Recovering a failed hard drive. Part II, the solution

Getting SpinRite to start working is really easy. With the burnt CD inside the CD drive, all one has to do is turn the computer on, with the intended hard drive to recover connected, and wait some time. A welcome screen with clear options tells you what you need to press for which operations, and off you go.


SpinRite has different “levels” of operation, for different functions. The default and recommended level is level 2, which will scan the contents of the disk and attempt to recover whichever sectors are damaged or unreadable. I chose this option and let it go. At first, the scan seemed to go quite fast. Obviously the scanned parts were healthy and were duly being skipped. After about 12 hours of operation, the screen was telling me it was 2.89% done, trying to repair the first bad sector… at which point I understood it was going to take a while, lost interest, and turned the screen off. I let it work for around 12 hours before I checked on it again.

Recovering a failed hard drive. Part I, the problem.

Two weeks ago I was going through old computer parts I stored in a box when I came across 6 defunct hard drives. What I mean by defunct is that the data inside them is not accessible any more for a bunch of different reasons. Data loss is one of the nightmares of any computer user, and all hard drives will eventually fail: it's not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN. Since I've had personal computers for more than ten years, it only makes sense that I have a fair collection of failed hard drives.

The problem

How to access iPhone location data

After last post where I mentioned iPhones and Androids stored some location information, some people asked me how could they check theirs.
The truth is I don't have a smartphone, neither do I plan to get one since my old trusted Sony Ericsson keeps working perfectly after 4 years. The other truth is I know exactly who can help you.

MyPhoneTracker in action

This easy to use software is located at the very excellent source for Apple news, applications and other goodies, Mac-and-I .  As well as MyPhoneTracker you will find all kinds of tips and tricks, recommended programs for your Mac, games, etc.. Check it out and leave him a thanks for his work on this free and open source app!

Windows 8 is coming

Microsoft announced they will make publicly available a preview version of their newest Operating System. While a developer version was released last september, this one is aimed at the common user, albeit with the tag of "trial", which means some features might not be available.

The software giant will announce the release february 29 in Barcelona, during the World Mobile Congress, aiming their new OS towards the mobile market, both phones and tablets.

Many people have tried this already and both screenshots and videos are readily available, showing a radical departure from the traditional layout first introduced in Windows 95, almost two decades ago.



Some sources state that the most noticeable change will be the removal of the ever present Start menu, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was an optional choice; many people like the way it works and are comfortable with what's familiar, so completely removing it would mean shooting oneself in the foot. Microsoft isn't famous for taking such high risks.

So will it suit computers, since it was designed for tablets? We'll have to wait for the 29th and try it ourselves.

The 2011 Awards

Another year has gone and a heck of a lot has happened in this past one, as I've shown in the last post. Now it's time to reward the biggest and best, sometimes worst, of 2011. I'm going to dish them out in the next few days, and starting today with:

Game of the Year

This one should come as no surprise. It's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

But I haven't even reviewed it, you might say? Well, I was too busy playing it, and that is what is trump card is. It's so immersive, you lose yourself in the beautiful landscapes, adventuring in deep dungeons, ancient Dwarven ruins, and fighting fire spitting dragons with your mighty shouts.

Of course, as any other game, it has it's downsides, but unlike many others Skyrim has a distinct advantage: it's completely mod friendly, which means users can create their own content, and the amount of modifications circulating is huge, and when a developer's kit becomes available, mods will increase even more in both quality and quantity.

If you're not convinced yet then think of this... Which other game was so huge as to spawn an internet meme of it's own?

My special mention goes to Portal 2. I enjoyed it, but because of some weird crashing bug I couldn't proceed from a certain point in the story. It was a great game while it lasted for me, although not as engaging as the first one.

A world of planks is dangerous

Have you ever thought we should have buildings made entirely out of planks?
And then, what would happen if someone came along with a giant catapult shooting balls at these structures?

Yeah me neither...

Despite that, some people find it fun to simulate structures made out of planks and then crashing stuff into them, posting the videos which are extremely entertaining to watch.

How-to: Download videos from YouTube

Something a lot of people have asked me is "How do you download videos from YouTube?".
Well here's a quick and simple guide on how to.

This first method uses Firefox. If you don't use Firefox yet, I recommend you get it over HERE.
First of all, we need to open the Add-ons browser. You can open it by hitting Control+Shift+A, or manually:

• For the latest version of Firefox, go to your Firefox menu, and click Add-ons. 
• For previous versions (or if you enabled the tool bar), it is located under the Tools menu, then click Add-ons.

A window with a lot of suggestions will pop up, but just go to the search field and write downloadhelper , then hit Enter. You will be shown a series of results, but it's usually the first one:

Hit install on the right hand side of the screen, and it should start downloading and installing. Wait for the process to be complete, it shouldn't take longer than a minute. Firefox will tell you it needs restarting, so hit Restart Now:

When it opens again, you should see the add-ons manager still open. Open a new tab, and you will notice a little button with something that looks like a flower on the left of your address bar. Now, all you have to do is go to the YouTube video you want to download and then hit the little arrow next to that icon. It will show a bunch of different versions of the video you can download, for the different resolutions. Usually you want to download the best resolution one:

In this example, you'd want to get the 720p one. The program will then ask you where to save the file. Select the folder you want (or the desktop, so you can easily find it and organize it later). Hit OK, and that's it, it's downloading.
Also it's worth mentioning that this add-on works for a lot of other websites that use video. If you see that little flower spinning, it means DownloadHelper has detected video and is ready to download it.

This second method doesn't require Firefox. It involves a website that does pretty much the same thing as the previously mentioned add-on.
First, go to the YouTube video you want to download. Copy the address from the address bar:

Then go over to this site: http://keepvid.com/ and paste the address you just copied into the URL field, then hit Download.

If this is your first time visiting, you might get a warning message like this:

Trust me, there's nothing to be afraid of, so click "Always trust content from this publisher" and then Run.
After a bit you will be presented again with all the resolutions you can download. Click the one you want (again I recommend the highest resolution) and it will show you the download dialog.

Click download, choose where you want to save the file, and you're done!

Next week, I teach you how to hack into the FBI servers.

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

Today marks the release of the next Ubuntu version, 11.04, named "Natty Narwhal".

Some of you might be asking 'What the hell is a narwhal?", so for those of you:

You still don't know what it is? Don't worry, neither do I.

Others might be asking what Ubuntu is. Strictly speaking, it's an African philosophy:

 A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

 But for us, people of technological surroundings, it's a Linux distribution. One that has attempted to bring Linux to the masses by creating an easy to understand, friendly environment, as far away removed from the hardships of "making everything work by yourself" which has characterized Linux for the most part, leaving it's usage to only those who know enough or are willing to learn enough to make any use of it.

So with a user friendly installation, interface and tools, it should be a good choice to everyone right?
No, not yet. It still is a bit far from being a "good to go" operating system out of the box. I have ran into a number of difficulties myself, even with 10 years of experience with computers, I've been tempted to uninstall it and go back to comfortable Windows.

So what's new in this latest edition of the OS?