If you have a PC that's more than a few years old, my guess is it's probably time for a new hard drive. Even if you're happy with your current drive, you'll still want to read this newsletter: I have couple of articles that can help get you more performance from it.

Get More From an Existing Drive

You might be thinking of sticking in a new drive and leaving your old one in to use as a spare, or maybe for backups. If so, you've got some more thinking to do. Among other things, you'll need to figure out how to set the slower drive as a slave to the faster one. You'll also have to deal with the cabling, which is sometimes tricky. For some help with these issues, and good strategies for taking care of your hard drive, take a few minutes to go through Stan Miastkowski's "Step-By-Step: Get Maximum Speed From Your New Drives."

When it comes to hard drives, Stan's prolific. He's also put together a neat package of things you can do to squeeze more space from your existing drive, from defragging to converting to FAT32. Read all eight pages of tips in Stan's "Step by Step: Reclaim Hard-Drive Space."

Dig this: Mike Lanzarotta, a buddy of mine who owns Crown City Brewery in Pasadena, told me about the Molecular Expressions BeerShots page. I visited the site to help me scientifically determine why Anchor Steam beer tastes better than say, Coors. Peruse the microscopic views on this site and you might be able to figure it out, too.

Hard Drives: Product News and Recommendations

Our beloved Sean Captain spent time with dozens of drives and put together the "Buyers' Guide to Hard Drives." It'll give you a good jump start on what to look for when buying a drive. Be sure to check out the Key Features table.

For specifics on the best products, whiz over to our "Top 10 Hard Drives." Besides learning what's hot (and why), you can choose drives for side-by-side comparison--very cool.

If you need to upgrade your notebook's hard drive, I have some news for you: Toshiba has a 2.5-inch 60GB drive that you might want to look at. Get the full story in "Toshiba Shows Off Speedy Hard Drive."

If you're going to wait a while before shopping, consider this: Hard drive vendors will be offering a new higher-speed ATA interface to connect your hard drive to the PC's motherboard. Yep, the old 2-inch-wide ATA ribbon cable--the one I always seem to kink--is on its way out. Sean Captain has the details in "Your Next Hard Drive."

Dig this: Check out some dramatic images and videos. A Navy pilot was partially ejected from his plane, but managed to land it on an aircraft carrier. He survived and describes his incredible experience.

Shop for Drives Online

In "Up Front: Nine Timeless Tips for Tech Buyers," the big boss, Kevin McKean, put together a good and solid set of tips for buying online. I wouldn't say this just because he's who he is (no, really); his ideas are well-thought-out and useful. Well, all except for "Never upgrade on deadline." I mean, is there a better way to procrastinate than to install a complex new product as the clock ticks away?

Next look at Anne Kandra's "Such a Deal? The Best & Worst Places to Buy on the Web." In it, Anne focuses in on selection, usability, price, service, and other things you need to know. If nothing else, jump to the Features Comparison table, and get ready for a few surprises.

Dig this: Okay, now for a work avoidance technique. Zip over to F. Permadi's Java Applet Gallery and spend a little time with Missile Invasion, Battle Tank 3D, or one of the other dozen games and toys.

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