Have you ever rebuilt a computer using OEM operating system discs only to be left with a dozen unknown devices in the device manager? This can often be a real pain, especially if you don’t want to have to take the PC apart, and remove each piece of hardware in order to ID it. However there are a few ways to get around this problem, one of which is to use Microsoft’s Windows Update site. Not only does this offer all the latest security updates, but it also contains driver updates as well. This has often helped me in the past to not only identify the device but to download the latest version of the driver.
NB: To locate drivers using Microsoft Update, choose the custom search and not the express search, ensure you select any additional downloads from the ‘Hardware Updates’ category.
Failing that, Driver-Soft.com have an application called Driver Genius Professional which is also capable of locating that mysterious piece of hardwares drivers…
Failing that, there is one last thing you can try, and thats to do it the manual way.. Each and every hardware device hidden dark inside the murky depths of your PC’s case carries important identification information in the form of a ‘Device ID Number’ and a ‘Vendor ID Number’. Both of which are easily accessible using the properties window in device manager. To get them, all you need to do is:
- load Device Manager
- Right click on the device in question
- click properties
- navigate to the Details tab.
On that tab you should see a drop down box listing all the property’s of the card, select Hardware ID’s from the list and note down the ‘VEN_’ and ‘Dev_’ numbers.
Once you have obtained this information you can then use the service offered by the PCI Database, the site essentially lists details for a huge number of vendors (hardware manufacturers) and devices in a searchable database. Click the link above to load the site and then enter the numbers after the VEN and Dev strings.
So, for example here you have a hardware ID for an ethernet adapter:
PCIVEN_10EC&DEV_8029&SUBSYS_04001AB8&REV_00
Breaking this information string down, we can see that the vendor ID number is 10EC and the device is 8029.
A quick search using the PCI Database shows us that the vendor is Realtek, and the device ID shows the exact model number of the device in question. In this case it’s a Realtek RTL8028
So as you can see, with very little effort you can quite easily pin point the exact driver required without even picking up your tool kit!
As any IT expert will tell you, if your data doesn’t exist in at least 3 locations it doesn’t exit at all. Which is a good strategy to live by if you value the things you store on your computer.
Now, backups can be a complicated and mundane task, having to remember to put DVD’sCD’s in the drive and running scheduled backup tasks can be a bore. However, don’t doubt just how important these can be. I have lost count the amount of times I have been saved by a backup of some description.
Unsurprisingly enough they don’t actually have to be such a task, and there are ways and means around making it almost completely automated. Ensuring you sleep well at night, knowing your data is safe from hardware failure or accidental loss.
I am in the process of converting my friends and family (who seem to believe their laptopPC hard drives are indestructible) from their current ‘no backup’ method to a complete solution. So I decided it was about time I put something together, that even the least tech savvy person can understand.
First of all, it’s always good to have your data stored on a second removable media device, something like an external hard drive or USB pen is good for this. You can pick up Terabyte hard drives now from almost anywhere for as little as £60. To put this into context I am a heavy user of computers and have thousands of music and picture files. I am barely even filling half of my hard drive with backups! So a terabyte will more then suffice the average household.
Network attached storage devices are a good option, but can be costly. You can generally only get wired solutions for £150. However using an external hard drive along with an Iomega iConnect can provide you with a wireless Nas solution for less then £130.
Once you have sourced your hard drive, and hooked it up to your PC you will need some backup software. Products such as Norton Ghost not only backup your data, but can also take complete images of your PC in its current state. Which makes reinstalling a breeze! Obviously if you’re lucky enough to use a Mac, then the built in ‘Time Machine‘ will detect the external hard drive or Nas unit and backup to it.
However, using this method is not fool proof, and will require manual connection of the drive and the loss of your computer whilst it does it’s thing. No matter how fast your PC is, your backup will be governed by the volume of data you have and the speed of data transfer.
Your second option, perhaps the most obvious one is to use a backup application such as Norton Ghost to burn data to DVD’s or CD’s. Again, this can be a slow and painful process.
Which is where my third and personal favourite solution comes in. Cloud based backups… Which essentially are web based backups of your files and media!
Using applications such as Microsoft’s Live Mesh you can create synchronised folders, so as soon as you make a change or save a document it’s automatically and seamlessly backed up to the web. Without you doing a thing, and without even disturbing you. I am a big fan of mesh – if not just because it’s so easy to use but for the fact you can use it to ‘sync’ files between several computers. So not only is it a backup solution, but it could be used for teamwork on files etc.
Once you data has synced to your mesh desktop, you are then also able to access it from anywhere.
I currently have several mesh accounts for the devices around my home. Even my parents use Mesh to backup their computers. It’s so simple, there’s no excuse not to use it!
So what are you waiting for? Get backing up!
