What type would you recommend for a HD video camera?

best portable hd video camera image

DG

I searching for new HD video cameras to do my own videos, and would like to know what's out there in the market. My budget is in $200 to $600.
Thank you for your time.

Answer
I purchased panasonic HDC - TM55 last week just before going on a trip to charleston and smoky mountains. This camcorder has so many features packed in a tiny attractive body.

The main attractions
=====================
1) 25x optical zoom - this was very useful while taking photos as well as during video capture. There are not too many cameras which provide 25x useful optical zoomin such a small body. Photography and video capture at 25 x optical ( 35x intelligent zoom ) is a real big bonus. I found this to be very useful especially while on the boat in the sea and was able to capture snaps of seagulls very well.
2) Better shake reduction mechanism. Camera adjusts to most of the shakes. It even displays a message camera panning too fast.
3) Xenon flash and LED video light - Xenon flash is pretty useful for night photography. Video light doubles up as an AF lamp during photography as well as the light for night video capture. Light is good but it seems to be a bit weaker than the single LED flash of my blackberry bold. For a price range of around 500$ this is a nice feature to have. Another good thing is video light turns on automatically if the surroundings are dark. But videos whll have a bluish white tinge. Its better to be used as a flashlight if battery has enough juice left in it :).
3) Responsive touch screen - pretty good touch screen. Not any iphone like but still very good.
4) Well laid out menu - Lots of options in the menu. capability to play video alone, photo alone, both together ( thats a nice feature I think ).
5) Nice 2.7 LCD screen - > good bright sunlight visibilty. Rotating screen for self portrait or video capture. Screen buttons provide nice image/video tweaking opoortunities.
6) Quick Zoom in/out.
7) Fits perfectly in hand. The holding strap is also good. Battery provides nice support.
8) Support for high capacity memory cards. Cards will make camcorders even lighter. My sony vaio laptop has an SD card reader. So its very easy to plug the card in and see all videos/photos.
9)Relatively wide angle lens when compared to sub 500$ camcorders.
10) Nice bundled software for editing 1080i videos.

Cons
=====
1) power switch, memory card slot and AV/HDMI ports can be accessed only if LCD screen is open. Sure the camera will power on opening the LCD ( but not first time after immediate purchase ). To output to the TV, LCD would have to remain open.
2) Camera's automatic white balance seems to be a bit insufficient. Most of the time I had to manually set the white balance for a more natural appeal for the photos/videos.
3) Its good that there is a manual mode. But relying on touch screen to change the values is a bit dificult. Had there been some ring around the lens to adjust, it would have been good.
4) unlike panasonic Lumix ZS7 which gives an excellent portable charger, this camcorder requires battery to remain seated on the camcorder for charging to take place. Its Ok but a separate charger would have added to the excellent portability.

The above mentioned cons are not really deal breakers when we consider the fact that this product costs around 420$ with a bag full of usable positive features which any family/person might be looking for. Compact body, ease of operation, excellent quality of videos/photos ( if we can manually adjust white balance ) is good enough to look over the negatives. All in all this is a great product for a great price.

What would be a good video camera?

Olivia

I'm looking at getting a good, portable video camera. Something affordable and reliable. I am not looking for cheap, just a reasonable price. Also, not a digital camera with video capability, a legit video camera. Wanna know what is out there right now. Thanks!

Answer
I found a list of all the best video cameras available now:

http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?_encoding=UTF8&node=172421&tag=faumioew-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&brr=1&rd=1&creative=390957

Out of these i highly recommend the Sony HDR-CX160 High-Definition Handycam Camcorder. It is the perfect video camera for you. It has great results. Its features include:

- 1920x1080 Full HD 60p Recording w/3MP still image
- 16GB embedded Flash Memory for up to 6 hours of recording
- Wide Angle G lens to capture everything you want
- 42x Extended Zoom to get even closer to the action
- Back-illuminated "Exmor R" CMOS sensor for superb low-light video

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-CX160-High-Definition-Handycam-Camcorder/dp/B004H8FN8U/ref=sr_1_3?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1331147047&sr=1-3&tag=faumioe-20

Read this review from an actual user for more info on the camera:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R24CGUMH7P173V/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B004H8FN8U&nodeID=&linkCode=&tag=faumioe-20

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Im buying a portable hard drive 250gb or 500gb?

portable hard drive in walmart image

Malo Malo

I need a PHD to backup my macbook and was wondering if its necessary to get a 500gb one
also any ideas as to where to buy the cheapest 250 or 500 gigabyte hard drive?

Answer
Got a western digital my book essentials 500gb external drive for 54 dollars at walmart.com model no
wdbaaf500ebk-newm

what is the best way to store files?

Tiffany

I have a ton of pics and avis. Does anyone know of a safe way to store these? I currently have them on cd. Is there a better way like an external hard drive or do those crash. I don't want to keep them on the computer because i'm scared it will crash and loose them all. Is cd currently the best way.

Answer
USB pocket drive...I got a 1.0 GB for $12 at Walmart. Actually, I got 2, they're so cheap. One I actually take to work...portable, as intended.

Also got a USB external 80 GB drive by Iomega. It's good...came with back up softwere that works good, too.

*And*, I back up on DVDs and CD-ROMs. CD-ROMs are so cheap now...I actually will just throw those out as I re-do current back ups.

Finally, I have 2 installed HDs, so, right, I will occasionally back up things from one internal to the other internal HD for a very, very fast backup.

Also, I occasionally store data DVDs "offsite" -- like maybe at work or in my car, just in case my house gets completely burned down or who-knows-what in this incredibly dangerous world.

Why so much? Cuz I'm human and do stupid things, like the time I formatted my backup drive *and* killed the files on my installed drive. If I ever get that stupid again, (and it's likely, cuz I'm human) I've still got those data DVDs, CD-ROMs and USB pocket drives. And because I really value the accumulated data...some of which represents years of work.

How valuable is your data? What's it worth to you to never have to completely re-write, re-download, re-shoot every last byte of it? Your back-up investment should be commensurate with how much you value the data.

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Can a version of world of Warcraft on windows work on a Mac?

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Q. I am about to get my first Mac and am wondering if I can still play my copy of world of Warcraft from my windows pc without installing it again on my Mac. Can I just copy it to a portable hard drive from my pc and transfer it to my Mac with it running as normal?

Answer
You actually can't do that because Windows is a whole different computing system from Mac. There isn't any program that can translate the codes from windows the Mac so your only choice is to reinstall. For me I only had to install the most recent disk (Cataclysm) and then it gave me a bit of data from the other games so just reinstall it.

What is the best way to back up all of my music on my computer?

Jellybrick

I have 20 GB of tunes on my computer. Should I get a portable hard drive? Amazon Cloud? Basically, I'm scared my old computer is going to crash and completely wipe out my music collection.

Answer
20gb isn't a great deal so a big honking external drive could be considered overkill. If you don't see your collection growing beyond 32gb in the near future, I'd simply buy a cheap USB memory stick. 32gb sticks are pretty cheap now. These are so much easier to handle, a tiny little stick that you can carry in your pocket and leave plugged into a PC/laptop when needed. I don't know where you are in the world but here's a few sites

UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-Speed-Courier-Flash-Drive/dp/B001TVF6HG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315692143&sr=8-1
£20 for a 32GB High Speed USB Flash Drive

US
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Flash-Drive-SDCZ36-032G-A11/dp/B001T9CTS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315692231&sr=8-1
$37 for a 32GB High Speed USB Flash Drive

For greater future proofing, consider a 64gb flash drive.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/backup-software/
A list of free software for backing up

Now you'll be able to automate the backup so you don't have to think about it.

For even more security, you could consider backing up online on a less regular basis as it is a bit of a hassle to do all the time. I wouldn't pay for any service with the kind of backup size you want. Windows own cloud storage service is free and offers 25gb. Combine that with some other free services and you're set to go.

http://freenuts.com/top-10-free-cloud-storage-services-for-you-to-back-up-and-sync-files/
List of free cloud storage services.

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What's the best external hard drive out there that will not lose any personal data whatsoever?

best external hard drive backup pc image

discoman

I'm running out of space on my pc and I need to know what's the best external hard drive that is portable, has lots of memory, cheap, will always work, and will not lose any personal data from the external hard drive. Some of the known external hard drives are like seagate free agent, transcend iomega, western digital, and lacie. If you know any RELIABLE known external hard drives, please write a well structured detail description of it. Thank you.

Answer
Check out the ioSafe Solo: http://www.iosafe.com/3

This external hard drive is virtually indestructible - it's fireproof, waterproof, and can be bolted down to prevent theft. Despite backup efforts, if you have a house fire or flood, you're pretty much hooped with a typical hard drive. With the ioSafe, in addition to its disaster-proof features, your data is safe. If something does happen to your hard drive, you can send it back to the company - at their expense - and they will attempt to recover your data and, if they can't, will spend up to $1000 for a third-party recovery service to do it. Once your data is recovered, ioSafe will send it back to you, along with a new hard drive.

I just got an ioSafe Solo and I love it. I'm extremely happy with the services and features this baby offers. :-)

Good luck!

How do I make my external hard drive back up files from my Mac?

dudette

A friend of mine gave me his external hard drive, a bytec external sub-system, that he always used on his PC laptop. I would like to backup my music, photos, and other files but when I plug in the external and try to copy files to it it says "cannot be modified". After researching I think it must be in NFTS format, but I don't know how to change it to something that the Mac can write to. I downloaded Psync to help back up my hard drive, but it can't work when the external can't be rewritten. Thanks!
If I need to reformat the external, how do I do that?

Answer
It likely has to be reformatted so that the MAC can read and write to it.

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Can you use an external hard drive for firewire?

best external hard drive with firewire image

Jack

Alright here is my question. I film with mini dv tape cameras and need to upload video via firewire however my laptop does not have one. I want to know that if i buy an external hard drive with a firewire port and just plug it into my computer could i get the footage or would it not be compatible?

Answer
If you have a hard drive with firewire, you cannot plug it into your computer as you say you don't have a firewire port. Also buying an external hard drive does not help you get the video off the camera. You should search around for USB videi capture devices with A/V output and connect your camcorder via A/V to it.

what's the difference in a firewire external hard drive and a usb external hard drive?

renzoa80

I want to buy a 1 tb external hard drive. But when i look for one i see that there are several descriptions for them. I see some that say that they are firewire external,usb external, usb ethernet, usb firewire. Can anyone explain what all this is and what the difference is? Which one is better and has faster transfer speed? Which one do you recommend under 120$ ?

Answer
usb, firewire, esata, and ethernet are all ways of connecting your hard drive to your computer. here is the order of speed from slowest to fastest

usb
firewire
ethernet
esata

make sure you have the right ports on your computer to use it. you most likely have usb and ethernet, but esata and firewire are less common.

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What is the difference between an external hard drive and a portable hard drive?

best 500gb external hard drive image

quothe_the

I need a hard drive to save all my downloads for iTunes on so that I don't use up the computer space. I found an 500gb external hard drive for about 80$, and 160gb portable hard drive for about 110$. What's the difference between an external and portable, because it sounds like the same concept to me.

Answer
they are the exact same but some people don't know the right word
but portable hard drives are pocket sizes kinda like a flash drive but a bit bigger and external hard drive is more of an at home one you plug into the wall. id go with the external 500gb for 80 rather than 160 for 110 500 is allot more and more useful my opinion.

Can anyone recommmend me a good external hard drive 500gb?

10TimeAuth

I want a 500gb external hard drive that would be able to play videos and music with ease. Anything under $250 preferably.

Answer
Western Digital "MyBook" range without a question.

They have a range from plain USB to USB/ Firewire, USB and ESATA, and now some fully networkale ones.

http://www.wdmybook.com/en/

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Is it possible to create a mirror image backup of your hard drive and windows 7?

portable hard drive repair image

Q. I already made a system repair DVD for my laptop. Is there a way to backup windows 7 and a computer's hard drive completely so if something goes wrong I can just load it from a portable hard drive or DVD that it's burned to? If I can do this what's the easiest way to do it in windows 7?
My friend told me it's easy to do this but I'm not sure how to do it?

Answer
Just backed up my Computer using "MyPCBackup" - it was so simple, now I never have to worry about losing my files again. Check it out!

Why does my macbook open my portable hard drive as READ ONLY?

Loola

i have a "Western Digital my passport" portable hard drive...when i connect it to a PC i can read the documents on it AND i can add files to it, but on my macbook pro it wont let me do that! i can only copy files from the disk but not put any others on it! is there some setting i can change so i could do both..read and write?

Answer
In your Applications > Utilities folder is a program called Disk Utility

Select your external drive and click Repair Disk (note any errors) and then Repair Permissions.

If Disk Utility reports errors it can't fix, you need to quit and grab your files off the external drive, then head back to Disk Utility and format the external FAT (for Windows and Mac) not HFS+ thats' for Mac only.

All should be well.

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How to enable my iPod as a portable hard drive without using iTunes?

portable hard drive questions image

jayztttigh

I basically want to do exactly what I said; enable my iPod to be a portable hard drive. I know that this can be done through iTunes.

Now my problem is this. I don't have iTunes, nor do I want that program. Every time I install it, it installs unnecessary stuff including quicktime, and other stuff I could go on forever about, and it is a pain to un-install.

So the question is, is there any easy way to enable my iPod to be a portable hard drive without having to install iTunes to do it ?

Answer
Go to My Computer and open the drive that has "Type" as "Removable disk."
You should be able to drag and drop files into it. Just don't drop anything into the folder called "Ipod_control"

How do I connect my portable hard drive to my Bravia TV?

annelu

I recently brought a 1TB WD Elements portable hard drive hoping to connect it to my Bravia TV and watch files such as avi. For some reason my TV doesn't seem to identify the device. But once I try multiple USBs it does. My friend recommended buying a blu-ray player. Is there another way around this, like having to alter my settings? Thanks in advance.

Answer
I know that a tv's USB 2.0 only supports a handful of video files. I know MP4's work, maybe avchd and h.264 (commonly used in cameras/camcorders). I know months ago I had tried .avi files on our tv's on the sales floor; samsung, sony, lg and had no luck.

As for not recognizing it,and i'm not sure how it's set up, it may not want to recognized a HDD USB device. It may only be flash drives or thumb-drives, whatever you want to call them. What I usually recommend is to get one of those WD TV boxes. Just plug in any USB device and itll recognize it.

http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/western-digital-wd-tv/4505-6499_7-33396690.html

# AVI , MKV , MOV , WMV , XviD , H.264 , MPEG-1 , MPEG-2 , MPEG-4
Those are the video file formats on that specific ones. They have newer nicer ones that do quite a bit more, have Web TV junk to stream through it. Some have 1080p support via HDMI, some don't, which affects the price.

I'd probably recommend a thumb drive with small avi file and plug it in, see if it even recognizes that file format. if it doesn't you'll have to convert it to a supported one.

Another question would be is what specific model you have. Not all usb models support video, some are just photos and music. Is your usb on the side or on the back with the other inputs? Generally, the back usb ports are for service updates only whereas the side ones are generally for media and/or servicing. If you toss us a model number we can give you a little more details, as for now I just kind of have to do a spread shot of different issues. Hope it helps.

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Is there a programme you can insert onto a portable hard drive that allows you to search?

best portable hard drive 2011 for mac image

Dan

I am aware that on both PC's and Mac's there is already a function that allows this, normally a wee search bar, but i have been commissioned by my boss to have a programme anyway. A sort of 'mini-google' to plough through the frankly massive image database we have collected over the years. Is it at all possible?

Cheers

Answer
Hey Dan:

Try diskMeta I use it to manage 6tb worth of files. Mostly vector graphics art, hd video animation files and hd images

I use this in conjunction with a 3rd party defrag program called diskeeper to keep the integrity of the disks at an optimum level because the built-in windows defragmentor could not keep up.

My 3rd party defragmentor can be set to run automatically and transparently so if the goal is to find files quickly, on demand, every time like it is for me this works out pretty good.

Knowledge is power so check out these links and read up to see if they're what you're looking for

http://diskmeta.com/

http:www/diskeeper.com/defrag

TOP DEFRAG REVIEW 2011
http://www.softwareinreview.com/products-reviewed/best-2011-disk-defragmenter-software/comment-page-1/#comment-1038

FREE DK TRIAL:
http://www.diskeeper.com/defrag/defragmentation-center/


Hope this helps


Cheers

What is the difference between the mac book and mac book air?

I know the difference with the mac book pro but these two laptops ( mac book and mac book air) appear the same and seem like they have the same technology.i don't know which one to buy now!

Answer
MacBook Pro:
- You can add in a Core i5 or i7 in it if you want. More RAM. Capable of doing heavy tasks, such as video editing. Sometimes you can get 10 hours of battery life. Also, there are more ports than the MacBook Air.

MacBook Air:
- Thin, Lite, and small. Its very portable. No Hard Drives, it uses a Flash Storage. Its not as powerful compared to the MacBook / Pro series. And it uses the Core 2 Duo Chip, instead of an i3 processor. Its best for Daily web surfing, Photos, Media, Documents, etc; Not used for heavy duty tasks.

The new Early 2011 MacBook Pro 15" Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL is an incredible leap in performance. I deal with new Macs every day, and most of the time a performance increase is not that great. This new line is a HUGE leap in performance, both in processor (quad core vs dual core) as well as graphics (discreet). I bought the low end 2 GHZ model and increased the RAM to 8G. I give VMWare 2 processors and 4G of RAM...Windows screams!!! For Adobe CS5 work, much, much faster than dual core.

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What type of external hard drive should I buy?

portable external hard drives reviews image

jml210

I am looking to buy an external hard drive. I have a few questions. What should I get? It seems that every review I read on amazon people complain about connectivity problems and also the system dying. Some people say some are loader than there computers. I would like something above 500 GB. I have a computer that is windows xp and I ordered a computer with windows 7. I also need to make sure the drive will function with both so i can transfer itunes to the new computer.

Answer
I think western external hard drives are better than others .And as far as reviews are concerned different people give different reviews for same product .
I think A good External hard drive should be portable,lightweight,have good capacity to store the data ,the transfer rate Should be fast,and it should be good looking
I think western external hard drives fullfill all these parameters

how to remove the partition on my portable external hard drive?

braveheart

i have an 80gb portable external hard drive which is parted into two{40gb each} and now i want to remove the partition.can anyone share their knowledge on how to do it???

Answer
You have a couple of options that'll do the trick:

1. If you have 80 gb of free space on your internal hard drive, then you could move all of the data from your external hard drive partitions onto your internal drive.

Then you could use the fdisk command to remove the partitions from your external drive and create a single 80gb partition, and then copy the data back from your internal drive to the external drive.

Be sure to make a backup first though - it's easy to make a fatal mistake with the fdisk command and accidentally format the wrong hard drive (speaking from painful personal experience).

2. Purchase a partition management program like Partition Commander or Disk Director. Both are reputable programs that'll let you move or delete partitions without losing your data (see links below for reviews on both of these programs).

This last approach is a lot easier route to go, and money well spent.

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I am looking to purchase an external hard drive for my computer and want to know which brand is best?

7200 rpm portable hard drive image

Sandra L

am looking at the portable hard drives with 500gb and there are many brands and I am unsure which ones are good ones and which ones to stay away from. They are all in the same price range. They are samsung, toshiba, western digital, a-data, lacie, seagate and dane-elec. Any info on these would be helpful.

Answer
The interface matters the most and you probably want 7200 RPM instead of 5400 RPM, unless you use the external hard drive infrequently and want to save power. Do you have e-SATA, firewire ports, or USB 3.0 ports? Note that USB 2.0 is standard now and few people have 3.0 yet.

What is the difference between an external desktop HDD and an external portable HDD?

Josh

I am in need of backing up my laptop hard drive and while doing research on external storage, I noticed desktop HDD's are cheaper than the portable ones. What are the key differences between the two? From what i understand, speed is a selling point, but how important is that? I only need one to back my laptop cause starting to go down hill.

Answer
As you say your laptop HDD is going downhill, you'll need to have it replaced and you CANNOT replace it with an external HDD. External HDDs are mostly for backups. Windows cannot boot from an external HDD.

Difference between Desktop and Portable HDD
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The difference is in physical size (dimensions) and operating speed. External desktop HDD are simply the kind of HDD you would find in a desktop PC enclosed in a case with USB or Firewire (1394) connectivity. The same goes for external portable hdd which is simply a laptop hdd in a case.

As for storage capacities, they both have the same capabilities. Operating speed is the difference. A desktop hdd operates at 7200 rpm (rotations per minute). Some newer drives operate at 10,000 rpm. A laptop HDD usually rotates at 5400 rpm. There are two reasons for the lower speed: to increase battery life of the laptop and to reduce heat output/heat generation because higher speeds cause more heat and keeping laptops as cool as possible is paramount.

There are now new HDDs known as Solid State Drives (SSD). These have no moving parts and so require less power and produce very little heat. However, SSDs cost a bit more over a traditional HDDs. At any rate, I'll advise that you go for a portable model as they are smaller in physical size and they still have high capacities; as high as 1 Terabyte (1 Tb)

Good luck.

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Me hard drive beeping? Wire?

portable hard drive keeps beeping image

dduongtf31

Hi, I have a Verbatim 2.5" Portable Hard Drive USB 2.0 320GB. When I first bought it (last year) it beeped on a certain computer but worked for everyone else. The ones that worked had different types of windows so that wouldn't be the problem. After a year, I lost the cable and have bought a new one. This one however, was 30 volts (or something like that) and the hard drive beeped for every computer, even ones that were previously working. Only one computer sometimes worked. To make that one work, I hate to adjust the wire so therefore, it's the wire that are causing this. I'm gonna get a new cable but which one should I get. I don't have the instructions manual for the hard drive. Can someone help me?

Answer
You need to have the original power supply that came with the product, as it is at the specified volt and amp to keep your hdd running properly. Inside a chassis with a modular power supply, the amps can be changed on the fly according to the speed and power consumption of the drive. However, when it is inside an enclosure with it's own converter, you have a lot less room for change in amp, which is why it has to be the exact cord that was meant for it. You can always buy a third party enclosure, and place the hdd inside of that. And they are pretty cheap, too.

Hard Drive not working?

Phone Myat

I just recently bought my Western Digital myPassport Essential 500GB portable hard drive and have been using it for two months without any problem.

But yesterday, when I plugged in my hard drive into the computer using the WD supplied cable, the hard drive wouldn't show up on the Windows Devices list. It is worth noting however, that when I plugged the hard drive in, the small LED light kept on blinking as opposed to the normal constant illumination when it is being used, as well as a series of short beeps which beeped in sync with the blinking light.

My device is covered under the WD one year warranty, but before I resort to replacing my device I would like to:

1) Know what the problem is exactly and how to prevent it in the future

2) To find out if the hard drive can be fixed without too much work, and if it is simple enough.

Thanks.
I tried Frostfire's suggestion, but that didn't help. Just a few hours ago when I tested it, I could hear not only the beeping and see the blinking of the light, I could also hear a scraping sound when I lifted it up to my ear.

I'd just like to know what the problem is, as I'm actually quite curious as to how my hard drive could spoil so soon.

Answer
Press "Windows + pause", open "disk drives", check to see if it shows in there, if it does, you may need to change it's drive letter, to do so double-click on the drive name, and click on the "settings" tab, you can change the drive letter there.

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What is the best camcorder/camera for low light situations?

portable hard drive wiki image

Mr. X-CLU$

I plan on doing some YouTube videos in the future, but the problem is that my room is kinda dark, and my cellphone is terrible when it comes to dark areas. Are there any cameras for $200 or under for low light situations?
If not in my price range, anything not too expensive is fine.

Answer
Your question #1: What is the best camcorder/camera for low light situations?
Response: Any camcorder with a large lens diameter (to let light in to the camcorder/camera) and large imaging chip (to process what little light comes in through the lens when it is dark.

Your question #2: "Are there any cameras for $200 or under for low light situations?"
Response: No.

"not too expensive" means different things to different people.

Consumer grade camcorders start at the low end with small (less than 30mm) diameter lenses and small (less than 1/6") single imaging chip. As the price goes up, the lens diameters and imaging chips get larger. At around $400, the lens diameter is around 37mm and the imaging chips can get as large as 1/4". At around $800 the lens diameter is around 43mm and the imaging chips approach 1/3". At around $1,200 the lens diameter is around 58mm and the imaging chips are around 1/3". As you continue up the price spectrum to high-end consumer (sometimes called "prosumer") camcorders, $3,000 finds 72mm lens diameter with 3CCD or 3CMOS 1/3" imaging chip arrays - these do quite well under low-light conditions.

So... what can you do if you can't afford a camcorder/camera that can behave well under low light conditions? It depends what you are capturing to video, but one relatively easy way (assuming you will be editing the video with a half decent editor) is to add LOTS of light so your room is no longer dark - then, using your editor, make it look dark... This is call shooting "day for night".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MaC44MU4iw

When you go this route, use whatever camera/camcorder you want - and make the investment in lighting and a decent video editor - not a camera/camcorder. For $200, assuming your computer has a fast CPU, 4 gig RAM or more and lots of hard drive space - Sony Vegas is affordable and a couple or three worklights from the hardware store like
http://www.amazon.com/Voltec-08-00210-500-Watt-Portable-Worklight/dp/B004ZMUHBG
would be plenty.

Learn about 3-point lighting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_point_lighting

I wish to transfer Data from my old computer to the new, both using windows XP. What is the Definition of a?

FREDERICK

Serial cable, i have a cable that fits, i want to check connections, i have a meter`.

Answer
I'm not entirely sure what you're asking here but here's my best attempt at an answer.

A serial cable means a cable where data is sent 1 bit at a time. It normally refers to a 9 pin RS232 cable which is pretty old technology. USB, firewire and ethernet cables are all serial too. All of them in theory could be used to transfer data between 2 computers.

If I were you I'd get a usb flash drive or portable hard drive if there's alot of data.

If you want to test your cable, the wikipedia page on RS232 has pinout information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rs232#Pinouts
but generally, if the cable fits then use it.

I believe it's normal that the rx and tx lines crossover (ie, rx connects to tx on the other computer and tx connects to rx on the other computer).

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What is the best recommended portable external hard drive on the market?

portable hard drives on amazon image

Sam

I'd done some looking around on Newegg, Bestbuy, and Amazon for prices on portable external hard drives. The prices look affordable, but the customer reviews put me on edge. Some had said the hard drives (specifically the Seagate Ultra Portable 1 terabyte drive) caused their computer to crash with Windows 7. Others found the (Seagate) drives were poorly constructed and were useless in three months. What are some great drives for the prices these days?

Answer
WD(western digital) is usually good and there passports are good also. The 500gb here http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSAZS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1306477962&sr=8-3

Or a 1tb http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSQ9S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306477962&sr=8-1. They are also usb 3.0 and 2.0

Where can I get a cheap portable hard drives?

J-Rod

I want a portable hard drive to take my files, pics and movies with me when I travel, so where is a place to get good quality external portable hard drives for a decent price?

Answer
www.newegg.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.amazon.com

would check out there first

good luck

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What is the best external hard drive to buy?

best external hard drive value image

Yo

Im looking to move my movies on my laptop to an external hard drive because they take up to much space. I have a combination of mp4 and avi files and im wondering which external hard drive to buy. Im looking for a portable one, I have 200 plus movies so im wondering which hard drive is best to buy and for the best value. Thanks for the help

Answer
they are all great if you get one over 1 terabyte(1024GB) and format the drive as an exFAT file system that way it would keep the drive working extremely fast and less fragmented!

Is it safe to play my iTunes library from my external hard drive?

Mellow Gol

Is it safe to delete my music files from my computer and play them straight from my external hard drive? Will my hard drive break if I use it every day? Will I lose my music? I just want my computer to run faster because my music files take up so much room.

Answer
Try to store your external hard drive in a dry place, well ventilated
the only enemy on external hard drives is overheating,
The heat generated by the disk and the usb controller card under it, makes a higher value f heat to handle, use it on a place where it can be as fresh as you can

Besides It, there is no other risk or damage by using it as your exernal musci library, even if it is to be used frequently

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How to boot OS off of portable hard drive?

portable hard drive ubuntu image

The Engie

Hey guys i'm wondering if its possible to boot a computer os off of a USB portable hard drive. Do you think i have to do any special formatting to make it boot through bios? Oh and what OS should i use? I have windows 7, vista and XP at my house. Can i copy from the computer running it? Thanks again

Answer
ya u can do that by using linux(ubuntu,fedora etc),windows versions have a lot of problems but u can try and u cant copy from the computer running it

How can I save a lot of memories without formatting my hard drive?

Marius Cam

I have a 500GB portable hard drive with a lot of personal memories stored on it. It tells me that I should format it but I really don't want to lose all of those files, pictures, songs and such. Help me, please! Thank you, Marius. :)

Answer
Try this how-to:
http://www.myfixlog.com/fix.php?fid=17
It shows how to use a (free) Ubuntu Live CD to get your files back. If that doesnt work, try this one:
http://www.myfixlog.com/fix.php?fid=20
It should get your pictures back and it should also get some of your documents and songs too.

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Files to big to move to external hard drive?

portable hard drive amazon uk image

Scott

My External hard drive has 49.0 GB Free but also has a lot off stuff on it. I want to move 3 video clips with a total of 16.83 GB. Surely there is PLENTY of space for it. The external is set as FAT 32 and i'm sure it needs to be something else and needs re-formatted or something like that but won't that delete EVERYTHING on the external? Including all the old and files which can't be replaced? Should I just wait till Christmas and get a separate External hard drive to avoid the problem?
Thanks :)

Answer
What ever you do don't format it without backing it up, it will delete everything.
I would suggest waiting for Christmas HDD are so cheap at the moment here is a few to chose from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BIPRA-80Gb-External-Drive-Portable/dp/B004LGGVJ8/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861153&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bipra-External-Portable-including-Software/dp/B004S5VL6A/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861153&sr=1-17
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BIPRA-160GB-External-Pocket-Drive/dp/B003ZFFAS4/ref=sr_1_28?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861179&sr=1-28
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BIPRA-320GB-External-Drive-Software/dp/B00420GRTC/ref=sr_1_66?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861189&sr=1-66
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Elements-500GB-Portable/dp/B005A97A86/ref=sr_1_91?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861199&sr=1-91
...............................
Prices start from around £20 for 80 Gb and in the list go to £40 for 500 Gb
...............................
Check out more here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A340831031%2Cn%3A!340832031%2Cn%3A429884031%2Cp_72%3A419153031%2Cn%3A430544031%2Cp_36%3A2000-99999999&bbn=430544031&sort=price&ie=UTF8&qid=1353861199
Don't hesitate to ask for more help :)

what is best portable external hard drive to get under £50?

Jessica Bl

Looking for about 160 -250 gb.

Answer
I was just googling and came across this product hope it helps you

Seagate 500GB Expansion Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-500GB-Expansion-Portable-Drive/dp/B001XM4P1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=computers&qid=1285828889&sr=8-1&tag=klnprk-21

Also check out at Ebay
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574865779&toolid=10001&campid=5336440665&customid=klnprk&mpre=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ebay.co.uk%2f

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What type of external hard drive can my Mac support?

portable external hard drives for mac image

I know that Macs can only support a certain type of hard drive, but I have no idea what it's called. I used one in the past, and I was only able to transfer files from the drive to the computer, but not from the computer to the drive.

What format does the external hard drive have to be so it can be compatible with a Mac?

Thanks!

Answer
They will support any USB or FireWire drive, as long as its formatted in a way the Mac will understand such as FAT32 (an old Windows format, the most portable format available) or HFS+ (OS X's native format, which you need for Time Machine). If the drive is formatted another way, such as NTFS (Windows XP and Vista native format), you'll either need to use Disk Utility to reformat it or find a driver for it. For NTFS, you can use the ntfs-3g program. This will also let you read and write boot camp drives.

What portable hard drives work with macbooks?

One is Too

Well im looking for a portable hard drive that can work with a macbook. I thought every hard drive works with and type of computer but i looked on the back and it said only windows vista, windows 7 or windows xp... so what can work for a mac book

Answer
You can consider buying
1)Iomega eGo Helium 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 34709
*Ultra Thin - Thin and lightweight (.44 lb.) USB 2.0 portable hard drive
*Stylish - Perfect match for the new MacBook Air notebook (HFS+ formatted); compact silver design slips easily into a purse or briefcase
*Rugged- The Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51-Inch (40% above the industry average!)
*Secure -EMC Retrospect software and MozyHome Online software included for backup (via download)
*3 year warranty with product registration
http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-Helium-Portable-External-34709/dp/B002L16KVE/?tag=best-laptops01-20

2)Western Digital My Passport for Mac 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDBAAB5000ACH-NESN (Charcoal)
*Compatible with Apple TimeMachine
*Automatic, continuous backup software included
*Password protection and 256-bit encryption
*Visual drive control center
*Securing private or sensitive data
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Portable-WDBAAB5000ACH-NESN/dp/B002KG0JOE/?tag=best-laptops01-20
Hey you can visit below link you can find more options here :
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=external+hard+drive&x=0&y=0&ih=1_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0.3445_1&fsc=-1&tag=best-laptops01-20
or
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574865779&toolid=10001&campid=5336686710&customid=laptop+best+deal&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%2Fi.html%3F_nkw%3Dexternal%2520usb%2520hard%2520drive%26_trksid%3Dp3286.c0.m282

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