Getting the most out of my NAS drive

[Big Aura]

Hello all. I'm half luddite on my father's side, so need some gentle help...
What I have:
WD Mybook Live 1terabyte NAS drive
Ancient Dell XPS m1330 laptop - Window Vista, 160gb HD.
Sonos, Denon AVR, Sony BDP S760 and Sony 40w4500 LCD (not overly smart telly) and a Samsung Freesat HDR (bit smart, but not nearly smart enough), and Nexus 7 (2013)

My main issue is - the Dell is entirely full to bursting, there's no space on the HD. What I would ideally like to do is set up my system so that all new downloads bypass the Dell HDD and go straight onto the NAS drive, and for them to be available easily and wirelessly on the Dell (and on my Nexus 7). As things currently stand, I need to delete photos/albums or video clips in order to download even one album (the Foals better be better than Bon Ivor!). Once downloaded, I plug my Dell into the WD and manually copy the file across.

Am I asking the impossible, or is there a SIMPLE way to set up the NAS as the default memory (and perhaps even to sync phones and tablets to it also, so that they can easily draw on the NAS drive material - e.g. downloading films, as and when needed).

If anything I've written above seems confusing, happy to clarify.

Thanks!
BA

 

[bigboss]

Your WD NAS should show up as a hard drive on your Dell. Simply point downloads to it.

Or am I missing something? :?

 

[hammill]

Hello all. I'm half luddite on my father's side, so need some gentle help... What I have: WD Mybook Live 1terabyte NAS drive Ancient Dell XPS m1330 laptop - Window Vista, 160gb HD. Sonos, Denon AVR, Sony BDP S760 and Sony 40w4500 LCD (not overly smart telly) and a Samsung Freesat HDR (bit smart, but not nearly smart enough), and Nexus 7 (2013) My main issue is - the Dell is entirely full to bursting, there's no space on the HD. What I would ideally like to do is set up my system so that all new downloads bypass the Dell HDD and go straight onto the NAS drive, and for them to be available easily and wirelessly on the Dell (and on my Nexus 7). As things currently stand, I need to delete photos/albums or video clips in order to download even one album (the Foals better be better than Bon Ivor!). Once downloaded, I plug my Dell into the WD and manually copy the file across. Am I asking the impossible, or is there a SIMPLE way to set up the NAS as the default memory (and perhaps even to sync phones and tablets to it also, so that they can easily draw on the NAS drive material - e.g. downloading films, as and when needed). If anything I've written above seems confusing, happy to clarify. Thanks! BA

Is it not as simple as mapping the NAS as a network drive on your Dell and then using that as the destination for downloads? Or am I misunderstanding the problem?

 

[his dudeness]

i dont no the wd live,but i would replace your laptops hd with a 500 g or even 1tb,really just a 2 min job,i did this recently with a hp which like you only had 160g hd and switched from vista to windows 7 premium its like a new laptop,with everything backed up to my nas.

 

[Antony Brown]

Instaed of deleting photos etc. from your Dell, can you not kjust move all the photos and music etc. to your WD drive? Then do as previously suggested and point all of your downloads to the WD.

 

[jlc3010]

you can have a look a this link :

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/2676/c/130/p/247,335

it seems WD has some apps to upload download files from portable devices also.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=280

 

[Big Aura]

excellent. How does one "point" downloads? The NAS shows up when I click "Computer", but the default location is the Dell HDD.

In terms of replacing the Hard Drive - sure that involves being overy techy. There's a laptop repair place on my way home, I take it this is something that they can do easily/cheaply? (and how much should I expect to pay for parts and labour)?

thanks

 

[hammill]

For Vista, this appears to be the way to change your default download directory

Right click the download folder ( in user/ "your account" ) and select properties. Now select the "Location" tab. You can then write in whatever path you wish.

 

[MajorFubar]

Your WD NAS should show up as a hard drive on your Dell. Simply point downloads to it.

Or am I missing something? :?

No offence to the OP but some of us, including me, sometimes forget that a lot of people aren't even familiar with browsing around their computer's My Docs folders let alone anything else. I've lost count of how many times I've had to try and help people at work who can't find a particular document they saved days earlier. My first questions is usually "Well where abouts did you save it?" and the answer is often "On my computer of course", like I'd asked the stupidest question in the world. The follow-up question of "Yeah but which folder exactly?" gets nothing but blank stares. Even in 2014.

 

[Big Aura]

Thanks all. And Major, yep - a bit guilty of that too. In my defence everywhere I've ever worked has had centralised document and file storage, so I've never had to store anything locally.

Re replacing the harddrive, I've just seen a video on uchoob and it seems even more simple that when I replaced the battery in my iPod.

For those in the know, will a new (uncrammed) hard drive mean my laptop boots up faster (currently takes 8-10 mins).

Also, are there better harddrives than others, e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B008I02E30/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1390604140&sr=8-1%CF%80=AC_SX110_SY165

 

[bigboss]

Remember there are only 2 manufacturers of hard drives in the world currently; Western Digital and Seagate.

Yes, your computer will get faster once there's more hard drive space.

You can speed it further. Check this.

 

[bigboss]

Your Dell has a Seagate hard drive. Any 2.5-inch hard drive will do.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_3?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=2.5%20sata%20hard%20drive&sprefix=2.5%2Caps%2C220

Also, you can upgrade the RAM if you want it to be even faster.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Komputerbay-667MHz-PC2-5300-PC2-5400-SODIMM/dp/B004LTAPPG/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1390608891&sr=1-4&keywords=sodimm+ddr2

 

[Big Aura]

thanks BB.

I actually use most of those tricks to speed it up (CCleaner and I used to degrag often, until my HD got too full - a defrag with minimal free disk space takes about 35hrs!). Until I find a "replace RAM easily" youtube link, I'll stick with upgrading the hard drive.

Just so I'm sure I'm on the right track - this (which is Seagate/Samsung SATA) should do the trick?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Seagate-inch-5400RPM-Drive/dp/B007NVGWV0/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

thanks again

 

[visionary]

thanks BB.

I actually use most of those tricks to speed it up (CCleaner and I used to degrag often, until my HD got too full - a defrag with minimal free disk space takes about 35hrs!). Until I find a "replace RAM easily" youtube link, I'll stick with upgrading the hard drive.

Just so I'm sure I'm on the right track - this (which is Seagate/Samsung SATA) should do the trick?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Seagate-inch-5400RPM-Drive/dp/B007NVGWV0/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

thanks again

The on-line manual for the Dell shows you pictures of how to do it clicky

If you go to a site such as www.crucial.com they can advise the correct memory to buy

 

[jonathanRD]

excellent. How does one "point" downloads? The NAS shows up when I click "Computer", but the default location is the Dell HDD. In terms of replacing the Hard Drive - sure that involves being overy techy. There's a laptop repair place on my way home, I take it this is something that they can do easily/cheaply? (and how much should I expect to pay for parts and labour)? thanks

I've upgraded my RAM on my desktop computer and will attempt to most things myself. But after the cooling fan started playing up, I wasn't exactly sure which replacement would work or fit (as an alternative to the Dell part). So I went along to a local computer shop who also do repairs. I had a rough idea what the cooling fan would cost, so when they quoted a figure that was about £20 more - I quickly said yes, please get on with it.

The point is, there's no harm in going and asking for a quote - especially if you know how much the individual parts are you want to replace. It might save you a lot of time and stress.

 

[The_Lhc]

thanks BB.

I actually use most of those tricks to speed it up (CCleaner and I used to degrag often, until my HD got too full - a defrag with minimal free disk space takes about 35hrs!). Until I find a "replace RAM easily" youtube link, I'll stick with upgrading the hard drive.

Just so I'm sure I'm on the right track - this (which is Seagate/Samsung SATA) should do the trick?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Seagate-inch-5400RPM-Drive/dp/B007NVGWV0/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

thanks again

So, how are you planning to copy the contents of the old drive to the new one?

Replacing RAM is a piece of pie, usually. Open a hatch on the underside, take the old stuff out, put the new stuff in, close the hatch.

 

[Scissor_digits]

Remember there are only 2 manufacturers of hard drives in the world currently; Western Digital and Seagate.

and Toshiba

 

[Big Aura]

thanks for all the helpful responses.

RAM - I've bought some RAM, so as I read it - it's a simple swap job, with no need to do any formatting etc? I understand that some people have experienced their laptop running hot after upgrading RAM, so will have to cross that bridge if I come to it.

In terms of the Hard Drive - I've not bought anything yet, but will go for this I think

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Seagate-inch-5400RPM-Drive/dp/B007NVGWV0...

(Unless anyone tells me it's not the right thing at all!)

I have a 2TB WD Elements external Hard Drive, that I copied my laptop hard drive to once, a few years ago, in case my laptop was ever stolen. I presume I can copy my hard drive as it is now across to that, and then copy it back to the new laptop hard drive?

My issues are:

1 - that will mean that the 2TB WD Elements will have two copies of 90% of the files, and then 10% of new stuff that I've created since I last copied everything across. Is there a way to only copy across "new files" to the 2TB WD Elements, so that when I use it to "repopulate" my new integrated hard-drive in the laptop, I don't end up with lots of duplicates?

2 - my new laptop hard drive - will it need any formatting or splitting (I currently have a "normal" and "recovery" section on my laptop).

thanks

 

[his dudeness]

that hd is fine,def copy all your files to your 2tb hard drive before changing,you will need a os on the new hd once its installed,do you have a vista disc,or can you get a windows 7 disc,your new drive will not have a operating system,if you dont have either you can create a recovery disc of your vista os.

 

[Big Aura]

thanks - and will the existing copies of everything on the 2TB external drive cause an issues, or can I ask my laptop to copy across only that which isn't already present on the t2b drive?

 

[The_Lhc]

thanks - and will the existing copies of everything on the 2TB external drive cause an issues, or can I ask my laptop to copy across only that which isn't already present on the t2b drive?

If you don't already know how to do this, find someone that does, it's MUCH more involved than swapping RAM is.

 

[Anonymous]

Dead easy, Google it.

Why not help him out?