Hard Drive Failure and Trainz

[FLWBStrainman]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, my entire computer has "kicked the bucket" after a quite nasty hard drive failure. I have been working on custom trainz route for about 9 months now, but there it goes. As a matter of fact, that's my fourth try at that exact route: somehow or another, all four versions got utterly destroyed. I'm on another computer right now.

Though the hard drive is almost completely shot, I know of someone who can probably get it to work one more time, even if only briefly. Would there be any possible way to go in and save the route to a type of media, such as a CD, and keep it until my next system? I have never uploaded something to the DLS, but I suppose I could try if someone could tell me how, if that's an option. I just want a way to transfer the route to another system running Trainz 2004.

On another note, I'm searching for a new computer. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what specs it should have for optimal performance in Trainz 2004? Not minimal, optimal. On my old computer, it always seemed to stutter. I'd look at pictures of super-detailed routes and wonder what specs I'd need to obtain that.

Thank you for your time.

 

[collinsl]

The quickest way would be to copy the TRS2004 folder to another hard drive and find out later what folders to copy (I am a TRS2006 user so don't know)

As for specs, try these:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
Processor: AMD 6000+ X2
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80GB SATA
Graphics card: inno3D 8800GT
RAM: 2GB DDR2 (preferably in 4 x 512MB modules, as it allows for speed increases)
Operating System: Windows XP OEM (cheaper than retail boxed - but must be bought with hardware)
Sound card: SoundBlaster X-FI 7.1

 

[john259]

...that's my fourth try at that exact route: somehow or another, all four versions got utterly destroyed...

I'm not trying to be rude but are you making regular backups of everything stored on the computer that you care about? Writing vital files to DVD's once a week isn't complicated or expensive, nor does it take long.

John

 

[FLWBStrainman]

I would have, but my computer couldn't read CD's/DVD's after an individual "supposedly" installed a DVD burner. He screwed up. Not only was my computer unable to write disks, it couldn't read them either.

 

[stagecoach]

If you can aford it an external hard drive via the usb is very useful and can come in very large sizes so you could copy a complete drive.

 

[omber]

USB Hard drive can be affected by the same thing - my strong suggestion is to backup non-built in content to DVD, specially stuff you made yourself.

 

[collinsl]

USB Hard drive can be affected by the same thing - my strong suggestion is to backup non-built in content to DVD, specially stuff you made yourself.

Omber, sorry, but he has already stated that he cannot used DVDs!

 

[john259]

Any form of backup is better than none. The ideal is frequent regular backups onto various forms of media.

A USB flash drive (memory key, memory bar) is another option.

John

 

[omber]

Collin I know but I'd like to point out its a good choice.. though as was said before.. with the sizes of USB flash drives reaching into 8 GBs now and the prices plummeting it might be a very cheap idea to get one of those babies..

 

[psycho_aussie]

For an optimal spec computer (or something that's fairly average at least...), I would recommend these:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon64 X2/Phenom X3
Motherboard: anything that can support the above CPU's, but preferably without integrated video. The AMD 780G chipset based motherboards are an exception. They have the HD 3200 built-in, and while not perfect, should run Trainz sufficiently.
RAM: at least 2Gb, preferably 3Gb if you are going to run Vista.
Video: ATi HD 3x00 series, or nVidia 8800/9600/9800.
Sound: Onboard sound should suffice, but you could consider a Creative Soundblaster, or similar if you want a dedicated sound card.
Hard Drives: SATA II drives would be the best choice.
CD-DVD Drive: a DVD burner that can burn Dual-Layer DVD is the best choice. You can also get these in SATA II.
Power Supply: You would want 550W minimum, and anything higher would be better, but 900W or more is overkill... A 550W PSU from Antec, Thermaltake or Codegen is recommended, but the "generic" type brands would also suffice.

Chris

 

[nismit]

Be warned

Post deleted

 

[robbiehanson]

Nismit is WRONG.

3gb of RAM is the max you can use with 32-bit operating systems. Therefore, the computer will start paging at the same point whether you have three or four gigs.
You can pay for 4gb, but it will not give you ANY performance increase--kindof dumb in my opinion.

Probably the best deal out there right now would be any Core 2 Duo e8000 series, an Nvidia 8800(GT preferably), with 3gb of RAM. Hard drive, optical drive, etc. can be anything you want. Run WinXP if you can get it--three to four times quicker than Vista from my tests.

 

[PerRock]

Rudely avoid sales people who try to sell you a computer with 3 GB!

LOL took me a min to realize you meant 3GB of RAM. I thought you were talking about HD size

peter

 

[collinsl]

Nismit is WRONG.

3gb of RAM is the max you can use with 32-bit operating systems. Therefore, the computer will start paging at the same point whether you have three or four gigs.
You can pay for 4gb, but it will not give you ANY performance increase--kindof dumb in my opinion.

Probably the best deal out there right now would be any Core 2 Duo e8000 series, an Nvidia 8800(GT preferably), with 3gb of RAM. Hard drive, optical drive, etc. can be anything you want. Run WinXP if you can get it--three to four times quicker than Vista from my tests.

Sorry, but Nismit is RIGHT.
XP 32-bit can use 4GB of RAM, but it will only see 3.2GB.

Anywho, Micro$oft have stopped selling XP now.

 

[bendorsey]

Hi Gents:

External hard drives are cheap. I just bought a 320 Gb one for $108.00.

Ben

 

[collinsl]

Hi Gents:

External hard drives are cheap. I just bought a 320 Gb one for $108.00.

Ben

If you'd have bought an enclosure and drive separately, that set up would probably have cost you ~$90

 

[poppins122325]

my pc runs trs 04 and 06 great and is good for hd video recording mp3 playback and dvd editing

my specs are
intel core 2 duo 2.2gzh
asus p5kpl-vm motherboard
2 gb ram
430 w power supply unit
2 X wd 160 gb hard drives
housed in a thermaltake soprano case