What Do You Mean I Need More Memory?
Have you ever had a friend or family member tell you that their computer needs more memory? Maybe you spend the day setting up their computer and know they have more memory then they could possibly be using. I get this issue all the time, usually with my friends who have very older computers or with people who have filled up their hard drives. 100 gigabytes of hard drive space just is not what it use to be.
For people who are not intimately familiar with every component inside their computer case, when their hard drive starts filling up they may start complaining that they are running out of memory. Be cautious when someone asks you to help them with your computer and tells you they are running out of memory. Verify the symptoms and the problem before you purchase any components, someone may be out of hard drive space and their memory is just fine.
Upgrading a hard drive is as easy as replacing a computers RAM but before you open up the computer case, verify which item you really need to upgrade. Do not spend money that you need to. I’ve been hit time and time again when I’ve purchased the wrong component with a no return policy on computer parts. It will only take a minute or two in front of the computer to determine if the hard drive is full and can actually save you money. But once you determine the real issue, I would not try to explain the different between hard drive space and memory to someone who is not familiar with computers and is complaining that they are out of memory, you may get very angry at their inability to understand.
Your best choice for a quick hard drive upgrade is to add a second drive to the computer. You could go the super quick and easy route and purchase an external hard drive and plug it into the USB or firewire port. I have done this several times for a quick and easy hard drive upgrade when time is of an essence. However, for a long term solution you really should go with an second internal hard drive.
Installing an internal hard drive will be a quick 15 minute project. After you purchase your desired hard drive, pop open the computer case and plug the new hard drive into one of the open IDE or SCSI cables. You may need to spend a few minutes formatting the drive or configuring your operating system to see your second drive, check your hard drive for any specific instructions you need.
After the second hard drive is installed you may want to configure the computer to appear as one hard drive to keep things simple. Usually people will be more interested in using their computers if they are easy to use. I am really not a big fan of many small hard drive partitions, I have found most people prefer to have one space designated for their files and the more hard drive space allocated to that folder the better. Keep your configuration simple and people will keep coming back for additional support.
For people who are not intimately familiar with every component inside their computer case, when their hard drive starts filling up they may start complaining that they are running out of memory. Be cautious when someone asks you to help them with your computer and tells you they are running out of memory. Verify the symptoms and the problem before you purchase any components, someone may be out of hard drive space and their memory is just fine.
Upgrading a hard drive is as easy as replacing a computers RAM but before you open up the computer case, verify which item you really need to upgrade. Do not spend money that you need to. I’ve been hit time and time again when I’ve purchased the wrong component with a no return policy on computer parts. It will only take a minute or two in front of the computer to determine if the hard drive is full and can actually save you money. But once you determine the real issue, I would not try to explain the different between hard drive space and memory to someone who is not familiar with computers and is complaining that they are out of memory, you may get very angry at their inability to understand.
Your best choice for a quick hard drive upgrade is to add a second drive to the computer. You could go the super quick and easy route and purchase an external hard drive and plug it into the USB or firewire port. I have done this several times for a quick and easy hard drive upgrade when time is of an essence. However, for a long term solution you really should go with an second internal hard drive.
Installing an internal hard drive will be a quick 15 minute project. After you purchase your desired hard drive, pop open the computer case and plug the new hard drive into one of the open IDE or SCSI cables. You may need to spend a few minutes formatting the drive or configuring your operating system to see your second drive, check your hard drive for any specific instructions you need.
After the second hard drive is installed you may want to configure the computer to appear as one hard drive to keep things simple. Usually people will be more interested in using their computers if they are easy to use. I am really not a big fan of many small hard drive partitions, I have found most people prefer to have one space designated for their files and the more hard drive space allocated to that folder the better. Keep your configuration simple and people will keep coming back for additional support.
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