Recover Dead Drive

One of the most dreadful feelings that you can have is having a pc computer or laptop die that hadn’t been backed up recently; especially if you have valuable pictures, music, videos, documents or other files on it.

In this Tech Tip we’ll take a look at how to recover your valuable pictures from a dead computer.

Where to start

Computers are complex machines and when they work right, they are fun to use – but when something goes drastically wrong, it can feel as if your world crashed down around you. If your hard drive is still in working order, there is a very good chance that you’ll be able to recover your pictures, music, videos and valuable documents (and other data) simply with another computer; a specialized cable, a screwdriver; and a little time.

To start off, your best bet it to get a specialized USB cable that can plug directly into your hard drive that you’ll recover from the dead computer. There are several types, and I’d recommend getting one that can handle both PATA (IDE) and SATA hard drives (the two most common used in consumer computers) as well as 2.5” (laptop) and 3.5” (desktop) hard drives. You can also use a hard drive dock or external drive cases as well - but personally I find the specialized USB cable to be the easiest and most flexible option.

Next, remove the hard drive from the dead computer. On desktops it is usually held in with four Philips screwdrivers and on laptops it is usually under an access panel on the bottom of the computer. Remove any cables and caddies that the drive may have – all you need is the bare drive. Then plug in the USB cable into the hard drive (and a power cable if it is a desktop drive – also provided with the USB cable kit) and then plug the other end of the USB cable into a working computer. The computer will then set up the drive ad an external storage device and voilà! you’ll now have access to the files on that drive (provided that the drive is not encrypted or using some type of security feature).

Where to look

OK, so the drive is now plugged into your computer and seen as an external drive, now what? You have several options. One option is to simply look for the files on the drive from the dead computer that you plugged into the USB port and copy them onto the working computer. This is my preferred method personally. I like to “brute force” my way through the drive with Windows Explorer (or a similar file browsing tool) and manually copy/paste the data from one computer to the other. Another option is to follow a Windows dialog box (that usually pops up when you plug in an external drive) and have it help you copy your data from one computer to the other. If you are manually choosing to “brute force it” personal data is usually stored by default in the computers operating systems “home directory” for users.

Common Locations

for home directories (where <root> takes the place of the drive letter):

1. Microsoft Windows 95-Me <root>\My Documents
2. Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/2003 <root>\Documents andSettings\<username>
3. Microsoft Windows Vista / Windows 7 <root>\Users\<username>

Other “What ifs”

What if the files on the drives are erased? If they are, you can use a free recovery program such as Piriform’s Recuva to look for and (hopefully) restore the files. This simple, easy-to-use tool is terrific for recovering pictures from a camera’s memory card that have accidentally been erased as well!

What if the hard drive is the reason that the computer died (actual hardware failure)? If the hard drive is the part that caused the computer failure, then you may be out of luck. Yes, there are specialty recovery services that will pull apart the drives data platters and attempt to recover data (and they are usually successful - such services were used, for example, to recover data from the hard drives that were used on computers from the space shuttle Columbia after it broke apart in 2003) but such services are usually very expensive.

A word to the wise

Backup, backup, backup! Whether using one of the Internet based cloud services or a separate external hard drive – if you make it a habit of backing up regularly, chances are good that you’ll keep the loss of such a failure to a minimum if a computer fails. Of course one of the benefits of using cloud-based backup services is that you can have access to your pictures anywhere you have Internet access.

Summing it up

A computer that dies can be a loss – but don’t lose hope that your valuable pictures (and other stuff) are gone forever. With a little work, you can retrieve your data off the hard drives from a dead computer!

BackPack Essentials

For the Geek on the go, there are essentials that you need! Last year Tech Tips covered some of these essentials with “Must-Have Tech Gear To Maximize Productivity Outside The Office”. In this week’s Tech Tip, we are going to cover some of the essentials to carry in your laptop bag as well as offering some guidance for picking the right laptop bag for your life on the go.

The most basic essential

Choosing just the right laptop carrying case could be called getting the most basic essential accessory for your laptop. While there is a wide array to choose from, you can narrow down your search by thinking about how you’ll use your bag. If you are a student, then perhaps a laptop backpack would be your style. Is it essential to protect your laptop from unforeseen accidents, then maybe an aluminum notebook case would be your style. Do you just need your laptop lightly protected but easy to carry? Then look at one of the sleeve options. There is also the basic laptop bag – inexpensive, easy to carry and stow away, but that gives your laptop good protection. These come in a variety of materials, from simple nylon to nicely appointed leather. For the traveling set, there are upgraded luggage type bags – complete with wheels and travel handle as well as TSA approved bags for the jet setting Geek.

Whatever bag you get, be sure that it fits your needs. Is it large enough for your laptop (or perhaps too big?). Will it fit all the extra goodies that you want to bring along? If you have an eBook reader or tablet, does it have a special compartment that can easily accommodate and protect this device as well? Does it include accessories such as a shoulder strap, or it is lockable? All these need to be considered for getting “just the right bag.”

Some more obvious essentials

Some of the more obvious essentials to have include three mentioned in the Must-Have Tech Tip as well as a few others:

1. Mouse with nano receiver.
2. USB flash drive.
3. Power strip.

In addition to those essentials, some others would be:

1. Presentation pointer (some mice, such asHP Bluetooth credit card mouse, have a built in presenter).
2. Mini Bluetooth module (if your laptop doesn’t already have Bluetooth).
3. 3G or 4G modem (if your laptop doesn’t have built in 3G) or in lieu of that:
4. A cell phone device that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot (such as Verizon’s MiFi service). This is a great service to have on long road trips where there may be multiple devices that can connect to the Internet.
5. Noise canceling headphones – be sure that you get one thateasily folds down for traveling.

Some less obvious essentials to have in your laptop bag are:

1. Identification (like a business card) in case your bag is lost.
2. Some kind of tracking software on your laptop (much like BlackBerry’s Protect or Apple’s Location services for iPhone/iPad). There are software options that can be used to help locate a misplaced or stolen laptop (such as Lojack for Laptops).
3. Spare battery (but not if you are planning to fly).
4. Automobile cigarette lighter DC power cable for laptops or automobile power inverter (also great for long trips).
5. Laptop travel mat – some kind of surface that allows the laptop to stay put but keep the fans clear and the heat away from you.
6. Essential cables. Think how you are going to use your laptop – are you going to need a cable to connect to a projector or HDTV. Will you need a cable to connect your camcorder or cell phone? Will you be staying at a hotel that only offers wired Internet, and need an Ethernet cable? All things to think about when looking for items to include in your case.
7. Cleaning cloth for the screen (even if it is not a touchscreen). Be sure that you get one that is safe for LCD screens.

In conclusion

There are a myriad of essentials and must-haves that you can get for your laptop bag. With this Tech Tip we have looked at the bag itself, some of the must-have essentials to the not so obvious essentials. We encourage you to plan ahead when traveling with it and we hope that this Tech Tip helps gives you some good ideas on what essentials you’d most like to have in your laptop bag.

Technical Evolution

Technology not only continues to be a driving force in our everyday lives, but since we’ve become so dependent on it, we should be mindful of the trends that could directly impact how we live, attend classes and do business.

The following trends address the continuous evolution of digital technology and how you can adapt and benefit (by saving money!) from knowing what technology can help (or not help) you.

 Computing Horsepower

It’s safe to say that computers built in the last 5-6 years still have relatively enough horsepower to help people plow through everyday tasks like email, MS Word/Excel, Facebook and iTunes. However, one trend that could help consumers who are looking to buy a new rig is the advent of integrating the graphics card and the CPU into one single package. Intel already has this technology, called Sandy Bridge, in which the graphics card is inside their CPU. (Intel Core i3- i5-i7 processors)

Unfortunately, Intel’s flavor (HD 3000 series) leaves much to be desired. A cheaper alternative, AMD’s Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) has better built-in graphics (Radeon 6000 series). What this means for consumers is that if you’re looking to build a new system and your multimedia needs are moderate, opting for an Intel Sandy Bridge or AMD APU can save you from spending extra on a physical graphics card. It also provides a smaller computer chassis to save space.

The Future of Gaming

Two trends are currently changing the way people enjoy digital gaming. The first is Cloud computing in which cloud computing servers perform game management such as the gaming platform Steam. Functioning like iTunes for PC gamers, Steam manages game settings, installed game images and even allows the buying and downloading of games. OnLive provides a cloud gaming solution that enables people to sign up like a Netflix account and the gaming experience is handled by OnLive’s game servers which do the physical graphical crunchwork. In other words, the consumer can have a non-gaming computer but have a special window he/she plays on and doesn’t have to worry about upgrading or having the best hardware available to run the latest games.

The second trend that is gaining momentum is the proliferation of handheld device gaming. For example, Angry Birds has become a popular game due to its free price and easy-to-play setup. Many game developers on both iOS and Android continue to release games on mobile phones, iPads and Android tablets. In addition, these mobile gaming alternatives enable people to connect and play each other just like Xbox Live. As a consumer, you might not want to drop $260 on a new Playstation 3 if you’re a casual gamer and know that you would better enjoy simple, no-hassle gaming on a mobile device that can be played virtually anywhere. These two gaming trends might affect the overall long-term success of the upcoming Sony Playstation 4, Microsoft Xbox 720 and the Nintendo Wii U.

Digital Cameras and DVD Drives

The next wave of smartphones offer 5-8 megapixel resolution cameras built-in which means it’s one less accessory to bring to a family reunion or wedding. In addition, these smartphones enable the user to directly share/upload pictures and videos directly to other cell phones, Facebook and Kodak Gallery virtually eliminating the need for clunky USB cables and plugging SD memory cards into computers.

If you combine netbooks, cloud-computing, ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks, and continuouslyincreasing broadband Internet speeds, you have the approaching death of the DVD drive. While these gems were revolutionary back in 1997-98, most consumers don’t even use their DVD drives on their laptop and desktop computers these days. Solutions such as Netflix, Netflix streaming, iPod/MP3 players, flash drives and software imaging programs (e. g. Alcohol 120% and Magic ISO) reduce the dependency on having to use discs which could get lost, scratched or stuck inside the drive. Granted, Blu-ray discs continue to dominate the multimedia segment with movies and TV shows, the majority of consumers will most likely want material delivered to them on-demand such as a Netflix-type solution or a download via cloud computing management. (like Google Docs and Dropbox)

Desktop or Laptop Computer?

Let’s face it, just about everyone has a computer these days. Most consumers have more than one computer, at least one desktop and laptop.Consumers also have more disposable income which has contributed to Apple’s continued phenomenal success of their iPhone and iPad tablet computer. So the question is what’s right for you? If you want to jump onto the tech bandwagon to stay up-to-date and abandon desktop computers, you’re missing the other trend that desktop computers and computer parts continue to drop in price. For example, DDR3 RAM is dirtcheap for both laptops and desktop computers right now. Also dropping $499 for an Apple iPad or $99-$149 for an HP Touchpad (Fire sale!) should require you to ask yourself if this would help you do better in school or increase productivity at work and not just function as a fashion accessory. Another trend is that netbooks appear to be dying since their introduction/explosion back in 2007. If you’re looking for portability and don’t need that much computing horsepower, you might be able to snag a netbook for a good deal for back-to-school. (e. g. Gateway LT2802U for $199 at Best Buy) In addition, other computer parts like LCD monitors continue to grow in size and drop in price such as the Viewsonic VA2431WM which offers 24” of LCD-ness for $139.99 at Geeks.

Be mindful of your (technological) surroundings, Young Jedi

As rapid as technology continues to advance, consumers aren’t obligated to hop aboard quickly in fear of getting left in the dust and becoming obsolete. Rather it’s more important to determine which technological advance(s) could and would benefit your personal/academic/ business lifestyle so you don’t end up unnecessarily spending your hard-earned cash.