June 25, 2006
Fry's 2.0
After bicycling in Ventura, we stopped by at the newest location for Fry's Electronics. Since I always shop at the one near me in Woodland Hills, this was a huge surpise inside. No theme, like Alice in Wonderland or Science Fiction. But it did have a really really nice cafe. I always wanted a geek-oriented shop with coffee. And this is it. :)
June 19, 2006
What if you don't have a backup?
If you have a hard disk with important data that you don't back up, you're taking a big risk. I know, who has the time to do backups?
Sometimes Murphy's Law strikes before you get a chance. I had a drive that was a bit old and was starting to go.
I searched the web for data recovery products and services. There are companies that specialize in recovering lost drives that have been formatted, crashed or smashed. Those are expensive.
I decided to try out Data Rescue PC. It has a free version that tells you what it can recover, and it showed I could get back the majority of my files. I bought the full version, which makes a bootable CD. It's good to have a 2nd drive you can copy files to, rather than restore to the same drive that got you in trouble in the first place.
I hooked up a newly formatted drive & booted the Data Rescue CD. It takes a while to scan your bad drive, but if you can get your files back it's worth the wait. After a scan, it can save the scan results (another reason to have a good drive connected) so you can restore some files now, and others later.
It will rate the files it finds with a probability of whether it can successfully restore them. If your drive does go bad, don't mess around with recovery tools that try to fix it. I'd prefer a non-invasive program, which is why I chose Data Rescue.
Data Rescue performed as advertized. There were some files that didn't make it, but the majority survived. Whew!
I've learned my lesson- I'm backing up my new drive!
Sometimes Murphy's Law strikes before you get a chance. I had a drive that was a bit old and was starting to go.
I searched the web for data recovery products and services. There are companies that specialize in recovering lost drives that have been formatted, crashed or smashed. Those are expensive.
I decided to try out Data Rescue PC. It has a free version that tells you what it can recover, and it showed I could get back the majority of my files. I bought the full version, which makes a bootable CD. It's good to have a 2nd drive you can copy files to, rather than restore to the same drive that got you in trouble in the first place.
I hooked up a newly formatted drive & booted the Data Rescue CD. It takes a while to scan your bad drive, but if you can get your files back it's worth the wait. After a scan, it can save the scan results (another reason to have a good drive connected) so you can restore some files now, and others later.
It will rate the files it finds with a probability of whether it can successfully restore them. If your drive does go bad, don't mess around with recovery tools that try to fix it. I'd prefer a non-invasive program, which is why I chose Data Rescue.
Data Rescue performed as advertized. There were some files that didn't make it, but the majority survived. Whew!
I've learned my lesson- I'm backing up my new drive!
June 18, 2006
Leo Sighting
Leo Laporte is a radio/TV/podcast celebrity who hosts a number of shows on technology and computers. He has a great personality and is fun to listen to. We happened to hear he was broacasting live from a camera store in Westwood, so we decided to pop in.
You can hear Leo in his weekly broadcast TWiT (This Week in Tech). It's the #1 tech podcast on iTunes.
Crow vs Tokyo
From Australian IT:
Wily crows disconnect wired Tokyo
TOKYO'S futuristic image as the world's most technologically advanced broadband internet-enabled city is under attack from a vicious but decidedly low-tech foe: the crow.
Their destructive and unpredictable behaviour during the May-to-June mating season is always problematic for the Japanese capital. But this year the aggressive ink-black birds have created a new headache by developing a taste for fibre-optic internet cable.
In the past six weeks, hundreds of homes and offices have been left without high-speed internet services after the crows discovered that broadband cable can be pecked into usable strips more easily than power cables or telephone copper wire.
Crows have discovered that the broadband cables, which are strung from telegraph poles across Tokyo, are the perfect consistency for building nests.
Although the birds' appetite for fibre-optic cable was spotted last year, broadband service providers have begun reporting a sharp surge in instances of cable-pecking, in line with the rising population of crows.
Crows are drawn to Tokyo because of the large quantities of discarded food available. Every year there are reports of the birds attacking domestic pets or small children.
Wily crows disconnect wired Tokyo
TOKYO'S futuristic image as the world's most technologically advanced broadband internet-enabled city is under attack from a vicious but decidedly low-tech foe: the crow.
Their destructive and unpredictable behaviour during the May-to-June mating season is always problematic for the Japanese capital. But this year the aggressive ink-black birds have created a new headache by developing a taste for fibre-optic internet cable.
In the past six weeks, hundreds of homes and offices have been left without high-speed internet services after the crows discovered that broadband cable can be pecked into usable strips more easily than power cables or telephone copper wire.
Crows have discovered that the broadband cables, which are strung from telegraph poles across Tokyo, are the perfect consistency for building nests.
Although the birds' appetite for fibre-optic cable was spotted last year, broadband service providers have begun reporting a sharp surge in instances of cable-pecking, in line with the rising population of crows.
Crows are drawn to Tokyo because of the large quantities of discarded food available. Every year there are reports of the birds attacking domestic pets or small children.
June 17, 2006
Why do backups?
Backups are a pain to do. I have Acronis True Image. Every month I boot from a CD created by True Image and back up our two home PCs to external USB drives. It takes hours to run, but it's worth it.
Yesterday we accidentally deleted some important photo files, and Acronis was put to the test. I mounted the backed up image as a drive, and got back the files I needed. Didn't have to run a full restore or anything complicated.
We have thousands of photos of vacations, family, scenery, etc. I'd hate to lose all of that. That's why I do backups.
But being able to quickly retrieve a file from a backup is incredibly valuable. I always thought of backups as being something you never (hopefully) have to use. I have bad memories of flaky tape drives that took forever to restore from. True Image has certainly made my impression of backups alot brighter.
Yesterday we accidentally deleted some important photo files, and Acronis was put to the test. I mounted the backed up image as a drive, and got back the files I needed. Didn't have to run a full restore or anything complicated.
We have thousands of photos of vacations, family, scenery, etc. I'd hate to lose all of that. That's why I do backups.
But being able to quickly retrieve a file from a backup is incredibly valuable. I always thought of backups as being something you never (hopefully) have to use. I have bad memories of flaky tape drives that took forever to restore from. True Image has certainly made my impression of backups alot brighter.
Nokia BH-200
I have a Nokia 6820 phone, which has Bluetooth. I've seen alot of people with wireless headsets, walking around talking into thin air. If it weren't for the thing in their ear with a blinking light you'd think they're crazy. I couldn't use one in public, but driving would be great. So I started shopping.
Nokia lists the HS-26W and HS-11W on their website, but I had trouble finding it. The local Best Buy had a BH200, which is still Nokia. It looked cool, so I got it.
It paired with phone without problem. You scan for devices with your phone, then enter a key code to lock it to your phone.
It was hard to tell how it would fit on my ear, but it did, and comfortably. It's easy to turn on and off with a single button. It makes different sounds for each so you know which one you just did.
The sound quality is pretty good. It could be a little louder (but maybe that's a good thing). Battery life seems okay, but I haven't used it enough to know. It comes with a charger. The battery is not removable, which is not great.
I'm not sure how this model compares to the others, but it works. That was my main criteria.
Nokia lists the HS-26W and HS-11W on their website, but I had trouble finding it. The local Best Buy had a BH200, which is still Nokia. It looked cool, so I got it.
It paired with phone without problem. You scan for devices with your phone, then enter a key code to lock it to your phone.
It was hard to tell how it would fit on my ear, but it did, and comfortably. It's easy to turn on and off with a single button. It makes different sounds for each so you know which one you just did.
The sound quality is pretty good. It could be a little louder (but maybe that's a good thing). Battery life seems okay, but I haven't used it enough to know. It comes with a charger. The battery is not removable, which is not great.
I'm not sure how this model compares to the others, but it works. That was my main criteria.
Seagate 100GB USB
I carry a home-built USB/FW drive for extra storage. It's fast, but bulky. I also have a 1 GB SanDisk Cruiser, which I highly recommend. But it's not big enough to hold the kinds of work files I'm dealing with these days. I need something somewhere between the two.
My choice: a Seagate Portable HD. It's USB2, powered by USB so no extra power supply to lug around. It's smaller than my clunky FW drive. I would have gone with the Western Digital Passport drive, but the local Best Buy had the Seagate at 100GB and the WD's were 40 and 60's.
The Seagate comes with a double-headed USB cable, which is supposedly required on older PCs that don't have enough power on a single cable. So far I haven't needed it. The speed is good and it's pretty quiet.
I'd recommend the Seagate, but check out the Western Digital- it's smaller.
My choice: a Seagate Portable HD. It's USB2, powered by USB so no extra power supply to lug around. It's smaller than my clunky FW drive. I would have gone with the Western Digital Passport drive, but the local Best Buy had the Seagate at 100GB and the WD's were 40 and 60's.
The Seagate comes with a double-headed USB cable, which is supposedly required on older PCs that don't have enough power on a single cable. So far I haven't needed it. The speed is good and it's pretty quiet.
I'd recommend the Seagate, but check out the Western Digital- it's smaller.
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