preparing for a vacation in Spain

[Deleted]

So at the end of the year, i'm leaving for Spain for 2 weeks with my parents (so no getting laid). I'm taking a laptop with me. i got some questions.

1) I want to copy some movies to an external harddrive so I don't need to carry along 20 disks or something like that. is there free software that I can use for that? please note, I legitimately paid for these movies, and according to law, I'm allowed to have 1 copy for backup and personal use.

2) I don't yet have the external harddrive. can anyone recommend me a lightweight, sturdy and inexpensive harddrive I can take along? i'm looking for something along the price of 60-80 EUR with no separate power cord and a USB port for connectivity to my computer.

3) I also would like to have a connection to the Internet. i'm currently using a Vodafone 3G stick, but that doesn't always work as well. is there an alternative that also has ready access to the Internet? preferably something not too expensive. i'm looking for something that costs 25-50 EUR for 2 weeks of moderate use (some youtube, some webcomics and some Cracked mostly).

[Howard Moon]

1) Not sure what free software you can use to rip your DVDs, but there is a sticky thread on the Computer forums here that might be useful. It's called "free software mega-list" or something.

2) The Western Digital "Passport" external drives are awesome. They are small in size, lightweight, and have sleek design. The 500GB one costs 90 Euro in Amazon. They are also USB-powered.

3) Can't help you there.

[Deleted]

I also would like to have a connection to the Internet. i'm currently using a Vodafone 3G stick, but that doesn't always work as well. is there an alternative that also has ready access to the Internet? preferably something not too expensive. i'm looking for something that costs 25-50 EUR for 2 weeks of moderate use (some youtube, some webcomics and some Cracked mostly).

Make sure you look into roaming charges if your visiting outside of EU. You can potentionally rack up a huge bill in no time if your using mobile data.

[Stubatiger]

2) I don't yet have the external harddrive. can anyone recommend me a lightweight, sturdy and inexpensive harddrive I can take along? i'm looking for something along the price of 60-80 EUR with no separate power cord and a USB port for connectivity to my computer.

im sorry, but i think you wont find an inexpensive harddrive nowadays, so why dont you use your laptop for saving the movies etc.?

[glo]

1) I want to copy some movies to an external harddrive so I don't need to carry along 20 disks or something like that. is there free software that I can use for that? please note, I legitimately paid for these movies, and according to law, I'm allowed to have 1 copy for backup and personal use.

It's perfectly legal to download movies if you already own them. Just make sure that if you have a DVD version, you're downloading the DVD version and not a higher resolution copy that came from BlueRay and such.

[Deleted]

It's perfectly legal to download movies if you already own them. Just make sure that if you have a DVD version, you're downloading the DVD version and not a higher resolution copy that came from BlueRay and such.

i don't have quite enough bandwidth for that. i'm talking about 3 seasons of X files and more after that, a half season of batttlestar galactica, 6 nat geo documentaries, potentially even more. if i need to download that all, i'm going to run into download limit issues.

and as for the roaming charges, Spain is still in the EU last time i checked.

and i'll check that thread and the WD passport drives. i'll probably get one abit cheaper at my local store.

[Deleted]

Roaming charges apply anywhere outside the country where you bought the phone/connection, afaik. At least this was the case of people in Spain going to countries within the EU and getting charged silly amounts for downloading data with stuff like their Blackberry. I'd check, double check, and triple check the prices because I was working for a time at a billing department of a cellphone company and we got an insane amount of calls from people who had the roaming prices explained the wrong way, and got huge bills due to it.