Recent Posts

1276

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloning SERVER 2008 R2 SYSTEM TO A BACKUP 2TB DRIVE-Which app is best?

« Last post by Shades on October 22, 2014, 05:55 PM »

HDClone version 4 has successfully cloned several servers in my environment.

It is now at version 5 and comes in limited & (on-purpose) slow free version, but also with several commercial licenses. It has way too many options to mention, but rest assured that it is powerful.

Several years back noq, I used a cheapskate method that worked well with a Windows 2003 server (with Oracle DB server) of mine that is still in active duty today.

• I used Eassos Partition Guru (which comes in both free and commercial from) to identify all partitions from the almost broken disk
• Then I recreated the partition structure on a fresh hard disk in that same system, but didn't assign any drive letter to each of the  partitions of the new drive!
• Cloned all partitions, working from the last partition to the front
• After checking all files were there, I changed all drive letters on both drives, recreating the same structure on the new drive and removed drive letters from the old disk. Except for the C:\ partition (the original installation location of Partition Guru). I made notes during this to keep track of the many partitions. Also handy for undoing things if all this would went south...
• Removed Partition Guru with Revo Uninstaller
• Installed Partition Guru again, but not on C:\
• Cloned C:\
• After checking all files were there, I changed the last drive letter on both drives
• "Activated the new C:\ partition"
• Turned off the PC completely (incl. power switch on back of the power supply)
• Disconnected the old drive
• Booting the system again the system came up without problem and Oracle worked without a hitch.

Luck? I have no doubt.

But after this I have a warm place in my heart for this little (Chinese) piece of software.

Now I believe that MiniTool also has (free)/commercial software that allows you to copy/clone disks. If that software matches the quality of their free/commercial Partition management software, then I will have no problem recommending this software as well.
 

1277

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by Shades on October 19, 2014, 03:50 PM »

I went unknowingly into Lucy (the movie) and I enjoyed it as well. I always try to know as little as possible about a movie when going in the cinema.

What I didn't suspect was how much I enjoyed 22 Jump Street. That movie didn't look like much, but ends great and the credits are absolutely hilarious. Every grown man would cry after the last shot though...

1278

Living Room / Re: Who is your Favourite "Doctor"?

« Last post by Shades on October 19, 2014, 03:35 PM »

I'm guessing here, but knowing Peter Capaldi to be a good actor before, I suspect that his performance as liaison for an Alien race in Torchwood cemented the deal of him becoming the Doctor.

1279

General Software Discussion / Re: Portatil to control a desktop pc

« Last post by Shades on October 18, 2014, 02:29 PM »

The RDP technology from Microsoft itself does exactly what you want to do.

Not available in the premium version of your OS? Microsoft sure is skimpy with features in a "premium" version of their OS. Hardly deserves that name then (in my book).

In case it isn't available, you can always use: VNC
ThightVNC is free, RealVNC is not. TightVNC will also do what you want.

Both RDP and VNC exist for a long time so you shouldn't encounter problems with either.
VNC will even work cross-platform, while RDP is a Windows-only solution.
RDP is slightly faster though. It can be because it doesn't allow more than one user to be connected that way, while VNC doesn't have that problem.

TeamViewer is also an option, but with that one I don't have any experience.

There are even more options if the desktop had a monitor of its own. Till now I have good experiences with Synergy Plus. That software allows you to share your mouse and keyboard between more than one computer.

*edit* changes after re-reading the post of the OP + some additions

1280

Living Room / Re: driveless cars

« Last post by Shades on October 18, 2014, 02:18 PM »

Driving around in your Apple iPod doesn't sound that great either...as these come with a lot of iPadding. 

A lot of people get sick very quick when their eyes don't see the movement their brains are registering...so Apple is actually bad for the general well-being of people. ;-)

1281

DC Gamer Club / Re: GamerGate: 'Press must tackle misogyny,' says developer

« Last post by Shades on October 16, 2014, 07:02 PM »

In my young(er) years I played a lot of games as well. But I was only interested in beating high-scores and/or finishing a level of my single player game. Not like kids nowadays that from the moment you log-in to <insert your favorite gaming network> immediately start to call you names and scanting the things they either did or want to do to your mother that even an extreme pornstar wouldn't dare to attempt.

Seriously, all those brats should be lined up and, one by one, get a decent sized fist flung in their face. Preferably from the person they offend and if that is not possible...a 'champion' chosen by that person. And pay for the medical bill(s) themselves. Oh, and for US citizens, no possibility to sue the hitter.

The financial loss would hurt for a short while, the pain and recovery time lasts a life time. That would be more or less the only way those idiots learn the concept of consequences. Just like my generation and all the ones before had to.

Likeable solution? No.
Educational? Most definitely. And fast too. Especially when all this is accompanied with the ridicule of their peers.

Everyone subject to this treatment will think twice before opening their mouths again. Proving the Dutch saying: Talk is silver, silence is gold.

Anyone who groks this using modern, PC (psychologically correct) ways of education, kudos to them.
The ones that don't...

It would eliminate a lot of bad behavior from a lot of people which addresses at least half of the problem.

1282

Living Room / Re: driveless cars

« Last post by Shades on October 14, 2014, 08:29 AM »

Blue windscreen of death...

1283

Coding Snacks / Re: Prevent some browsers executions

« Last post by Shades on October 13, 2014, 08:03 PM »

There is always 'secpol.msc' where you can create software policy rules that can prevent the execution of any *.exe.

If the above terms don't mean anything to you or are not sure about, then you shouldn't attempt the above. At least not without getting to know what policies are and how they can affect the functionality of your Windows installation. It's easy to make a mess there.

1284

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on October 12, 2014, 01:42 AM »

@Renegade:
If you are into this stuff...and/or similar devices, you should check: http://www.free-energy-info.tuks.nl

If you visit...you are transported back to the late nineties. The layout is from those times, even the hosting feels the same. Slightly better than the GeoCities era of the internet. Doesn't necessarily mean the quality of the content is bad.

1285

Living Room / Re: Samsung pays MS $1 billion in royalties for using Android. wtf.

« Last post by Shades on October 07, 2014, 08:10 AM »

And with that almost half of the MS - minecraft deal is already paid for...

1286

Living Room / Re: Your favorite cartoons of yesterday and today?

« Last post by Shades on October 06, 2014, 10:11 PM »

When I was a kid I dropped anything and everything to watch 'Battle of the Planets'...unfortunately, it doesn't stand the test of time for me. I always liked the Looney Tunes better than Tom &Jerry. Especially Wiley E. Coyote. If there is one cartoon character that will teach you about determination...

I'll even admit, here in public, that I have a pluche/stuffed doll of that character on my desk (20 years and counting...). Went a lot of times to the W.B. amusement park in Germany. Loved that park, its roller coasters, the ambiance there in general. Much better than DisneyLand Paris in my opinion.

From the Disney stable there is nothing that surpasses 'DuckTales' for me, although 'Darkwing Duck' wasn't far behind. Everytime something breaks in my computers I can't shake the term "What is your major malfunction!!!" from the gym coach of 'Beavis and Butthead'.  However, I lost interest in cartoons not too long after that. Regular TV soon followed. Now I don't even own a TV...sure don't miss being woken up (by the way too commercially driven) 'DragonBall-Z' after accidentally falling asleep behind the TV.

'The Simpsons' are the only and last cartoon still on my radar, though.

Wait...I forgot to mention 'Ren and Stimpy', 'Cow and Chicken' and 'Happy Tree Friends', dark to very black humor. 

1287

Living Room / Re: Who is your Favourite "Doctor"?

« Last post by Shades on October 05, 2014, 02:54 PM »

"Who is the doctor?"

Spoiler

David Tennant was my vote.   And if you like the "captain Jack" companion, watch a show called: Torchwood (if you haven't done that already). First 3 seasons of that show were made without US influence, its last season did. Except for the love scenes, a nice watch.

1288

Living Room / Re: Win10 Navigation Pane scrambled

« Last post by Shades on October 04, 2014, 05:20 PM »

As far as I know, each partition on a hard disk is assigned a volume serial code by the NTFS file system first, then a drive-letter is assigned. Possibly the sort order in the pane sorts on volume serial instead of the drive letter as you expect. 

This is quite low-level and most likely to be altered in the registry. Fixing this could take as much as downloading a new fresh iso...which is most likely the better option as you don't trust the copy you have at hand. At least there is also a 64-bit iso to play with. 

1289

Living Room / Re: File too long for Recycle Bin

« Last post by Shades on September 27, 2014, 02:36 PM »

No, can't say I haven't (in any version of Windows).

Solutions could be:
- Shorten the name of the file.
- Move the file to different location much closer to the drive letter and then delete it.
- Adjust the setting of the Recycle bin to throw away files directly (without these being stored in the recycle bin first), delete the file and adjust the setting again (although I think this is a setting for p.ssies to begin with)
- If all that fails you can try to boot from a Linux or Windows boot cd and delete the file that way.

Alternative nerd solution would be:
- If you run a 32-bit version of Windows, you still have something like 'PortableLinux', which is a 1.4GByte download. After unpacking the archive you can run this and you will have both Windows and Linux (ubuntu based) running next to each other at the same time. If Windows won't allow you to delete the file, use the Linux navigator to go that file and delete it. Windows won't/can't intervene that action and your problem is solved. With the Linux navigator you can also take a peek in folders Windows blocks for all users (but not viruses and malware apparently) and get rid of crap there too. Be careful though, remove too much and you are in trouble.

1290

Living Room / Re: new blackberry passport runs android apps "without delay"

« Last post by Shades on September 24, 2014, 09:46 PM »

Too much doom and gloom here. I don't have the impression that BB will leave within 3-5 years. Too many government contracts for cell-phones and software contracts in lots of different fields to be gone that quick.

Never understood the hate BB gets. I already had positive experiences with QNX and I think it was a very good move from BB to use that as base for BB10.

The only reason I own a Lumia is because I don't want to tinker around with sub-par computing devices that happen to be able to make a call (Android)...or continuously fight with the school yard bully over my lunch money (iOS).

Both BB10 and Windows Phone have a much more business like appearance and their devices are good for making calls. Exactly what my phone needs to do. Couldn't care less about facebook, whatsapp or games on such a tiny device. Sub-par experience on sub-par computing devices is the best you can hope for and most of the time you don't get even that.

While saving for a BB Z10 (yep, people still do that...and I wanted a phone without contract and that makes phones quite expensive here in Paraguay), someone offered me a Lumia cheaply. Never regretted that moment as it has already have a lot of functional stuff in it that doesn't require a internet connection and I can use all that directly from my desktop PC if I want to.

All I want to point out is that the way you want to use your smart phone is definitely not how I want to use mine. Which in turn will make us both look for very different qualities in our phones. If BB wants to cater for people that prefer a more business/no-nonsense like experience...let them. It is/was their core strength to begin with and it served them well.

Smart phones should be regarded as slave devices (fill in the "slave" part how you will), all of them suck as a device to control other devices and you are nickel-and-dimed continuously for that experience. Not worth my time, money or energy, I'll rather use that productively.

More on-topic now:  the website 'crackberry' posted a decent piece about hands-on experience with the Passport and the reviewer was positive about almost all qualities of the device, but also stating there are things to get used to before you appreciate the workflow BB envisioned with this particular phone.

The passport is probably not your cup-of-tea, I can tell you with certainty that its look hasn't won me over. But as far as I understand, its greatest disadvantage will be the introduction price (without contract).

*added link

1291

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a new Anti-Virus and need you guys to help!

« Last post by Shades on September 21, 2014, 05:25 AM »

BitDefender has a decent AV-solution if you aren't the only one strapped for resources...

1292

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 14, 2014, 01:54 PM »

Boom!

1293

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2014, 09:10 PM »

Zombie

1294

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2014, 08:54 AM »

wheels

1295

General Software Discussion / Re: "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?

« Last post by Shades on September 09, 2014, 06:57 AM »

Check if your BIOS has 'Fast boot' enabled. If so turn that off. Now the hard disk has more time to spin up properly and your BIOS might be able to detect it the first time around.

1296

General Software Discussion / Re: "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?

« Last post by Shades on September 09, 2014, 06:40 AM »

Was the laptop used (not by you) to connect it to a beamer? And forgot to put the original video configuration back?
Not having real experience with Vista, so I am not sure it automatically readjusts output to the Notebook monitor when it detects the beamer isn't connected anymore.

1297

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2014, 10:58 PM »

Optimus

1298

General Software Discussion / Re: "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?

« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2014, 10:57 PM »

Great summarization IanB.

Delayed write failure errors only occur when a device isn't responding in the allotted time to signal the file system that the write action can take place.
And there are many reasons for this to happen and have been already discussed. However, these are practically always hardware related (in my personal/anecdotal experience at least).

@yksyks:
Are the systems also properly cooled? All the time? Are you sure?
The reason I ask is that here in Paraguay there can be very high ambient temperatures. Because of that I need hard disk cooler, which are screwed on the bottom of the drive and have 2 fans on it (one to blow air onto the device, the other to suck the hot air away). Without these,  I can run these disks for only a few hours (in spring and summer) and then the operating system/file system plain simply "looses" the drive. 

Running hard disks at high temperature seriously shortens their life span and damages it in the mean time.

If you do work with hard disk coolers, are these functioning properly? A fan that is stuck or not moving smoothly draws much more power than you expect and in essence becomes a heating element...residing under your hard disk, making the drive more hot more quickly.

Do you use solutions that make any of your PC fans slow down after a while? Are these coolers perhaps connected to chassis fan connectors? (I have such crap here when people bring me computers to repair.

Software can do crazy things if the hardware supplies a '1' when the software expects a '0', When that happens on a slightly bigger scale a cascading effect occurs that makes your computer behaves erratically. With the densely packed (magnetically/electrically) hard drives of today, there isn't much margin for error anymore on the hardware side and in combination with an intertwined operating systems such as Windows those errors can create havoc easily.

You have a vague problem and it is good of IanB to ask/confirm the details of your setup. Without a good description our guesses are as good as yours 

1299

Non-Windows Software / Re: BYOBU - Even more fun with Screen and Tmux

« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2014, 03:28 PM »

Here in Paraguay I get a message that says the video is not allowed to be accessed on certain sited. And the message offers a link to watch it on YouTube itself.

1300

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 06, 2014, 11:39 AM »

Service