What are my options? Computer is acting wonky

[bearlyanne]

I need to ask a very novice question. We leave for Disney on Saturday and my computer is definitely acting wierd. I usually bring it with me and clear my SD cards each night (and then upload to my website for a second backup);but now with it malfunctioning, I am very nervous that I will lose my shots.

Do I have any other options besides buying a new computer and killing my spending budget for the trip? I know there must be gadgets out there to store photos but I have not paid attention to since my system was working.

[safetymom]

Have you tried CCleaner? It helps get rid of "stuff" on your computer.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[SrisonS]

Maybe as a quick solution, possibly buy a couple more memory cards. Still back them up to the computer; but still keep the pics on the cards. Then, if something happens to your computer, you'll at least have the pictures somewhere. And at least you won't have to worry about running out of space for all the pictures you want to take.

[MarkBarbieri]

Your options include buying enough memory cards to last for the entire trip, buying an external drive for you computer and doing backups, or buying a computerless storage device.

If you get an external drive, you still risk having your computer fly over the cuckoo's nest during your trip. It probably wouldn't corrupt your external drive, but it would make future backups a problem.

For computerless storage devices, look for information on Hyperdrive or Epson P-5000. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I'm aware of.

I guess that another option would be to reformat and reinstall your computer. If the problem is corrupted software and not hardware related, that should solve your problem. It's a lot of work.

[bearlyanne]

Thank you all so much!!

I am actually leaving for an outpatient sugery in ten minutes, and then tomorrow is recovery and a surprise 50th party....so I am on overload already, and this computer thing was about to send me over the edge.

Thank you for the quick replies!

[bearlyanne]

Mark- that is exactly what I was picturing in my mind...just not the price-lol

[Groucho]

Buying extra memory cards is probably the cheapest and safest solution. They should be more reliable than a hard drive.

As for the PC... we'll need a good amount more information in order to help. :) If you are getting strange behavior in Windows, usually the first thing to do is grab Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and run a quick scan on your PC - that can remove almost anything nasty. :thumbsup2 If it's still acting weird, then it's going to take a bit more information.

[photo_chick]

Lots of computers go wonky, it does not necessarily mean they have to be replaced at all

PC issues aside, there are other options. Use the hotel's business center to upload your images to an online storage site or burn them to a CD or transfer them to a flash drive.