37 replies to this topic

[RyanS]

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I was wondering the same thing.

just to check ...you are buying the acer laptop from walmart.com right? or am i mistaking you wiht another poster? :s

[Xx Mazza xX]

yea, from wal-mart online.

[RyanS]

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yea, from wal-mart online.

ok just checking. lol

[dlewis23]

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i have another question. i may want to upgrade some time later to a dvd burner drive...would that be easy enough? and also....i doubt this would be needed but would there be a way that later i could get just a bit better video/graphics card? the default one is integrated so i don't think it's possible but just trying to make sure 

thanks,
starship troopers

you could possable upgrade to a dvd burner in there. but a newer video card is a no.

[RyanS]

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you could possable upgrade to a dvd burner in there. but a newer video card is a no.

thank you for the answer. i didn't think that a new card would happen but i wanted to make sure.

[RyanS]

i have been trying to find another battery for this laptop, you know so it will last longer than the 4 cell one it has. but not much luck. if anyone finds a battery please post the site. 

thanks,
starship troopers

[Roco]

Hi Starship trooper ,
I have a old 750 MHz Dell insp. which I use on the road , and a couple of flash memory pens, do you relay need a DVD recorder ? I have upgraded the bat. and get about 3.1/2 hours run time, it has a partitioned hard drive , with a shadow copy on the 2nd partion,   I use it to help people to get back on line and check out programs etc , when it goes tits up,
I just recover back to the shadow copy , and start again, LOL , It works for me so don't laugh ,

I think you need to think what the laptop is realy  going to be used for,
do you really want to spend serious money on it , personally I have more pressing needs, and would rather upgrade my desktop,
But I guess that is your call , the acer sounds good to me, but what do I know 
P.s wellcome from Roco  UK   
 

[RyanS]

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Hi Starship trooper ,
I have a old 750 MHz Dell insp. which I use on the road , and a couple of flash memory pens, do you relay need a DVD recorder ? I have upgraded the bat. and get about 3.1/2 hours run time, it has a partitioned hard drive , with a shadow copy on the 2nd partion,  I use it to help people to get back on line and check out programs etc , when it goes tits up,
I just recover back to the shadow copy , and start again, LOL , It works for me so don't laugh ,

I think you need to think what the laptop is realy  going to be used for,
do you really want to spend serious money on it , personally I have more pressing needs, and would rather upgrade my desktop,
But I guess that is your call , the acer sounds good to me, but what do I know 
P.s wellcome from Roco  UK   

i got to asking my cousin who has the laptop model i want and asking around with people i knew and they told me how to change some settings on the display and what-not to extend battery life to almost 2 hours (lowering brightness and changing the times when its inactive to shut down the display and hard disk).  so i'm gonna save my money for other things i need. as for the dvd recorder, i think i can live without that as one of my desktops has a dvd recorder drive. ( i only wanted one on my laptop because if i'm gone i could burn data dvds and music onto dvds without waiting to get home...but i can use cds if i need to burn anything  )  thanks for the advice.    i am seriosly thinking of doing the same thing as you now....shadowing the drive (i am always putting stuff on and changing things) it's a 60 gig (comes formatted in FAT32 w/ 2 30gig partitions) and i doubt i will use more than 20 gigs.
just one more thing...whats the major difference in FAT32 and NTFS? i always use NTFS. 

thanks,
starship troopers

[JohnHiersIII]

Hi starship trooper,

The major difference between NTFS and FAT32 is NTFS supports more security.  FAT32 is able to share files but NTFS is able to allow or deny to users or groups of users.  NTFS also can allow you to use the NTFS file permissions even to the local machine if it has multiple users.  FAT32 is a little quicker performance wise.  If originally formated to FAT32 you can always convert to NTFS.  However, you will not be able to go from NTFS to FAT32.  The only real reason I see anyone running FAT32 anymore is for dual booting purposes, such as running both Win98 and Windows XP on one PC.  NTFS also supports encryption of files.  There may be more reasons and would be interested in others responses.  I hope I responded well, first response for me.

[tommie gorman]

Don't ask me why, but emachines comps uses FAT32 for it's built in reformat. Probably like you said, for security purposes.
But it uses NTFS for eveything else. 

[php]

I used to prefer FAT32, but the 4gb file size limit really turned me away...

[dlewis23]

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Hi starship trooper,

The major difference between NTFS and FAT32 is NTFS supports more security.  FAT32 is able to share files but NTFS is able to allow or deny to users or groups of users.  NTFS also can allow you to use the NTFS file permissions even to the local machine if it has multiple users.  FAT32 is a little quicker performance wise.  If originally formated to FAT32 you can always convert to NTFS.  However, you will not be able to go from NTFS to FAT32.  The only real reason I see anyone running FAT32 anymore is for dual booting purposes, such as running both Win98 and Windows XP on one PC.  NTFS also supports encryption of files.  There may be more reasons and would be interested in others responses.  I hope I responded well, first response for me.

you mised 1 major point Fat32 will only support up to 32GB NTFS will support up to 2TB. thats the major difference.

[RyanS]

thanks for the answers. 

[MYRIAGON]

Hi starship...
You can partition FAT32 up to 2TB to use with WinXP, you just have to use the FDISK and Format tool on a Win98 bootdisk before starting WinXP setup.
But I personally would use NTFS, It's much more efficient and secure than FAT32.

[RyanS]

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Hi starship...
You can partition FAT32 up to 2TB to use with WinXP, you just have to use the FDISK and Format tool on a Win98 bootdisk before starting WinXP setup.
But I personally would use NTFS, It's much more efficient and secure than FAT32.

the laptop i want comes formatted in FAT32 and i was thinking of right when i get it formatting it to NTFS but keeping the partitions.

[MYRIAGON]

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the laptop i want comes formatted in FAT32 and i was thinking of right when i get it formatting it to NTFS but keeping the partitions.

I actually never have converted a drive from FAT32 to NTFS because I have read of people having a lot of problems afterwards, but you could try and see how it works for you.
My personal choice would be / boot using the WinXP CD, delete all partitions, then set any partitions you want, then format to NTFS when proceding with XP setup, just remember, that will destroy all data on the whole disk and you will be starting from scratch.
If you have XP on the laptop now, with FAT32 this is what you need to do to convert.

To find out more information about Convert.exe

1. After completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.

2. In the command window, type help convert and then press ENTER. Information about converting FAT volumes to NTFS is made available as shown below.


To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1. Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.

2. In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs


For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

Important  Once you convert a drive or partition to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it back to FAT or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or partition which will erase all data, including programs and personal files, on the partition.

[resopalrabotnick]

three words before converting fat to ntfs (or any other partition work for that matter)

backup

backup

backup

and did i mention you should have a copy of your important files before you start?

[RyanS]

yeah i know reso. back up ...i do alot anyways so thats no big deal. and thanks all for the answers about NTFS