Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Should I buy an external USB Solid State Drive or an external USB Hard Drive?

Posted on August 25, 2016

External USB Solid State Drive (SSD) — (#ad)

Question from Calvin T.: I use a Gateway DX4860-UB20P desktop computer at work and I just purchased a brand new Dell Ultrabook to use at home and while I’m out on the road.

I’d like your opinion on the best way to transfer large files between these two PCs.

I’d rather not use a large USB flash drive because I’ve had a lot of trouble with files getting corrupted on them in the past, and I really need something that’s more reliable.

I was planning to buy a 1TB external USB hard drive, but I happened to stop in at Office Depot yesterday and noticed that they now sell external USB Solid State Drives.

It seems to me like an external SSD would be the perfect solution. Do you agree, or is there some reason why you’d recommend an external hard drive instead?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Review: Truffol Station 7 Aluminum Desktop USB 3.0 Hub and Charger

Posted on August 21, 2016

truffol-station-7-port-usb-hub-and-charger-1 Now that virtually all new external USB hard drives and USB flash drives can connect at blazing USB 3.0 speeds, a quality USB 3.0 hub is now pretty much a necessity.

And if you own an ultrabook or other small device that has just a single USB 3.0 port, it’s virtually impossible to get along without one.

And since we all seem to have multiple mobile devices these days, we also need a handy way to keep them all charged up and ready for use.

In an effort to simplify things and keep my desk from becoming cluttered with a dozen boxes of various types, I’ve been on the lookout for a high-quality USB 3.0 hub and charger combo unit. Well, I recently found exactly what I’ve been looking for, and more. [Read more…]

Q&A: Would adding flash storage to my Dell Inspiron 1300 improve its performance?

Posted on August 21, 2016

Question from Andy S.: My Dell Inspiron 1300 has only 512 Megs of RAM. The machine is now very slow, I suspect that it’s due to lot of paging.

Would it make sense if I buy an Expresscard to USB 3.0 adapter so then I can add a USB 3.0 SSD, Flash Finger or M.2 to the machine? Would it improve the performance?

Thank you very much.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I prevent my iPhone from automatically syncing when I plug it into my computer?

Posted on August 20, 2016

Question from Carla V.: Every time I plug my iPhone into my computer it automatically starts syncing. I don’t want that because I have things on my phone that I don’t want on my other devices.

I know there has to be a way to disable the automatic syncing. Can you tell me how to do it?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]