
heat records are breaking, air conditioners are running at full tilt, and
power consumption is shooting through the roof... These are the perfect
conditions for a power blackout when you least expect it. Power loss can
cause data loss, and to prevent it every computer needs a UPS. If a
blackout (or power surge) has ever caused your PC's spiffy new hard drive
to fizzle and burn, then data recovery and backups should be at the top of
your to-do list.
Since I've just suffered from a
Seagate drive going platters-up, now is a good a time as any to
remind each and every one of you reading the PCSTATS Newsletter to
back up your info, hook up a UPS to your PC, and turn down the A/C a degree or two. When a summer
heat triggers a power blackout in your area, you'll be relieved to know
your data won't vanish into thin air as the little electrons in the
electrical wiring suddenly stop flowing... because it's backed up!
Before we get into the power backup and data recovery guides, let's focus on the hardware
reviewed in this issue first. On the top of the list is
a 100% silent Asus EN7600GT Silent PCI Express Geforce 7600GT videocard,
and following this is ECS' RS480-M AMD Athlon64 motherboard. Crucial's new Ballistix
2GB PC2-6400 DDR-2 memory kit shows much promise so you'll want to
give that a read if you're upgrading to a socket AM2 computer.
Dealing with power blackouts is 50% prevention and 50% recovery. On the
prevention side PCSTATS tests the 1000VA Powerware 5125 UPS - a unit which offers many professional options and the ability to increase battery capacity. The
Belkin Universal 1000VA UPS is simple to use and offers comparable battery
time to the Powerware unit. If data loss does occur, you'll want to have
PCSTATS Beginners Guide to Hard Drive Data Recovery and Flash Memory Data
Recovery handy. The PCSTATS Weekly Tech Tip focuses
on Windows Vista, and how you can claw back hard drive space from one of its
backup utilities. Thanks to our sponsor PCPitstop.com for helping to support
this week's edition!
Thanks for reading!
Max Page
Editor-in-Chief
- PCSTATS
A couple years ago a massive
power blackout hit Canada and the US, plunging 50 million people into
darkness for nearly two days. During the first few seconds of that
blackout, countless computers went silent, causing untold data loss.
The
blackout may have caused the loss of an unsaved document, or in the worst
case, total file corruption. This is where the Powerware 5125 1000VA UPS kicks
in, a Line-Interactive
1000VA UPS, and with additional Electronic Battery Modules can increase its overall power capacity to 2200VA or thereabouts should
your future requirements increase. The UPS features Powerware's own advanced
battery management console, "buck and double boost" regulation to deliver constant
voltage, hot swapable batteries, the ability to power up the UPS
without utility power, sequential shut down and load management, network
transient protector. Continue Here>>
Killed a hard drive without
backing up? This guide helps you recover the data from the hard drive.If you've been
using computers for a decent amount of time there is a good chance someone
has told you that data stored on a hard drive is not exactly safe. I'm
here to assure you that this is indeed true. Hard drives, being the dynamic
storage devices that they are, are extremely easy to erase in any number
of ways... as are USB hard drives and flash memory cards (recovery tips
for that media is detailed here ). If the power cuts out and the MBR or partition table are
damaged, the drive will become unbootable, and may appear to be blank if
the partition information has been erased. The quick test is to
restart WinXP and wait for it to boot, and wait... and wait... Oops. Continue Here>>
Stuck with lost
data on a USB memory key or Flash card and don't know what to do?
Recovering data from flash memory devices is possible, and not too
complex, so follow along and we'll help you get those pictures back! The flash memory-based USB key has become commonplace faster than just
about any other computer peripheral in recent memory. With the USB
drivers now built into recent versions of Windows and other operating
systems like Linux, they function just like a little portable hard disk,
without the bulk and fragility associated with mechanical portable drives.
In short, they're just about perfect. In this Beginners Guide, PCSTATS is
going to look at how flash memory works, what can go wrong with it, and
how to recover and protect your data in case the worst does happen. And it
will... Continue Here>>
In this
review, PCstats is evaluating the Belkin Universal 1000VA UPS, which is
capable of delivering up to 550W of power, or an average of 20 min power.
This 1000VA UPS features automatic voltage regulation (AVR) built in, and
comes with a USB A-B cable, Serial cable, telephone cable and Belkin's
Bulldog monitoring software. Unlike the Home
Office 500VA Belkin UPS PCSTATS reviewed earlier, the Universal 1000VA does not have a
system limitation, meaning it has enough power capacity to actually handle
CRT monitors up to 19" and LCD's up to 21". Continue Here>>
This set of Crucial Ballistix
PC2-6400 DDR2-800 dual channel memory is 2GB is size, and comes wrapped in
bright orange aluminum heatspreaders. The PC2-6400 kit retails from
Crucial is ideally suited for quick socket AM2 Athlon64 or socket 775
Intel Pentium D / Core 2 Duo computer systems. Compared to generic stuff,
Crucial's Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB memory kit may seem pricey, but this
is premium DDR-2 and in its class is priced competitively. At PC2-6400
speeds the Ballistix memory will operate with CAS Latency timings of
4-4-4-12, and while in the dual channel configuration Crucial warranties
the memory to a voltage of 2.2V. Let's get started!Continue Here>>
ATi has been desperately trying to get a piece of
the AMD chipset action, yet it has taken a slightly different
approach on the K8 front than nVidia to do so. While much of the press and
attention has been on its CrossFire 1600 and 3200 chipsets, it is ATI's
integrated CrossFire Xpress 200 that's been capturing the most consumer
interest from what we've observed. The ECS RS480-M motherboard
supports all socket 939 AMD Athlon64 X2/FX processors, its two DDR
memory slots will accommodate up to 2GB of DDR 400 memory. Should you want to
install a stand alone videocard, there is an open PCI Express x16 slot as
well as three PCI slots for other peripherals. The ATi CrossFire Xpress
200 chipset is an entry-level solution, and the ECS RS480-M
is full size Micro ATX board.Continue Here>>
Asus has embraced the nVIDIA GeForce 7600GT GPU and
released a videocard which is not only ideally suited towards the
occasional gamer and even a gamer on a budget, but also doubles up
the value by offering 100% silent operation which makes it ideal for home
theatre PC's or just anyone who wants a quiet computer. The TV output and
HDTV output capabilities of the Asus EN7600GT Silent/2DHT/256M/A work hand
in hand with its 256MB GDDR3 memory and its 560 MHz GPU to provide a
strong feature set for anyone walking down the multimedia path. Looking at
this PCI Express videocard, we see that the Asus EN7600GT
Silent/2DHT/256M/A features two dual link DVI output connectors, a socket
for Component output (y, Pb, Pr), the SLI bridge connector, and the all
important SilentCool thermal solution. Now let's have a look at this 100% silent VGA
heatsink...Continue Here>>
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Vista's System Protection |
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Windows Vista's System protection feature is supposed to protect users from potential problems, but while doing this fine job it gobbles up a ton of hard drive space. Microsoft will tell you that System Protection dynamically adjusts its file size depending on the demand from the system, however like System Restore in WindowsXP, System Protection seems to get bloated quite easily.
To disable this feature and free up hard drive space, double click on the "System" icon in the "Control Panel"; you might be prompted by the UAC but let it do its thing. After this, select the "System Protection" tab and from there uncheck the "System Protection is enabled" option. Please note that by doing this, you will also be removing previous restore points so this is an advanced user option only. If you aren't familiar with system restore or what it does, it's best to sit on the sidelines for this tip.
Once thats done you should notice quite a bit more hard drive space freed up! =)
Was Colin's tip as good for your PC as it was for his? Let PCSTATS know what you think, and be sure to stop by PCSTATS Forums and post your comments or questions. |
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PCstats Issue
No.219
Circulation: 176,908
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