Memories

For me it was when I was finishing a program for one of my Computer Science courses in the last throws of my college tenure. My young son was playing nearby as I clicked away trying to solve a particularly intractable algorithm. I was so wrapped up in my work that I neglected to save my program during an hour's worth of toil. Well, the power button on the surge suppressor that my PC was plugged into was too interesting to resist for my 18 month old son. With a 'click' and the drowning of the fan's whine my homework vanished. I couldn't very well blame my son....


Many of us can retell similar horror stories of data loss. As it turns out the computer can't actually change anything on the Hard Disk Drive. I know that sounds preposterous, but its true. Sure, it can read a file from the disk or write a file to the disk, but to actually change the file in between those two steps it needs RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory. RAM is a scratch-pad memory for your computer, it is the "Here and Now" space your computer uses. The file on the disk is just a magnetic mosaic until the computer reads it into RAM where it can flip the bits and change the bytes quickly and easily. Only when our application is instructed to "Save" (which may happen auto-magically in the case of auto-save) does our magnus opus make it to the relative safety of the hard disk drive where power failure cannot harm it! So how much RAM does a computer need anyway. That is a very subjective question. In the eons past of computer history, they got away with a little as a couple of thousand bytes. Today you need at least a couple billion bytes. We do a lot more media with our computers today so the demand for RAM is higher. Think about this, you have an 8 megapixel digital camera. It takes 3 bytes for each pixes and htere are around 8 million pixels per image. And you just loaded 300 pictures. "Wait!", you say, "Thats over 7 billion bytes! My computer only has 2GB (2 billion bytes) installed?!" OK, maybe you don't say that exactly, but you get the idea. When your computer runs out of RAM, it starts storing its scratch pad data on the hard drive, not as files this time, but as virtual memory. Virtual memory is one big file thats a mish-mash of what 'should' be in memory, and its much slower than RAM. So how much memory do you need. Well I wouldn't get less than 2GB if I were buying a new computer, but you may have better results with more when dealing with a lot of media.

Your Data on a Platter...

I have a son who has a photographic memory. Its enviable to say the least. He can recall things from a long time past in great detail. He can learn song lyrics at a dizzying pace. I haven't been given the same talent and so have to use mnemonics and other tricks to remember things.

Computers have "memory" too, they have a perfect memory (barring a failure as discussed in the blog about backups). There is really more than one type of "memory" for a computer. Int this blog I am going to talk about the memory that stays even when your computer is off.



Most of your PCs information is stored on a hard disk drive abbreviated HDD. A mechanical device that stores information magnetically on platters that resemble very shiny metal CDs. The drive actually magnetizes small portions of these disk platters when it stores information on them. Think of it as a big platter with thousands of little compass needles. When "reading" the disk, the drive detects those same magnetic spots and interprets them as information. The big benefit to this is that the magnetized spots stay magnetized when you turn your computer off. The data stays for the same reason a magnetic compass doesn't need batteries to operate. Your pictures, word processor files, videos, spreadsheets and other documents reside on millions of tiny compass needles on a metal platter somewhere inside your computer.

This is different from RAM a type of volatile memory that disappears when you turn your computer off, but that is a discussion for another day. So how much do you need? When choosing a hard disk drive size there are several factors to take into consideration. First, what is you budget? Hard drive pricing seems to follow a predictable curve. There is a premium to pay to get a drive of any size. Then is seems you can add 50%-100% capacity and not pay nearly that much for it. For example it may cost you $100 for an 80 GB hard disk drive, but only $110 for a 120 GB hard disk drive and only $150 for a 200 Gb hard disk drive. However this panacea of cheap capacity will find its zenith and the price will shoot up again as you find the upper limit of current hard disk capacity. my opinion is buy in that "sweet spot" just before the pricing shoots up. That way you will get the most out of your dollar.

Fast Computers

One of the first computers I worked with was the Commodore VIC 20. It had only 5KB (that 5,120 total bytes) of RAM. By comparison a typical PC today has about 1GB (thats 1,073,741,824 total bytes) of RAM. My VIC 20 was quickly replaced by the TRS80 from Radio Shack. This model sported 16KB of ram and a 1.77 MHz processor. We would stay up late, spending hours entering long programs to play simple games that were ripoffs of the day's arcade smash hits.

Ah, the memories, but what does this have to do with your business? I am often asked about computer speeds. How much is enough and how much is too much. Business consumers can easily become inundated with GHz, GB, HDD and Video RAM. The alphabet soup of computer hardware purchases can leave you bewildered to say the least. The problem is that to a large extent, PC hardware has become a commodity of sorts. It started when the first clones of IBM's Personal Computer appeared. Since then, literally thousands of different choices of personal computers have appeared.

The acronyms are one of the ways to compare PC's in the sea of choices. Which has more of this or that kind of memory, the faster processor clock or better display adapter. However, some of these metrics can be misleading to say the least. Take for example, processor speed, I would rather have one of the 2 GHz dual core processors of today than a 3 GHz Pentium 4 of a previous generation.

So, how do you know what to buy. First, look a the software you are planning on using. The hardware should be purchased to be adequate for the software that will run your business. Second, get some input from an tech-savvy consultant or friend. After determining you hardware needs you can look at what options are available that will fit your needs.

The Eight Track Tape

When I ten years old my father had an old pickup truck that had an eight track tape player in the dash. We ran his battery down more than once listening to the three or four tapes he kept in that old truck. One day the eight track player broke and that was the last of listening to John Denver switching songs in the middle of the chorus.

I find it interesting that in a world with Zune, the iPod, TIVO and DVR that so many small businesses are still relegating their most valuable non-human asset to tapes. Don't get me wrong, in massive data centers and enterprise computing, tape backup still has its place. I just don't see it being a major asset to the small business owner. Cheap tapes, drives and software being used to safeguard the information that is so crucial to operating your business. If you are not prepared to pay at least $9,000 on your tape solution, then just don't bother.

There is an alternative. If you are one of the overwhelming majority of internet connected businesses, you can use an online backup service to store your data. The most difficult part of these services is not the cost its just remembering your password. The price has become so reasonable lately that it just doesn't make sense not to. For less than you are probably spending on liability insurance you can get data insurance.

About five months ago, a folder with some custom code was deleted from my server. The code represented a significant investment. I jumped online and had the files restored to my server within 15 minutes. I didn't have to go anywhere to retrieve the tape from the last full week, index the tapes or wait for the seek operation. It was instant recovery gratification! I have worked with similar situations where the backup was on a tape and it took hours of toil only to find the tapes were too old and no longer readable.

If you haven't already, you need to do yourself a favor and seriously consider an online backup solution. If you are reluctant, at least do a recovery audit on your existing solution.

Just DON'T do IT!

Jack of all Trades, Master of None

Like many small bootstrapped businesses, I started the company like a one man band. I was trying to play all the instruments of my business at once. However, I found that while I was a great computer consultant, I wasn't very good at taxes, or graphic design, (or matching my clothing). I figured that if I could keep my checkbook balanced at home, maybe I could be an expert at business bookkeeping, tax law and business entity creation. When I finally called in an outside expert, I found I had made several mistakes in my bookkeeping. In the modern business world, as skills are becoming more diversified, you can not afford to be a Jack of all trades but the master of none.

The Master Florist

IT is no different. The master florist is eating his competitor's lunch because he is doing new and innovative things with flowers instead of wasting his time figuring out IT problems.

I have worked with many small business owners that know a great deal about computers and networking. They are successful because they realize their success lies in spending their time on what they do best. Learning that just because you own the business doesn't mean you have to be the one who washes the windows, does the tax return, designs the logo or manages the network is an important epiphany that every business owner needs to have.