drives

Note from Dennis: further down this article you'll find a quick-and-dirty list of items of the best Black Friday deals I've found online. The list is conveniently presented in ascending order according to discount markup. Proceeds help to support ... our website, staff and writers. Your support is greatly needed and appreciated! You can go straight to the discount list by clicking here , or continue reading below. Happy Thanksgiving! -- Thanksgiving is officially upon us, which means there's going to be a ton of great deals being offered online as a result of the Holiday season -- deals like ... (view more)

USB Flash Drives Control 3.2 USB Flash Drives Control is a small and easy-to-use free utility program that runs in the Windows system tray, next to the system clock. It allows users to block USB drives from performing certain functions. For example, ... users can set the software to block executable files, to control the ability to save files, or simply block USB drive functions altogether. This program adds a unique and useful element to system security by preventing unauthorized people from inserting a USB drive in your computer. http://www.binisoft.org Color Archiver 2.3 Color Archiver is a ... (view more)

Edraw MindMap 6.5 Edraw MindMap is a vector-based mind mapping program that makes it easy to create brain-storming diagrams, project timelines, and sketch maps. With this free, simple Edraw MindMap software you can use your computer's power to ... visualize your thinking, then quickly arrange and organize your work. http://www.edrawsoft.com Drives Monitor 9.5 Drives Monitor helps computer users see the physical activity of their computer's disk drives. For each physical disk in your system, this free software displays important information, including the drive's active time, the number of bytes ... (view more)

Tests have shown that MacBook Air laptops could perform very differently depending on which model hard drive is installed in the machines. The models in question use Solid State Drives, or SSDs, in place of traditional hard drives. The SSDs work in ... a similar way to RAM (random access memory), or flash drives, as they have no moving parts. Although more expensive, SSDs have several key advantages over traditional drives: they make no discernible noise, are less vulnerable to damage from shocks, can access information much more quickly, and are considerably smaller in physical size. They also ... (view more)

Toshiba has announced the successful completion of the first set of self-encrypting hard disk drives (HDDs) in the world. The popular Japanese consumer electronics firm has engineered these HDDs to automatically invalidate confidential data when ... connected to an unknown host. The 2.5-type MK6461GSYG family of hard disk drives is featured in five different models, ranging from 160GB to 640GB. All models allow the original manufacturers to configure different data invalidation options. Their main purpose in doing so is to assist IT departments in helping their companies comply with ever-changing ... (view more)

Hard drive manufacturer Seagate has launched a 3 terabyte (TB) internal hard drive. It's the first drive of its kind (and size) that can work smoothly with Windows XP. For the record, 3 TB is equivalent to 3,000 GB (gigabytes), which is an awful lot ... of information. 2.1 TB Size Limitation Imposed in the 1980s By default, Windows XP and earlier systems have an internal limitation that can only read hard drives that are smaller than 2.1TB. That's because of a decision in the early 1980s to place a limit on what's known as the logical block address, which is the system that decides where to ... (view more)

Hard drive manufacturer ioSafe has produced what it calls the ultimate range of "disaster proof" external hard drives. It promises the drives can withstand anything short of fire or bullets, though recent testing demonstrated the latter won't ... necessarily destroy data. The drives, which ioSafe says meet "military specifications," serve two main purposes: one is to be able to stand up to extreme environments such as Arctic cold or hot, dusty deserts. The second is for corporate users who want to take every practical step to protect their critical data. Disaster Proof Hard Drives Offer ... (view more)

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. SSDs are distinguished from traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read ... / write heads. SSDs, in contrast, use microchips which retain data in non-volatile memory chips and contain no moving parts. Solid State Drive (SSD) Compared to a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Today's solid state hard drives are considerably faster than a standard (spinning) hard drive. For example: read / write speeds on a standard HDD are roughly 40-60 ... (view more)

Home users have expressed dismay at news that Microsoft is to remove a key feature from its Windows Home Server software. Drive Extender, a handy options that allows users to add extra hard drives, will be axed from Windows Home Server's next ... edition. Share Files Easily with Windows Home Server Windows Home Server is designed as an easy way for with multiple computers to share files. One of the computers is designated a server, and the others are classified as clients, in much the same way as many large businesses operate their networks. However, the system is specially designed to be easy to ... (view more)

With over 30 years in computing experience, I'm often asked my opinion about computer hardware. Questions like, "What can I do to speed up my computer?", or "What type of laptop should I buy?" and things of that nature. Like anyone else, I love a ... good deal. In order to find the best deal possible, sometimes I spend an entire day shopping online to compare prices and features of similar components. Unfortunately, many of the "recommendations" I've read recently appear to be forged for the sake of making a sale, which means there's an awful lot of time wasted wading through ... (view more)