The debate is on! Will Solid State Drives become cheaper than the current mechanical hard drives? Depending on who you talk to that answer is yes, but not initially. Due to the large amount of damage done in Thailand in recent months Mechanical Hard Drive prices have be slowly and steadily rising in price due to availability. Thailand manufactures roughly 70% of the world’s hard drives and because of the damage there many of the supplies have been cut off.

Micron, a major manufacturer of Solid State Hard Drives that they are actually seeing an increase in SSD demand from what they can only assume is due to the flooding in Thailand. Micron’s Kevin Kilbuck says that he feels their SSD fill the void nicely. 

SSD’s are still considerably more expensive than the normal mechanical Hard Drives are but with prices on the rise for Mechanical Hard Drives it’s anyone’s guess how much longer that will last. If Mechanical Hard Drive prices continue to increase more buyers may decide to spend a little bit extra money to get a SSD and have a faster performing hard drive.

If you’re interested in reading more click here.

Those of you that have not yet heard, an Ultrabook is similar to a netbook in that it is a small portable computer and that’s about it. Ultrabooks are known to be very light weight and offer very similar features to a laptop with a fraction of the weight. They are the ultimate in portable computing.

Until recently Ultrabooks used primarily sold state hard drives (SSD) which made them very expensive. Acer just released an Ultrabook that gives its users the best of both worlds, SSD speed, but a cheaper price point only associated with cheaper and slower mechanical hard drives. 

Many people are wondering if the idea of these hybrid drives will catch on. Most experts agree that it would be in Ultrabook makers best interests to go in this direction as it offers a small amount of hard disk space for the operating system to function off of which increases speed but also offers a lot of storages space economically due to the mechanical drive portion.

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, click here.

There are some new forms of storage on the market. These have been around for several years now so I guess they're not that new...but at this size/speed and avaiablility to consumers, they are completely new! At around $4,500 for a 1 TB PCI-Express card this may not really be in most consumers price range but devices like this are slowly coming down in price and may in the future actually be the types of storage you see in PC’s. 

Most computers use a common mechanical hard drive that has several metal plates that data is written to and 1TB drives like this are becoming common place in consumer PC’s these drives currently run about $70 for a replacement when purchased online but in years past were much more expensive. 

The advantages of the PCI Express card when used for storage have to do with its read/write speed. Most hard drives found commonly in computers today have a 3MB Cache which is used during the read/write process. These cards not only give true 1.4GB/s read/write speed but offer a much larger cache (512MB) which allows the card to process data much quicker than that of today’s hard drives. If you’re interested in reading more about hard drives and the way that they function click here. If you just want to drool over the “new” Sold State Drive (PCI-Express hard drive) click here…

Yes you are reading correctly, Commodore is making a new computer system with very modern hardware, but decided to keep the old looks. This new system is going to be an exact replica of the classic Commodore C64. Except this time it is going to have 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 1TB hard drive, an HDMI port, Intel Atom 525 CPU and Nvidia Ion2 graphics. The “Commodore PC64” is set to ship out this holiday season, no pricing details have been released at this time.

Recuva is a file recovery tool that allows you to recover deleted files from hard drives, flash drives, MP3 players, and much more. What is even better is they have a full install version and a portable version. This program is free to download and works on most Windows Operating Systems.

Do you need a quick reference for those beep codes coming from your motherboard. Give Beep Codes Viewer a try. Beep Codes Viewer is a small, portable, and free application designed to give you a quick reference guide to look up what Beep Codes mean, with different codes by motherboard manufacturer, and see what the problem is. This little program will save you a lot of time.

USB Safe Guard is a free portable program that will encrypt all of the files on your flash drive very easily, anyone can do it. You can also set this tool up to shred your files in case you lose your flash drive.

To get the program installed onto your flash drive you simply download it from the following website http://usbsafeguard.altervista.org/download.html, then you drag the program onto your flash drive. From here all you do is launch the software from your flash drive, then you should be prompted to create a password. Once you do you are then able to encrypt the entire flash drive or specific files or folders, in which all you do is drag into the interface. This program also gives you options on what to do when someone tries to access your data and does not know the password. You can set it to shred all of the data, leave it alone, plus a few more options.

 You can also enter in your phone number or email in case your lose your memory stick. Most other programs like this do not have this option, which is very nice to have when you leave your flash drive at a clients site. This program will work on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Hardware manufacturer Toshiba has done it again, debuting what is known as a rugged hard drive.  This in vehicle type of hard drive is made just especially for storing high capacity for telematics, navigation, and entertainment systems that are found in today’s vehicles.

LookInMyPc is a great tool to dig down deep in your computer to find specs and details about the computer. Anywhere from chipset details to how big your computer hard drive is. LookInMyPC is designed to work with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista, but I ran it on Windows 7 with no issues. This utility does not make any changes to any system files or programs installed on the computer.

Toshiba has just released their new portable hard drive lineup that is mainly used for easy to use computer backups.  This USB drive weighs in at only 6.3 ounces, and stacks up to be 3.1 inches wide and 4.7 inches long.  Five colors and four storage capacities are currently available which include: 500GB, 640GB, 750GB, and 1TB which start out at $120 and goes to $200.  The drives comes pre-loaded with Windows NTI BackupNow EZ software which allows users to make backups of their system and/or files, as well as better file searching and a simple solution to restore "lost" or deleted files.  The option to completely backup your Windows system, allowing users to restore selected files even if Windows becomes corrupt and will not start is probably my favorite feature.  Way to go Toshiba! 

So I'm sure we've all by now heard of the famous solid state drive (SSD), which boasts to outperform traditional hard drives by a whole lot. Well they may do just that in fact, but the high prices of these high performing disks haven't settled very well with consumers, no matter how much better they can perform. It may be time to buy now, as the Onyx SSD lineup costs around 100 dollars for a 32GB drive. This drive does feature HDD-dominating access times, up to 125MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds, and a 64MB of onboard cache. Interested? I sure am, and you can check them out at http://www.ocztechnology.com

As most of you have come to discover, email is the lifeline we all cling to.

But what do you do when you buy a new system, or change computers and you need your email. Well, if you have a web based email account such hotmail or yahoo, those accounts are web based and reside on a server. Those emails will always be accessable from any computer that has Internet access. The email accounts you have up set up through Outlook or Outlook Express, require an expert to transfer them. We at Tech Experts have trained professionals to handle your email needs. Call us, or email us....

Windows operating system has a utility called system restore that allows you to restore your computer to a previous day and time.

The only thing most users do not know, in the event that your system becomes infected, chances are the system restore files are infected as well. The latest malware infections that claim that your system is vunerable, and you must protect it, can be hidden on your system for an extended period of time. To just restore the system to an earlier day and time will not remove the infection. It will more times then not be restored along with all the other files. Your best bet is to have a Tech Expert remove the infection.

When will it stop.

It seems that the rouge antivirus programs have been finding their way everywhere. I have seen infections before, but this one keeps on making itself known, over and over again. I can not stress the importance of watching every window that pops up and be careful. The malware that can infect you happens so quick, you have to pay attention, and realize what they are trying to do. They are trying to infect your system. It is like a bad practical joke. I just wonder... when will it stop. 

The holidays have come and gone .... and someone got a new computer. What do we do with the old one?

You could donate it to a local charity, but if it is really old and no longer functioning, you have to dispose of it properly. Electronics like telephones, radios, TVs, computers and cell phones are items we rely on daily. These products make up the bulk of electronics that have the potential to cause the most environmental damage because of their hazardous ingredients. This section of waste is referred to as electronic waste, or e-waste.

Consider recycling or donating old electronic devices. With either choice, we can reduce the amount of e-waste landfilled and put our outdated items to good use.

As the New Year approachs, most folks have to make the tough choice, what to keep and what to throw away.

Perhaps now is the time for the new resolution, dump your old system and head forward into the new year. The new Windows 7 operating system, by far and away, surpasses the old windows operating systems. So head into the new year with a new operating system on a new computer, and fly into the future 

Ryan's post below explains the latest is hard drives. But the one thing you do not want to hear is click, click, click.

What you have to understand is the hard drive is one of the few moving parts in a computer. And any engineer will tell you "moving parts are prone to fail". And when your hard drive fails, more than likely you will hear a clicking noise from it. This clicking is usually in a steady beating pattern. The best advice I can give you is to use the tools you were born with. Listen and if you hear strange noises from your system, get it checked right away by a professional, before failure happens.

The race to build smaller, more efficient and less power consuming products has been taking off this year, with the popularity rising in those little tiny laptops, otherwise known as netbooks.

Tomorrow, Seagate Technologies (www.seagate.com) an industry leader in 1", 2.5", and 3.5" hard drives, both internally and externally, releases what will be known as the world's thinnest laptop hard disk drive.  Checking in at an impressively small 7 millimeters in height, they are about 25% smaller than their traditional sister drive at 9.5 millimeters.  Seagate says, "The small drive will enable a new breed of entry-level thin laptops."

Everyone loves spring.

Everything is new again, time to dust off the grime from winter. But wait, winter has just arrived. Most people do not realize that the wintertime is when the house is closed up and the fresh air is not coming around the computer like it does during the warmer months. Dust buildup is deadly to your system. You need to make sure your system is operating at peak cooling potential. My advice is to have your system professionally cleaned at least twice a year. And with the holidays approaching, the last thing you need is another bill to pay.

Ok, I know change is hard to accept. But the latest edition to the Window's tree is Window 7, which has been buzzing all over the Internet ever since its release. Windows7 has three releases Ultimate, Professional and Home Edition. Microsoft really wants to get as much consumer's attention they can possibly get and for this very reason they are now targeting the netbook users, by giving them option to download and install Windows 7 via USB drive. That is right ...download to a USB drive.

For netbook users whom probably don't have a CD or DVD drive, this is actually a nice option to get a hold of the new Windows 7.

The Microsoft tool would download the Window 7 files into the USB and convert your USB drive into a bootable installer. The program may also be called Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT). Remember you need to have a USB drive which has sufficient enough space to hold on all the files.

In the world of technology, this old saying is truly words of wisdom.

My fellow Expert Guys here on this site have written more than one blog about the importance of backups. I would like to call attention to the fact that at least 95% of the clients I deal with have only one backup in place, which is done right in their office and one has to wonder "is that backup happening and can I restore data from it". Any attempt at a backup is better then none at all. But we offer a service, at Tech Experts, that is very affordable for even the smallest backups. Online offsite backups allow you to relax and rest assured that your data is being backed up and will be ready, if and when needed at a moments notice.

These backups occur automatically and require no interaction on the clients part. But the best part is the data is being backed up to a backup and recovery device that is located in a different location. In addition to all local backups, this service offers peace of mind, and it is truly "out of sight".  

How many times have I heard, "this website is loading so slow".

I wish I had the perfect answer for this question, but the variable is it might not be the website. It could be the Internet access provider that you have, is experiencing an issue in your area causing a bottleneck type condition that can lead to very slow response.

Another cause can be that the server that the particular website is hosted on may be having a problem with the extreme amount of traffic trying to access the site.

Some very popular sites can experience an influx of traffic during peak times that can slow down even the fastest computer. If you feel that your Internet speed is just not what it should be, there are sites that you can visit to test your access. One of these sites speedtest.net can test your Internet access speed from anywhere in the country.

I just love laptops. And I currently use a Netbook at work and love it. I have been watching and waiting for the latest.

Core i7 laptops are almost here and their performance will put any other laptop to shame.

Even though the Core i7 CPUs "only" use 45nm technology the awesome power of these quad core processors is unparallelled and in early 2010 we are going to see Core i7 laptops with the upcoming 32nm dual-core versions.

Core i7 laptops will ship with 3 versions of the CPU:

1.6 GHz i7-720QM

1.73 GHz i7-820QM

2.0 GHz i7-920XM

All the versions have built-in dynamic overclocking (Turbo Boost) which means that a Core i7 laptop can boost the the performance of one of the CPUs cores significantly.

The 1.73 GHz version can boost one of it’s cores to 3.06 GHz. The CPU will automatically adapt to whatever it is currently being used for. It can boost one core depending on the number of applications being executed at any given moment and whether the applications are single or multi threaded. This is a terrific feature in the Core i7 laptops since it will help reduce power consumption from the battery.

Ask any computer technician around, and s/he will tell you that your hard drive is one if not the single most piece of hardware to fail on your computer.  Hard drive failures are never good, especially when users' do not have a backup of their data.  Many users are now turning to a new solution for internal storage, known as the SSD or solid state disk.  SSD gets it's name due to the fact that there are no moving parts inside the hard drive, unlike its predecessor the hard disk drive.

(On the left is the traditional HDD vs SSD on the right)

Most people are typically not even aware of this, but your traditional hard drive spins anywhere from 5400 - 10000 RPMS!  These little mechanical wonders called read-write heads are so close to those spinning platters it's scary to think about, so it's no wonder why vibrations, air pressure, temperatures, and other external forces can damage and/or ruin your hard drive.

So what makes the SSD such a big shot compared to our traditional hard drives?  Well for starters, they are non-moving, which eliminates so many of the possibilities that can ruin your standard HDD.  Due to the fact that the do not have to start spinning from a powered down state, they tend to startup your systems faster.  Boot up time is not the only speed improvement, the read and write times have been recorded in some cases up to 100x faster!  One last key feature that the SSD possesses is that it consumes considerably less power, which in hence produces less heat.  When hard drives are operating at a high temperature, they tend to lose a great deal of performance, but with SSD this is not a concern any longer.  What is a concern is the cost of them.  They are not cheap, but with time like all computer technology prices will drop.  Consumers can expect to pay about $9 more per gigabyte than your traditional hard drive, which is huge when we're talking about a 500GB hard drive.