Thanks Bill. This is good general info.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 3:17 PM, Bill Kendrick <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nbs@sonic.net">nbs@sonic.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
Seen on SF-LUG's list:<br>
<br>
----- Forwarded message from jim -----<br>
<br>
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:41:10 -0700<br>
From: jim<br>
Subject: [sf-lug] zareason advice about laptops<br>
<br>
<br>
lately i've become worried about my two-to-three year old<br>
zareason laptop and sent email to zareason asking if they<br>
could help me pick something from their current line as a<br>
replacement. earl malmrose replied with some very helpful<br>
information:<br>
<br>
"Thanks for checking in with us. Your laptop should have a good amount<br>
of life left in it. Something simple like a dead keyboard can easily<br>
(and affordably) be replaced. The primary weak spot on almost all<br>
laptops is the screen hinge. Keep an eye on that.<br>
<br>
"Another weak spot long-term is the hard drive. Fortunately most<br>
failures are gradual. If you have an up-to-date Ubuntu, the Disk<br>
Utility is really good at monitoring the hard drive health. When the<br>
hard drive is near failure, it will notify you. Don't ignore the<br>
warnings if they pop up.<br>
<br>
"And finally, backup backup backup. I swear by DropBox. Put all your<br>
important files in the DropBox folder, then whenever you connect to<br>
the Internet, it syncs/backups everything in the DropBox folder. No<br>
manual effort. Automatic. That's my kind of system. 2 to 3 GB of<br>
storage is free, or you can upgrade to 50 GB of storage for $10/mo. It<br>
even stores old versions/deleted files/etc. that can easily be<br>
retrieved like a month later.<br>
<br>
"SD cards and flash drives have virtually no wear levelling features.<br>
Don't depend on them lasting with frequent writes. Go ahead and use<br>
them for weekly or monthly backups.<br>
<br>
"--Earl Malmrose <a href="http://www.zareason.com" target="_blank">www.zareason.com</a><br>
<br>
"We also have some forums started at <a href="http://zareason.com/forums" target="_blank">zareason.com/forums</a><br>
You can post questions there."<br>
<br>
JS: I'm using ubuntu 10.04; I didn't bother looking at<br>
the System > Administration > Disk Utility until after<br>
reading earl's email. Wow! I like it!<br>
<br>
----- End forwarded message -----<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
-bill!<br>
Sent from my computer<br>
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