[Ham-Computers] After reload the computer is MUCH faster now, other notes

[Philip, KO6BB]

Hi All,

Well, it seems that my little (fruitless) escapade of trying to set the 
system up for RAID operation had one BIG positive aspect.  Overall, this 
computer now runs MUCH, MUCH faster than it ever did, even when new!  What 
at first seemed to be a boondoggle and failure had side benefits.  First, a 
short explanation.

When I got this machine late last fall it had two 80GB hard drives, but one 
was 10GB "shy" due to a hidden partition containing the entire factory 
reload or recovery set-up, to be run either from the recovery CD or from the 
main drive itself.  This was in case you ever had a system "crash" and had 
to do a factory restore.  I always wondered what one would do if the hard 
drive itself crashed and that recovery data was unavailable!  Well, I found 
out ;-)  There were also TWO folders (backup and drivers) on the main "C" 
drive that contained all the "additional" factory software, Like the ETrust 
Virus Scanner, Motherboard, modem, network drivers, Power-Go CD software, 
etc.  These two folders I had backed up onto both the 320GB "Drive D" and 
External 250 GB drives, JUST FOR SAFETY.  I also found an additional  CD in 
the "packet" that came with the machine containing the same stuff, but when 
I tried to run "restore" from that CD it said "it can't find the backup 
partition".

Well, when I prepared (cleaned) the two 80GB drives for RAID operation I 
re-partitioned them, and like an idiot LOST the entire backup (restore) 
partition, so I couldn't "rebuild" the software load exactly like the 
factory had it.  I HAD to use the Win XP-Pro install disk that came with the 
machine and start from scratch (same as if the primary drive had failed 
completely).

As it turns out, this was a BENEFIT!  I don't know what all the factory may 
have had loaded originally, but the machine is FAR faster now!  I let Win-XP 
load itself,  then manually loaded all the drivers for the various cards 
(Soundcard, Video, Modem), network drivers etc. until I had gotten rid of 
all the little yellow question-marks in the device table.

Then I loaded all the "special" software like the Power-GO CD software, 
Zone-Labs security suit,  Adobe Acrobat Reader, Filezilla (FTP client), all 
my radio software, and finally, my Favorites Folder and Email folder. 
Because all this was saved on the 320GB Drive D, it went very quickly and I 
was back up and running in just a couple of hours.  (NO, I didn't use a 
Windows "back-up-restore" file, all were fresh loads).

When this machine was brand new last fall, (read  before installing and 
trying many programs) it was the fastest machine I'd ever had, but to me it 
always seemed 'slow' for a 3.4GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM!  Fast, yes, but not as 
fast as I'd expected.

After this "reload", the first thing I noticed was how much faster 
EVERYTHING ran.  Adobe Acrobat Reader (7) has always been one of the slowest 
programs on the machine, usually taking many minutes to prepare and "spool" 
a large document for printing (like a 150 page radio manual).  I just 
printed a 135 page service manual for a Kenwood TS-440  and it "spooled" in 
just a few seconds!  Other stuff works much quicker also.  It seems like 
this machine was being "choked back" right from the first day and now it has 
free rein to run like it should.  I suspect there may have been some 
"factory" software consuming resources that either isn't running now, or is 
running more efficiently.

Anyway, final line, I'M A HAPPY CAMPER.

Oh, one more thing.  Today I cloned the main drive onto the second 80GB 
drive and then disconnected the second drive, so I now just have the 80 and 
320 GB drives running.  I use the "Copy Commander" program to do this from 
the bootable factory CD.  These new SATA drives must be VERY fast compared 
to the old ATA drives.  It only took about 8 minutes to completely clone the 
two 80 GB hard drives (containing about 8.5GB of actual data).  On my old 
machine (600 MHz P3) it took the same program about 45-50 minutes to clone 
two 10GB drives containing about the same amount of data, it was "hurry up 
and wait".

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
DX begins at the noise floor!

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