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Thread ID: 112929	2010-09-27 21:11:00	small laptops with no optical drive	Misty (368)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1140049	2010-09-27 21:11:00	Mrs Misty and I are planning on buying a small laptop - something like Toshiba or Asus, 12" or 13.3" (I prefer the latter - but SWMBO the former). We see that often (or always) small laptops such as these have no optical drive. To me that seems a disadvantage. I like to do backups on two mediums - currently use DVD's and external drive. We could get an external DVD, but that seems messy ! Any comments about the lack and advantages/disadvantages of not having optical drive please ? Misty :confused:	Misty (368)
1140050	2010-09-27 21:12:00	It is all about keeping the initial purchase cost low :(	Zippity (58)
1140051	2010-09-27 21:17:00	Being a small unit, the optical drive is one thing they are leaving out, smaller size means less components, less cost. Using a USB drive is no real problem in most cases. The only real down side is if you have a CD that you want to load, you have to copy the contents to a USB drive from another Computer. I had that a few weeks back, had a customers netbook,Windows XP, No Optical Drive. Had to run chkdsk,to fix a startup problem, so I loaded up a USB drive with W7, and ran the chkdsk from that - since W7 was a lot easier to get booting from a USB drive than XP was.(Plus I already had W7 on a USB Drive- Lazy eh) :D	wainuitech (129)
1140052	2010-09-27 21:18:00	well I read a recent thread where someone (Agent 24?) uses a 8 GB SD card for backing up, which I am now considering for my daughters net book.	kahawai chaser (3545)
1140053	2010-09-27 21:25:00	well I read a recent thread where someone (Agent 24?) uses a 8 GB SD card for backing up, which I am now considering for my daughters net book. Relying on an SD card seems risky to me, or am I over-cautious ? I suppose if you also have an external drive too, that might be reasonably safe. I have lots of photos, an increasing number of them in RAW. Misty :illogical	Misty (368)
1140054	2010-09-27 21:29:00	Being a small unit, the optical drive is one thing they are leaving out, smaller size means less components, less cost. Using a USB drive is no real problem in most cases. The only real down side is if you have a CD that you want to load, you have to copy the contents to a USB drive from another Computer. I had that a few weeks back, had a customers netbook,Windows XP, No Optical Drive. Had to run chkdsk,to fix a startup problem, so I loaded up a USB drive with W7, and ran the chkdsk from that - since W7 was a lot easier to get booting from a USB drive than XP was.(Plus I already had W7 on a USB Drive- Lazy eh) :D Hi and thanks Wainuitech Do you happen to know offhand, at which size is there a crossover where most laptops have optical drives - eg, is it at 14" perhaps ? Do some 13" have optical drives ? Misty :)	Misty (368)
1140055	2010-09-27 21:29:00	I back up pics on Picassa Online in albums, but don't know if RAW mode can be backed up.	kahawai chaser (3545)
1140056	2010-09-27 21:51:00	I love to have a portable computer. But hey, how often do normal laptop users carry external drives? How often do normal laptop users or even PC users use a DVD disc? For backup, you can use W7 to create a systems image and plonk this onto a external HD or USB stick. You can convert W7 CD to ISO and then create this into a bootable USB stick and leave aside for an emergency. This will boot the computer and access your system image. How often do people go out or go on travel and take their windows DVD and their systems image DVD just in case?	Nomad (952)
1140057	2010-09-27 21:53:00	Relying on an SD card seems risky to me, or am I over-cautious ? I suppose if you also have an external drive too, that might be reasonably safe. I have lots of photos, an increasing number of them in RAW. Misty :illogical Mem card might be a bit better than a normal HD given their solid state design. You can always have 2 copies.	Nomad (952)
1140058	2010-09-27 22:28:00	Hi and thanks Wainuitech Do you happen to know offhand, at which size is there a crossover where most laptops have optical drives - eg, is it at 14" perhaps ? Do some 13" have optical drives ? Misty :) At a guess, and it is only a guess, I would say the 13" are the round about cross over point. Some 13" laptops still have Optical Drives, some dont. For Example the "TOSHIBA Sat Pro U500 i5-430M 4GB 500GB 13.3 W7P" Does,Basic Specs (www.imagef1.net.nz) - Yet the lower priced "TOSHIBA Sat Pro T130 SU7300 1.3GHz2GB 250GB 13.3" Doesn't.	wainuitech (129)
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