Techy advice needed

[TerenureJim]

Can anyone recommend a tech shop that can repair an external hard drive, dont want to loose/have to re-download content, seems to be a hardware issue as it works for a few minutes and then there's a loud(ish) click noise and the drive stops working. Even if it can be fixed to run for a day or two to transfer content (approx 300GB) I'd be laughing.

This might sound odd, but have you tried giving it a slap? 'The Click of Death' can mean any number of things, including that the R/W heads are sticking and a slap might free things up a bit to give you some time to transfer stuff.

Yep click of death is where its at soundwise. Seems to give me a bit of time if I leave it unplugged to cool down for a bit, gets me five mins or so.

[Oldschool]

Can anyone recommend a tech shop that can repair an external hard drive, dont want to loose/have to re-download content, seems to be a hardware issue as it works for a few minutes and then there's a loud(ish) click noise and the drive stops working. Even if it can be fixed to run for a day or two to transfer content (approx 300GB) I'd be laughing.

This might sound odd, but have you tried giving it a slap? 'The Click of Death' can mean any number of things, including that the R/W heads are sticking and a slap might free things up a bit to give you some time to transfer stuff.

Yep click of death is where its at soundwise. Seems to give me a bit of time if I leave it unplugged to cool down for a bit, gets me five mins or so.

As it sounds like you're going to have to replace it anyway and heating may be a factor, could take it out of its' housing and use a fan to cool it.
Even taking it out of it's housing might reduce any mechanical "tightness".
You could also try turning it upside down or placing it on it's side.

[TerenureJim]

Thanks lads helpful tips all, left it unplugged overnight and managed to get another few gigs worth of stuff off it this morning before heading to work so fingers crossed I won't end up loosing too much data.

[TerenureJim]

Any recommendations on how to convert a .rar file to mp3?

[limecat]

Any recommendations on how to convert a .rar file to mp3?

they're completely different. rar files are like zip files. you need to install something like winrar or 7zip and extract the files from it.

chances are they're mp3 files in the rar file.

[TerenureJim]

Any recommendations on how to convert a .rar file to mp3?

they're completely different. rar files are like zip files. you need to install something like winrar or 7zip and extract the files from it.

chances are they're mp3 files in the rar file.

Sorry yep meant to ask what people recommend to open up .rar you are correct sir the mp3 lays inside or so says the mate who gave me his USB

[meinster]

+ 1 for 7-zip

[Donny B.]

Anyone tried to install Google Chrome lately? Have tried twice now and both times it has just gotten stuck on loading the initial page.

[Oldschool]

Anyone tried to install Google Chrome lately? Have tried twice now and both times it has just gotten stuck on loading the initial page.

What version of Windows are you using?
I use Firefox, so I'm curious. What are Chrome's advantages?

[johng]

Anyone tried to install Google Chrome lately? Have tried twice now and both times it has just gotten stuck on loading the initial page.

so little info in that post. It's hard to comment.

[Donny B.]

Anyone tried to install Google Chrome lately? Have tried twice now and both times it has just gotten stuck on loading the initial page.

What version of Windows are you using?
I use Firefox, so I'm curious. What are Chrome's advantages?

Windows XP Version 5.1

Never been a big firefox user, but when I moved from IE to Chrome, the big difference was speed.

At the moment, I'm starting in a place as a Web Developer and want to load all the main browsers.

Anyway, no matter it's something to do with the anti-virus software on the old laptop that I've been given.

[Oldschool]

!'m looking for 100m of twin core satelite coax cable (aka the sky stuff).
Also D connectors to suit (about 12 at least) and a box of clips.
Any suggestions?

[meinster]

!'m looking for 100m of twin core satelite coax cable (aka the sky stuff).
Also D connectors to suit (about 12 at least) and a box of clips.
Any suggestions?

Satellite.ie and TVTrade.ie both have reasonable reputations. Have personally dealt with the former. Get decent grade cable (CT-100 spec, at least) to save yourself grief and a few percent signal quality. I think you mean F connectors? If you know a sparks, you might get them a small bit cheaper in a wholesalers like Eurosales, etc.

[Peg Leg]

!'m looking for 100m of twin core satelite coax cable (aka the sky stuff).
Also D connectors to suit (about 12 at least) and a box of clips.
Any suggestions?

Satellite.ie and TVTrade.ie both have reasonable reputations. Have personally dealt with the former. Get decent grade cable (CT-100 spec, at least) to save yourself grief and a few percent signal quality. I think you mean F connectors? If you know a sparks, you might get them a small bit cheaper in a wholesalers like Eurosales, etc.

+1
Definitely F connectors.
If you can make your way over towards Finglas- Michael Garrys in North Park will look after you.

I have a good relationship with them. You can PM me if you want to get the stuff on my account.

[fourthirtythree]

On a slightly different note: has anyone any experience/suggestions on a tablet for a 5 year old? We were thinking of the Kurio rather than a Nabi or Meep but they all appear quite similar to me. If she was a few years older I'd go with a Nexus or Kindle fire (iPad way out of the price range) but they are too fragile for a kid. And way above her anyway.

[waterboy]

Came across a thread earlier today about the same thing, his kids are 6, but assume there's not much of a difference. Most people seem to be saying a standard android tablet with a case on it is grand. If looking at Nexus 7/Kindle Fire then check out Blackberry Playbook, similar size but you should be able to get it cheaper, Not sure how good it is for kids games though.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google ... r-old.html

[Peg Leg]

Came across a thread earlier today about the same thing, his kids are 6, but assume there's not much of a difference. Most people seem to be saying a standard android tablet with a case on it is grand. If looking at Nexus 7/Kindle Fire then check out Blackberry Playbook, similar size but you should be able to get it cheaper, Not sure how good it is for kids games though.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google ... r-old.html

Never used it, but if their OS is anything like the phones, Blackberry's are not child friendly!!

[waterboy]

Came across a thread earlier today about the same thing, his kids are 6, but assume there's not much of a difference. Most people seem to be saying a standard android tablet with a case on it is grand. If looking at Nexus 7/Kindle Fire then check out Blackberry Playbook, similar size but you should be able to get it cheaper, Not sure how good it is for kids games though.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google ... r-old.html

Never used it, but if their OS is anything like the phones, Blackberry's are not child friendly!!

Yeah their phone OS isn't the best alright, but it's a custom touch OS they have for the tablet. Got tipped by a big apple site as the best budget tablet available at the moment. The OS will be getting refreshed in early 2013 as well, when they release OS10 for their phones. I have one of their tablets and find it great for what I use it for, but it has less apps than android would. So if buying for a kid then would need to check out the games/apps the kids want, are available on it.

[The Doc]

On a slightly different note: has anyone any experience/suggestions on a tablet for a 5 year old? We were thinking of the Kurio rather than a Nabi or Meep but they all appear quite similar to me. If she was a few years older I'd go with a Nexus or Kindle fire (iPad way out of the price range) but they are too fragile for a kid. And way above her anyway.

You might want to take a look at the Chromebook - Google's tablet that runs a pure internet based OS. Depending on what is needed - essentially it has no local content or memory and is really just a browser. But if using it for cloud activities it could be useful as it is cheap(er) and I believe pretty straightforward. It's supposed to be quite good for what it is.

The only concern is that it reduces computing for a kid to just web based stuff but maybe that's the way of things.

[fourthirtythree]

On a slightly different note: has anyone any experience/suggestions on a tablet for a 5 year old? We were thinking of the Kurio rather than a Nabi or Meep but they all appear quite similar to me. If she was a few years older I'd go with a Nexus or Kindle fire (iPad way out of the price range) but they are too fragile for a kid. And way above her anyway.

You might want to take a look at the Chromebook - Google's tablet that runs a pure internet based OS. Depending on what is needed - essentially it has no local content or memory and is really just a browser. But if using it for cloud activities it could be useful as it is cheap(er) and I believe pretty straightforward. It's supposed to be quite good for what it is.

The only concern is that it reduces computing for a kid to just web based stuff but maybe that's the way of things.

Thanks. I'm not sure they're available here yet. I looked at the forums above as well (thanks for the suggestion) and while most of the posts were "buy a Nexus/Kindle Fire etc." they tended to be from people who actually hadn't done that for children. I plan to go for the Kurio 2 which has a reasonably mature install for children (Nabi more so) along with specs that could see it lasting for a couple of years.

On a completely unrelated note: should never have let the wife suggest getting a tablet for the child in the first place. Too young to spend that money on a present.