The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[Trollheart]

Here's another question, this time from me.
I realise that USB flash drives are not the best medium for storing backups, but is there any reason why say the first two or three folders might copy over, then the rest end up empty? I've found this happening with every transfer; thought it was just my music files but I've gone back since and checked the video files too and the same thing - you get like maybe Star Trek TOS, folder, all files; Star Trek Next Gen, folder, all files; then Star Trek DS9, folder, empty; Star Trek Voyager, folder, all empty and so on. Can't figure that out. Do USB flash drives have some sort of limitation with doing this, and added to that, does anyone know of decent online storage (happy to pay, not expecting free) that would give me say 2 to 4 tb to store these files? One that is reliable? I see one that does 10TB but they look exceptionally dodgy and I would not trust them.

I've had issues with the drive most of my films and TV shows and music files are on, and I'm afraid one of these days soon it may just clap out, which is why I need backup. Drives of the same capacity (6 tb) are still very expensive, and even buying 6 x 1 tb will be a considerable outlay, though if I have to I guess I will.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks
TH

[The Batlord]

Did you have to tell us how nerdy you are while describing your problem?

[Trollheart]

Yes.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Here's another question, this time from me.
I realise that USB flash drives are not the best medium for storing backups, but is there any reason why say the first two or three folders might copy over, then the rest end up empty? I've found this happening with every transfer; thought it was just my music files but I've gone back since and checked the video files too and the same thing - you get like maybe Star Trek TOS, folder, all files; Star Trek Next Gen, folder, all files; then Star Trek DS9, folder, empty; Star Trek Voyager, folder, all empty and so on. Can't figure that out. Do USB flash drives have some sort of limitation with doing this, and added to that, does anyone know of decent online storage (happy to pay, not expecting free) that would give me say 2 to 4 tb to store these files? One that is reliable? I see one that does 10TB but they look exceptionally dodgy and I would not trust them.

I've had issues with the drive most of my films and TV shows and music files are on, and I'm afraid one of these days soon it may just clap out, which is why I need backup. Drives of the same capacity (6 tb) are still very expensive, and even buying 6 x 1 tb will be a considerable outlay, though if I have to I guess I will.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks
TH

I've used external hard drives and SyncToy for physical backups for years, and will usually upgrade to a new larger one every few years. I have one for my personal stuff, and one for work. I also have a 200GB Google Drive account, and a 2 TB DropBox account I use for sharing files from home/work and for sending links to larger files that won't fit through an email bottleneck.

As far as files not copying over, it might be that the files are too large for the flash drive, or the flash drive in question is formatted to FAT32 and needs to be reformatted to NTFS. FAT32 format will only save files under 4GB, so that's why some will appear to have been copied and others are missing.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Need your help guys. Friend of mine has asked for a secure way to search and then have the search history vanish, as she put it, even if the cops search my computer. Now I don't know what she's searching and I ain't gonna ask, but I have no idea how to achieve this. Does anyone know of a secure way to make this happen?

If one of you does, but has a moral objection to passing on such information I understand; that's your choice. But it would help if I could get some assistance here.

Thanks.
TH

Ctrl+Shift+N while in a browser.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Plankton

I've used external hard drives and SyncToy for physical backups for years, and will usually upgrade to a new larger one every few years. I have one for my personal stuff, and one for work. I also have a 200GB Google Drive account, and a 2 TB DropBox account I use for sharing files from home/work and for sending links to larger files that won't fit through an email bottleneck.

As far as files not copying over, it might be that the files are too large for the flash drive, or the flash drive in question is formatted to FAT32 and needs to be reformatted to NTFS. FAT32 format will only save files under 4GB, so that's why some will appear to have been copied and others are missing.

Thanks Plankton. I actually have the drives formatted to EXFAT, then I changed to NTFS but same thing. They're probably just crap drives. They were very cheap - 10 Euro for a 512 GB one, so maybe just fool me once, and all that.

FYI I've found, so far anyway, an online backup service that claims to offer unlimited storage for 7.95/month. Trying it out for 15 days free, so far no problems. I have approx 18 tb to upload so it's going to take a hell of a long time, probably go over the free period, but by then I should know if it's going to be worth it or not.

Originally Posted by Plankton

Ctrl+Shift+N while in a browser.

Thanks. I'll tell her. Appreciate it.

[Plankton]

werdemup homie

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Plankton

werdemup homie

This street parlance of which you indulge is unintelligible to me, my good fellow. Are you perchance craving a link to the aforementioned hosting service? If that be indeed so, why here you are:

https://www.backblaze.com/free-trial...c-new-download

If not, please clarify the meaning of your comment above, much appreciated.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

This street parlance of which you indulge is unintelligible to me, my good fellow. Are you perchance craving a link to the aforementioned hosting service? If that be indeed so, why here you are:

https://www.backblaze.com/free-trial...c-new-download

If not, please clarify the meaning of your comment above, much appreciated.

lol

Thats 90's south side of Chicago street slang, roughly translated to: "All good my friend".

Breakdown:

• werd = all is good/nice/cool
• emup (them up) = extraneous addition for above statement
• homie = my friend

Also, I was wondering what service you were looking at, so thanks for the link!

[Trollheart]

Thanks man. I misplaced my American-English dictionary!