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Anthony in Mississippi listens on SuperTalk 103.1 and asked:
I want to know if I can backup Windows 7 to a Seagate backup Plus 2TB external hard drive.
Yes, you can use an external hard drive to back up Windows 7.
Windows 7 has a built-in backup tool that will create a full image of your computer as it is today onto CDs, DVDs, or USB drives. To access it, go to the Control Panel and look for System and Maintenance, there you should find Backup and Restore, and on the left pane an option to create a system image. Clicking on that should let you create an image of your system as it is today, and you should have the option to save it onto your external hard drive.
If you are talking about making a system image backup that you’d restore in the event of a hard drive failure, be sure you also have some kind of additional bootable media.
Either a bootable DVD or a bootable USB drive should work. If you have an original Windows DVD, that will be bootable.
Prom in Nashville, Tennessee listens on SuperTalk WTN 99.7 FM asked:
What is the best mini pc for video rendering?
Mini PC usually means small and low powered, and there’s nothing about low powered that screams “video rendering” to us. The video editing and rendering workstation here at the Advanced Media studios is our fastest and most powerful computer.
The same is true virtually everywhere else you’ll ask. There really isn’t anything more taxing to a computer than video rendering. You’ll want a big, fast hard drive, lots of RAM, and a fast processor.
There really isn’t anything more taxing to a computer than video rendering.
Now, if this is a question where price is no object and you just want a small form factor, then you could look at an optioned-up Mac Mini. With a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 2TB Fusion drive (that’s an SSD and hard drive combination device), the Mac Mini retails for $1499. You’ll need a screen to go with that, of course.
If Windows is your only choice for an operating system, you could look at the Maingear TORQ, which is a fully water cooled small form factor PC designed for gaming. With a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and two 1TB hard drives, you’d option out at almost $2900. And you’d still need a screen.
Of course, you’d have an extremely fast video card, which you would not have with the Mac Mini, and that might make the editing portion of your video production a bit more pleasant.
Ben in North Carolina listens on NewsRadio 680 WPTF asked:
I’d like to know if there is an app for time calculations. I constantly have to add or subtract hours in the 24 hours format. For example, if a process quit at 0130 and I get to it at 0640, I’m having to subtract and it’s usually odd minutes. Do you know if there’s an app in the Apple store for that?
There are many apps for time calculations, for example “Hours and Minutes Calculator” will do just what you need for free.
Hour Difference Calculator would probably work well for you too, and it’s also free, it looks less like a calculator that the first app, but it does allow you to subtract times just as well.
You have a few paid options as well, but if you just need to add and subtract, you’d probably do ok with those without having to pay for anything more complex.