Can a SanDisk (1GB USB drive) work as an external hardrive?
Sunday, November 5, 2006 by Bash2cool | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
I'm trying to install windowblind on my computer but if i do, it will make my computer slow. About two weeks ago, i bought a sandisk 1gb drive thinking that i will need it school but it turned out i didn't need it. So can i use that as an external hard drive to install windowblibs, bootskin, and log-on softwares?
Is there anything better i can do?
Is there anything better i can do?
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Jafo
Reply #2 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:22 AM
Reply #2 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:22 AM
A USB drive is slower to read/write [data thru-put in the USB] than a harddrive...so running any form of proggy from one is not a good idea.
Once removed, your registry will get a bit nervous if it cannot souce missing programs on that removed drive.
Any proggy closely linked/associated with your OS should ideally be on the same drive as that OS....
Bash2cool
Reply #3 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:08 PM
so what if i keep it on the computer all the time (since i don't need it for anything else) will that help?
maybe thats true but when i first got windowblinds, i also downloaded a lot of skins for it and saved them all in a folder. Is saving the skins in a folder the reason why my computer is slowing down? (since the skins are usually very large in size).
My computer has a 80GB hard drive and a 512Mb with a 1.6ghz pentium 4 prosessor. The computer is from the company HP.
Reply #3 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:08 PM
| Any proggy closely linked/associated with your OS should ideally be on the same drive as that OS.... |
so what if i keep it on the computer all the time (since i don't need it for anything else) will that help?
| If this is the case, then you have other issues. Windowblinds in itself will not slow down your computer. |
maybe thats true but when i first got windowblinds, i also downloaded a lot of skins for it and saved them all in a folder. Is saving the skins in a folder the reason why my computer is slowing down? (since the skins are usually very large in size).
My computer has a 80GB hard drive and a 512Mb with a 1.6ghz pentium 4 prosessor. The computer is from the company HP.
Cavan1
Reply #4 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:29 PM
Reply #4 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:29 PM
Hey bash, the only thing that having lots of skins will cause is it will take longer for WB config to open as it sorts the skins.
As Phoon said WB will not slow down your system unless there are other issues causing a conflict.
Leaving the USB drive connected all the time may work but as Jafo said it will be slower than having the programs on your hard drive. You would be making the slowness of your system worse.
As Phoon said WB will not slow down your system unless there are other issues causing a conflict.
Leaving the USB drive connected all the time may work but as Jafo said it will be slower than having the programs on your hard drive. You would be making the slowness of your system worse.
Kevin_C
Reply #5 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:35 PM
Well, that depends on which hard drive technology you're using and which USB technology you're using. Typical PATA throughput tops out at 133MBps which is probably faster than USB 1.0 and 1.1, but USB 2.0 has a practical throughput of 320 MBps. Now SATA is faster with a throughput of 1.5 Gbps and SATA-II has a theoretical max throughput of 3.0 Gbps but you'll never actually see that speed.
All that aside, Jafo speaks the truth wrt the regstry. I don't think you'll like the results of installing programs like WB to a removable drive. Not to mention that flash drives have a limited number of read/write cycles in their functional lifetime and using it for something like that is sure to shorten your drives life.
Now, when you say it slows your computer down, what exactly slows down? WB doesn't access the HDD all that much unless you're loading a skin or browsing through your skins through the WB configuration window so loading it to a pendrive won't improve it's performance for the most part.
Reply #5 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:35 PM
| A USB drive is slower to read/write [data thru-put in the USB] than a harddrive |
Well, that depends on which hard drive technology you're using and which USB technology you're using. Typical PATA throughput tops out at 133MBps which is probably faster than USB 1.0 and 1.1, but USB 2.0 has a practical throughput of 320 MBps. Now SATA is faster with a throughput of 1.5 Gbps and SATA-II has a theoretical max throughput of 3.0 Gbps but you'll never actually see that speed.
All that aside, Jafo speaks the truth wrt the regstry. I don't think you'll like the results of installing programs like WB to a removable drive. Not to mention that flash drives have a limited number of read/write cycles in their functional lifetime and using it for something like that is sure to shorten your drives life.
Now, when you say it slows your computer down, what exactly slows down? WB doesn't access the HDD all that much unless you're loading a skin or browsing through your skins through the WB configuration window so loading it to a pendrive won't improve it's performance for the most part.
Kevin_C
Reply #6 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:37 PM
This is your problem. If you're using XP which I assume you are 512 MB is the bare minimum recommended for running the OS which will guarantee your system will feel slow even without any add-on applications.
Reply #6 Sunday, November 5, 2006 2:37 PM
| 512Mb |
This is your problem. If you're using XP which I assume you are 512 MB is the bare minimum recommended for running the OS which will guarantee your system will feel slow even without any add-on applications.
Bash2cool
Reply #7 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:24 PM
actually, the minimum is 64MB.
ok but what if i use the sandisk as a drive for the skins instead of putting it on the computer? is that better?
Reply #7 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:24 PM
| This is your problem. If you're using XP which I assume you are 512 MB is the bare minimum recommended for running the OS which will guarantee your system will feel slow even without any add-on applications. |
actually, the minimum is 64MB.
ok but what if i use the sandisk as a drive for the skins instead of putting it on the computer? is that better?
PurrBall
Reply #8 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:29 PM
No, because that is the part that is accessed and will be slower on the usb drive.
I've tried that. Not pretty. 
I have a gig of RAM and I think I need even more. 512 was a lot in the day.
I think you have a whole other problem, maybe spyware. You should check your process list. If you have over 35 processes then you should try to cut down on it by looking at your startup programs in MSConfig. I have 32 processes and I have a lot of actual running programs open.
Reply #8 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:29 PM
| ok but what if i use the sandisk as a drive for the skins instead of putting it on the computer? is that better? |
| actually, the minimum is 64MB. |
I have a gig of RAM and I think I need even more. 512 was a lot in the day.
I think you have a whole other problem, maybe spyware. You should check your process list. If you have over 35 processes then you should try to cut down on it by looking at your startup programs in MSConfig. I have 32 processes and I have a lot of actual running programs open.
Kevin_C
Reply #9 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:37 PM
Yah, maybe to get it to load, and if all you want to do is look at your desktop without running any actual apps. I have 3GB of memory in my machine and I use a ramdisk for items that I want to be accessible quickly. However, keep in mind anything loaded in your ramdisk would be lost when you reboot. however it is EXTREMELY fast!
Reply #9 Sunday, November 5, 2006 6:37 PM
| actually, the minimum is 64MB. |
Yah, maybe to get it to load, and if all you want to do is look at your desktop without running any actual apps. I have 3GB of memory in my machine and I use a ramdisk for items that I want to be accessible quickly. However, keep in mind anything loaded in your ramdisk would be lost when you reboot. however it is EXTREMELY fast!
Jafo
Reply #10 Sunday, November 5, 2006 7:20 PM
Reply #10 Sunday, November 5, 2006 7:20 PM
64meg would be fantasy land. If you want anything at all to 'run' within the OS you'll need 256.
512 will often see you gasping for more....
1gig gives comfortable headroom....
Many have 2gig or more [I know I'm happier with 2]...
Phoon
Reply #11 Sunday, November 5, 2006 8:05 PM
Reply #11 Sunday, November 5, 2006 8:05 PM
I just upgraded to 3GB myself and I notice quite a bit of improvement.
As for min... 64 is correct but not usable. I have ran it quite well on 256MB however but not with any kinds of fluff.
I would bump it up to 1GB at least, and what video card is in your hp? That may be the true culprit of your issues right there.
As for min... 64 is correct but not usable. I have ran it quite well on 256MB however but not with any kinds of fluff.
I would bump it up to 1GB at least, and what video card is in your hp? That may be the true culprit of your issues right there.
Bash2cool
Reply #12 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:22 PM
Reply #12 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:22 PM
well my little brother has 128MB in his computer and yet he has lots of games in his...(not the high tech ones).
i was always planning on getting 1GB for my computer but then i always think about waiting until windows Vista comes out.
well i can put the skin that i am using in the computer and save the rest in the sandisk. once i want to change skins, i put the drive in and start changing them.
I got my HP computer in 2002 so maybe thats why its kinda running low on speed.
i have 53 processes and i know that sometimes that can be the problem but i don't know which ones to remove because it might harm my computer.
i was always planning on getting 1GB for my computer but then i always think about waiting until windows Vista comes out.
| ok but what if i use the sandisk as a drive for the skins instead of putting it on the computer? is that better? No, because that is the part that is accessed and will be slower on the usb drive. |
well i can put the skin that i am using in the computer and save the rest in the sandisk. once i want to change skins, i put the drive in and start changing them.
I got my HP computer in 2002 so maybe thats why its kinda running low on speed.
i have 53 processes and i know that sometimes that can be the problem but i don't know which ones to remove because it might harm my computer.
Bash2cool
Reply #13 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:23 PM
how do i find that out?
Reply #13 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:23 PM
| and what video card is in your hp? |
how do i find that out?
Bichur
Reply #14 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:34 PM
Reply #14 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:34 PM
open WB config and click system info. it's the line that says something along:
You have one monitor in total.
(hp pavilion f50) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X
You have one monitor in total.
(hp pavilion f50) 1 is attached to NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X
yrag
Reply #15 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:34 PM
Manuals lead a lonely life.......Â
Google the HP model # and it will tell you what you have.
Reply #15 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:34 PM
| how do i find that out? |
Manuals lead a lonely life.......
 Google the HP model # and it will tell you what you have.
Skinhit
Reply #17 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:45 PM
Reply #17 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:45 PM
53 processes is definitely not helping....a well tuned computer should only have 20-30 processes running @ any given time
starkers
Reply #18 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:47 PM
Reply #18 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:47 PM
Hi Bash, long time no see....good to see you're still around....was beginning to think you'd migrated to another planet or something. 
Anyway...to your slowdown problem! The others are right in that you need more RAM to adequately run XP and 3rd party apps as well, so that would be a place to start. As Phoon suggested, it may also due to your video card, particularly if you're running WB5, which needs a decent and fairly up to date card to function properly...
However, it could also be due to your OS, depending on how long since it was first installed. XP and its registry can become bloated over time and thus will slow your PC down some. Defragging and cleaning out all the junk files can help, but sometimes that's not enough and you may need to freshen things up with a clean install.
Also, your 1.6Ghz CPU is relatively small compared to many modern ones, and being the central brain of your PC it will struggle when combined with less than ideal RAM and an inadequate video card, particularly when you're multi-tasking and have a lot of background processes running. Therefore, you need to optimise your PC by adding more RAM (perhaps a better video card) and cleaning the bloat from the OS, possibly via a clean install if your current installation is old. However, WB would not be the culprit slowing down your machine as it has a relatively small footprint and uses very few resources.
Anyway, Bash, all the best with it! I just couldn't imagine running XP without WindowBlinds anymore....it'd be like being relegated to Fisher Price after having Lego Technics for a while.
Anyway...to your slowdown problem! The others are right in that you need more RAM to adequately run XP and 3rd party apps as well, so that would be a place to start. As Phoon suggested, it may also due to your video card, particularly if you're running WB5, which needs a decent and fairly up to date card to function properly...
However, it could also be due to your OS, depending on how long since it was first installed. XP and its registry can become bloated over time and thus will slow your PC down some. Defragging and cleaning out all the junk files can help, but sometimes that's not enough and you may need to freshen things up with a clean install.
Also, your 1.6Ghz CPU is relatively small compared to many modern ones, and being the central brain of your PC it will struggle when combined with less than ideal RAM and an inadequate video card, particularly when you're multi-tasking and have a lot of background processes running. Therefore, you need to optimise your PC by adding more RAM (perhaps a better video card) and cleaning the bloat from the OS, possibly via a clean install if your current installation is old. However, WB would not be the culprit slowing down your machine as it has a relatively small footprint and uses very few resources.
Anyway, Bash, all the best with it! I just couldn't imagine running XP without WindowBlinds anymore....it'd be like being relegated to Fisher Price after having Lego Technics for a while.
Bash2cool
Reply #19 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:55 PM
been gone for a while...but NOT THAT LONG!
well i don't know which ones will harm my computer if i shut them off.
should i wait for windows vista or just buy a 1GB memory card?
THIS is the problem with PC's brought from these companies. they give you a computer with the most basic things inside and once you have many programs that you want to run at once or that you might have, you later realize that you're computer has to be upgraded to the maximum possible. (my computer can hold up to 2GB, i don't know about the video card.) My computer is a HP pavilion 750n
Reply #19 Sunday, November 5, 2006 9:55 PM
| Hi Bash, long time no see....good to see you're still around....was beginning to think you'd migrated to another planet or something. |
been gone for a while...but NOT THAT LONG!
| 53 processes is definitely not helping....a well tuned computer should only have 20-30 processes running @ any given time |
well i don't know which ones will harm my computer if i shut them off.
should i wait for windows vista or just buy a 1GB memory card?
THIS is the problem with PC's brought from these companies. they give you a computer with the most basic things inside and once you have many programs that you want to run at once or that you might have, you later realize that you're computer has to be upgraded to the maximum possible. (my computer can hold up to 2GB, i don't know about the video card.) My computer is a HP pavilion 750n
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Reply #1 Sunday, November 5, 2006 8:48 AM
If this is the case, then you have other issues. Windowblinds in itself will not slow down your computer.