Seeking some computer advice.

Thanks ahead of time!

I recently built a computer for the first time (with the help and suggestions of my best computer nerd friend) and have a few questions before it's totally buttoned up.

Reason for build in the first place is our old desktop can't really handle "advanced" video editing without having a seizure. I don't want to lose all of the things I've already got on there (pics, vids, edits, music, etc). I also don't want to immediately fill up my brand new hard drive with all of the old stuff. My buddy suggested just pulling the hard drive from my old one and putting it in the new one, in addition to the new drives.

So I'm currently gonna be running a 480gb SSD for the OS and a few of my main programs (Adobe Suite), a brand new 2tb for the new stuff going forward, and the old 1.2tb drive just to have access to all of that stuff on one desktop.

My end goal is to have two operational towers so I can give the old one to the in-laws (they only need interwebs and Office). My new tower is "done" with the exception of an OS and pulling the HDD out of the old one (waiting til the last minute so we don't have two dead ones).

My questions are as follows.

1. I need an OS for the new one. Buddy is saying Windows 10 because 7 will be SOL in the near future. I've read so many differing reviews on 10 I'm already confused and worried. I've also read that you basically need to buy Pro so you can change certain settings that most people would want to. Can somebody talk me through this in English? Haha. I'm used to Vista, and like Garth I fear change.

2. Old PC has Vista and Office on it. If I pull the hard drive, does that also basically render the old one useless? Obviously I have to replace that hard drive with another, but do I have to buy yet another copy of Windows for it?

3. My plan to make the old one functional is to just buy a cheap-ish hard drive to replace the one I remove. Would I be better off to buy yet another new one, put it in the new tower, and then just transfer all of the things I want to keep to it and just not mess with pulling the other one apart? Old one is like 8+ years old at this point.

I'm open to any other suggestions and advice from anybody that knows what they're doing here. I'm definitely not a computer guy but it's been fun picking things out and assembling it myself. Basically I'm to the point where I have to do all of the more in depth stuff that's over my head, and really am trying to just not be that guy that keeps bugging a friend every time I think of a new question.

 

1. Extended support for 7 goes until 2020. So, if you really want 7, go for it. That said, I'd recommend 10 over 7. I'm not sure what setting dude is referring to, but Pro isn't much more expensive anyway, so...

2. *edit* misread this at first. Since you'd reinstall it on the same machine, you can do so whether it was retail or OEM. You'd just have to jump through more activation hoops if it's an OEM copy. A hard drive replacement is not considered a new machine for licensing purposes. For your new machine, unless you're a system builder as a business, OEM copies are not technically legal for you to buy for personal use. Microsoft is specific about this, but it obviously doesn't get enforced as people buy OEM copies of the OS all the time from NewEgg and such. Microsoft licensing is an extremely annoying and complicated beast. I've had to perform comprehensive license audits (requested by Microsoft) for multiple clients and have not enjoyed it. Office is a bit different and depends on how you bought it as well.

3. Personal preference. Regardless of what you choose, just back up your data. Subscribe to Backblaze or something and then you don't need to worry about eventual hard drive failure. Personally, I'd transfer the stuff you want to keep to new storage, leave the old tower intact and just reformat. It depends on what kind of OS license you have and how much you like your in-laws. Regardless, storage is cheap, so don't let filling it up limit your decision.

4. PM me with questions if you like.

 

Alternatively another option is to put all your files you want to use from your old pc in one folder and just make a shared network folder on your home network and anytime you need access to the files on the old pc you can just boot it up and access the files from the new computer. This gives you the best of both worlds in having two functioning PC's without having to buy another hard drive for the old one. The down side is if you still need to work on the file that is stored on the old pc it would be best to copy the file over to the new pc before working on it.

For the OS Windows 10 is head and shoulders better then vista is. Windows 7 as stated by Sneefy will continue to be supported for awhile still in terms of security updates so if your not willing to make the jump to windows 10 then windows 7 could be a option if your able to locate a version of it for sale somewhere.

You may contact me with questions as well.

 

Windows 10 is light years ahead of Vista. I don't think the Pro version is necessary, as it's main differences revolve around business use. I upgraded to Win 10 on my personal laptop, personal desktop, and work laptop, and I have absolutely no desire to return back to anything previous.

I would buy a new HD for the new machine and move all of your stuff over to that new drive. A drive that is 8+ years old won't be as reliable for storage that you want to keep, and new storage is not expensive these days.

I pay ~$70/yr for online backup through Carbonite in case I have a HD drive fail, and I also use Dropbox Pro to keep a lot of stuff "in the cloud" so I can access it from anywhere.

I'm a full-time software developer and built my own desktop for my side photography business, so I can also try to answer any other questions you may have (although I definitely don't claim to know it all, especially with the hardware side).

 

@sneefy @JasonoJordan @mike4king

Thanks all for the suggestions thus far.

Sounds like the consensus is to just buck up and do Windows 10, which I'm fine with. Was just wondering if the more computer apt preferred something different. I'm gonna try to copy/paste those specific "settings" I half-assedly referenced before to run it past all of you. Again, it's over my head but just sounds like it'd be something important.

Secondly, also sounds like the best route for my hard drive situation is to just leave the old tower as is, perhaps transfer the old data to the new one, and then just expand my new computer with another hard drive sometime down the road when needed. That'd also save me a little money up front as well.

With that said, what's the best method of transferring that amount of stuff? We do have a 1tb external I could probably use as a go between, otherwise a direct connection between the two would be ideal, right?

One other thing I should point out is we currently do NOT have internet connection at home, other than a very unimpressive wifi only service. Therefore, at least for right now there is definitely no chance of doing a network between computers unfortunately.

 

Here is a review from Newegg referencing the specific "settings" that caught my eye.

Windows 10 is excellent, but needs some professional-level TLC12/6/2016 5:05:56 PM

Pros: Fastest OS yet. Load times are better than 7 and 8 on same hardware (both from full shutdown and sleep).

The interface updates have contributed greatly to a usable OS (was kind of rough at first). I have come to prefer where a lot of things are located, and though it took some getting used to, everything being available from a right-click on the start menu is pretty handy.

DirectX 12. If you want to game, you need to get Windows 10, end of story.

Despite complaints, Windows 10 Pro is completely customizable, and you can even turn off automatic updating. These features are NOT available in Windows 10 Home as they are stupidly considered 'Enterprise' features (Local Policy is the exact opposite of an enterprise feature...). So if you are looking for the completely customizable Windows experience, you need to get the pro version.

Cons: Completely unnecessary difficulty in customizing how you want the OS to operate. If you want to customize it and address all of the complaints, you'll need to familiarize yourself with Powershell and Local Policy. If you're not a systems administrator, there are plenty of guides and copy/paste scripts you can run to remove all of the bloatware and yes, even turn off automatic updates.

Bizarre placement of some settings, sometimes I've had to change default applications both on the file settings AND in Windows Defaults (something new to 10 coming from 7) because for whatever reason changing one doesn't change the other.

I've spent far too much time digging through local policy, environment variables, and various other obscure settings just to change things that used to be easily accessible through simple interfaces in Windows 7.

Other Thoughts: Windows 10 Pro is obtuse and difficult to get to your liking (at least compared to previous iterations), but at least you can get it there (again, you can't with 10 Home). Once you get it there, the OS performs far better than any of the previous versions of Windows, and the DX12+ support is excellent.

I see no reason at all to ever buy the Home edition of Windows 10.

This OS would get 5 eggs, easily, if MS didn't hide settings like turning off automatic updates behind "Enterprise" features that you need the Pro license for. I wish I could give it 3.5 eggs, since burying so many settings, requiring powershell scripts, or requiring registry editing just to change simple features is worth half an egg (for some people this is a bigger deal, for me it was just a one-time nuisance).

 

You can still network the computers without a internet connection. But if you are willing to transfer it from one drive to another easiest way to do so is just drop the old drive into the new computer. Pull off the files you need then reinstall the drive back in the original computer.

 

I suck... Haha.

 

Its ok people often confuse the terms.

 

I read that entire review as someone who is uncomfortable with change. And if he's an IT guy, and can't handle change, he's in the wrong field. Try dealing with some of the interface changes in Backup Exec over the years. Ugh. Specifically addressing the auto-update settings being buried, a professional shouldn't complain about having to do some things via Powershell. Besides, that's what Group Policy is for.

For home use, being forced to keep it up to date is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, there are some annoying changes in Win10, but overall it's a very good OS. I wouldn't go back to 7 at this point.

For moving files between the two PCs, do like suggested and share out a folder on the old one and copy from one machine to the other. Depending on how much data is actually there, Windows likes to crap out when copying hundreds of GB at once, so either do it a bit at a time (tedious) or use a copy tool that can pick up where it left off (even mid file) like Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier or Teracopy.

 

That's probably a conservative estimate.

 

Consider Ubuntu Or Linux Mint. Try it.

 

For someone that has limited computer skills (sounds that way anyway) changing from the norm of a windows OS can be very frustrating.

 

Agreed. I would not recommend Linux for a novice user coming from Windows.

I liken desktop Linux fans to veganism or CrossFit. They tell everybody about it and think that they should be vegan too.

Having played with several flavors of Linux over the years, IMO it has come a lot closer to being suitable for a novice user than years past, but it's still not a pleasant switch if you're a layman and used to Windows.

 

Your assumptions are spot on. Haha.

 

My questions are as follows.

1. I need an OS for the new one. Buddy is saying Windows 10 because 7 will be SOL in the near future. I've read so many differing reviews on 10 I'm already confused and worried. I've also read that you basically need to buy Pro so you can change certain settings that most people would want to. Can somebody talk me through this in English? Haha. I'm used to Vista, and like Garth I fear change.

It would be beneficial for you to buy win10 pro and watch some youtube videos or read some write ups to set the proper settings.

2a. Old PC has Vista and Office on it. If I pull the hard drive, does that also basically render the old one useless?
Yes

2b. Obviously I have to replace that hard drive with another, but do I have to buy yet another copy of Windows for it?
No, I advise to simply Take old 1.2tb HDD out of old tower---> Put in new tower---> transfer and/or copy files from old 1.2tb HDD to new 2tb HDD in the new tower ---> take out old 1.2tb HDD from new tower ---> put back into old tower.

The old tower will function like nothing ever happened

3. My plan to make the old one functional is to just buy a cheap-ish hard drive to replace the one I remove. Would I be better off to buy yet another new one, put it in the new tower, and then just transfer all of the things I want to keep to it and just not mess with pulling the other one apart? Old one is like 8+ years old at this point.

If you do the switcheroo idea in point 2b. Then the old computer you can just hand over to your in-laws (obviously after deleting the 1tb of porn that was just transferred to the new computer)

Or you could be an extra productive member of society and wipe the old computer reinstall vista and office for the in-laws and hand them a fresh computer. Honestly if the vista OS isnt corrupted/unstable I would just delete/uninstall anything that isnt essential for the in-laws.

I'm open to any other suggestions and advice from anybody that knows what they're doing here. I'm definitely not a computer guy but it's been fun picking things out and assembling it myself. Basically I'm to the point where I have to do all of the more in depth stuff that's over my head, and really am trying to just not be that guy that keeps bugging a friend every time I think of a new question.

my other 2 cents....

Personally HDD space is cheap. You can get another 4tb drive for around $120

I would also run this type of structure for your drives if you do decided to get a third drive

480gb SSD (OS and frequently used applications like adobe suites)
2tb HDD (Applications that arnt frequently used like microsoft office suite etc that dont need the pros of an SSD + Random storage)
4th HDD (Render output video/audio/pictures + probably most of the stuff from your 1.2tb HDD)

May the tech gods be on your side during your journey

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think as of now the plan is to go with Windows Home since my nerd friend said I probably wouldn't benefit enough from Pro to be worthwhile. He said even he doesn't use Pro, and he's way more computer apt than I'll ever be.

As far as transferring old data, I'm gonna go the route of take out, transfer, put back in. Seems to be the easiest and most cost effective.

Lastly, you mention a 4tb for $120. The reason I went with "only" a 2tb for now is it's a WD Black and was a little spendier but has a better reputation and warranty. Any suggestions for this area as far as brands? The IT guy at my work gave me one of his old hard drives for free as well. It's a 3tb Seagate Barracuda. My buddy saw it and laughed, saying the failure rate is super high. I definitely don't want this to be a concern when I get another new-to-me HDD.

Thanks!

 

I agree with your friend. Everything pro can do you can also do with 3rd party applications so put that extra money back into something else for the PC

OK so this is just opinion and experience

I want you to know I am not trying to freak you out or be some fear monger

I will just tell you my experience

I have owned (past tense for a reason) 8 WD black HDD and had 4 fail (500gb, 2x 2tb and 1tb HDD). Also regarding the WD warranty.... they dont warranty what was on the drive and when you lose EVERYTHING the last thing you want is to deal with is some customer service rep/robot to get the exact same drive that just failed on you. My WD drives failed within 2-4 years. All my WD drives are storage drives and are not constantly reading and writing. I actually have a 1tb WD Black drive my desk that failed about a month ago with a manufacturing date of 05 Feb 2012.

In the order I would recommend:
HGST own 4 no failures
Seagate Barracudas own 6 no failures
Toshiba own 3 no failures

Another one of my 2 cents....

I would only use 4tb or 6tb drives if I would have to get another large cap HDD. The reason being is that 2tb and 3tb drives have a higher failure rate from what the interweb says. Also two of my WD black drives where 2tb drives.

I own a 3tb seagate barracuda drive and it has not failed me yet. (Specifically though the 3tb seagate barracuda drives do have a higher than normal failure rate). Ill still be more than happy to pay you for shipping to take that drive off your hands ^_^

Seagate did have a bad rep back 5-6 years ago but they are now my 2nd choice. I used to only buy WD black drives because of there reputation but when I have had drive after drive fail on me I decided to drop them. Our trade floor support has mountain of WD black and blue drives.

Im not bashing on WD they do have good drives and plenty of people have no issues.

Generally you will know when one of your HDDs are failing. You will hear a clicking noise and/or squealing noise and/or random periodic disconnecting and re-connecting itself. Generally I can catch the drive failing on me and get the majority of data off. Which is an absolutely terrible, frustrating, time consuming experience.

 

Drive failure discussions are relatively meaningless unless you're a datacenter and small percentage differences matter. All drives will fail. I've had numerous WD drives of the Green, Black, and Red variety in production environments and of course some have failed. So have other brands. Then again, I've had drives of various brands (incl. WD and Seagate) last 10 years. The "most reliable brand" will still fail and you have no idea when.

The point is to have redundant copies of your data. This matters way more than drive failure rates and worrying or agonizing over brand. Back it up properly and drive failure rates become meaningless with regards to data loss. Plan for drives to fail and take the correct steps to protect your data. Of course manufacturers can't warranty the data. If you lose data because of a drive failure, you only have yourself to blame, not the drive manufacturer.

 

SSD FTW

 

^ this

 

Oh, heck yes. I haven't used a mechanical HD for anything but storage in years. (For laptops and workstations anyway. Servers are another matter...)

SSDs fail too. (Warning: I'm going to keep harping about backups...) So backup your shizz!

 

Do they not fail or is it just a lot less likely? There are no moving parts, correct?

Also, for you guys backing up data all the time, what do you suggest? Is it best to put it on an external that never gets used?

 

Correct. SSDs have no moving parts. They are less likely to fail, but of course still can. The benefit is speed (and reliability). The downside is expense per GB.

For backups, it depends on how much data you have and your tolerance. A cloud backup subscription, a simple external drive copy, a NAS, or any combination could be appropriate depending on how much you need to back up and how quickly you need the data recovered. Having a copy offsite is always a good idea. If there is a fire at your home (God forbid) having your backups sitting right next to your PC renders them pointless.

For example, at home I don't have a ton that needs backing up (Maybe half a TB) so I just built an ultra low power fanless brick PC and use it as a file share/backup server with a single Backblaze license.

 

Im not sure what exactly the OP does but this is my rationality.

If I was doing some kind of business or some really artistic video photo music editing etc all of my real work would be in the cloud. Anything that I can not purchase or re download would be housed off site.

Things like my movies, tv shows, music and old application etc I will keep on my HDD and SSD.

OP if you where able to run on a PC for 8+ years and had no problems then Im going to take a wild assumption that you will be ok

 

SSD's work just like old flash memory sticks. They do degrade after a while, but like posted above, no moving parts, and not as much heat. A lot faster access times, due to not having to search on a platter for data (or multiple platters for the higher GB ones). Just make sure you have nice frigid temps inside your case. Liquid cooling is nice if you don't want your PC to sound like a jet engine when it gets hot.
My setup is I have a 64 GB one soleley for my OS and updates (fastest bootup out of all), 128 GB SSD for supporting programs, and a 2 TB HDD for all my pics and random data. Go on Microcenter's website, and you can find SSD's for a LOT more reasonable prices these days, some down to $1/GB now.
As for maintenance, I'm sure you already know, besides heat, dust is your computer's worst enemy, so make sure you dust out the inside every couple weeks or monthly depending on how dusty your workspace is. My father didn't dust his old computer out for a LONG time, and he fried some of the resistors on his motherboard (they were nice and bubbly) from too much dust in the fans which in turn clogged up his airflow and overheated his computer.
As for which copy of Windows, I don't know if it's still the same, but I had 7 on mine, and if you do ANY kind of OS updates/security updates on anything other than 10, it will automatically upgrade you to 10.
I rebuild my computer every couple of years or so when parts become outdated, next on my list is a new mobo/CPU combo, since mine's an old i7 3770k.

 

I'd say 99% of my computer usage is strictly personal/hobby or whatever. It's definitely not a business, and don't see that happening anytime in the near future.

I used to do a lot more video edits when I snowboarded more frequently and had the friends around that still did it regularly. As I got more "into" it, the computer just couldn't handle it. I was using Windows Movie Maker with video files from a standard def GoPro. It was fine for a while but anything with extensive messing around caused it to run terribly slow, resulting in frustration and basically just having to give it up. My buddy had "gotten" me the Adobe Suite at some point and I haven't even been able to try using Premiere yet. It's kinda sad.

TL;DR. Old PC can't handle the video stuff, I'm building this one in hopes that it's more adequate.

Like I said, it's definitely a budget build for now but am just trying to maximize its potential and make some decisions that will help me achieve some better results, and hopefully even learn something in the process.

Also, unfortunately for now I don't have access to a cloud of any sort. We'll be in our current rental house (stone age with no internet) until the end of this summer, and then possibly longer depending on how the home search goes (actively looking now). So with that said, backig stuff up will most likely be via mechanical means for now.

 

People still water cool PC's? CPU's dont even get that hot anymore.... GTX1000 GPUs does not even let you tweak voltage anymore to OC

OP just make sure you dont put a blanket over you PC and that the new case has fans inside of it.

Can I ask what is you 8+ year old PC?

 

Also, I wanna say thanks to you all again for taking the time to share some knowledge with this noob. I certainly appreciate it. Maybe someday I can share my ~1tb of pron with you all...

 

If you want specific details I'll have to go look into it, but it was an off-the-shelf Dell we got from Best Buy. Probably nothing special but did the job for us for a long time.

New case is a Phanteks Enthoo Luxe. Came with 3 fans and has room for several more. Seems like it's definitely built with airflow in mind.

 

OP you answered my question. I was just curious what PC manufacture it was

3 case fans are perfect. You did get an aftermarket CPU cooler correct? Does not have to be fancy or expensive just anything better then the stock OEM cooler that comes with the CPU

 

I'm gonna guess no? The CPU specific fan is an Intel brand. I got the mobo from my friend and I'm fairly certain he used it that way since purchase. I did pull it off and blast the heat sink clean and regreased it when I put it back on.

Edit - just read this while researching CPU fans. Sweet...

"Of course, it’s not just about temperatures, either—even if you’re just running your CPU at stock speeds, an aftermarket cooler is going to be much quieter than those noisy stock Intel heatsinks, which may make it worth the upgrade for some."

Haha.

 

hehehe re-greased it

So what thermal paste did you use when you put the heatsink back on after blasting it? Also after you seat a heatsink you never really have to pull it off. Just wait till you start researching thermal paste and the different "techniques" to applying it!!!

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/

 

Figured I'd get some **** about the greasing. Haha.

My friend had some leftover Arctic Silver in his stash. Since it's so fresh, if I replace the cooler am I supposed to clean off and reapply again or is it fine to just swap?

 

This is incorrect. It was simple to disallow the upgrade to 10 by disabling GWX via multiple methods, or simply deselect it on the list of upgrades. Regardless the free Win10 upgrade has ended, so it's irrelevant.

 

Yes you must clean and reapply new thermal paste every time you break the seal. Q-tips and some isopropyl alcohol 91% (walgreens or CVS has this its the regular alcohol you use to disinfect cuts but look for the 91%)

or whatever rubbing alcohol you have laying around

 

Lot of people do water-cooling. If you want to do any serious over clocking you will need water-cooling. Yes things are a lot more efficient and run cooler and quieter but water-cooling still has its application.

 

Ya I know people still do I just didnt want to OP to think in anyway that his build needs the benefit of that level of cooling. The second the voltage gets unlocked or EVGA evbot supports the gtx1080 classified I will be for sure 100% investing in a pumps, rad, fittings etc to run a GPU loop

 

Just a few cents to add...

SSDs do fail...at a higher rate than HDDs under some conditions, believe it or not. As an Elec Eng that spends a good chunk of my time managing reliability testing on ICs (that happen to go into those HDDs), trust me; silicon fails a lot, for a lot of reasons. ...then there is the firmware.

Aside from the occasional misstep (IBM Deathstar anyone? ...which is now HGST by the way), all of the off the shelf HDDs have about the same reliability. HGST Enterprise drives are considered the best by many, but we aren't talking about that.

Thermal paste is thermal paste...but yes, reapply after removal

...be sure to backup and any solution should just be a small hassle.

 

another thing if you do chose to do water cool it is a expensive so if you don't want to spend a lot I would not recommend it but it does look a lot better if done right. If you are interested here is a full kit and it is a very good brand https://www.ekwb.com/shop/kits