hard drive recommendation

[CableDude]

Need to replace my (8 year old) ST31000528AS 1TB Drive.

Thanks.

Also I am looking for a wireless card as well. Don't think my Linksys WMP54G is going to cut it on Windows 7 x64

[Philip]

It depends how much you want to spend, and how much storage you need..

If you're staying with 1TB you can even buy a SSD for decent price these days, Crucial MX500 1TB is $107, Samsung 860 EVO 1TB is ~$140 on Amazon..
As for higher capacity, last drives I got were HGST 8GB, they are great/reliable.

Here is a HDD reliability report from 100k+ hard drives: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-...tats-for-2018/


As to network adapter, get 802.11ac to future-proof it and for 5GHz band support. Figure out if you want PCI-E (better?) or USB, and pick a decent/newer chipset.

[YeOldeStonecat]

It depends how much you want to spend, and how much storage you need..

If you're staying with 1TB you can even buy a SSD for decent price these days, Crucial MX500 1TB is $107, Samsung 860 EVO 1TB is ~$140 on Amazon..
.

Crucial MX500 would be my vote, it's our preferred SSD
We also occasionally get Samung Evo or WD Blue (SSD) in if we see a batch on a fire sale.

Win7? Only got a few months left, updates for it stop Jan 14th 2020. Time for Win10!

[Humboldt]

Win7? Only got a few months left, updates for it stop Jan 14th 2020. Time for Win10!

How bad is it to just keep the damn Win7 if you're not doing anything risky or stupid?

Aside from having an OS that doesn't have security updates (original question).

Not fond of Win10 and don't have the money right now.

[Humboldt]

I know it's costly for them to do security updates for older software but hell.

Win7 wasn't that cheap and isn't that old. I assume they made enough money off it to continue support without giving people no choice but to buy a new OS and start the cycle over again.

[YeOldeStonecat]

How bad is it to just keep the damn Win7 if you're not doing anything risky or stupid?

Aside from having an OS that doesn't have security updates (original question).

Not fond of Win10 and don't have the money right now.

It's not about doing anything risky or stupid. Much of todays malware spreads via various websites...no matter what website they are. People keep thinking "stay away from the porn or pirated movies/software sites"...but it's every day websites that can be compromised, or via streaming advertising banners. Or just using a network shared with other computers.

It's not that Windows 7 will "stop working"...but every day after Jan 14th, it becomes like walking out on thinner and thinner ice.

And over time, when you buy a printer or some software, you'll find it only supports "current" operating systems, can't get drivers for legacy operating systems.

Cost? The Windows 10 upgrade is FREE.....yes MS stopped announcing the free upgrades but it's still there if you have a legit Windows 7 or 8 license.
Use your manufacturers driver/BIOS update utility (like Dell Command Update, or Lenovo Update/Vantage, or HP Support Assistant)...to update the BIOS and drivers to the latest. Reboot.
Go download this little 18 meg file...run it...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

...and about 30 minutes later (or maybe 45 minutes or an hour later if your computer is older/slower)...BOOM, you're at Windows 10, all your programs and data still there, and it picks up the non-tablet mode and has a normal start button and desktop.

BOOM..that was easy!

Can even do a fresh install, make a USB bootable device from that tool, wipe/fresh install on your hard drive, type in the Win7/8 key to register..BOOM..done!

[YeOldeStonecat]

I know it's costly for them to do security updates for older software but hell.

Win7 wasn't that cheap and isn't that old. I assume they made enough money off it to continue support without giving people no choice but to buy a new OS and start the cycle over again.

For our clients with computers less than 5 years old....I've upgraded probably over 500 of 'em from Win7 to Win10...the free upgrade is still honored. If a spinner hard drive, I clone to an SSD (since SSDs are so cheap now), and with an i5 and 8 gigs...on SSD...Win10 FLIES! So much faster than Win7. Especially for laptops and sleep mode when shutting the screen....far better than Win7.

[YARDofSTUF]

Win7 wasn't that cheap and isn't that old.

Its 10 years old. Its pretty old now.

[Humboldt]

It's not about doing anything risky or stupid. Much of todays malware spreads via various websites...no matter what website they are. People keep thinking "stay away from the porn or pirated movies/software sites"...but it's every day websites that can be compromised, or via streaming advertising banners. Or just using a network shared with other computers.

It's not that Windows 7 will "stop working"...but every day after Jan 14th, it becomes like walking out on thinner and thinner ice.

And over time, when you buy a printer or some software, you'll find it only supports "current" operating systems, can't get drivers for legacy operating systems.

Cost? The Windows 10 upgrade is FREE.....yes MS stopped announcing the free upgrades but it's still there if you have a legit Windows 7 or 8 license.
Use your manufacturers driver/BIOS update utility (like Dell Command Update, or Lenovo Update/Vantage, or HP Support Assistant)...to update the BIOS and drivers to the latest. Reboot.
Go download this little 18 meg file...run it...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

...and about 30 minutes later (or maybe 45 minutes or an hour later if your computer is older/slower)...BOOM, you're at Windows 10, all your programs and data still there, and it picks up the non-tablet mode and has a normal start button and desktop.

BOOM..that was easy!

Can even do a fresh install, make a USB bootable device from that tool, wipe/fresh install on your hard drive, type in the Win7/8 key to register..BOOM..done!

Thank you very much for the link.

Never heard you say BOOM three times, so I assume there's truth to your statement

Is 10 that much better? Sorry for the thread jack.

Curious, would a system restore back to 7 work? Read it might depend on if any 10 updates were completed.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Is 10 that much better? Sorry for the thread jack.

Curious, would a system restore back to 7 work? Read it might depend on if any 10 updates were completed.

I think 10 is "that much better"....it's faster so long as you have an SSD. If you're on spindle..well, both are slow.
And if you upgrade from 7 you keep the sorta older style start menu/desktop, you're not stuck in the tablet mode. But even if you are in tablet mode with a fresh new install it's just a few changes in settings to get the start menu/desktop back. A lot of people run those 3rd party skins like classic shell, but I don't like using 3rd party skins, can get quirky/unstable OS's from those.

When you to the upgrade to 10, it keeps a backup of your prior OS for 30 days...during which you can revert back. But that disappears after 30 days.

[Ken]

How bad is it to just keep the damn Win7 if you're not doing anything risky or stupid?

Aside from having an OS that doesn't have security updates (original question).

Not fond of Win10 and don't have the money right now.

IE is one of the big problems with Win 7 as many sites do not support it. The work around is Chrome.

If you do want to stay with 7, go and download every update, patch, etc., as they will disappear forever...

How is the fires and outages going?

[Humboldt]

IE is one of the big problems with Win 7 as many sites do not support it. The work around is Chrome.

If you do want to stay with 7, go and download every update, patch, etc., as they will disappear forever...

How is the fires and outages going?

IE sucked since conception, Chrome at work and FF at home for some reason.

Up to date on updates.

Fires seem to be pretty well contained. Outages...doing great until the next one.

[Ken]

I don't just mean updates to your computer. If you want/need to ever reinstall Win 7 again, due to drive failure, etc., you need to have updates, patches, etc., stored on a usb, external, etc., drive, as they will vanish from MS sites... Some already have.

Glad to hear. Any rain coming your way? That will help!

P.S. Was that enough etc's for you?!!!!!!!

[CableDude]

It's not about doing anything risky or stupid. Much of todays malware spreads via various websites...no matter what website they are. People keep thinking "stay away from the porn or pirated movies/software sites"...but it's every day websites that can be compromised, or via streaming advertising banners. Or just using a network shared with other computers.

It's not that Windows 7 will "stop working"...but every day after Jan 14th, it becomes like walking out on thinner and thinner ice.

And over time, when you buy a printer or some software, you'll find it only supports "current" operating systems, can't get drivers for legacy operating systems.

Cost? The Windows 10 upgrade is FREE.....yes MS stopped announcing the free upgrades but it's still there if you have a legit Windows 7 or 8 license.
Use your manufacturers driver/BIOS update utility (like Dell Command Update, or Lenovo Update/Vantage, or HP Support Assistant)...to update the BIOS and drivers to the latest. Reboot.
Go download this little 18 meg file...run it...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

...and about 30 minutes later (or maybe 45 minutes or an hour later if your computer is older/slower)...BOOM, you're at Windows 10, all your programs and data still there, and it picks up the non-tablet mode and has a normal start button and desktop.

BOOM..that was easy!

Can even do a fresh install, make a USB bootable device from that tool, wipe/fresh install on your hard drive, type in the Win7/8 key to register..BOOM..done!

Interesting. I have an old laptop that I would consider trying this on.

[Humboldt]

I don't just mean updates to your computer. If you want/need to ever reinstall Win 7 again, due to drive failure, etc., you need to have updates, patches, etc., stored on a usb, external, etc., drive, as they will vanish from MS sites... Some already have.

Glad to hear. Any rain coming your way? That will help!

P.S. Was that enough etc's for you?!!!!!!!

Ahh, got it now, thanks for the clarification.

YeOlde is about the only person I've heard saying 10 is worth it. I trust his opinion fully, just trying to figure out the best way to proceed.

[Humboldt]

Glad to hear. Any rain coming your way? That will help!

And no, no rain in measure yet. When it gets here...it gets here. I remember years back when it rained every day for something like 7 weeks.

[Humboldt]

I don't just mean updates to your computer. If you want/need to ever reinstall Win 7 again, due to drive failure, etc., you need to have updates, patches, etc., stored on a usb, external, etc., drive, as they will vanish from MS sites... Some already have.

Any easy way of doing this? Microsoft only seems to show the latest.

Something like this?

https://www.howtogeek.com/255435/how...nience-rollup/

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah "Slipstream" media like that link you have is how many IT shops speed up reinstallations of an OS...it rolls most of the updates into the media. Every 6 months or so they'd create an updated one. Worth it if you bang out lots of nuke 'n paves (reinstalls). For a stand alone computer...eh, just keep punching in those updates. There were a few bigger manual downloads to speed up the process...I forget what they were (can find 'em)...I haven't been doing Win7 reinstalls in a few years, been all Win10 for new computer or rebuilds for clients for the past few years.

[morbidpete]

Crucial MX500 would be my vote, it's our preferred SSD
We also occasionally get Samung Evo or WD Blue (SSD) in if we see a batch on a fire sale.

Win7? Only got a few months left, updates for it stop Jan 14th 2020. Time for Win10!

throw it in a VDI and get another couple years LMAO (joking of course)