jaclaz

Well, if you can see the contents of the hard disk when connected as external drive, the hard disk has not "crashed", very likely you only have some corruption on the "main" volume/file system, it could also be only a trifling thing, like a boot file deleted/overwritten by mistake. In these cases it is usually worth the time to troubleshoot the issue and repair the booting. If you believe that the hard disk has issues the "normal" procedure is to clone the disk to a new one "as is" and then repair (if possible) the contents or use the recovery partition to re-install the Vista to "factoiry state" (it is usually possible to use a USB stick with programs to initiate the booting of the recovery partition even if the standard boot doesn't work or to repair just the initial booting sequence) . It has to be seen, but Toshiba laptops (at least some of them) have a recovery procedure (using the recovery partition) that is initiated from BIOS (by holding the 0 key pressed when switching on), see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=003hzPvuKtY otherwise, it is generally possible to boot from USB and start the recovery manually. In these cases you don't even need the OEM key to install/activate, what is restored is an image, it depends on specific manufacturers but often the actual OS uses (used) a different key (the same for all the laptops of that model/batch) and the OS is pre-activated, the key on the sticker (though usually working with *any* OEM version of the same OS) is actually only there for licensing proof. jaclaz

Let's try to disambiguate. Some BIOSes when you press F12 and choose to boot from USB do not correctly switch disk order and this can cause to not actually boot from USB (the reasons may be multiple, depending on how the USB stick has been partitoned/formatted, which bootloader is on it, etc.), in some cases - and yours seems like one of those - the USB is simply and plainly ignored. Usually the same BIOS do work when you switch the order of booting devices in BIOS setup, putting USB as first. Have you tried this? Is that an Insyde2 BIOS? (these are re-known to be buggy/make queer things when USB booting depending on the bootloader/bootmanager on the stick) Anywyay, since the BOOTMGR you are currently booting from is the Windows 7 version, it parses - besides /boot/BCD - also /boot.ini, so you can temporarily add to the root of your internal disk (where BOOTMGR is) a couple files and add to the boot choices a grub4dos. From this latter, it will be possible to understand which disk is which and - if needed for *whatever* reason - (of course as long as the disk is seen) boot it from the grub4dos on the internal disk. Here is how to, the procedure is simple, and - once hopefully the issue is solved - files can be simply deleted: 1) add a grldr file in the root (you don't need a latest-latest) get a grub4dos release here, I suggest latest 0.4.5c http://grub4dos.chenall.net/downloads/grub4dos-0.4.5c-2016-01-18/ but any later 0.4.6a version should do as well 2) add a boot.ini file (simple text file, you can copy/paste in Notepad) with these contents: [boot loader] Timeout=30 default=C:\grldr [operating systems] C:\grldr="grub4dos" When you reboot (still with the USB inserted and "skipped over") you should have an added choice to boot to grub4dos, choose it, at the grub> prompt (if needed press "c" to get to command line) issue the command: geometry (hd [TAB] it should propose you the hd drives it sees, typoically (hd0) and (hd1) complete the line to: geometry (hd0) and press [ENTER] then repeat with geometry (hd1) [ENTER] post output. jaclaz

I would like to remember to the younger folks that were not around at the time that Windows 2000 was targeted at the same audience that used till then NT 4.00, professionals/businesses, at the time of the shift from NT 4.00 to 2000 hardware was either already adequate or bought new and adequate. The "other" audience (home/personal) had a "dedicated" line, 95/98 and later ME, hardware requirements were much lower than those for 2000 (but anyway ME ones were more than 95/98 ones). Single point anecdata, in early year 2000 my desktop at work had 512 MB memory, a few workstations had 1 GB/2GB whilst my newly bought "top of the range" personal laptop coming with ME pre-installed was 64 MB and I upgraded it to 128 MB in order to install 2000 on it and have it run decently. What XP did, only one-two years later, was to attempt to unify the two lines, bringing to the businesses the (senseless) bells and whistles and forcing down the throat of home/personal (senseless) security/access rights/and what not, but since - all in all - the hardware needed to run XP was not that much more powerful than the one used to run 2000, the shift was somehow less dramatic, only a few people still running on "suitable for 9x/ME" hardware noticed the bloat/slowness of XP (when compared to 2000). Vista, when it came out, was essentially a crippled, bloated, slower XP, that everyone installed on existing underpowered machines AND that was also installed by OEM's on new, underpowered laptops and desktops, besides all the flaws in the OS, the real performance issues were about the poor hardware it ran on. By the time Windows 7 came out, currently in use hardware (that was upgraded to be able to run Vista) was already fast/smooth enough, and the requisites for the OS were essentially the same (I personally like to call 7 "Vista SP3", though it is not entirely accurate). Also in 9x/ME/2000 and even early XP times the internet was much less bloated, and browsers didn't eat memory like they do today (on *any* OS) by 2007 web pages were already much larger, and out of the 4 GB that today - in Tripredacus' words - are a no-brainer, around 1 is the OS, and the other 3 (or more) are needed for browsing the web. jaclaz

WHICH bootloader? The windows 6+ one (BOOTMGR+ /boot/BCD choices)? If yes, which exact version of the BOOTMGR is it? (I mean the one from 7, or Vista or what?) Maybe the issue is with the bootable (actually non-bootable) USB stick On some BIOSes you need to change the disk boot order (as opposed to choosing with F12 or similar to boot from USB) or viceversa. Using Easy2boot for that is a good piece of advice, otherewise you can still use grub4dos manually, if the easier Easy2boot works, there is no need to make it more difficult than needed. jaclaz

Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. It seems to me like you somehow forgot to state how excited the good MS guys are about this crap. jaclaz

I don't understand. Cheap router must have a known IP address. Then it may (or may not) have DHCP server on. Let us assume that the DHCP server on the router is ON and cannot be turned off (nor any other settings changed because you have no access to the router configuration). IF DHCP server is on AND the Win9x machine is set to receive its IP from the DHCP server, THEN it will have the delay/lag. IF DHCP server is on BUT the Win9x machine is set to a fixed IP, THEN there won't be any delay. The only problem may be if the DHCP server has assigned already the same fixed IP of the Win9x machine to another device in the network (IP address conflict). Generally (but not always) the cheap router will have an IP of 192.168.1.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, but the DHCP server is not set to assign all IP's in the range, and - again usually - it will assign them in order, starting from 192.168.1.2, setting the fixed IP to a high number, like 192.168.1.254 will normally prevent any conflict to happen. jaclaz

Yep , sdelete: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sdelete should also do nicely. It has to be double-checked however, as I remember that in a past version the -c and -z switches were "inverted" or however did not work exactly as stated in the docs, it depèends on specific versions, latest versions should be fine: https://www.forensicfocus.com/forums/general/wiping-free-space-in-encrypted-containers/#post-6568809 jaclaz

Define "real life". To me "real life" (for a Win9x system) is not carrying it around and connect to *any* network, the machine(s) stay put in one place and connect only to the home network. Of course having a "better" vdhcp would be a better solution (BUT *tomorrow* ), *today*, in "real life" , static IP is the only available one, more a workaround than a solution, still .... jaclaz

Yep, and again that could be connected to the Media Type. In these or similar cases you can still use a workaround. Format "quick". The new filesystem will have the minimal structures (FATs or $MFT, etc.) and will be (at filesystem level) "empty". Now create a new file (or a few of them if hitting the 4GB FAT32 limit) occupying all the free space, then 00 the file(s) and delete them. I think you cannot use fsutil as it will create a sort of sparse file, if I recall correctly fsz (part of the DSFOK toolkit) creates 00 filled files, the 2003 toolkit contains creatfil.exe but cannot remember if the generated files are 00 filled, otherwise you can use the dd for windows by John Newbigin. jaclaz

It is not a bug, let alone a bag , it is by design, (though poorly implemented in Win9x), some related info: https://techgenix.com/w98tcpip/ Surprisingly Microsoft has still a related troubleshoot guide: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/troubleshoot/how-to-use-automatic-tcpip-addressing-without-a-dh turning APIPA off may help, but the "right thing" to do is to use static IP addresses and using not DHCP (on the Win9x systems). jaclaz

Yes and no. TRIM in Windows 7 is a sort of "background activity" but *any* manufacturer's tool should work under 7 even if it does not work under XP, and you can try using ForceTrim on 7: http://ticksontech.blogspot.com/2011/12/trim-for-masses_10.html The tool is (was) here: http://web.archive.org/web/20120530102049/http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?73888-Here-s-a-tool-to-force-TRIM-your-entire-drive Can still be got from here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1cd8dh0msw2jq1w/ForceTrim.zip I am attaching a copy, just in case. Some more info: http://web.archive.org/web/20160714163804/http://www.thessdreview.com/forums/threads/forcetrim-an-excellent-little-proggie-that-works.2647/ As always, YMMV. jaclaz ForceTrim.zip

Yes, this is "normal", a disk driver can be "hooked" at different system levels. Some drivers do not expose a physical drive, some do expose one but it is inaccessible by disk manager, some only expose the volume, if I recall correctly Gavotte, like IMDISK, is of the latter kind, only the volume is exposed, what sounds "strange" at first sight is that you cannot format it, possibly it is the specific settings/automatic size, etc . that create this situation , this may also depend on the MediaType you have (either set or automatically generated) in the Registry, or some access restrictions, check the attachments in this thread: jaclaz

Sure they do, the point might be that they cannot be found anymore in the version that works under XP. BUT, you seem to be running a dual boot XP/7, in this case you should do ALL the disk management under 7 anyway, alternatively you'd better use a Linux bootCD/USB for that (as a side note modern SSD's should not/need not be TRIMmed too often) XP Disk Manager has a nasty bug with volumes in extended partitions if the disk alignment is (as it MUST be on SSD) to the MB (as opposed to cylinder), briefly, the default in XP is aligning to the Cylinder, which means that your first partition will start at LBA offset 63, while Vista onwards defaults to MB alignment which means that your first partition will start at LBA offset 2048, the disk manager in XP may - at any change, even unrelated, such as changing the active/boot status of a partition, delete the references in the EPBR's to the logical volumes inside extended : .http://reboot.pro/topic/9897-vistawin7-versus-xp-partitioning-issue/ The 63 before is DEFINITELY NOT recommended for SSD, though 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 are all valid values on a SSD (multiples of 4KB), the 2048 default one is the most common and recommended. jaclaz

Yes, like *everywhere else* on the internet they make multi-mega-para-ultimate-cms_enabled-ML_ready-AI_enabled STUPIDLY complex sites and routinely change contents ruining half or more links, besides removing products/tools. The tool (the simpler drive copy) can also be downloaded via Wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20150302054110/http://www.minitool-drivecopy.com:80/download.html jaclaz

Clonedisk: https://labalec.fr/erwan/?page_id=42 http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=8480&page=1 is free and works under XP, but to clone a boot/system disk you will better boot to *something else* like a PE (this latter can be both XP based - like a BartPE - or based on later Windows OS). Cloning the disk where the OS is running is possible, but not recommended/failproof, there is however at least one freeware (for home use) tool that should be able to do that: http://www.minitool-drivecopy.com/drivecopy.html If you can boot two different OS, you can use one of them to copy the "other" partition and then the other OS to copy the first, without risks, the only issue may be the conflict with Disk Signature, but this can be worked around booting *any* Linux distro or possibly even (on 7) putting the cloned disk "offline". If the SSD is exactly the same size as the old hard disk is one thing, as a "perfect clone" would do and you could get away with a simple dd or dd-like tool running under *any* OS, but if the SSD is smaller or larger you will likely need to additionally resize (either reducing or enlarging) the partitions, in this latter case Linux based tools like Clonezilla may (or may not) be suitable, or you may need additionally something that includes gparted. Post more info: 1) exact size of the old disk 2) exact size of the new disk 3) how the disk is partitioned currently 4) it is a laptop/notebook, isn't it? How can you connect the source disk and the target SSD concurrently? About trim under XP, see: jaclaz

Lately I had a couple of (temporary) failures of internet connection(s) at the office, the first one lasted a couple days, the latter only a few hours. Nowadays we have a lot of programs/devices that (stupidly and in some cases without any real need) cannot operate without an internet connection, besides - of course - the lack of e-mails that is an issue. We had the same thing happen a couple years ago, the downtime was much longer, possibly 4, 5 or 6 days, as while doing some roadwork nearby they cut both the telephone and xDSL lines in several points (the demented guys were inserting posts for guardrails and managed to physically cut the cables every 3-4 m for some 200 m before the telephone company managed to find out and stopped them, so they had to re-dig and replace some 250 m of cables). At the time, in emergency, I put together a temporary solution (half-@§§ed and el-cheapo as always). For telephone we used a cellular phone, managing the telephone company to temporary divert the landline number to it. For internet I got one of those Huawei portable wi-fi "modems"[1] (I often happen to ask myself what - the heck - is actually modulated o demodulated in the devices that the industry insists on calling "modems") with its SIM, and found a device from Link-sys that can act as access point and wi-fi bridge, and a couple other functions. So, connected it to the LAN (if I recall correctly it seemingly becomes "transparent" in it when in "bridge" mode) and directed it to bridge to 192.168.1.1 via wi-fi, then set the soap bar own IP to 192.168.1.1, disconnected from mains/switched off the "normal" dsl router/modem (as well normally set to 192.168.1.1) and - more by sheer luck than because I knew what I was doing - everything worked (though slowly, on UMTS connection, anyway enough for the *whatever* needed internet, including e-mail) and ALL devices on LAN needed not to have their gateway - fixed to 192.168.1.1 - changed. Now, I would like to set up a ( still el-cheapo, but possibly not-so-half-@§§ed) more permanent/more suitable and possibly automated solution for these emergency cases. In my perverted mind, this (failover to LTE in case DSL connection is down) should be one of the simplest/most straightforward things to do, BUT I cannot understand, or trust, or both how exactly to do it. My LAN is as simple as it can be (there is NO, nor I want any wi-fi[2]): Various devices and PC's [IP 192.168.1.xx/255.255.255.0] | Unmanaged switch(es) | Current DSL modem/router [IP 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0] Now I have found three possibilities : 1) replace the DSL modem/router with one that has a provision for failover to a USB "internet key" (that contains the SIM)[3], i.e.: Various devices and PC's [IP 192.168.1.xx/255.255.255.0] | Unmanaged switch(es) | NEW DSL modem/router [IP 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0] -> failover to USB "internet key" 2) insert between the switch and the current DSL modem/router a dual WAN router with failover functions and add a LTE/4G modem or modem/router. i.e.: Various devices and PC's [IP 192.168.1.xx/255.255.255.0] | Unmanaged switch(es) | dual Wan router [IP 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0] -> WAN 2 set as failover -> LTE/4G modem/router [IP DMZ 192.168.2.1 - gateway 192.168.2.254/255.255.255.0] | WAN1 set as main connection -> Current DSL modem/router [IP DMZ 192.168.3.1 - gateway 192.168.3.254/255.255.255.0] The dual wan router I could use is the Ubiquiti Edge Router X, that seems like cheap and reliable. 3) insert between the switch and the current DSL modem/router a LTE/4G modem or modem/router i.e.: Various devices and PC's [IP 192.168.1.xx/255.255.255.0] | Unmanaged switch(es) | LTE/4G modem/router -> failover to [IP 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0] | WAN 1 main connection -> Current DSL modem/router [IP settings???] For the LTE/4G modem/router I have EXCLUDED the Netgear LB2120 (as it seems that - while being extremely popular - half the internet is reporting that is working just fine, exception made for its failover functions) so candidates are the (preferred) Teltonika Router RUT240 (that seems to have a very good reputation) or *something* else, like one of the n LTE modem routers with wi-fi (that I have no use for) and automatic failover, an example is the digicom R4GW-T04. Now the questions: 1) do you have any experience with similar setups? 2) if yes, suggestions about suitable hardware (4G/LTE modem/routers with or without failover, devices that double as dsl and LTE/4G routers, DSL routers which allow use of a second WAN for the LTE/AG modem/routers and similar) are welcome, what do you use? 3) in the specific case #2 I have found a couple (IMHO vague enough) examples where the modem/routers have the 254 address but are set in the dual wan routers as DMZ with address 1, but I am not sure to understand the logic/method used, if you have some good resources/examples/tutorials, they would be appreciated, as well as any correction, possibly what I found is specific to the Ubiquiti router only and other devices work differently. Or, have you better ideas for the dual wan router and its settings? 4) in the specific case #3 above listed, how (the heck) are to be setup the IP settings (if any) on the "old" DSL modem? 5) any other ideas/examples/explanation to get to the same final result (adding a reliable failover to 4G/LTE to a simple LAN connected primarily via a DSL modem/router)? Please note how the "el-cheapo" characteristic is vital, so please avoid Cisco and similar high end, professional, suggestions, we are talking of a 100-200 € budget here. jaclaz [1] we affectionately call them "saponette" in Italian, i.e. soap bars [2] actually there is one, that *somehow* I manage to maintain working, that uses however an own set of access points connected through a VPN and an internal router, so - for all that matters - the whole stuff is only a single device connected to the switch [3] BUT these "internet keys" have - at least the ones I have used in the past - relatively low connection speeds and will be poorly receiving in the place where the DSL modem/router is placed, AND it is pure madness as there is no guarantee whatsoever that the USB "internet key" will be compatible with the modem/router, nor that they will be compatible with this (or that) low cost SIM provider, so possible solution #1 is excluded

My bad , I was thinking MinGW and wrote MSYS instead. jaclaz

Besides that, what amazes me is the apparent craze for something that by any standards sucks (and sucks big). I mean, I understand how the insiders (or whomever) are interested in the news, and want to try it as soon as possible (possibly to monetize or however use as a promotion the article/blog/video/whatever) but once one, two, three, tens of people have tested it and it clearly is (not so surprisingly) at the most a "meh" product, there is IMHO no need to hurry to get/install/test it.. I could understand if everyone that actually tested it described it as the third best thing in life (after bread and ice-cream), but come on, the (admittedly only few) reports I have seen seem to have divided the opinions between "it sucks" and "it sucks AND it is unfriendly to the user and hardware". Surely, when there will be something final, the usual endless number of tweaks, mods, hacks, etc. will appear, making it bearable (like it has happened for previous windows versions) but the point remains that the thingy "as delivered by the manufacturer" is reported almost everywhere as only a little more than a pig[1] with lipstick (and the lipstick is the wrong colour ) jaclaz [1] with all due respect to pigs, of course

Naah, they are not that bad, the whole point is (was) that if you "adopt" the whole Cygwin as if it was an added subsystem, while still senselessly bloated, the bloat is compensated by the amount of tools you have at your disposal (of which a normal user will actually use/need 3% to 7% anyway) but if you just want to run a single, simple tool (or a handful of them), you can't have them in a simple, straightforward way and in any case you will need to download/install a number of bloated .dll's. The point of the mentioned post was however more on the latter aspect, the difficulty any normal user will have in finding and installing the tools (if he she doesn't want the "whole, bloated, pack"). jaclaz

It seems like there is a simple workaround to install without TPM 2.0 nor secure boot, only for the record: https://allthings.how/how-to-install-windows-11-on-legacy-bios-without-secure-boot-or-tpm-2-0/ jaclaz

Do you really want to know? http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=15207 jaclaz

Is that machine so d@mn fast that you really *need* to slow it down? jaclaz

Sure, and not so casually I previously proposed (tentatively) a couple of cities in states that are around the middle of the rating by price: About: Sure, that is clearly confirmed by: https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/06/21/hot-dog-and-hamburger-consumption-by-state-2/6/ https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/06/21/hot-dog-and-hamburger-consumption-by-state-2/7/ We can use the formula 481/236/(197/171)=1,77 to obtain a good enough approximation of 16/9.9=1,61. And, at the light of this, we can introduce a HPCF (House Price Correction Factor) of 2 and the West Virginia vs. Virginia bottom tier makes sense as $52,166*1.61*2=167,947 $ which is a very good approximation of the $165,069 jaclaz

1) neither will work as "over provisioning" Essentially over provisioning means, "out of the total amount of space accessible by the controller, let only part of it accessible by the OS (and the rest will be used by the controller for spare sectors)", not using some of the space that the OS can see is totally irrelevant. you need specific tools (by the SSD manufacturer) or hdparm (or similar) to effectively implement an opverprovisioning space, see (examples): http://www.tech-g.com/2015/06/13/over-provisioning-ssd-in-linux/ https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/over-provisioning-nand-based-ssds-better-endurance-whitepaper.pdf 2) check the COLOURS in the Disk Management view Black top bar: Unallocated (where you can create EITHER a primary or an extended partition) Dark Blue top bar: Primary Partition Light Blue top bar: Logical Volume inside Extended Light green frame: Extended partition Light green top bar: Free Space (inside Extended, where you can ONLY create an additional logical volume) If you prefer, in the first disk ALL space is allocated by the three primary partitions and by the extended one, but inside the extended one you made 2 volumes and there is some free space left "on the right", still within the extended partition, while in the second disk, most of the disk is allocated by 5 primary partitions (either the disk is GPT or as you say Disk Manager is mis-representing the partitions ) , but there is some unallocated space "on the right", outside any partition. Personally I don't buy that the ext4 volumes/partitions can create a fifth primary partition, there are 4 entries and no more in the MBR partition table, the filesystem used on any partition won't change this, anyway, if you believe that Disk Manager is misrepresenting the situation, you shouldn't use it. jaclaz

Sure, but that contradicts the base assumption, we were talking about: is not the same as "looks like it should be condemned as unlivable" or "in a poverty district". .No, I am pretty sure that what you describe happens alright, many years ago I was involved in the construction of some 96 flats for "social housing" in Geneva (in Italy each city council has - or should have - a branch that builds or buys houses to rent them to people with very low level income, and the rent for these houses is very, very low, usually something like 20% to 25% market price) and I made in the following years (after the completion of the actual construction) a few inspections (to solve minor problems that could have been covered by the builder's warranties) and was amazed by two things: 1) the amount of BMW's and Mercedes parked in the condo parkings 2) the sheer "luxury" of the furniture inside some apartments jaclaz