Computer Help II

Actually all files are stored on the "root" directory - all file folders are just address management systems, they aren't real divisions of the drive. To make a real division of the drive you would need to partition the drive, and you then run into problems with filling up one partitioned area with files.You do want to be careful about the overall amount of disk space used, as when you get upwards of 90% full some strange things can happen with windows access. This is more common with drive C (the standard program\OS drive) due to paging of program information.You can check %used by right clicking on the drive in "my computer" and selecting properties. This also gives you access to tool to clean up the disk or to deferag the disk (files can actually be stored in several different parts of the drive, and defragging puts the pieces together in one area for faster performance).Enjoy.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

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Do I remember correctly that your system is an older one? If it's a recent enough Windows system to be using FAT (Windows XP or Vista, plus some of the lesser old versions of pre-XP operating systems), the limit is a total of 268,435,437 files for the entire disk, see File Allocation Table in Wikipedia.The article isn't specific about the limit on the number of files per directory, but my interpretation is that it's 65535.If you have an older system then I don't know, but I'd be cautious if I were you. And backups are always a good idea.--Percy

How is your drive formatted? FAT16, FAT32, NTFS? What OS?If you have XP I NTFS would be most stable.I have an external USB HD that currently has 19,662 files, 1518 folders, and 101 GB. It is on XP with NTFS. Never a prob. I have a laptop downstairs that I use to play the music on my home stereo. The laptop has a wireless connection to my PC with the portable USB drive and this has been the only kink in the setup. Occasionally, I get some data interrupts and skipping. Seems to happen when the laptop is updating a/v or something like that.I found a solution the other day. They now have massive USB drives (400GB)that do not need an external power supply and they are tiny(roughly 3x5, cost $99 at Duluth Best Buy). I can connect this to the laptop and no more wireless issues. I will sync the 2 drives whenever I load more music and that way I will have a backup.Also, my wife and I are going to South Africa next week and we can easily take our whole music collection with us.Life is good.Edited by Theodoric, : FAT not Fat

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

Yeah, it came to me last night that the FAT would be the limiting factor.I'm looking for a different solution to traveling computering, I want to load Linux on an 8gig flash drive and be able to boot any computer in Linux with the drive and use my files on the flash drive, to in essence have my computer on a stick that fits in my pocket and goes with me.I've got Knoppix and I've read about DSL (damn small linux) or puppy linux on a flash drive and I wonder if I really need small with the new 8 gig and larger flash drives (larger than old hard drives), although it means less in RAM for higher operation speeds.It looks like I can BUY one, but I'd like to try making it myself.I already use open office and would like to ditch the last remnants of Bully Gates programs.Enjoy.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

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• • • Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click) • • •

I have a device (not a computer) that needs to be connected to the internet. It only has an ethernet port. Is there a cheap device that accepts wireless signal and has an ethernet port for me to connect to the other device? I guess I'm looking for some sort of converter.

I assume that there's some reason why you don't want to connect it to a computer by ethernet ?
If so, it seems that some sort of router will likely do what you want. Apple's Airport Express is a minimal example. I might have a better idea if you described your setup in more detail.

My computer is up stairs. My wireless router is up stairs. Device A is down stairs. Device A only has an ethernet port. I need a little box, preferably cute and cubical, that receives the wifi signal so I could plug device A into it.

Then I think that you either need another wireless router that can be connected to your existing network (I'm not sure how you do that) or some alternative, such as powerline networking (how's the wiring in your house ?). Unless there's some way of adding wireless to the other device.

Google "wireless ethernet bridge". Lots of selection with a wide variety of price range

Already done that. Since I'm a cheap son of a bitch, I'm just a little hesitant at the moment...

Anyone know if this will do the trick?

Almost certainly won't. You need a bridge.Error Page | eBay
Error Page | eBay
Error Page | eBay

No that is a router, if you have wireless already you already have a router. Now you need a bridge which will take the wireless signal and output it to an ethernet port.

Son of a...I've decided to solve my problem the cheap... free way. I've moved my wireless router down stairs and use a usb wireless card I dug out of my old stuff for my computer up stairs. Problem solved.

Taz,I realize that you've already solved the problem, but just in case you find yourself changing where stuff is in your house, they do make wireless "dongles" that connect via RJ-45 connectors rather than USB.You'll want to look up things like "wireless gaming adapter" since they are designed specifically for that purpose: You have a wireless router but your gaming system, which can connect to the internet, doesn't have a wireless transmitter in it. You'll set up the gaming adapter on your computer in order to give it the SSID, any encryption keys needed, etc., and then you just plug it into your game console/DVR/whatever that has the RJ-45 connector.I had a similar issue: My ReplayTV has a network interface and can get the channel guide over the internet, but it only has an RJ-45 connector. The wireless router is nowhere near it, so I used a wireless gaming adapter (mine was a Linksys WGA54G) to have it wirelessly connect to the internet.

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.