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Old 06-29-2009   #12 (permalink)
Stercus Vultus
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Default Re: Computer HELP--appreciate any feedback on what type to buy

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Originally Posted by CanadianRocky View Post
as much RAM as it will take.
On a Mac, unless you run a high volume business, that is not necessary: 4GB is more than enough. Use the savings for other stuff. More than 4GB RAM would be (expensive) overkill that doesn't add anything useful.

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Get a second Hard Drive and partition it. Use half of the drive to mirror the main one (for back up reasons), and the other half for a scratch disc (nothing should be on it).

Get a good back up application ( i use Retrospect) and back up your DATA religiously.
Cumbersome. With Apple's Time Machine you set it up once and 'forget' about it. Add another harddisk to mirror the first one. It's iron-clad. Afaik no Time Machine backup has ever been recorded to go sour.

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Remember, it is not a back-up if the back up is in the same physical area of your computer.
True. So I keep a third harddisk in another location and physically exchange it once a month for one of the other two. So it's a remote mirror backup HD which' contents are maximally one month old. The other two backup HDs' contents are maximally a half hour old.

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I use CD's and keep my work ones at home, and my home ones at work.
Using CDs or DVDs as backup media is a big mistake, Rocky! Burned CDs and DVDs (as opposed to pressed CDs and DVDs) deteriorate over time (osmosis) and will become unreadable in 5 years!
CDs and DVDs are useful only for medium term storage. To be on the safe side I always write the date of burning on them and use them for 1 year max! They suck for long term storage!
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