hardware needed to import a CD of flat file alpha numeric data

[artm]

We periodically receive a CD containing a text flat file of names, dates,
addresses, and numeric fields. We want to import the data into Access and
the computers that we have are not up to the task. What hardware would you
suggest. We are looking at an Xenon(single cpu) based PC with 2GB RAM and
SCSI or SATA Raid. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Arvin Meyer]

Xeon processors are more suited to a server which needs to do multi
threading of applications as well as track multiple processes. It won't
cause you any problems, but may be over-kill for your requirement. 2 GB of
RAM is more than sufficient. I would choose SCSI over SATA for the drive
speed. Since there will be drive intensive usage, a 15,000 RPM SCSI drive is
faster than the fastest (10,000 RPM) SATA drive.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

 

[artm]

Thanks Arvin,
I think that you are saying that a 3.0gh Intel CPU would
be adequate to import the flat file. I prefer the scsi
raid also. Art

 

[Mike Painter]

We periodically receive a CD containing a text flat file of names,
dates, addresses, and numeric fields. We want to import the data
into Access and the computers that we have are not up to the task.
What hardware would you suggest. We are looking at an Xenon(single
cpu) based PC with 2GB RAM and SCSI or SATA Raid. Thank you for your
thoughts.

A 300 Mhz machine with 256 Mb of Ram and a 1 Gb hard drive will work just
fine for your requirement.
The *most important* aspect is the speed of the CD reader and the time it
takes to copy the file to the Hard drive. This would make the import a bit
faster.
More is better but I've done similar things with floppy disks (30 or 40 at a
time) and the speed of reading tha material is what determines most of the
time requirement.