Upgraded from 128 to 256 RAM and still no way to back up DVD

I have a SH@!#$% DELL 2100 Dimension desktop, I thought by adding memory to my hard drive I could now back those Larger DVD's. To begin with, I had 128 RAM and total 18.5 GB hard drive, which had 9.5 GB used and (9.3 GB LEFT)to back dvd's on. I was told if I upgrade my RAM I would be in business, well business SUCKS-HaHa!!
I do not know what to do next, I mean the DELL PC recognizes the upgrade and all is faster, but still only 9.3 GB on HD!!! What should I do next?? PSSSSSS> Before I even upgraded my RAM, I deleted all excess programs, unwanted files, and Defrag. the Hard drive--I'm LOST--Please Help

 

Start saving for a new computer. your hard drive is way to small and I am assuming you have windows 9X. If your going to be copying DVD and reencoding video files your best bet is a minimum of

1.2 Ghz processor
383 mb ram
80 gb Hard drive
windows XP or 2000

You can do it with less but it is frustrating.

I think I saw that your processor is 1 Ghz thats ok but if your going to put any more money in that one (i sugest not) buy a hard drive. You can get a decent new computer for about $400 from dell or a new processor and mother board + hard drive + memory from pricewatch.com, for about $200. What OS do you have?

My first comp I used for DVD was a AMD Athlon 1.2 30 gb hard drive 512 of ram and windows 98.

 

I'm using Sony DW-D22a DVD-RW Double layer burner. I have yet to Backup any dvd over 4.6gb and everyone I tried under this size has had NO ERRORS using DVD decrypter and RW with dvd decrypter. The program itself has SPECIFICALLY noted do not use dvd-9 or dvd over 4.5 gb or something to this effect. This tutorial says to download dvd shrink, but must have 11-13 gb on hard dive to back dvd-9 to dvd-r.
This is all new to me, so I went upgraded my DELL to 256 RAM from 128 RAM and thought it might help FREE up HD space, but HECK I might have enough to try DVD SHRINK?? I have yet to unzip dvd shrink and run program to try it, but if you have any tips let me know __ THANKS!!

Software-- I'm NEW but used dvd decrypter to read and write as long as under 4.5 GB

Have no problems backin' these, need HELP trying something NEW. SCARED to try if my hard drive is not large enough like the directions said in DVD SHRINK(11-13 GB) and I have only 9.5GB but just 5 minutes ago updated my RAM from 128 to 256 RAM and I have not tried anything before I asked on this Forum--Thanks -PETERLIPS

 

Yes your HD space is way too small. You need 10 to 15 gig for the smaller dvd5 movies, probably around 20 gig for the larger dvd9 movies. Windows will start acting up before you actually run out of space so you need somewhat of a buffer in extra HD space to work with dvd backups. I also have heard that XP uses most of 256mb of ram to run. You may be ok there but it will take longer to do the backup process. Time for at least a bigger HD or second one.

 

Just to elaborate on this topic win xp does use anywhere from 128mb to 256mb of ram. Simply stated adding ram does not boost hd capacity. Even turning off most applications while trying to backup a movie with only 256mb will definitely take an extreme long time if you are able to back it up. Buy a bigger hd, 30g minimum or invest in an external hd that uses usb 2.0 or firewire assuming your pc has that capability. In no way am I an expert but starting off a few weeks ago I had the same problem. Now I have an averatec 2400 with 768mb of ram, 4og hd, and 1.8ghz processor. Its cheap specs for a laptop but hey I'm just starting out. Have not had one coaster using dvd decrypter and shrink (learned from the guides this site offers). Okay back to more reading you guys kee me educated on several pc things. Keep up the good work.

 

Peterlips
I've been doing backups for some time. Many of the problems are similar to yours, inadequate systems for the task. The operating system is important. XP has the NTFS file system while the older operating systems used FAT32. The name is self explanatory, New Technology File System. Burning DVDs is after all a new tech toy.

You were moving in the right direction by increasing the RAM. But as pointed out, that has nothing to do with HD space. You should have increased the RAM to at least 512MB while you were at it. RAM is about the cheapest and best upgrade a person can do on a PC. For DVD authoring, 1GB of RAM is recommended for real world use. You can turn some programs and processes off that use RAM to conserve more for the transcoding software. Also, hard drives are relatively cheap nowadays compared to what they used to cost. You can get a 120GB Maxtor for about $50.
So, upgrading the hard drive could be cheaper than the RAM.

A rule of thumb with hard drives is to leave working free space. I always try to stay out of the last 5GB available. A good idea is twice the size of the DVD you're working with and add 5 GB. You're looking at needing 12 to 15GB freespace minimum. Some encoding programs can require a lot more. So, my advice would be to get at least an 80GB drive and a 120GB would be better. Realize your system limitations though. 98SE and ME require a controller card for drives larger than 137GB.

Transcoding and/or encoding is a CPU intensive task. The bigger the CPU the better. You made no mention of your CPU or the size. A lot of the 2100 desktops had 1.1GHz Celerons. It will work. But to get good processing times you'd be better off with a faster processor. Many computers have processors near 3GHz now. Newer boards are using the 3.8GHz processors. If you want to upgrade a CPU that is more expensive than RAM and hard drives. I'd start looking at an entry level P4 and using the burner you already have.

Dimension 4700
Enhanced Performance
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 520 w/HT Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

256MB DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz (1x256M)

40GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

FREE 17" Flat Panel Monitor Upgrade

FREE (3-5 Day) Shipping - Online Only

Featured at
$799
$649
After $150 OFF Instantly!

Note the $150 difference between the 4700 and the 3000 entry model at $499, an 800 FSB compared to 533. $150 dollars gets you a noticably better PC.

Add another 256MB RAM and that inexpensive HD along with your burner and you have a nice PC that doesn't "suck". I started out with 80GB and added 250GB. You can put your programs on the 40GB drive and use a larger one for working files and storage. For about $750 to $800 (using your current burner) you could have a good PC for recording DVD video. You just need to figure out if you want to keep your older model PC and invest in improvements or spend a few extra bucks for a newer model that is much more capable of handling the newer technology.

I only used Dell as an example, Gateway and the other companies build comparable PCs in the same price range. I like my current Dell and I don't think Dell "sucks". Most of us become unhappy when we want to do something and a machine we have isn't capable of the task. It doesn't really mean the machine sucks, it just wasn't built for what we wanted. That boils down to our lack of foresight or in the case of the PC, the technology may not have been available when the PC was built. Burning CDs is easy in comparison to burning the newer DVDs. Also, you'll find the PC builders buy some of their components from the same companies.

 

Their is lot's o good information in here. Two months ago all I did on my PC was play chess on line. I just recently put a new burner in. After trying dvdxcopy I found this site now I am going to put more memory in maybe some HDD. All thanks to this cool site!! Just thought I would put my two cents in.

 

creaky, check out the specs on my ole reliable backup pc with another benq 1620: IBM flat tower,256 mb's rimm,10 gig main HD, 30 gig Secondary HD,windows xp home,P3-celeron 598 mhz.

I do prefer to use dvd decrypter and dvd shrink on this one,being a single dvd-rw drive. Backups in 45 min's,but those larger dvd-9's can take a couple 2 or 3 hours using dvd shrink's max smoothness enhancements.

Peterlips: A second hard drive would help you definitely if you don't want to put the dough towards a newer pc.

 

If your system is lean and clean 256Mb is sufficient - (more is always nice).

Your problem is largely your hard drive capacity - for video copying/ burning I believe that a minimum of 10GB free hard drive space is necessary.

With a PIII-800 and 256Mb Ram (Win 2000) I've burnt approx 1000 DVD's without problems.

 

On a computer I use on my network is a
AMD K6-2 350 MHz
225 mb ram

Running XP pro sp2

You can do it if you shut off services. "manage services" and turn the bells and whisles off. It actually runs good. I havnt backed any DVDs on it though. (Afraid I would shoot myself)

http://www.techreviewer.com/viewpage.cfm/pi/9

 

Thanks To All!!!!!!

I have read everyones reply and would like to say thanks for all support. PLEASE DISREGARD my screenname-- I'm 32 yrs old and my buddies thought it was hilarious while I was in the bathroom to go ahead and give me my screenname( Little rediculous, but still laugh everytime I see it)--SORRY!!
After reviewing these posts I wonder what my Dell would need? I do have a 2100 Dimension 256 RAM and Celeron --NOT sure what speed Celeron is? I think Brobear said 1.1ghz?? I'm scared as He_ _!!to order anything from web, because last memory I ordered I got stuck with! I found out it has to specifically for DELL, but what do you guys think,and if you know a POSITIVE external hard drive compatable w/ this hunk of junk( Intel 810 chip set w/ Dynamic Video Memory)--didn't know if this would help???
To be straight up I want the " CHEAPEST and SMALLEST" If anyone has any thoughts as to what would get me by, I do appreciate it--Thanks in advance--Plips

Newbie to the site and dvd-r backing---YOU GUYS R FANTASTIC!!!!

 

I will admit from the start I'm no PC STUD!! I'm pretty dumb, but I enjoy learning new things. My question is will a USB Flash Drive work as Memory--probably a dumb question, I saw this the other day and heck I do not know what they are or do--Sorry for being a newbie !!

 

life's tough enough helping real folk.

and folk like you are a distraction

 

Peterlips
Don't think you're right on RAM memory being specific to a Dell. It's specific to the application; MOBO, chipsets and the like. You can get good RAM from Micron, Kingston, and others. It's trickier ordering since you have to figure out exactly what you need. Easiest to order from Dell by your system. Using an app like SiSoft Sandra, you can find exactly what's in your system.

The cheapest way out for you is to up the RAM to 512MB and buy the 120GB Maxtor hard drive I mentioned for about $50 from TigerDirect. It's internal, but you should have an expansion slot it'll fit into (internal is better anyway, the interface with the processor should be faster). For USB to work properly you would have to upgrade to USB2 which would require new hardware at an additional cost. Not too high, but no one thought to mention it. If you want to splurge, install a DVD ROM drive to go along with the burner you have. It just speeds up the process with some programs and it saves the laser on the burner. A ROM can be purchased at "Wally World" for about 40 to $50. So, for about $100 to $200 you can update your PC to where it will be decent for doing DVD recording. Just don't complain about it being slow in comparison to newer PCs. That's the processor. Don't forget to update to XP once you get the additional RAM and hardware installed.

[bold]Western Digital HDD 120GB (7200 rpm with 8MB buffer) $82.99[/bold]
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=291932

[bold]DELL - 256 MB Module for a Dell Dimension 2100 Series System ($79.99)[/bold]
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...milySelection=Dimension&ModelSelection=121430

You wasted some money on your RAM. If I remember the system correctly, the 2100 has only 2 memory slots. So, when you added the 128MB module you ran out of slots. You need 2 of the 256MB modules which maxes out the capacity of the 2100 at 512MB. 256MB is just not enough.

For $242.97 (not including tax and shipping), you can get your system up to where you shouldn't have space and RAM problems. As I mentioned earlier, once you get the hardware, add the XP operating system. Note I added the WD hard drive instead of the Maxtor I mentioned earlier. The Maxtor is 5400 rpm, the 1800 rpm extra on the WD makes a difference and well worth the additional cost. If all you were doing was storing photos, I wouldn't worry about it, but you want to record DVD video.

I think it would be difficult for anyone to suggest a cheaper alternative without going smaller and slower or using poor components (unless you get the RAM id and order that cheaper from another source). You could just add the Maxtor drive and try to work with your limited RAM... If you noticed my previous post on the matter, look at what you could get for about $400 more.

 

Hey Brobear, I have been kinda watching this thread. I am willing to work with my hard drive I have about 40 Gb to play with, I am more concerned with my memory. I have a total of 256 with only about 116 availible when I use to backup movies. Was considering putting in 512 more, can I do this with no other probs, can my processer handle this, will it run faster etc? Thanks, ---zen--->

 

Gringle;

Quote "life's tough enough helping real folk.

and folk like you are a distraction"

That's a bit harsh, he was only asking a simple question. We all have to start somewhere. Or have I totally missed some point?

In answer to your question a flash drive will not up your memory. It is only a store for files. RAM is completely different. I see that a few people get mixed up with thinking "my PC needs more memory, it has only 20gig."
Well the hard drive is what your PC uses to store info on a permanent basis, operating system, music files, software etc.. Your RAM (Random Access Memory) is what the PC uses to store short term info, i.e. the info used to run your desktop, screensaver, the info needed on a short term basis like running games, you cannot store the RAM as such. Once you shut down, that info is lost forever!
When you play a game, the hard drive provides all the info through the processor, graphics card etc, up to your monitor. the info, essentially zeros & ones, has to be stored on a temp basis while the processor & card etc proceeses the info to produce the picture on the monitor. If you do not have enough memory, then because it cannot flow quickly enough through the system, it will not run smoothly.
There is not enough to produce a steady flow of data, to make a smooth picture. Hence if you have more memory, your PC can process more info & quicker too, as it does not have to work so hard!
All the info is there, in abundance, from your hard drive, it just has to go through your memory, if you have limited memory, you have a bottle neck to contend with. If you have a fast hard drive, 10,000rpm, then the hard drive can throw out the info quicker, to make the whole thing go even smoother. Loading times & access speeds decrease significantly. A V12 engine runs a lot smoother than a single or twin cylinder engine. there are more pistons, makes the whole job smoother. more cubic inches & pistons means more power. Rather like faster processor, faster machine. Rather crude analogies, but I hope you catch what I am trying to say! If you have a big processor, lots of RAM, fast hard drive & fast graphics card, then you will have a machine that is smooth & fast. this makes games play quicker, smoother & look absolute tops.
You should get as much & the best memory that you can afford & the machine will cope with. You will be rewarded no end, your operating system & other software will love you.

Hope you can comprehend all that, I think I lost myself in there!

Pulsar