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Backup Larger than Original
Posted 03/04/10 at 07:12:19 AM by The Maximum PC Staff
I followed Maximum PC’s “Clean Start” article (February 2009) and used Acronis True Image to set up a weekly full disk image. My XP Pro system is installed on C:, which is a 1.5 TB hard drive. I have another 1.5TB hard drive of the exact same make and model, to which I write the weekly image. I have 120GB of free space on the C: drive, but the backup drive is already full!
The destination drive contains no files except the image; is it possible for an exact image of a C: drive to be bigger than the original (by more than 10 percent)? Yes, I selected “incremental” as backup method.
—Matt Peuler
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The Power Went Out
Posted 03/04/10 at 07:01:55 AM by The Maximum PC Staff
One evening my house’s master breaker box was shut off while my computer was still on. I went into the BIOS and ensured that all my settings were set as before, but since then, every time I start up my computer cold it starts to spool up, then stops for about two seconds, and then boots. If I restart after my machine has been running for a while, it boots with no delay. I went into the BIOS to see if there was any problem in the APM settings, but I still got delays during cold boots. My last resort would be to cut the power again. Except for the annoying delay, it runs rock-solid in every game I throw at it—from Crysis to Modern Warfare 2. Hope you can puzzle out what caused it and the fix.
—JR Bivens
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Vexed by Really Slow Startup
Posted 02/17/10 at 02:00:39 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I built a new Core 2 Quad Q9400 machine on an Asus P5Q Deluxe board with 4GB of Corsair DDR2, a 74GB Raptor, and a GeForce GTX 260. The problem is that it starts up really slowly. The rig will POST and go through hardware boot but right before the Windows XP logo comes up, I get a black screen for seven to eight minutes. On occasion it will start up right away, but about 80 percent of the time, it has the delay. It also takes five minutes to shut down even after using a registry hack to kill apps faster.
—Adam Sorich
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Resolution: Cry Farther
Posted 02/15/10 at 02:00:21 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I’m having a problem with my default resolution when running Far Cry 2 in DirectX 10 mode. When I run Far Cry 2 in DirectX 9 everything seems to be OK, when I select DirectX 10 mode, the display expands to what looks like 860x600. I’m running the Asus PT6 Deluxe Motherboard, Intel Core i7 920, 12GB of DDR3, and Windows Vista x64. I have two ATI Radeon 4870s in CrossFire, running a Dell 24-inch LCD at 1920x1200 resolution. I’m using the latest ATI Catalyst Control and driver in CrossFire mode. What could be causing the problem?
—Bob Guadagno
Read the answer to Bob's question after the jump.
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Virtualization in Win7
Posted 02/11/10 at 12:45:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I want to buy a new CPU, one that will support new features like hardware virtualization. Before I move to Windows 7 from Windows XP, I wish to find out if its Windows XP Mode will work for my 32-bit programs under the 64-bit version of Windows 7. Has anyone even tested this?
—Mitch Miller
Read the answer to Mitch's question after the jump.
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Get Right
Posted 02/10/10 at 01:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
Does the orientation of a hard drive correlate to its life expectancy? With a series of lovely grinding sounds, the 750GB Seagate hard drive in my Thecus NAS failed and all data was lost. The hard drive only lasted a little more than two years. The NAS (and thus the hard drive) stands upright, but in most desktops the hard drives lie flat. So, does the orientation effect the hard drive’s life expectancy? Are they manufactured to operate lying flat, upright, or does it matter?
—Pete Gallagher
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Backing Up Files for Upgrade
Posted 02/05/10 at 05:00:39 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I need to back up my files in anticipation of upgrading my rig from 32-bit Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 7. I don’t own an external hard drive and can’t afford to buy one (being a poor college student). I do, however, have a rig with two hard drives. If I were to transfer my files onto one drive and reformat the other with Windows 7, would the new OS be able to recognize the old drive and give me access to my files?
—Rhys Pygall
Read the Doctor's answer to Rhys's question after the jump.
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Overheated Pentium 4
Posted 02/05/10 at 12:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
My 5-year-old computer—Windows XP, 2.4GHz Pentium 4, Antec server case, 430-watt PSU, Seagate HD, and two 256MB Corsair DIMMs in an Asus P4P 800 Deluxe motherboard—no longer boots. It was fine until the day my son used it without opening the door to the cabinet that it’s stored in. Now when I try to start it, I get an error saying “CPU Test Failed” and the machine won’t boot. I’ve switched the CPU out with a known good 2.8GHz Pentium 4 (tested in a second PC), to no effect. I have no way of checking the RAM as the second machine we have uses different RAM. Is there a way to check the motherboard? Or is there a way to check the power supply with a multimeter? I’m on a very tight budget so I’m going as cheap as possible.
—Harry
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eSATA Speeds?
Posted 02/02/10 at 05:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I have an HP HDX18T laptop with an external drive that holds my old stock 250GB/5,400rpm 2.5-inch drive. The external case uses an internal SATA connection and has both a USB 2.0 and eSATA connection externally for my laptop. I’ve read that there is a theoretical transfer rate of 4GB/s with eSATA, but I’m lucky to get 40MB/s copying to or from. Can you tell me what I’m missing? BTW, the external drive case is an Eagle ET-CS2PESU2-BK.
—James Lamar
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P55 or X58
Posted 02/01/10 at 12:33:38 PM by The Maximum PC Staff
I’m planning my next build, and I’m having a hard time deciding between a motherboard with the X58 chipset or one with P55. Is triple-channel RAM worth paying extra for? I plan to keep this PC for three years (until the motherboard warranty expires) and I’m worried that in three years there’ll be 9x-channel RAM or something crazy like that. I’m a heavy gamer but I don’t do anything else that requires a ton of memory—I don’t use AutoDesk or Maya.
—Damien Marsh
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