jaclaz

Well, to be fair this (BTW nice ) is nothing more than a POC, a modded commercial quadricopter with some soft that can recognize a single (big) red spot on white piece of paper in a gym. If you have ever seen how white (please read as "any possible shade of gray or light brown) is a real sheep and how "pastel" are colours used to mark them, you would doubt on it's effectiveness, possibly in the mist, fog or rain for which Scotland is reknown in the world. And BTW the whole point is about just monitoring and locating, the rounding up is still a chore of the shepherd (with a quad). Babe would still score better : And dogs can do Extreme Shepherding : jaclaz

If you have your new SSD with a new install of XP booting fine, your next step should (could) be that of installing the 7 to the second partition. The 7 install will: set BOOTMGR as primary bootmanager add an entry in it's \boot\BCD for the XP install that already exists on the SSD (besides the "normal" one for 7) We can of course put together *something* that will allow you to "temporarily" (i.e. until you do not install the new 7 to the SSD) access the old install of 7 on another disk, but whatever this setup will be it will be nonetheless overwritten when you will install the 7 to your SSD. If you can list the BIOS disk order, I can easily make a new grub4dos menu.lst allowing you to use whatever: First disk, first partition (hd0,0) -> SSD, New XP install, active partition in the MBR First disk, second partition (hd0,1) IF primary, (hd0,4) IF logical volume inside extended partition ->SSD, partition on which you plan to install windows 7 Second disk? ..... Third disk? ...... (fill the dots) jaclaz

Sure , and you should actually appreciate it, you see, if everyone had the same approach you would never have choices . jaclaz

Maybe it is possible that you modified them "wrongly". jaclaz

Sure, it's not their fault , the nlite is something that is very nice but gives to the user a (false) impression of being easy (which it is) and that the things it does are easy (they are not). I don't think there is a good guide for it (in the sense that the interconnectedness of all things is not described in detail anywhere) but to this you add that most first time users just clck a page after the other selecting everything for removal without having read the available documentation thinking that anything they removed can be later re-added (with some items it is possible, with others, though probably possible it is not documented anywhere or it is so complex that it is simply not worth the time). Please remember that an essential part of a new install is to have the setup CD suited to the service pack of the machine, i.e. do not install a (say) SP2 and then update to SP3, it is much better if you integrate the SP3 in the source, this way you have - should problem of any kind arise - have the possibility of using Repair from the CD. jaclaz

The idea of using a good browser, just for a change after all these years of (bloated) internet explorer use, didn't cross your mind, right? jaclaz

Well, just to not forget how it all began: jaclaz

You don' t run normally CHKDSK, you run CHKDSK C:, CHKDSK D:, etc. (or CHKDSK E: /F, etc.) when you ran it, it didn' t run on your E: drive, but rather to another volume, most probably your C: drive (or another one). this report: is seemingly of a very small volume, 6173 allocation units x 512 bytes each is a 3,160,576 bytes. I wonder what volume it can be, possibly the boot.sdi of the Windows 7 recovery? But let's go back to the issue. You checked that the external disk had the needed space available. Now you have to check that the source volume has also the needed space to create the shadow copy. Can you re-run the same DIR command, this time after having established root on the "source" volume (which I presume being C:, but that could be another drive letter)? It is possible that it is the source that is "filled up to the brim". jaclaz

Maybe what you really-really want to do is to "move" your current install http://michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html (but it is not exactly what I would suggest to a "newbie") A clone (or image) of the current disk - though it being fully "forensic sound" is not strictly needed - could be a good preventive measure (or "way back" if something doesn't go along the plans), and as submix8c correctly pointed out, a good idea if you are ever going to sell the machine or - for whatever reasons - you decide to change to Windows 7. No, in your particular case nlite would be of no practical use for you. nlite is a tool to modify a "standard" XP install cd removing components an customizing some aspects of the install. You need to know very well the tool, and the organization of XP subsystems in order to get a working system (or working OK). Most people use nlite to senselessly remove components they have no idea what they are for, then come here whining they cannot find anymore x or y. In other words, if you never felt the need to remove anything form your old time install, there is no reason why you should start now. A "side feature" of nlite is that of integrating the XP service pack, but this can also be done manually (and BTW is the first and "compulsory" step that you have to carry on, both if you decide to install form scratch or if you want to try the "move" approach, the CD NEEDS to be at the same SP level as your currently running XP). What you may want to do is to integrate in the XP CD the drivers for your new motherboard (particularly your SATA drivers). BTW, this is not strictly-strictly necessary, as it is possible to install (at least on desktops) in IDE compatibility mode and later "switch" to SATA/AHCI. A further possibility is to keep the Windows 7, reduce the size of the partition it uses, create the other partitions you like/need and then install the XP in dual boot with the current 7. Actually this is what I would suggest generically, as you can have the "best of both worlds" without significant issues in the installing procedure. Unattended makes no sense whatsoever in your case (actually in most cases IMHO). Unattended, particularly fully unattended, is used normally (properly) in (large) organization to install on a high number of machines (possibly identical between them) or in shops where the cure for *any* illness is "reinstall from scratch", a lot of people adopt this latter approach at home too, and thus reinstall from scratch very often and this is more or less the only occasion where the time to put together an unattended (particularly fully unattended) is justified. We are talking of hours/days to get the hang/use properly nlite, days/weeks to tune a fully unattended and test it. jaclaz

And all this time I thought that a statement (and particularly a statement issued in order to clarify something): http://majornelson.com/2013/05/24/xbox-one-and-used-games-2/ should actually state something (non obvious) and possibly also clarify it, additionally an "official" statement is normally very carefully worded in order to be not easily mocked by anyone still using an independent brain. Imagine Galileo Galilei : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei providing this official statement: He wouldn't have been probably processed for heresy , but surely he would have been promptly sent to an asylum for the demented . jaclaz

Yes, in theory, but you would much safer using an Electric Fly Swatter, example: The "deluxe" version features rechargeable batteries and double ups as a torch: (you should have a torch to detect non-flying drones, like drone caterpillars and ants ) jaclaz

Nothing that "they" cannot already do by tapping your DSL or cable. In case of need: http://reboot.pro/topic/13177-an-improved-electromagnetical-shielding-device/ quite effective, besides aliens, against mind reading drones "they" may send to spy on you. jaclaz

Yes, submix8c posted a link to that effect. What is needed is - I presume - the Toshiba TVAP: http://support.toshiba.com/support/viewContentDetail?contentId=3368363 See also this: http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Drivers-and-Utilities/Satellite-A200-Toshiba-Value-Added-Package-uninstall-error/td-p/123233 probably this is what is needed: http://www.toshiba.eu/innovation/download_driver_details.jsp?service=EU&selCategory=2&selFamily=2&selSeries=153&selProduct=738&selShortMod=532&language=13&selOS=26&selType=299&yearupload=&monthupload=&dayupload=&useDate=null&mode=allMachines&search=&action=search&macId=&country=all&selectedLanguage=13&type=299&page=1&ID=60820&OSID=26&driverLanguage=42 jaclaz

Yes , but it's again not really a fair comparison. iOS and Android may be competitors on a same market which includes tablets and smartphones. To be fair the numbers of Windows Store should be more likely compared with sold Surfaces (or RT licenses) and with Windows Phone 8. I mean, hard as it may seem to be understood by the good MS guys, there is the possibility that a lot of people use Windows 8 as a "serious" operating system, installed on a desktop and continue using the same software they used before under Windows 7, under Vista or Windows XP, i.e. (hopefully) "good" software and not the senseless apps theat are present on the Windows Store. One example for all: http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2013/04/05/app-roundup-back-to-the-drawing-board.aspx Anyone actually *needing* such an app would probably have the Pro Version already (or get a copy of it). Another example (still form the same page): http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/paint-drops/3CBDBF3F-054B-4749-A759-093C299B8705 You could do a quick poll among friends and relatives and see how many would pay even a trifling €1.19 for that kind of program. An interesting thing (see above link) is that you can see the page on the Windows store allright, only you cannot get a listing of the apps if you are on a non-windows 8. And (SCOOP!) this app is free : http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-US/app/draw-free/1176f13e-466a-47f4-a134-eb6e6bdee622 BUT it is rated 12+ years old.... jaclaz

Sure , we are just kidding, however the issue in that "study" is not the size of the sample (which is large enough) but rather the fact that it is not (and cannot be) "random enough". Example: If you make a poll at the exit of a subway station in (say) New York about the utility of small, electric, cars (let's say two seaters with max 35 miles range) it is likely you will find a majority of people expressing the desire to have one. If you make the same poll at a diner on Route 66, it is likely that the percentage of people interested in small, limited range, electric cars will be dramatically lower. You cannot draw a "US wide" conclusion from either of those, they simply make no sense as the samples do not represent population adequately. Seemingly it is, in English owl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl means both "gufo" and "civetta" (it is normally translated to "gufo"): In italian it would be a "civetta" (Athene noctua): http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athene_noctua a "gufo" (Asio otus) is different : http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asio_otus I guess that it should be "little owl": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athene_noctua The wikipedia page above demostrates how even babies have the same kind of look : jaclaz

Naaah, it's just a re-post : I see that you are also getting old and forgetful jaclaz

Well, that's calling for it! And here is the stern look of disapproval : jaclaz

Of course it depends on the particular dog, some can even be happy bunnies (in the basket) : And, for NO apparent reason, camouflage example! jaclaz

The issue generally speaking is that the BIOS "interrogates" the hard disk at boot time (or reboot with CTRL+ALT+DEL) and the disk should reply with some info. If it is in BSY state (or any other of a list of issues) the hard disk does not reply and the BIOS does not see it. In some cases, for *whatever* reason, an "unbricked" disk foes not show in BIOS but is found if connected to a running system through an USB adapter (or viceversa, it is seen in BIOS but not through the USB adapter). It is possible that - again for *whatever* reasons that the disk is very slow in replying to the interrogation and thus it is recognized only once every n boots or it is recognized only if you do a CTRL+ALT+DEL immediately after having initiated booting (or do it several times). As I see it the only possibilty is to try again and when you manage to get it recognised dd it's contents to a new disk. Once the data (or as much data as possible) will be residing on a fully working disk, then attempt recovering it. If you look a bit around in this forum: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/169-hard-drive-and-removable-media-issues/ you will find quite a few similar cases, some successful , some failed , of this approach, so that you get an idea of the things that need to be done. jaclaz

Actually I could , but as a matter of fact you started it, and Charlotte only provided additional sources and commented only on the comments... Naah, I'll blame just you , at the most Charlotte could deserve a stern look of disapproval, which I have ready, in case of need : jaclaz

No prob , glad to have contributed to another happy bunny in the basket: Well, since your wife is a designer, I may ask you/her a happy bunny image to celebrate the success? About firmware, the bootable .iso is ALWAYS better (not because it is a .iso but because it provides a "simple", "clean" DOS environment). Cannot say if the .iso will work "as is" with an external disk, though (I actually doubt it), possibly in your case you are forced to use the .exe from your running Windows, BUT what the thingy seemingly does (at least one of the version I saw) is to actually add a (tinycore) Linux to your system through some GRUB2 and - without having tested it - I wouldn't personally run that .exe on a "production machine". Still personally, I would postpone the firmware updating until you can have a "normal" PC with that hard disk directly connected to it and run the .iso.. After all, the worse that can happen with the old firmware is that the drive bricks itself again, and you now know how to unbrick it. jaclaz

Sure , but the "other people" had not have been warned before by me , that makes a big difference . Really, the syllogism "someone made a study/research/poll/whatever" = "the study has been carried with correct sampling and conclusions were drawn correctly and are unbiased and representing reality" is something that should be - by this time - found to be vastly false. In the case of Soluto, their sample can be hardly representative of the "entire" Windows 8 user base as what they sell (and from which they gathered usage) seems like being aimed to either the geek or to technical users involved in remote assistance of some kind (which of course tend to have as customers people that have to work) No real news that such users do not use NCI much. Actually that should be the work of a good journalist, besides pumping up the news about it, he/she should verify the "soundness" of the study. Statements like: http://www.neowin.net/news/study-60-of-windows-8-desktop-users-launch-a-modern-app-less-than-once-a-day are - to say the least - inconsistent. The number of times in a week you "launch" your e-mail app has really nothing to do with how much you "love" it or how "friendly" is it's interface, it is something that you either *need* to do or that you *need* it not. Counterexample: In (say) Texas cars of comparable year of manufacturer have a higher mileage than in New England, and there are far more 4WD pickups per 100 people in Texas than in NewEngland. This does NOT mean that Texans: love driving get along well with 4WD pickups it may mean that. it may also mean that their homes are on average further from their workplace and there are less paved roads in the state It may also mean that since Chuck Norris drives one of those, you must have one too, or you are a sissy . jaclaz

You need to look at history. Once upon a time disks were NOT partitioned. There simply wasn't a FDISK like program in early Operating systems. The filesystem was (ealry MS-DOS) FAT12 (with a limit of 16 Mb) and simply disks that big did not exist. But disk sizes grew, and grew.... So you had lot of space but no way to address it fully, and you had to partition the disk. DOS (which has been for years the "standard") FDISK would allow only one primary partition and one extended partition (with as many logical volumes in it as you like BUT anyway limited to the D-Z range of drive letters) Then filesystem became FAT16 (with a limit of 32 Mb). Then came FAT16 but with a much larger 2Gb size limit. Then NTFS (initially with some limits as well, but of different nature), than FAT32. Then on NT (windows 2000) mountpoints removed the limit of 24 volumes And filesystem continued growing in addreesable size up to the current NTFS, the recent exFAT (sometimes called incorrectly FAT64) and the newish ProtogonFS. For a period of time having one or more logical volumes in an extended partition was simply the ONLY way to use the whole size of a disk drive. Nowadays it is only a (still IMHO right) choice. Read here: http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/ it should clear many of your doubts. jaclaz

As a side note, anyone can read something their own way. I read this: http://news.techworld.com/security/3447306/internet-explorer-10-blocks-more-malware-than-chrome-or-firefox-test-finds/ https://www.nsslabs.com/reports/2013-browser-security-comparative-analysis-socially-engineered-malware%20 as: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/quotes?item=qt0378266 I don' t want/need MS (or google for that matters) tell me what I can access and what not (a friendly warning is one thing, but we all know how this kind of things tend to become "wider" and "intrusive", the leap from this to "restricted access" or to "government approved" content is smaller than it might seem ) Humanity is doomed . jaclaz

Re-check everything (wires, connections, hypereterminal settings, etc.). If you get to the F3 T> it means that it connected (and later from what you describe it seems like it lost connection). jaclaz