[pamelaviolet]

Hello,

I have a Dell with 30 gig HD. Apparently, about 15 gig is used for my music (which I am loath to delete). With my other programs, I only have 13% HD space free. I've just ordered more RAM and a 250 gig external HD, but this will take a while to get delivered and set up.

In the meantime, in trying to clear off space to do a decent defrag, I've "accidentally" lost Front Page (I thought I had it loaded twice but must have been wrong on that, now I have NONE) and am not able to administer my online college course, which needs to get going again right away.

My question is -- since I have my Itunes music on my Ipod -- if I delete everything in my library (until external HD arrives), will I be able to restore it from my Ipod? Or (horrors), if I sync my Ipod, will all music disappear from Ipod because there is nothing in Itunes?

I'm sure you all will understand what a devastating situation I suffer. Any help or suggestions (now, help now) would be appreciated!

With breath abated,
Online English Teacher
(really better at teaching online than in maintaining hard drive, sorry)!

[ghporter]

Welcome to the MacNN Forums!

With Windows you CAN recover your iTunes music from your iPod using a program called EphPod. When my primary hard drive crashed and took my collection with it, I used this to recover the contents of my iPod with great success.

Instead of that though, I'd buy a large stack of CD-Rs and back up my iTunes library to them, and then (temporarily) delete the iTunes Library folder's contents. There are a number of reasons this will work better, but the biggest one from a user's standpoint is that you won't lose the tagging your songs have and the folder order your songs are in. It took a very long time to fix that after recovering my songs with EphPod. Another reason is "backups are good." And of course iTunes will manage the whole thing for you.

Your students won't really be too upset if you give them the weekend off while you fix your computer.

By the way, losing Front Page is like losing an abandoned car; sure, it's a car, but what good is it? Front Page mangles HTML code to fit Microsoft's idea of "enhancement," but actually winds up producing cruddy code that is not compliant with standards. You can code much better pages with Text Editor and a few cheat sheets.

[pamelaviolet]

I know people Really Hate Front Page, including my son and daughter, who can both code with their eyes (almost) closed, while eating ice cream, watching television, and clipping their fingernails. *I*, on the other hand, have had my brain addled by grading freshman composition papers -- a task worse than being held hostage as a brit sailor by the Iranians whilst one's superior is beng told, "do not fire, do not fire." God help us all.

So while I understand and appreciate your sentiments, those of us who have all that stuff to do along with Laundry, Dinner, and keeping the World in Order really do not WISH TO TAKE TEN MINUTES to learn how to do something new. Although, given two days off, I'd probably love it.

That said, my students have already had the WEEK off whilst I've fiddled with all of this. I've been reduced to EMAILING them a copy of their lessons edited in Word. How HUMILIATING!

I do have (somewhere) a stack of CD-Rs. How many do we think 15 gig or so would require? It is a relief to hear that a program would help me restore all of this, but you can understand my hesitation, I'm sure.

Now, at the risk of revealing EXTREME naiveté and opeing one'self to hooting and ridicule, how does one go about moving one's Itunes files to CD-R?

Shuddering,
pamelaviolet

[ghporter]

Egad! FRESHMAN English?!?! You have my deepest sympathies, and now I understand why you would want a "WYSIWYG" HTML editor! As a graduate student, I am sometimes appalled at the sorts of "writing" I see from my fellow students, and I can only imagine how much horror you face with every assignment! I shudder at the thought!

For future reference, I recommend Nvu as a much superior editor and page/site authoring system. It's smooth, clean, easy to use, and it's free. But you need to be on top of what you have NOW.

Recovering Front Page should be as simple as putting your MS Office CD in the computer and selecting the "repair" option. It's also a fairly small application, so getting it back should not greatly impinge on your very limited free space.

On the original subject, have you made sure you've emptied your Recycle Bin? Deleting anything usually puts it in the Recycle Bin, which merely means it's in a different folder on your drive. HOWEVER you should go through what's in the Bin before you empty it; your Front Page folder's contents may be sitting in there waiting for you to simply "restore" them.

[pamelaviolet]

Well, in their defense, I have to say that MOST of my students' papers are pretty coherent, particularly after they've had the benefit of my incisive instruction. Nonetheless, if they are to write better and write well, they must do a LOT of writing, and I must do a lot of reading and commenting.

But it is quite a relief to get a response from someone who UNDERSTANDS why I use FP! I've been practically hiding under my desk, awaiting the shower of criticism I thought I'd have to endure before getting any kind of help with this hard drive situation. And I'm very intrigued by the program you suggested -- I'll look it up straight away.

Now, as to recycle bin, it's interesting how hard it is to find when you really want to. I wound up doing a search, and am not sure I actually FOUND it. Although, as I said earlier, I had been doing all kinds of clean-up and maintenance, and typically that gets cleaned out regularly. What my search found was several files with .wav extenders (probably not what I'm looking for) and "recycle.exe" in the C:/Program Files/Dell/SolutionCenter, 60KB. Of course that's a program IN a file, so I don't think that's it.

But I have the new version of FP and think I should just press on. However, I'm willing to try and burn off some of the Ipod music for now, if I can get some help and ideas on how to do that! Any suggestions? WHERE DO I START? (Am quite embarrassed to say that I continue to order CD burners and continue to never know how to use them)!

Overburdened English Teacher with Exploding Hard Drive . . .

[ghporter]

iTunes is your friend. Here's what to do:

Choose File > "Back Up to Disc" and then select your options.
Insert a blank disc (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW)
Click Back Up.
iTunes burns the number of items that fit on one disc, and then asks you to insert subsequent discs to continue burning the remaining files.

That's a quote from the iTunes for Windows help. There's lots of help there and it's easy to get what you're looking for. iTunes will walk you through the process and it's quite painless.

[brokenjago]

Originally Posted by pamelaviolet

Now, as to recycle bin, it's interesting how hard it is to find when you really want to. I wound up doing a search, and am not sure I actually FOUND it. Although, as I said earlier, I had been doing all kinds of clean-up and maintenance, and typically that gets cleaned out regularly. What my search found was several files with .wav extenders (probably not what I'm looking for) and "recycle.exe" in the C:/Program Files/Dell/SolutionCenter, 60KB. Of course that's a program IN a file, so I don't think that's it.

The Recycle bin is an icon located on your Desktop. It looks like any one of the following, depending on your version of Windows:

Windows Vista:


Windows XP:


Windows 95/98:


If there are items in it, it will appear in a 'full' state, such as the one depicted in the third image. If not, it will appear empty, such as in the first two.

[ghporter]

Sometimes it's not visible on the desktop, but it WILL be visible in the "My Computer" view in Explorer. Just double click on My Computer and you should see Recycle Bin down near the end of the list of local drives.

[pamelaviolet]

Well, I'll be jiggered. There it is, right there in the corner. And it did have about 3 gigs of stuff in it, altho FP wasn't there. So now that's all gone, and that JUST may free up enough space to finally defrag. I had 13% free, and needed 15%, and just couldn't get it (apparently because deleting it just put everything in the recycle bin, god bless windows again).

If I can get a defrag done, then I think I can survive another 2 weeks until external drive arrives (without doing any CD burning).

Here's a question though -- are the burned CDs playable (probably a dumb question, I know)?

I have ANOTHER question, but will post that in another topic!

Thanks for help and sympathy!

[brokenjago]

The burned CDs can be played by a computer, but not a CD player.

[pamelaviolet]

Originally Posted by brokenjago 

The burned CDs can be played by a computer, but not a CD player.

Well, no fun in the car then! Thanks!

[inkhead]

Please, the forums are MacNN.com not Windows Support Group. If you are using windows as your primary OS find help elsewhere. In my book you are an idiot (nobody wanted to say it) (you are also a <deleted> liar). FIRST OF ALL, it's apparent you don't already have a backup. Your drive is full and you are just now thinking about backing up data? RUN (don't <deleted> walk) to the nearest store, and buy an external drive. This should take 30 minutes MAXIUM then RUN BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER, and BACKUP YOUR DATA, NOW REPEAT IT AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.

The fact that you teach people is one of the reasons education in America sucks. I hope whatever school system you work for isn't part of the teachers Union and can fire your stupid ass. Just because your a teacher doesn't mean you can stop learning, because you are busy teaching kids.

You can't <deleted> operate Windows??? My kids are going to school to teach you <deleted>? Or they are forced to learn from you? You make me want absolutely livid.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by inkhead 

Please, the forums are MacNN.com not Windows Support Group. If you are using windows as your primary OS find help elsewhere. In my book you are an idiot (nobody wanted to say it) (you are also a ****ing liar).

You are not at all involved in any way in deciding what's appropriate or not in any of our forums. This particular issue is of interest to anyone running Windows on any platform. While it's intended to support people running something other than a Mac OS on a Mac, there's a significant amount of "what do I do now that I'm running Windows" material that is common no matter what hardware you're running it on. And where do you get off calling anyone a liar? That's completely uncalled for and rude besides.

Originally Posted by inkhead 

FIRST OF ALL, it's apparent you don't already have a backup. Your drive is full and you are just now thinking about backing up data? RUN (<deleted>) to the nearest store, and buy an external drive. This should take 30 minutes MAXIUM then RUN BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER, and BACKUP YOUR DATA, NOW REPEAT IT AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.

This is the only content in your post that's worth while.

Originally Posted by inkhead 

The fact that you teach people is one of the reasons education in America sucks. I hope whatever school system you work for isn't part of the teachers Union and can fire your stupid ass. Just because your a teacher doesn't mean you can stop learning, because you are busy teaching kids.

You can't ****ing operate Windows??? My kids are going to school to teach you ****? Or they are forced to learn from you? You make me want absolutely livid.

Off target, off color and offensive comments are not welcome on ANY MacNN forum.

[pamelaviolet]

This is really quite astonishing. Thank you Glenn, for your support. I realize that you are mainly Mac here, but I came here originally because of needing Ipod support. I appreciate all of the very sensible and helpful advice everyone has given me.

Just FYI, I have my crucial information, student assignments and grades backed up. Everything else is dispensible or stored on secure folders on the college server, or elsewhere on the web. I've already ordered an external drive, but those who were kind enough to answer me helpfully below were already aware of that.

In ten years of teaching, I've never lost any student data. BTW, I don't teach "kids," I teach young adults in college. I wouldn't tolerate this kind of abuse in the classroom, but then it has never occurred. Apparently my students have enjoyed a better upbringing.

BTW, I'll be hanging around here a bit, even though I'm a Windows user. My husband just replaced his older Mac with a newer one, and is depending on me to decipher it for him. No remarks please, he works 70 hours per week and his free time is limited.

Pamela
Somewhat Appalled English teacher with Really Thick Skin

[brokenjago]

Originally Posted by inkhead

Please, the forums are MacNN.com not Windows Support Group. If you are using windows as your primary OS find help elsewhere. In my book you are an idiot (nobody wanted to say it) (you are also a <deleted> liar). FIRST OF ALL, it's apparent you don't already have a backup. Your drive is full and you are just now thinking about backing up data? RUN (don't <deleted> walk) to the nearest store, and buy an external drive. This should take 30 minutes MAXIUM then RUN BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER, and BACKUP YOUR DATA, NOW REPEAT IT AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.

The fact that you teach people is one of the reasons education in America sucks. I hope whatever school system you work for isn't part of the teachers Union and can fire your stupid ass. Just because your a teacher doesn't mean you can stop learning, because you are busy teaching kids.

You can't <deleted> operate Windows??? My kids are going to school to teach you <deleted>? Or they are forced to learn from you? You make me want absolutely livid.

Isn't this a ban-able offense? This is flaming to the extreme.

pamelaviolet, please let me express my deepest apologies for the filth this guy has spewed at you. As far as I'm concerned, anyone with that little tolerance is a "<deleted> idiot." This is nowhere near the caliber of the MacNN forums posters at large, let me assure you. As someone who used Windows for 15 or so odd years before "seeing the light," I resent being called an idiot.

Now, it's time for me to lay hands on you, so you, too can see the light! Amen!

Nah, just jerkin' yer chain.

This guy is a moron. Ignore him.

[pamelaviolet]

Hey, Brokenjago!

Consider me "Slain in the Spirit!"

Hallelujah!

Pamelaviolet
(I have seen the light and am blinded)

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by brokenjago 

Isn't this a ban-able offense? This is flaming to the extreme.

pamelaviolent, please let me express my deepest apologies for the filth this guy has spewed at you. As far as I'm concerned, anyone with that little tolerance is a "<deleted> idiot." This is nowhere near the caliber of the MacNN forums posters at large, let me assure you. As someone who used Windows for 15 or so odd years before "seeing the light," I resent being called an idiot.

Now, it's time for me to lay hands on you, so you, too can see the light! Amen!

Nah, just jerkin' yer chain.

This guy is a moron. Ignore him.

Unfortunately, I learned that I was only able to assign ONE infraction at a time, or he'd have gotten a few for that rant. "We" are watching the user's behavior.

Pamela, I've been a Windows user since 1985, and a Mac "wannabe" user since before that. When I was asked to be a moderator here, I had no Macs at home. Since then, we've gotten an iBook and a MacBook Pro, but we still use Windows for some things. I see nothing wrong with providing support for Windows on any platform when the support is for problems that could conceivably crop up on a Mac running Windows.

[pamelaviolet]

Thanks! It's so nice to hear that we windows users aren't the lone lepers some make us out to be!

[pamelaviolet]

My daughter has just been here for Easter dinner (I cooked, of course). Broiled salmon, asparagus, etc. My daughter mentioned that she needed to redo her boyfriend's Ipod last month, and she decided to come and use my computer since I'm way closer (from her work) than her computer at her house. She mentioned that "if there was any music in her "sissy" folder, I could just delete it."

I went and checked, and there were NINE (INKHEAD EXPLETIVE) GIGS of music in this remote folder hidden on the hard drive. I deleted THAT today, and now have the typical 42% HD space free. Take THAT, nasty people!

(And I'm still getting the 250 gig external HD, what WILL I find to fill that up with????)

Wow, did my last defrag go smooth! Happy Easter all you windows and mac users!

[brokenjago]

aaaaahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha

Kids.

[inkhead]

We "are watching the users behavior." This is classic, thanks! I'm sorry but I guess I should have been a little more clear in my rant. We had an english professor, who lost five years of assignments because of this exact issue. I had all mine backed up. But because the professor didn't follow campus guidelines (or common sense) the college was up in arms because they didn't have the data to backup the professors grades. It nearly resulted in some people losing some of their grades, and all the students were required to email (any papers they had backed-up) to the college for them to keep on file. They spent the entire year harassing us to send in the papers! Which we had already done.

In the end the facility fired the professor because common sense says you backup your data (especially other peoples work, that reflects on their academic careers)!

I'm not going to apologize for my rant, That said if the administrators feel i should be banned, go ahead. I've been a member long time, with over 10,000 posts (on my previously retired handle), so if it makes people feel better, by all means please do ban me.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by inkhead 

I'm not going to apologize for my rant, That said if the administrators feel i should be banned, go ahead. I've been a member long time, with over 10,000 posts (on my previously retired handle), so if it makes people feel better, by all means please do ban me.

I think you should apologize to the user you vented at for venting at her. She had nothing to do with your experience, as extremely bad as it was.

I'd also suggest that you consider your words before you make them public. Your rant could have been tolerable if had not been so vile.

And I'm responding here rather than privately because you posted publicly. I hope others can see that you understand that your post went beyond poor behavior, and that we don't tolerate that level of behavior here. And thank you for coming back and explaining why you reacted so strongly; it sounds like your experience wasn't just very bad, but also at some critical point in your academic career. Applying for graduation was stressful enough in my relatively uneventful undergraduate program, so adding this sort of turmoil and uproar must have been incredibly hard to deal with.

[pamelaviolet]

Warning, this is even more off topic than before!

However important it may be for instructors to keep copies of student mail and student papers, I believe the ultimate responsibility is that of the STUDENT. It's clear in my syllabus at the beginning of the semester that students should keep copies of EVERYTHING until after their final grades are posted.

Email is NOT a guaranteed delivery, and I'm sorry, the claim that "I sent all my assignments in," doesn't cut it with me. You did? Let's see copies of those emails with headers and dates.

One year ago a very nice "religious" couple (and him a former policeman) claimed they had done all the work for the semester. Oddly, my records of received items stopped about halfway through. They said they "sent" everything, including the final research paper required to pass the class.

We asked them to provide print-outs of everything (my dean backed me up on this). The "final" research paper each submitted was actually the identical first essay they'd done the first weeks of class. No, both argued, this was their final research paper.

At THIS point I pulled out my emails of their topic "pitch" for that paper, and the attached rough draft, which proved they were lying about their work.

Subsequently they claimed they were being discriminated against because of their religion. They took this all the way to the college president. Oddly, they could not produce any EVIDENCE of religious discrimination. However, I would be happy to admit disliking these two for claiming to be religious while lying through their teeth, again and again. Shame on them.

At any rate, if a stand off like this comes down to the teacher or the student, I would insist the student is the author of that work and therefore should have it available if there is any question. It's not my job to warehouse all of their stuff (even though that's exactly what I do). I don't care if we ARE supposed to back up our stuff, if my district insisted I provide all student papers I'd slap them with a lawsuit. There's nothing in my contract that includes that requirement in any job description.

All that said, my 250 gig hard drive is sitting here just waiting for attention. What all WILL I find to put on it????

Further, past BAD EXPERIENCE is NO EXCUSE for current BAD or even REPREHENSIBLE behavior. I have in the past run across knuckle-dragging low-lifes who consider themselves brilliant on some score and therefore qualified to be rude and insulting. In that case, one must consider the source. To encounter such behavior from an educator is simply appalling.