Recent Posts

426

General Software Discussion / Re: StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop

« Last post by MerleOne on March 28, 2010, 11:27 AM »

I also have tried SP, Acronis, IFW, Macrium, Paragon, Drive Snapshot, etc...  I didn't find SP that great, especially in the file naming convention area.  I even had some glitches where differential backups were turned into full ones, for no obvious reason.  The speed of diff/incr backup is not improved since the full backup is compared to the current disk during the process while Macrium and Drive Snapshot use CRC to speed up the process.

SP has some advanced features such as mounting archives in R/W mode and aggregating a full one and incremental in a single one, but I don't use these features that much.  My current choice is Macrium, which also comes with an excellent WinPE recovery CD.

427

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 28, 2010, 03:51 AM »

 http://disklace.file...ACE%20Whitepaper.pdf

I found this WP well hidden somewhere on their website.  But is doesn't really helps I think.

428

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ad Aware Plus (1Yr) free for 24h

« Last post by MerleOne on March 27, 2010, 11:50 AM »

Hurry up, because the activation is only valid for 24h.  It might even be closed by now (check on the website).

429

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 26, 2010, 04:36 PM »

MerleOne, what size disk are you running LaceWatcher on?

This proof of concept stuff has me really confused.

-sajman99 (March 26, 2010, 12:50 PM)

4 partitions, one is 20GB big, the other 85GB (excluded by the software - free version limitation) and the last one 37 GB.

430

Found Deals and Discounts / Ad Aware Plus (1Yr) free for 24h

« Last post by MerleOne on March 26, 2010, 09:51 AM »

See http://store.v3.co.u...=details&id=4636 (you must create a V3 account, that's all).

431

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 26, 2010, 09:40 AM »

BTW, I found a way to make LaceWatcher run on my system : the Microsoft "server service" was not running.  After starting it manually, LW started to work OK.  Now whether it is useful or not is enterely another matter...

432

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 26, 2010, 08:45 AM »

Sorry, my initial post seems to have caused some controversy...

I found something which is of interest to me in the free LaceLevel2 : this tool seems able to detect very quickly if a ntfs file system has some errors.  It does that of one of my PC, saying some files are overlapped.  I checked with chkdsk, and it was confirmed that some files had a few issues (cannot really tell what kind of issue since chkdsk messages are quite cryptic to me).  When I force a chkdsk at boottime, this small issues were repaired.

Of course, it's not what the product is supposed to do as main purpose, but that's something anyway.

433

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 26, 2010, 04:19 AM »

There seems to be some kind of consensus on the marketing capabilities of this company. 

However, I still would like what you think about the products themselves.  For those who experienced DiskTrix.com a while ago, with their Ultimate Defrag and DefragExpress product lines, there also have been a lot of controversy on their marketing, but the apps are quite decent, especially Defrag Express (IMHO).

434

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 25, 2010, 12:21 PM »

Hmm, I am not reading too many good things there.  Still, I think they concentrate on the no/less refragmentation question.  I have tried their software but my partitions are already well defragmented so I cannot check if this improves the situation or not.

To be more specific, they have a fragmentation mesurement tool (LaceLevel2) which gives some view on how is your disk performance, and a "basic" defragmenter, that only move a few files in my situation.  This latter software is just a beta.

I would just like to know what is does on a heavily fragmented disk.

Regarding their third tool, LaceWatcher, I cannot get it to work : when I add my local PC/disks, I have a permission error at windows level that blocks any further action.

I don't pay much attention to all the marketing stuff, pretty terrible in that case I agree.

Thanks for having looked into it !

435

General Software Discussion / A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 25, 2010, 10:15 AM »

Hi all,

I very recently stumbled upon this website, http://www.disklace.com.  I got their 3 tools, could make work 2 of them (LaceDefrag & LaceLevel 2).  They say they are at an early stage of their (entreprise-oriented) products.  Does anyone know these products already.  It seems that their purpose is to reduce fragmentation by using as little defragmentation as possible, quite the opposite of current commercial tools.

Any opinion on this ?

436

Official Announcements / Re: March 2010 Discounts and Giveaway Drawing - Winners Posted Mar 22, 2010

« Last post by MerleOne on March 23, 2010, 12:08 AM »

 
Thank you so much !

437

Living Room / Re: Howto: Torture people for money:French Contestants Torture People With Electric!

« Last post by MerleOne on March 21, 2010, 08:41 AM »

I am afraid some might not be, judging by some headlines I have seen in the international press. 

438

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 20, 2010, 04:52 PM »

The end of the story : the system was too damaged apparently, I am going for a restoration from a XP recovery CD provided with the PC.  Neither ERD50 nor any other tools have been able to repair it.

439

Living Room / Re: Howto: Torture people for money:French Contestants Torture People With Electric!

« Last post by MerleOne on March 20, 2010, 04:49 PM »

Well, they're just catching up to the Japanese level of game show it seems.

-wraith808 (March 18, 2010, 12:48 PM)

It's not a *real* show, compared to the Japanese ones, just a demonstration of the consequences if this were true !

440

Living Room / Re: moving outlook express to a new computer

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 03:15 PM »

How do you get WLM to use local contacts in Windows 7?

Windows Mail works fine but I couldn't find anyway to use local contacts (in the user's Contacts folder)? As I said the only way I could see to do it was to upload all of your contacts to Windows Live - which is not a nice (or secure) solution.

The other thing I don't like about WLM (over OE or WM) is that its tied to Windows Live/Hotmail accounts even if you don't want to use them.

-Carol Haynes (March 18, 2010, 11:15 AM)

I don't have any hotmail/WL account, and WLM works well without them.  Regarding local contact, I will look into it, but I know this took me some time to find the right process.

Try pressing Ctrl+Shift+C to get the Windows Live Contacts
then Alt+M to get the contact import menu (.wab as an input from OE).
This may work.

441

Living Room / Re: moving outlook express to a new computer

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 10:45 AM »

Have you actually used Windows Live Mail? It is a pretty hideous client (IMHO) and importing from OE isn't exactly nice as you end up with all your emails buried deep in a nested folder structure. Also I can find no way to use local contacts within Windows Live Mail - AFAIT you have to export all your contacts to a hotmail or live account online - not exactly friendly.

-Carol Haynes (March 18, 2010, 10:18 AM)

I do use it everyday !  Granted, the GUI could be leaner, but it's OK.  Like with OE, you may move windows mail storage folder to any location, and it's only as nested as your folders are (sort of).  I have even installed the antispamsniper plugin for WLM available since recently (they develop one because it seems WLM is the default e-mail reader on Win7).

I did manage to import my local contacts but I know that was a pretty hidden feature.  I did all this again for my Mother in Law (and no, I don't hate her), from OE to WLM, and this worked fine.

Also, I had a major dbx file corruption back in 2008, where almost all my e-mails from 2005 to 2008 got truncated more or less, probably a "nice" result of OE dbx compression.  No such thing in WLM, so I wouldn't go back to OE.

I do miss a lot one feature from OE : when I click on the move to folder button, and a folder requester opens, it no longers answers to keyboard keys, so I cannot type the first 3 letters of the folder to jump to it, I have to scroll down, which is annoying.  I now have a new logitech mouse with a wheel turning freely, I give a good nudge on it when I want to go really down and that usually works, but it's still less convenient than typing the beginning of the folder name.

442

General Software Discussion / Re: I am having a senior moment

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 07:52 AM »

The best solution I know, which supports also handling incremental burnings, is Backup Platinum V4.  Expensive though.

443

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 07:45 AM »

Just an update (not solved yet) :
When I looked at the windows\system32 folder, I found that ntoskrnl.exe was missing.
I also restored the machine registry files from one of the restoration point snapshots.

Now it's even stranger :
If I copy a ntoskrnl.exe file (from dll cache) in system32, the PC just loads the OS special start menu (the one one get with F8) and whatever the option, it resets and goes back to this menu.  But at the same time, ERD5 now recognize the system as OK and accepts to work on it.

If I remove the ntoskrnl.exe file, the PC almost starts OK : I get the user selection page. It's "just" that the mouse & keyboards are not working.

I have almost finished an image backup of the PC as it is now, I'll start some ERD50 tools to see if it improves.  If not, Windows install in place or full new install are just the options left I guess.

444

Living Room / Re: moving outlook express to a new computer

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 07:38 AM »

Changing PC is a good opportiny to get read of OE and switch to a better solution : Windows Live Mail (a component of Windows Live) : you get a nice e-mail client that imports perfectly all messages, address book & accounts (you have to export your accounts from OE on the source PC).  Then you will get a more secure data structure : each mail is a file (.eml) and a basic yet efficient anti-spam.

445

General Software Discussion / Re: Undelete utilities?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 02:33 AM »

I have my drive partitioned, so this isn't a huge issue for me (data is on a different partition than windows and program files, including recovery tools). However, I wouldn't be *too* concerned about instaling Easeus on your drive, unless you're likely to be trying to recover files that are HUGE (GBs in size). Having said that, is a portable installation an option? By this I mean installing it to a thumbdrive. I've also done this with my recovery tools and run them that way.

-Darwin (March 17, 2010, 11:25 PM)

With previous version, I have simply copied the full program directory on a thumbdrive and it works fine.

446

General Software Discussion / Re: Undelete utilities?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 18, 2010, 02:31 AM »

If it means the latter, I'll install it, but if it means the former, I guess I won't bother.  Does anyone know for sure which one is meant?

-cyberdiva (March 17, 2010, 10:39 PM)

The former.

-PhilB66 (March 17, 2010, 10:57 PM)

I guess it's the latter !  They have this warning in case you just want to recover files from C: and are about to install Easeus on the same C: hence risking making the recovering process a failure, because space used by the lost files you want to recover might be reused by the installation process.

447

General Software Discussion / Re: Undelete utilities?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 17, 2010, 02:57 PM »

Speaking of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard.
3 day give away.
http://www.techsuppo...d-3-day-giveaway.htm

-cmpm (March 16, 2010, 02:04 AM)

I just downloaded the zip file and unzipped it, yielding a setup file.  Do I have to actually install it within the three-day offer to have a free license, or is just downloading it enough?  I'd rather not install it right now unless I have to to take advantage of the offer.

-cyberdiva (March 17, 2010, 11:41 AM)

I think the installer is all you need, at least it was so for previous versions.  But I recommend you install it anyway.  If some day you need it, you it will reduce the risk of losing files for good just because of the installation itself (if lost files are on the system disk).

448

General Software Discussion / Re: Trying to remember an old game

« Last post by MerleOne on March 17, 2010, 02:28 AM »

Turrican I or II ?

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=6UzC9PM1zHI

449

General Software Discussion / Re: Undelete utilities?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 16, 2010, 02:41 AM »

Great find !

450

General Software Discussion / Re: Undelete utilities?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 11:22 AM »

I would advise to get a free copy of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard (they propose free licenses now and then), it's an excellent tool.  Else, I would go for Active@FileRecovery Pro (Lsoft / not free) or PowerData Recovery (not free either).