[Tourista]

Hi all:

My 10 yr old HP desktop is finally dying, and am upgrading to a new PC. Problem is that I have only now realised that I have thousands of photo's on CD disks, but the PC I have ordered has only a DVD drive.

(yes I hear you saying "idiot", but please be nice)

New PC specs

The question is, should I look out for a particular CD drive, or is any that are Windows 8 compatible OK?.

[CAMERA OBSCURA]

The DVD drive should read your CD's with no problem.

[Tourista]

Originally Posted by CAMERA OBSCURA

The DVD drive should read your CD's with no problem.

Thanks CO.

My old PC had 2 seperate drives, one for DVD, and the other for CD's which is the reason for my last minute panic over it.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by Tourista

Thanks CO.

My old PC had 2 seperate drives, one for DVD, and the other for CD's which is the reason for my last minute panic over it.

I suspect that your old PC had CD burner and DVD play only drives in it. Maybe the DVD was added as an upgrade?

But I do not know of a single DVD drive that cannot read CD disks. It is normal for optical drives to be backwards compatible, so a DVD will play CDs and similarly a Blu-Ray will play DVDs and CDs.

[paulj48]

Originally Posted by Tourista

. Problem is that I have only now realised that I have thousands of photo's on CD disks, but the PC I have ordered has only a DVD drive.

I'd suggest you get all those photos off the cd's and backed up onto something more realiable.

[max99]

Originally Posted by paulj48

I'd suggest you get all those photos off the cd's and backed up onto something more realiable.

You beat me to it. An external hard drive is far more practical for backing up thousands of photos.

And OP, please don't make the common mistake of only storing the photos on the CDs (or external drive, if you decide to get one). Data should always exist in at least two separate places, so ensure you store them on the new PC and whatever other medium you chose.

[LostFool]

Originally Posted by max99

You beat me to it. An external hard drive is far more practical for backing up thousands of photos.

And OP, please don't make the common mistake of only storing the photos on the CDs (or external drive, if you decide to get one). Data should always exist in at least two separate places, so ensure you store them on the new PC and whatever other medium you chose.

Yes, you can never have too many backups.

Also look at some Cloud storage solutions such as Drop Box, Sky Drive or Google Drive which means that your photos and other documents are instantly available across all of your devices. See http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/dropbox-gdrive-skydrive/ for comparisons.

[Sexbomb]

Asking about dropbox etc. if you upload the pics in therir original size, if you download again do they stay in their original file size?

i have about 22gb of pictures

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by Sexbomb

Asking about dropbox etc. if you upload the pics in therir original size, if you download again do they stay in their original file size?

i have about 22gb of pictures

Yes they are the same size, dropbox does not alter any file.

[LostFool]

Originally Posted by Sexbomb

Asking about dropbox etc. if you upload the pics in therir original size, if you download again do they stay in their original file size?

i have about 22gb of pictures

Files are stored in their original size. It's not like a photo upload site.

With 22GB of photos then Dropbox may not be for you as a backup solution but I can thoroughly recommend it as a way of sharing files between computers, tablets and phones.

[rottweiler]

» Processor Type: Celeron

Don't waste your money on that Pc, how much are you paying for that btw ?

[max99]

It's a perfectly respectable PC for regular, non-demanding users.

[mred2000]

Originally Posted by max99

It's a perfectly respectable PC for regular, non-demanding users.

rottweiler thinks he's an expert now, especially with Macs. He'll be going into business as an IT consultant with cmorris next

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by mred2000

rottweiler thinks he's an expert now, especially with Macs. He'll be going into business as an IT consultant with cmorris next

LOL

[rottweiler]

Instead of taking the piss out of me, why don't we wait for the op to list how much he is paying for his Celeron new Pc ?

[curiousclive]

Originally Posted by rottweiler

Instead of taking the piss out of me, why don't we wait for the op to list how much he is paying for his Celeron new Pc ?

Why you going to offer to sell him a better one for less?
Bet it a fraction of the price of a Mac and will still do what he wants it for.

[shhftw]

Originally Posted by rottweiler

Instead of taking the piss out of me, why don't we wait for the op to list how much he is paying for his Celeron new Pc ?

Doesn't matter how much you pay if you could get something much better. 100% wasted if it's not the best you can get.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by shhftw

Doesn't matter how much you pay if you could get something much better. 100% wasted if it's not the best you can get.

How is your Ferrari going or is that not a good enough car for you?

[max99]

Originally Posted by rottweiler

Instead of taking the piss out of me, why don't we wait for the op to list how much he is paying for his Celeron new Pc ?

And why didn't you wait to find out how much he is paying before telling him not to waste his money?

[rottweiler]

So where is the price ?
Nowhere to be seen..... I wonder why ???

Someone askes this

Problem is that I have only now realised that I have thousands of photo's on CD disks, but the PC I have ordered has only a DVD drive.

And you wonder why I asked how much the new pc cost ?

The OP was clearly about to be ripped off by someone/store

And I don't have a Ferrari, wouldn't mind one as a run around but wouldn't get the family in so I'll stick with the Range Rover.

[Tourista]

Sorry for not get back to you all, and thank you all so much for the advice regarding the "lack" of a dedicated CD drive.

Have tested a couple of CD's, and they work fine. The confusion is because of poor product description alone, a thing which would be easy to sort out, and have asked PB why they dont tell people about the capabilities of their machines accurately (dont honestly expect a response)

Oh rottweiler, if you are still all a tremble with curiosity over what I paid, all I can say is that it was cheaper than a Ferrari...

(seriously it cost £349 from Littlewoods, but because they screwed up an order a while back, I got a £35.00 discount, so rottie I dont feel "ripped off" and I wont actually "pay" for it until Jan next year)

Also, thanks to those saying I should have more than 1 backup for my photo's etc, it is something I will look into asap. Currently have them all on my lappy, a seperate hard drive and CD's, but "cloud" seems the way to go, so cheers for the help......

If I can admit it, the layout of W8 has me a tad frazzled atm, and I think it will take me a while to get into it, ....

Sorry for the long post guys.....

[Stig]

I hope you get on OK.

Thanks for coming back to the thread to give us feedback.

[noise747]

Originally Posted by max99

It's a perfectly respectable PC for regular, non-demanding users.

Have they improved then? I got a celeron machine here and while now it would be out of date at the time it was suppose to have been top notch for the price, but it is so slow,

[max99]

Originally Posted by rottweiler

Someone askes this

And you wonder why I asked how much the new pc cost ?

The OP didn't realise that a DVD drive will also play CDs. You should have.

Originally Posted by noise747

Have they improved then? I got a celeron machine here and while now it would be out of date at the time it was suppose to have been top notch for the price, but it is so slow,

Celerons are much improved over the version from a number of years ago. Obviously not as fast as a faster, dearer processor, but still a decent chip for regular usage.

Originally Posted by Tourista

If I can admit it, the layout of W8 has me a tad frazzled atm, and I think it will take me a while to get into it.

Take a look at Classic Shell. It brings back the Start Button, so will make it easier for you to find your way around. Brief review here.

[max99]

Originally Posted by noise747

Have they improved then? I got a celeron machine here and while now it would be out of date at the time it was suppose to have been top notch for the price, but it is so slow,

Only just read that properly. The processor is only one part of the system, so you can't say that a machine is slow 'because it's a Celeron'. There are other factors to be taken into account. So if your machine has slowed down, giving it a clean-up and ensuring it has enough RAM are the first steps. But ultimately, if it is a lowly old Celeron, it's not going to cope well with demanding tasks.