💻The “Quick” Back-Up

A client I’ve not seen for a while just called to ask if I could back-up her “Lightroom” Files to an external drive.
If everything runs well, this should take 30>60min…

As it turns out, the laptop is running VERY SLOWLY.
With it taking over 10 mins to fully boot up, and Lightroom taking another 5-10, this is going to be a bit of a slog.

The first file to save is the “Catalog” file via Lightrooms own back-up utility, as just copying the file from the system can lead to errors later.

Then it’s time to make a copy of everything else.
At nearly 500Gb in size & a transfer speed of 5-20Mb, we are looking at 5-6hrs!

With the state of the laptop, getting this data copied was urgent, as a failure would be horrible for my client.

The fastest way to transfer data in this case would be to remove the drive and use a direct SATA connection, for grabbing the files.

Now it’s averaging 50-120Mbs, e.t.a about an hour or so. But still kind of slow (Cheap n cheerful ADATA..Hmm).

Once that has completed, rebuilding the laptop…
While I’m doing that, I’ll move the files over to my clients external drive at a steady 90Mbs (1hr 25min.)

Quick check that it’s booting okay,before screwing the case down.
“Preparing Automatic Repair”, “HP System Bios Update Failure”, Oh Dear.

Looks like I’ll be on the late train, as usual 🙂

The client has advised me that she’s looking to replace this laptop,
so I’ve sent her an example of what to look for in a good photo editing computer.
(i7/Ryzen7 cpu, 32Gb DDR4/5 ram, 1Tb NVMe-SSD)

But with a new SSD & maybe a memory upgrade too, refurbishing her old laptop may be a better option, as it’s got great graphics & decent CPU…..

🛡️ Saving Your Data When Seconds Count

What looks like a “quick back-up” can quickly turn into a data recovery mission. When a laptop slows to a crawl, it often signals that the hardware is on the brink of failure.

Don’t wait for the “Automatic Repair” screen to appear. If your laptop feels sluggish or struggles with heavy tasks like photo editing, secure your files.


Reliable Tech Support & Professional Print 💻🗄️

At Bluesdigital, we specialise in laptop data recovery and SSD upgrades in Newtown. We don’t just suggest expensive new replacements; often, a professional refurbish—upgrading your RAM and moving to a lightning-fast SSD—can make your current machine outperform a brand-new budget model.

Whether you need to save years of photos or require high-quality business printing in Mid-Wales, we provide the technical grit to get the job done right.

Is your tech underperforming?

  • Data Recovery: We rescue files from failing or slow hard drives.
  • Refurbishment: SSD and RAM upgrades to give your old PC a “supercar” feel.
  • Buying Advice: We help you find the right specs for demanding tasks like Lightroom.

Visit the experts at Frolic House: ☎️ Call: 01686 610 106 📱 Text: 0783 222 7823 📍 Location: Frolic House, Newtown (Between the Medical Practice & Driving Test Centre)

🌎 World Backup Day 🌍

Today is World Backup Day!
What, you didn’t know it was World Backup Day? Hmmm, perhaps that’s not a surprise. If there was an award for “most overlooked really important thing in computing”, backups would win. Every year. To get you off on the right foot we’ve got three tips to help you backup your devices.

Make backups – Yes, our first tip really is “make backups”. Why? Because backups are the dental floss of cybersecurity—the thing that everyone knows they should do, that everyone intends to do, that nobody actually does.

Make them automatic – Once you decide that you’re going to make regular copies of your data you are, in all likelihood, going to get bored of doing it and slip up on your rigorous, well-intentioned schedule. Humans just aren’t good at doing the same thing, the same way, every day. But you know what is? A computer.

Make sure they work – If you’ve followed tip two and automated your backups then you can sit back and relax right? Sure, you can. But if you want to know for sure that your backup solution will be there for when you need it most, you need to test it.

iMac Woes

old iMac computer on a wooden workbench surrounded by tools

Had a lovely iMac 27″ in the other day with a dodgy hard drive.

Replacing the hard drive in these can be a bit of a nightmare, as you have to remove the screen to get at the innards, and that’s no mean feat!

It’s not a job that I look forward to as the screen is very big & liable to damage quite easily.

But as my client had a spare 2TB external SSD, I managed to get it set up with that, saving a lot of time trying to strip the beast.

It took quite a while to get it running again with all the usual Apple crazyness, but in the end it’s now running fast as ever.

Phew!