More or less of a footnote from the last year regarding Win7 and the installation process
So, it was the time that my hard disk in the laptop was almost full again, and what do you know, the freaking thing was bloated despite me moving the files to my outer disk. I have to admit, JARVIS as I named the 1TB Western Digital disk, was one of the best investments from the last year, becasue otherwise, I would be one very sorry writer right now.
We writers, by definitions, are pack rats, so my disk was chock-full of the text, pictures and whatnot, and in a dire need of good old reformatting and reuploading.
Thing is, I haven't had a clue on how to do the freaking thing, as up until now, the go-to person for this was my brother. Sad, sad world. And I considered myself tech-savvy. /ashamed shake of head./
So, I've done several things.
1 - Did the list of programs I used on the soon-to-be croaked-OS and saved it on my outer disk Jarvis - from here on, called J -
2 - Did the backup of the licenses used. Believe me, this is dead useful to have, otherwise you are stuck in a deep, deep shit and the entire installation/uploading shtick can take two or three days
3 - Did the same for the wireless data. I am impressed, the Microsoft techies saved me a plethora of a headache and brother-begging with that particular feature.
4 - Rooted around my CD and DVD's for the installation disk
5 - Read and wrote/copied the instructions on how to do the entire thing.
The result?
OS (operation system, aka Windows 7) done and spiffed up in the same day, with no help from brother dearest, aside from his nagging for me to take the furball on a walk. I swear, I could've strangled the bastard for that idiocy of his. I dislike being interrupted when I work, and he did just that.
Windows 7 was successfully installed - there was some trouble with booting the entire thing I I experienced the moment of enlightenment when the program practically pointed out that MB is less than GB - fuck it, I never paid enough attention to those prefixes when in Physics class, but never mind, I got by without knowing that. Formatted both plates, and then, ran the whole thing.
I use around 11 programs, and the list helped me to keep on track what I need, so the uploading of the programs went fast from here on. I still remember the horror days when I and my brother had to get 2 whole days to get the now prehistoric XP working on the main computer. I am so grateful for the SSD disk and the better uploading routines that it's not even funny.
But the disk in question nearly ganked me into an early grave with the amount of space it gobbled up. Usually, that wouldn't have been a problem, but SSD is still relatively small in comparison with their older brothers, so the space is real problem if you have heap-loads of data. It doesn't help that the computer has to be updated, and updates for Windows and Office can really gobble up the space.
I solved that with wiping out the personal data on the computer, and leaving on the SSD only the OS and some bits and ends that I don't need at all times. So right now, the programs take a little bit more than 33 GB, with additional compressing of the files already on. This leaves 25,2 GB of freedom for the next... say, two or three years. Depends on the tech.
Tip:
It's good to have two things when you are doing that. Or better, two programs. One of those is Driver Booster. This little program, especially pro edition, is dead useful when it comes to updating the host of the other programs on the OS. I am not a fan of manual updating of the things as they can take a good amount of time that could be spent - at least for me - reading - so when I found this one, it was a godsend.
Second one is TreeSize Free. It shows where your system got too fat, so to speak, and then you can go to the why's and how's on slimming those files down. But do be careful with that process, so that you don't do any oopsies with deleting something vitally important to the system. So double and triple checking is more than advisable in this case.
... that brother of mine just said I remind him of a popcorn. Heat it enough, and it explodes. Gee, what a charmer.... /deadpans/ Popcorn, of all things....
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