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  • 14 February 2013

  • How-Tos: Multiple Hard Drives Working Together: All about RAIDs

    Stevey, admitted confused by the benefits of RAIDs, asked the Answer Line forum to explain these hard drive groups.

  • 06 February 2013

  • How-Tos: Tech Jargon Buster: technology terms explained - February 2013

    Each month we explain technology terms in plain English. Here's our updated A-Z of technology jargon explained.

  • 30 January 2013

  • How-Tos: Set up Windows 8 as a home server

    If you have multiple PCs in your home or small office, you can save time and look professional by storing your documents and media on one PC and using network sharing to access them across all your computers and devices. This prevents you from having to store duplicate copies of files and reduces confusion when trying to find which PC a file is stored on. Additionally, you only really need to worry about backing up one PC (though for safety's sake you should always back up everything on a regular basis.)

  • 28 January 2013

  • How-Tos: Answer Line: Move data files from an SSD to a hard drive

    PoloTiger has both a solid state drive and a hard drive, and the SSD is almost full. What's the best way to both move data files to the hard drive and make Windows understand that that's where they belong?

  • 22 January 2013

  • How-Tos: How to trick out your gaming PC with multiple graphics cards

    The simplest way to make your PC games look better is to buy a better graphics card. If you already have the best graphics card money can buy (one of these, perhaps), the next step is to install a duplicate and make them work together. Most savvy PC users have a machine with a discrete graphics card, but adding a second or even third card and running them together can lead to a big performance boost in demanding PC games.

  • 17 January 2013

  • How-Tos: SSDs vs. hard drives vs. hybrids: Which storage tech is right for you?

    In times past, choosing the best PC storage option required merely selecting the highest-capacity hard drive one could afford. If only life were still so simple! The fairly recent rise of solid-state drives and hybrid drives (which mix standard hard drives with solid-state memory) have significantly altered the storage landscape, creating a cornucopia of confusing options for the everyday consumer.

  • 14 January 2013

  • How-Tos: Turn your flash drive into a portable PC survival kit

    If you're using your flash drive as a vehicle for simple file transfers, you're missing out on one of the single-best roles one of these wee data buckets can fulfill. Indeed, hardcore enthusiasts know that simple flash drives are perfect portable repositories for all the software that can breathe life into an otherwise ailing PC.

  • 02 January 2013

  • How-Tos: DVD-less Snow Leopard installation on older Mac

    Reader Steven Harris is trying to do the right thing by his family, but technical barriers prevent it. He writes:

  • 27 December 2012

  • How-Tos: Answer Line: I must run this program on computers other than my own

    Lyman E Bertsch needs to run an application on a relative's computer. Installing the program isn't an option. Can Lyman run the program off a flash drive?

  • 22 December 2012

  • How-Tos: Bugs & Fixes: Turning power off turns trouble on

    Sometimes, you can't win. The very thing you do to prevent potential trouble winds up causing you grief instead. Such was the case for me in today's episode of Bugs & Fixes. It's a story that also features a surprise ending.

  • 07 December 2012

  • How-Tos: Find out what's using all the space on your hard drive

    Problem: Your hard drive is getting full.

  • 05 December 2012

  • How-Tos: Remains of the Day: Born in the USA

    New iMacs are coming from inside the country! Elsewhere, Apple lets you buy iPhone 5s until your heart is content, and Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs impression is a little eerie. The remainders for Tuesday, December 4, 2012 are just dancing in the dark.

  • 26 November 2012

  • How-Tos: What's the best file system for an external drive?

    Cyberknight asked the Hard Drives, NAS Drives, Storage forum if a new flash drive should be formatted in FAT32 or NTFS.

  • 14 November 2012

  • How-Tos: Restore your data from the cloud

    Online backups are a useful component of a well-balanced backup strategy. Whether you rely primarily on cloud storage for backups (see "Backup Basics") or use the cloud to supplement local backups such as bootable duplicates (see "Bulletproof Backups"), it's crucial to understand how you will go about restoring your data after disaster strikes.

  • How-Tos: How to restore data from Time Machine in Mountain Lion

    Now that you've been using Time Machine regularly to back up your computer, you should be fully prepared if your Mac crashes or if you need to move data from one Mac to another. Restoring data from Time Machine is just as easy as backing things up in the first place.

  • 12 November 2012

  • How-Tos: Set up Time Machine in Mountain Lion

    If you value your data—whether it’s some perfect photos you took last weekend, your entire music collection on iTunes, or your draft of the next great American novel—you must stay on top of regular system backup. One of the easiest ways of doing so is to use OS X’s built-in backup program, Time Machine. Time Machine works with your Mac and an external drive to save important documents, photos, and system files regularly. Apart from keeping spares of every file, Time Machine maintains a record of how your system looked on any given day, so you can easily put everything back the way it was if something goes wrong.

  • 04 November 2012

  • How-Tos: Prepare your business for digital disaster

    Note: This article was originally published in late September 2012. However, following hurricane Sandy and increased concerns about disaster preparedness, we have decided to reprint this guide. If you have any suggestions not covered in the article, please share your ideas in a comment below.

  • 04 October 2012

  • How-Tos: Can I recover some files and securely wipe others on a crashed hard drive?

    Zeterjons asked the Utilities forum how to rescue files off of a physically crashed hard drive, while making sure that other files on that hard drive are destroyed beyond rescue.

  • 03 October 2012

  • How-Tos: How to free up iCloud storage space

    When Apple introduced iCloud in 2011, it announced that every customer with an Apple ID would receive 5GB of iCloud storage space for free. You can add more storage at a rate of $2 per gigabyte per year, in 10GB, 20GB, or 50GB increments. But if you're not interested in ponying up extra cash for iCloud storage, that 5GB can quickly get tight.

  • 26 September 2012

  • How-Tos: Windows Explorer says DVD drive has been changed or moved

    What do you do if the DVD drive in your PC or laptop simply stops working? This was the problem faced by one of our readers. When he wrote in our Helproom Editor explained what to do when Windows Explorer says your PC's DVD drive has been changed or moved.

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