Tails’ Blography

Hard Drive weight increasing?

Apologies if this is the incorrect area for this question.

I’ve noticed that as I copy data/install programs on my Laptop, the weight of the Laptop increases. I have a bad back and am medically limited on the amount of weight I can carry so I need to be very carefull not to inflict injury upon myself.

I have also noticed my XBox feels heavier as well (the more games I save or purchase from arcade). I generally don’t travel with my XBox so that is not an issue for me, but note the I am having the same results.

My ask, what is the weight/file ratio? So for example, how many GB’s = 6oz? I dread the day I need a dolly to commute to work with my Laptop.

Thanks in advance!
- K

O_o!!!

Is this guy for real?? Honestly one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while, esp after reading responses like

If you have very large files, you can compress them and then compress the compressed file etc. until the files are down to 1 byte. That should make you laptop lighter than when you bought it! I use this trick all the time so that I can save my entire music collection on a 5-1/4″ floppy (yeah, I found a use for them :)

Every Gigabyte counts as 5oz of extra weight for your computer.There has been cases (in computers with 1Tb of Hard drive and more) of people left eMule activated 3 days and when that people returned to the computer,there was a hole in the floor instead.

Dreading the day you Dolly your laptop???? Are you kidding me….. what does your laptop weigh 6 lbs. at the most?
That about half the weight of your McDonalds bag…
You better be carrying an Alienware laptop and not a netbook.
If you cannot carry your laptop thats the least of your worries, I’d be more concerned with how your dealing with yourself daily
You do know that your installing programs in a virtual perspective

Hehehe hope it made you smile (and possibly laugh)…I know I chuckled at this poor fellow’s expense for a while hehe

Also, my camera should be with me by the end of this week hopefully if all goes well!! I’m UBER excited!! *bounce bounce*

Literally!! I work in the IT industry, and though most of the time its mundane work, occasionally we get to be amused by geeky things like ‘The Dirtiest Machine’. When clients bring in their PCs for repair or maintenance, we give it a blow job (whaaaat? I had to, what with all this talk about dirty fans ‘n all!) to get rid of the dust bunnies. Its normally just a small layer of dust on the componants, and maybe a little in the power supply. Nothing exciting.

But what an exciting fortnight for me! Two machines came in that were diiiiiirrrrty! So much so that the fans actually stopped working and the CPU’s overheated (layman’s terms: your machine is broh-khen!). They were both due to lack of maintenance on the clients behalf (if its in a dusty area, bring it in every 6 months, m’kay), and unfortunately we see this all the time (though normally we catch it before it gets to the point of overheating). If we find a particularly dusty one, we like to gather around while its being blown out to see just how big the puff of dust that comes out is. Yes yes, g33k, I know haha.

Fan A: Before, caked with dust…

Fan A: After..what its supposed to look like.

Then, we got a client who was too proactive. We spoke with him on the phone and said we’d rather he leave us to de-dust (un-dust?) it since he was bringing it in for work anyway, but he said no, he’s done this before and he’ll take the componants out, dust them off with a soft paintbrush and he’ll be fine. Now, we sometimes use a brush if its not too dirty, and we do know this client is not a complete n00b with computers, so we left him to it.

Fan B: Before, caked with (yellow/green looking??) dust…

Fan B: After..what its supposed to look like.

When he brought it in, we plugged it in, turned it on, and nothing happened. So I opened it up, looked around and everything seemed normal. So we called him. Apparently, he’d taken all the componants out, including the fan and CPU. Well, the CPU should have stayed put, but when he pulled the fan off (Heaven knows why he did this – its NOT necessary!) the CPU came with it. So he told us, “just take the CPU out and turn it 90 degrees. I might not have put it in straight.”

WHAT??! Now, for those who dont know, some CPUs (the older ones especially) have pins which slot into the CPU socket on the motherboard. Like a sim card, theres a cutout to show which way it must be positioned (two CPU pins arent there). Now, if you put the CPU in the wrong way, you can shift the pins because, obviously, there’re no holes for them to slot into.

Well thats what happened. Unfortunately, sometimes its fixable, but these two pins were mashed and broken. In short, he had to buy a new machine, because you couldnt get a matching CPU (too old), so upgrading the CPU meant upgrading the motherboard (old motherboard couldnt take the newer CPU), which in turn meant upgrading the RAM (also too old for new motherboards). In short, new machine.

Eish. Doesnt look like much, but thats a whole machine’s worth of damage!

So, though I did feel bad for the guy, that was my g33ky entertainment for the month. :)

pics taken with my cellphone