Nik Habicht Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 My 2.5 year old Dell 8100 (XP, 1.4 Gig Pentium III or IV processor, 512 RAM, 30 gig 4200RPM HD) is running slower and slower despite regular use of Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Security and a couple of spyware apps. I realize that Photoshop CS and the current version of Photo Mechanic are hungrier apps than their predecessors but I'm wondering if I can expect a performance boost from a faster, larger Hard Drive? Or am I kidding myself here? Is the 'puter running as well as can be expected? Ideally I'd like to get another couple of years out of it, before it drives me totally crazy. Ram is apparently maxed out FWIW. I'm looking at this drive from Drive Solutions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Nik I have a stupid question: Did you defrag your disk lately? Also besides running anti-spy stuff you may want to take a look at what is running on your machine. Lots of software nowdays likes to add little startup applications which pile up and slow down your machine. Recently I cleaned up someones machine and they had 43 running programs they knew nothing about. Besides spyware stuff, a startup monitor is a must. This one works for me and warns me when something wants to add itself to my startup. And pick up the startup control panel which lets you clean stuff up after the fact. Just some things to try. Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Nik - is that a standard size drive or does it take over a space for a battery or CD slot? I was unaware you could get a 7200rpm for a laptop. Vlad - Looks like some good stuff. Ever cause any problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Nik, Unless you are almost out of drive space (under 15-20% free), a new HD, even if it’s faster is not going to give you the boost you think it will. I am with Vlad on cleaning up the system before doing R&R on the hardware. He has called out the correct routines to go through. Your machine will need replacing at some point in the next year, or two anyway, so why dump good money into it now that could be better spent buying “lotsa“ RAM for the next machine. Photoshop is a RAM hog no matter what OS and if that is your main focus, you want a better machine soon anyway. The new hard drive would be seriously undercut by the slower RAM, system bus, processor, and smaller processor caches it probably has in comparison to a current firebreather. Save your money and get a real monster next time. I would recommend going to a PowerBook for it’s OS, but with the bucks you probably already have sunk into software for Wintel boxes, you may be throwing away a lot of spent cash for the gains in OS robustness and productivity you will get. If you do decide to go over to the “Good Side” of the force when you get new hardware, let me know before you jump on anything Apple, I might be able to steer you a little better for your first pass. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 BTW Nik, Take a look at these babies if you are looking for a new Wintel laptop Alienware Computers Check out the MJ-12m Graphics Wizard model Arrrh me bucko, these be the ones if it’s a powerful Wintel laptop ye be wantin’ matey. --- MerlinD, 7200 rpm drives are now available for laptops in the higher end models. But just stuffing one in without the rest of system getting upgraded will not really reap much gain except in drive size. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 To see what programs are running at startup, click on Start, then Run and type in "msconfig" and hit OK. If you click on the "Services" tab, it will show you what programs are currently running. If you click on the "Startup" tab, it will show you what programs load on startup. If something in the Startup lists looks unfamiliar, do a Google.com search on it, to see if you need that program to run at startup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 My only $.02 is that Dell hard drives are sh*t. They're slow and unreliable. I'd dump that hard drive only because if it's the IBM travelstar, it's ready to croak anyway. Personally, I'll think you'll see a substantial performance boost from going to a larger, faster drive. Windows always runs best when the drive is fill to under 50% of its capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Vlad - Looks like some good stuff. Ever cause any problems? Not on any of 9 machines (mine, familly, friends, etc) that I have used those two little tools on. Its nice to get a little popup window letting you know that RealMedia or some other stuff is again trying to set itself up for boottime. As for msconfig, it is nice, but that control panel does a bit more. Thats just works for me. Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer-lock Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Nik, One of the often overlooked things on the performance front is the cookies, downloaded files and history stored by Internet Explorer. The quick way to clean that up is to go to Tools>Internet Options>General tab and select the "Delete" button for each. There are also system tools that make those and other clean-up options available. Do the disk clean-up file deletes before you try to defrag, it will make a significant difference in how long that process takes. You didn't say what OS you were running but Win2K and XP often require that you run defrag from safe mode. You should also disconnect from the network and turn off Norton to make things go faster. Lastly a word about how you work. If it is your practice to keep e-mail, IM and several of those bulky applications you mentioned all open at the same time performance will always be an issue, expecially on a laptop. David Cross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Scope out what your virtual memory swap file looks like too-- I usually crank mine up a bunch over what the system recommends and that helps cut down the disk thrashing. Make sure it gets defragged too, or put it on another partition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Since you say your PC is slow, then you'll have time to read through THIS while it's doing its stuff. HD upgrade may or may not improve performance. But if the slow down wasn't there before, I'm betting you can bring back the speed with some software or OS tweaks. HTH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted October 23, 2004 Author Share Posted October 23, 2004 It took me two months to get around to it --- but I should have done it sooner. The EZ GigII Software made cloning my old C drive onto a new one a breeze --- well once I understood the, most surely translated from another language or written by a non-tech writer, instructions. As for the performance boost: The system boots noticeably faster, Photo Mechanic and Photoshop launch rapidly and everything seems to work a smidgeon faster. The decrease in boot and launch times alone has made this worthwhile..... I'm a happy camper....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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