Archive for June, 2009
USB HUBS
How many USB ports does one need? If your pc only has 2 or 3 ports on it you realize you need more ports. Your keyboard and mouse will take up two ports, your USB printer another one. If you want add on a USB web camera, external drive or flash drive you’ll need more ports.
USB Hubs are a great add-on for the additional ports you require. Depending on how many extra ports you require there are different size hubs available. Also some hubs provide their own energy thru the USB ports and do not require external power. Other hubs are available the do use external power and will support more additional hubs.
Hubs can be connected together supporting up to 127 ports. Flexibility is the key with USB ports. You can add storage drives while being portable with the ability to move data from one source to another with the simple plugging in the USB device from pc to pc. Expand your pc devices with USB hubs.
Webcam: Everyone is Doing It
Webcams weren’t all that popular for some time, even though they’ve been available for almost a decade. But as video technology and connection speeds have improved, webcams have become much more viable for use. With a webcam, it’s possible to talk with friends, family, and even business clients at significant distances. The webcam makes these experiences much more personal than an e-mail or a phone call, and also allows to people to keep in touch via the internet. Combine a USB webcam with an online chat program, and it’s one step away from being right there with the person on the other side in real life. Webcams often come with software allowing for ease of use, and because the USB webcam uses a slot located on all computers, all computer owners can use it even if their computer is an older model.
Webcams are great for keeping in touch with all the important people in our lives, and are practical for all computer users. Purchase a USB webcam and be on the cutting edge of technology! Webcams are also quite affordable.
Safe Storage for Essential Files
We’ve all heard about the importance of backing up our important documents to prevent them from being lost to a computer virus or hardware problem. While backing up files is a good idea, a better idea is often to store the most important files on a USB hard drive instead of an internal hard drive. There’s no difference between a USB hard drive and an internal hard drive with the exclusion of how the files saved on the hard drive are accessed by the computer. The computer accesses this memory through a series of wires attached to the motherboard with an internal hard drive, while a USB hard drive is accessed through the USB port. Internal hard drives are essential for storing those programs that allow the computer to function, like the operating system. However, an external USB hard drive is much better served for storing other files in a safe manner.
In addition to being better protected from viruses and malfunction, an external hard drive is portable and can be accessed on several different computers. This ensures that files are safe and can be accessed all the time. The USB hard drive is also ideal for storing media like movies and music.
Hard Drive CRASH! Data lost
Hard drive crash! Data gone. Has this ever happened to you? You turn on your PC and all you get is a little flashing cursor in the left hand corner of the screen or can’t find drive O error on the screen. You reboot your system and you get the same thing. You meant to back up your data, you really did. All those spreadsheets, word documents or even worse the family photos and MP3 files, all gone.
With most USB Hard drives you’re able to connect them to your computer at your home or office network and set it up to automatically backup your data. Most USB hard drives come with software to manage the drive and how it performs with your PC. You can select what data you want backed up with the ability to schedule when and how often it needs to be backed up.
Another alternative is to use it as an extra drive on your PC. Being portable, the data can be physically moved from one pc to another by just plugging into an available USB port. USB Hard Drives just like many other USB devices are very flexible in their use and portability.
For the critical system backups you can image your entire system. With additional software a full recoverable image can be created and stored on the USB Hard Drive. This will allow full system recovery including applications doing a restore from the last image file created.