You might note the red dot of nail
polish on the cord ends for my SATA Drive. That's so I know what
side is up. It's easy and I can look smart even without my
glasses on. The case is 3x5 inches. Mine is powered by the USB plug to the netbook
so no outside power source is required. There's
a standard end for the computer side and a mini-USB for the SATA
case.
The price
for a
SATA drive case is less than $20 -- not expensive. Then, using
a micro-USB to regular USB you will have essentially the entire
computer in that one little case. She won't "lose her stuff" and it
can be accessed or copied over to the new computer with relative
ease.
Side Note:
Unfortunately there are times when the hard-drive fails, but often
it's the motherboard (computer "guts" versus memory) that ceases to
work. I'm presuming the hard-drive on the HP is fine.
And so far (since my first computer in 1988, and later PCs starting
in the early 90's) all my hard-drives are still functional and
contain data I can access.
As for Mac or IBM/Microsoft, I am familiar with and use M$
products. At my age (over fifty) I don't want to learn a new system.
This one I understand so I'll probably always be a M$ user.
What are you most comfortable with?
If you're an Apple user, I'd suggest you stick with what is
familiar.
One thing I liked about my Toshiba netbook (in addition to the fact
that she draws just 15 watts) is that when I opened the box they
have something called an OOB Experience. Out-Of-Box means that I have a
USB flash drive with the entire computer as it came fresh and new.
If (er, when?) I do something stupid, I can restore her to original and start
fresh.
To me, that's a selling point. And no, I've not yet done the OOB
thing, but it's there and that gives me confidence. I have my OpenCPN
(my chart-plotter program) along with all the US charts on a sim card (like for the camera) -- if worse came to worst, I
could be up and running relatively quickly.
The system restore process
would take coffee of course!
As for
computer operating system for you vessel?
I suspect if you're comfy with Microsoft there is little reason to
change. Ditto the reverse.
And of course there's no reason you cannot have one of each
aboard. If funds were bigger I'd buy a second Toshiba just like mine
-- so the peripherals (my 12-volt car adapter charger that takes the
boat's power and turns it into 19-volts for the computer) would work
on either computer.
Good luck.
Do look into and buy a
SATA case for the broken computer. You need that. And
yes, you can remove the hard-drive from your HP and put it into the
box. It's not hard, nor does it require a computer technician.
Do you have multiple Sata drive cases or just move
everything over after a new computer purchase?
And, did you take classes to learn this stuff or are you self-taught (via
mistakes) like me?!
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