What should I do with music and video files?

[84GNTTYPE]

I have about 10gb of music and about 9gb of videos on my laptop. Performance is really starting to suffer.

I was thinking of getting an external hard drive just to store all my multimedia on. Can I still play my files directly off of an external drive? Also, would putting them all on an external drive restore my system performance?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Also, I am using Windows Media Player. Would it make any difference if I switched to WinAmp or something else similar?

 

[AZ Vic]

Our desktop has a 40G and it was loaded with like 38G... mostly music (like 37G) and our performance was starting to suffer too. So, we got a Maxtor external 120GB hard drive that came with the usb2.0 fire wire for $200.00.

Transferred everything to it and did some system cleanup and defrag - and it runs like new.

I thought I would not like the transfer speed but have been VERY impressed. It is nearly as fast as the internal drive.

"Can I still play my files directly off of an external drive?"

-Yes

"Also, would putting them all on an external drive restore my system performance?"

-If you have like a 20G hd I would think so, if it is 30 or up it is probably something else. Run system maintinence often and that should keep you up to speed, defraging the drive is crucial.

I don't know a bunch about 'puters but system maint. has kept us going strong for years.

Good luck!

Vic

 

[gn85]

Originally posted by 84GNTTYPE
I have about 10gb of music and about 9gb of videos on my laptop. Performance is really starting to suffer.

I was thinking of getting an external hard drive just to store all my multimedia on. Can I still play my files directly off of an external drive? Also, would putting them all on an external drive restore my system performance?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Also, I am using Windows Media Player. Would it make any difference if I switched to WinAmp or something else similar?

You should put them all on an FTP server and share with the Buick people.

In all honesty, I agree with what was said above. A very good fix for your problem. A defrag will help some, but when you fill a drive like that, you start to slow down Windows. Is your hard drive partitioned?

 

[84GNTTYPE]

My hard drive is only 40GB and is not partitioned. Is that something that I should do?

Thanks for the help.