jaclaz

Good news. Unfortunately (as it always happen in these cases) one has to throw to the stoopid thingy everything AND the kitchen sink, so it is difficult to later understand which exact step/change(s) were "needed" and "vital" and which one(s) were unneeded/redundant.... jaclaz

Random ideas : Is it by any chance an ES.2 drive? http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?client=opera&rls=it&oe=utf-8&hl=it&q=cache:iEQnPXk5Ij8J:http://www.forum.salvationdata.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=900+LED%3A000000CE+FAddr%3A00280569&ct=clnk Did you try the Heads contacts OR the Motor ones? http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html jaclaz

Yep . I personally tend to think that this is actually "kosher": http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=24100&st=38 Would coffee be OK as well? I have some problems with my Nutrimatic machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_in_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Nutrimatic_Drinks_Dispenser it is still delivering something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_entirely_unlike#Not_entirely_unlike Seriously, at least the few actual server hardware I had occasion to deal with (mainly HP's and Dell's - and admittedly OLDish models) had a rather complex way to forcibly power off and to re-power on. It doesn't sound to me like "good advice" )in the sense of "practical", I mean it may work , but it also may take ages/several attempts, with the risk, of powering down too early and create a mess . NIce little batch, BTW. jaclaz

Thanks for the recommendation, but unsure what I should be looking for. Attached is a screenshot of it. Just for the record what zamarac suggested was Victoria for DOS. What you got is Victoria for Windows. With the former you need to attach the drive DIRECTLY (no USB adapter in between) to the IDE/PATA bus. With the second you can use a KNOWN TO BE FUNCTIONAL USB converter, BUT the amount of "access" you will have to the drive is limited when compared to directly attaching it. A (rather skimpy) help file for Victoria for Windows is here: http://forum.hddguru.com/victoria-for-windows-detailed-english-manual-release-t6902.html jaclaz

Something like these? http://www.addonics.com/products/adsacf.php http://www.addonics.com/products/ad25cfd.php jaclaz

With all due respect , the probabilities that a cable like that get damaged during freight could be IMHO feeded to the Heart of Gold Improbability Drive and let it travel for a good 2/3 of the known universe . It is also the first time in my life I hear about different wave forms on serial/ttl lines. Have you ever seen anything different from a standard (almost) square wave form on any such line? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal Sure transitions may be a little steeper or flatter, but no chip intended for sending this kind of signals ever emitted (to my knowledge) a different waveform, and standards allow for more than reasonable tolerance on peaks. jaclaz

What do the good Acronis guys suggest, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL on the non functional keyboard? Or are they assuming that everything is compliant with initiating a proper shutdown when the power button is pressed. (I don't think that actually powering down the system would do ) jaclaz

There are IMHO SEVERAL problems with the contents of the file you supplied, including distribution/redistribution issues. Please, remove (temporarily) the file from public distribution, as is it contains NON-REDISTRIBUTABLE software, before some of the Mods/Admins ban you for infringement of Rules . Be VERY AWARE of Rule #1a: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules You may want to go through the licenses of the various software you included. You can PM me if you want some assistance in replacing the software with something redistributable (if possible). Also the grub4dos version you are distributing is an obsolete (and also actually deprecated) one. jaclaz

Well, you could well link to the actual source: http://www.windowslifestyle.com/eye-balls-movement-control-mouse-pointer-windows-8/ instead of making people go to the "generic" blog and find the specific post. This sentence makes NO sense however: You won't touch anything with your eye-balls, hopefully The "new, innovative eye-tracking technology" can be obviously applied to any OS, not necessarily Windows 8, and as a matter of fact the company that makes them aims also to embedded/custom systems, including industry and automotive. jaclaz

Yet another happy bunny : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128727&st=10 No prob, that's why we are here (to try and help newbies) among other things. Actually the final goal is to make them step away from their n00b status . jaclaz

Should we stick this as "most useful advice of 2012"? Or could we submit to the "most gratuitious generic non-advice 2012 award" contest? jaclaz

Yes, the outermost track are normally the left side, but you cannot swear by it in every case, that was the point. A modern hard disk is a "box" which you CANNOT look inside, and that you can inspect only by trusting what the "box" says about itself. The MBR is FIRST absolute sector of a disk, CHS 0/0/1 LBA 0. So it is (theoretically) the first sector of the outermost track (but again for all what you - or we - know it could well reside on sector - say 17489 - and being remapped by the integrated device controller to sector 0). So yes, normally left=beginning=faster but never assume that this info is "universal" for all devices. The $MFT is "tricky business". It's start location is connected to size of the volume, but, as said, it is not a linear function of it, once you reach something like 8 Gb (if I recall correctly) it places itself at cluster #786432 and remains there up to at least 500 or 750 Gb. It's size is an alltogether different thing, it is normally expressed in percentage of the volume size and there are switcheds in the Registry to set this percentage to either: 12.5% 25.0% 37.5% 50.0% http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174619/en-us http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_optimization.htm Please be aware that info about NTFS (as well as other filesystems) that you can find, including (actually EXPECIALLY) the ones on MS sites is often incorrect, partial, misleading or plainly wrong, you have to be VERY careful with whatever you find and always verify what is written. As an example according to MS the example I posted above would not be true as per here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140365/en-us the default NTFS cluster size on a volume in the range 7 MB–512 MB is given as 4 KB, whilst in real word it is 512 byte. Correct info is given here: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_optimization.htm Please keep in mind that what the filesystem (and the mentioned Registry settings) do is NOT (as it may seem semantically) to "reserve" that size to the $MFT, it actually sets a given amount of space to be "preferred". To clear the concept, if you start filling a volume, at a given point the "reserved" $MFT area will be used to store files allright . The $MFT is nothing but a "special" file, organized as a database index, so when you actually simply format a volume it will be very small and will grow in time. Newish NT systems (since 2k, if I recall correctly) defrag operation will also defrag the $MFT. The $MFT will also CONTAIN directly any file up to (around) 900 bytes in size! The given "standard" address of cluster #786432 represents the BEGINNING of the $MFT, it will always expand "on the right" when it grows. I am not sure to understand this one correctly, it seems to me you are getting it exactly the other way round. If you expand a partition "on the right side" (given that the $MFT is already in it's standard position) it WILL NOT be moved, as well as any data in the volume. The only practical difference will be that the bootsector mirror will be moved to last sector of the partition slot (or first sector outside the filesystem, at the end or "on the right"). If you expand the partition "on the left" what you are actually doing is normally "moving" or "shiftng" the whole partition (and the $MFT and all data in the volume) "to the left" AND expand it "on the right". Cannot really say if some software will instead leave the $MFT in it's place and update it's offset in the bootsector(s) changing it from the the "standard", but I doubt it. I guess some experiments are needed. Just for the record, if you think how "queer" is number #786432, try writing it in Hex: 0xC0000 . jaclaz

OWWW, comeon , that's a BOOT.INI. JFYI: jaclaz

Seemingly nice , but also Opera cannot seemingly download it . If you can, you should provide an alternate download. Additionally, you may want to start a NEW thread here: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ where it is likely it would get more visibility. jaclaz

Remember, you asked for it (you are WRONG! ) Mainly you are assuming that the visual representation of Disk Management (and it's left or right) has actually any direct connection with inner or outer tracks of the disk drive and that *somehow* inner tracks are slower and and outer tracks are faster. On modern hard disks this may (or may not be) the case. Where is "sector 0" (i.e. first sector of a disk)? Please choose one: innermost track outermost track Any you choose might be either right or wrong. Are you really sure that the hard disk you are actually using is organized like here? http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/tracks-c.html (and following) So, assumed that the sector 0 is on the outermost track and that each track is one after the other the disk management representation is nothing but that of a spiral UNreeled into a line. Whether the left means "outermost" and the right "innermost" or that "outermost" means "faster" and "innermost" means "slower" are just "opinions" or, better "guesses". The $MFT is a LOGICAL index/structure (peculiar to NTFS ONLY) part of the filesystem and it's position can vary (and for the record it is NEVER at the beginning of a volume). Everything inside a filesystem or volume is relative to the begginning (and end) of the filesystem or volume. When you move a filesystem/partition/volume "to the right" (or "to the left") the indexing structure contents are left as they are and the whole content is shifted. Example: You have a disk with three (primary, to keep this simple) small partitions. 1st partitions starts at CHS 0/1/1 LBA 63 and ends at CHS 0/254/63 LBA 16064 2nd partitions starts at CHS 1/0/1 LBA 16065 and ends at CHS 1/254/63 LBA 32129 3rd partition starts at CHS 2/0/1 LBA 32130 and ends at CHS 2/254/63 LBA 48194 2nd and 3rd partition are identical in size, 8,225,280 bytes. If they are formatted with NTFS they will get (under XP) the $MFT at (relative) offset Dec 5355 (cluster), i.e. since the cluster size will be 1 (512 bytes) sector the $MFT beginning will be 5355 sectors from the beginning of the volume. So, if you access the PHYSICALDRIVE (i.e. the disk), you will find the beginning of the $MFT of second partiion at sector 16065+5355=21420 and the $MFT of third partition at sector 32130+5355=37485 In this particular case, since 2nd and third partitions are identical, the $MFT offset is the same. So, if you delete second partition and "move to the left" the third partition, it's filesystem structures will occupy the same absolute position of the previous ones. If you delete both partitions, and recreate a single "second" one that starts at CHS 1/0/1 LBA 16065 and ends at CHS 2/254/63 LBA 48194 and format it, you will see how the $MFT offset will be 10710, i.e. the $MFT will begin at sector 16065+10710=26775 And no, when you move/shift partitions, the WHOLE partition (and thus also data in them) is moved, WHILST when you enlarge partitions, normally data remains where it is and simply UNallocated sectors are added to the filesystem, the example above with the very small image was given to teach you how to never assume anything, when partitions grow bigger the $MFT offset tend to get to cluster #786432 (with 8 sectors per cluster) and remain there for a very wide range of sizes. But filesystem structures have nothing to do with actual disk/partition management. jaclaz

Well, I produced the opposite effect than what I meant, then. I try as much as I can to have EXACT descriptions of things/tools. Often people tend to use (or recommend) something without really-really understanding (or clearly stating) WHAT it is. I try to do the opposite. There are TWO main approaches (different sources/target): disk based partition (or volume) based Then there are THREE approaches (different HOW/WHAT to save/image/backup) sector based file based mixed mode If you want an "integral" copy/*clone/image you use: disk based AND sector based <- this equates to "forensic sound" this is the SAFER choice (though BOTH slower AND needing more space for the image/backup) If you are dealing with DATA (and not with actual bootable volumes/OS/System volumes) you use: volume based AND file based <. this often equates to "backup" Most apps use EITHER of the above approaches, with different levels of "added info" to the results. XXCLONE (and also Norton Ghost as used by many people) use a "mixed mode" approach, where ALL the needed data is stored/saved/cloned, but NOT whatever is not visible in the filesystems AND the actual physical position of files in the filesystem may (or may not) be kept AND some NOT normally needed files are skipped/excluded (typically the pagefile/swap, just as an example). A typical "forensic sound" disk image will hold each and every sector in the source, thus: MBR (and ALL data in it) hidden sectors (and ALL data in it) PBR's/VBR's (and ALL data in it) pagefile/swap deleted files broken filesystem elements actual physical position of EVERYTHING A typical volume based and file based volume image will hold: NO MBR NO hidden sectors maybe or maybe not PBR's/VBR's (and ALL data in it) <- this depends on the particular app NO pagefile/swap and none of a few more normally unneeded files NO deleted files NO broken filesystem elements NO actual physical position of files A typical file based ONLY image backup will hold: NO MBR NO hidden sectors NO PBR's/VBR's NO pagefile/swap and none of a few more normally unneeded files NO deleted files NO broken filesystem elements NO actual physical position of files A typical "mixed mode approach" image will normally hold: MBR NO hidden sectors PBR's/VBR's (and ALL data in it) NO pagefile/swap and none of a few more normally unneeded files NO deleted files NO broken filesystem elements NO actual physical position of files So, it all boils down on what you need in the resulting image, why you are making it (the scope it will be used later) you should choose an app based on what you need to do with it, knowing EXACTLY what it does and which problems the used approach may lead to and know HOW to solve issues (if ANY) that may arise. As an example a lot of peeps think that using DriveIMageXML (a nice freeware for personal use) they are actually imaging a disk and are surprised when they find out that the app by itself does NOT store all the needed data (namely the MBR - but in some setups hidden sectors are also needed) to restore a disk or that further steps may be needed, like adjusting disk geometry: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23408&hl= A disk is NOT a drive, and a drive is NOT a disk: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=22984 (and you will also find in the above some nice reference to antigravitory cats ) jaclaz

Decisions, decisions, always decisions.... Everyone has his/her own preferences. The only thing that is important as I see it is to take a decision (anyone) in an informed way. What I normally do is to (expecially for a DATA drive): make only one small primary partition make as many logical volumes inside the extended partition spanning over the rest as I see fit (the more, the better) Having DATA catalogued in different partitions allows for: easier selective backup/imaging easieer/faster partition defrag/chkdsk greater "security" against some types of wiping malware You don't really have to have a drive letter for each volume, as you can use mountpoints allright. Of course what I personally do is completely unlike what most other peeps do (just make one huge, big partition and let it be) which I personaly find the most unconvenient and worse than that the most unsafe setting. A computer is nothing but a metaphor of a normall office/archive. Imagine that you have a nice file cabinet with (say) 6 drawers. Now what are you going to do, label drawers with (again say) "Customers", "Suppliers", "Invoices", "Projects", "Legal matters" , "Other" and put in each drawer the appropriate content or do you remove the drawrs and just stack everything inside the resulting "empty" cabinet? JFYI: jaclaz

Why don't you READ (evidently for the first time) the READ-ME-FIRST and the FGA, particularly the part about GROUNDing? This may also help you (please follow the "conversation" with Predtek starting from here): I really cannot understand why it is so difficult to get this kind of info acknowledged, I am at a loss to understand what could be done to give it more evidence.... jaclaz

Hey , read the specs. That drive needs 1.0 A at 5 V. An USB connector ONLY can provide 500 mA. Unless you use an external power adapter or a USB Y cable: that drive won't ever be able to spin up. as it simply won't get enough "juice" from a single USB port. jaclaz

If you can find a matching PCB and can do the ROM swap properly, I see no problem. Of course if the unmentioned firm swapped the PCB with an "ill-matched" one and you use this latter as a reference you may have some problems, but I doubt they did change the actual label, though they could have - by *ahem* - mistake have returned a different (another) drive. Did your client took a picture of it or registered the serial, etc? jaclaz

Not really-really. JFYI: http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/ http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html jaclaz

Naaah, you wouldn't have that kind of error, if this was the case. jaclaz

faissaloo check ATTENTIVELY what has been posted. jaclaz

Well, first thing one needs to diagnose the issue (and unless you have not another enclosure and/or another hard disk you simply cannot). Then, posting EXACT specs of the disk and of the laptpop where it comes form might help trace if such a feature was implemented. As an example (but I don't think it is your case ) Toshiba has self-destroying hard disks http://www.pcworld.com/article/225202/toshibas_new_selferasing_hard_drives_the_ultimate_in_data_security.html jaclaz

Good to know! jaclaz