Archive for July, 2009
I was re-installing winXP-PRO,I was about to delete the old OS partition and saw 976 MB in the same window but below the 74845…of the same window(80GB Hard Drive)I tried to delete then install the OS on the 976MB on two tries (it is too small)then gave up on deleting and completed the installation on the 74845…MB,I later realized my Thumb Pen drive was connected to the system,the 976MB was the Thumb\pen drive ,now I’m trying to use my Thumb drive and my system displays that “Please insert a disk in drive F:.” when I try to format I get “cannot be formatted ” can it be used or do I get a new Thumb\Flash\Pen Drive.What can be done to bring it back to life and use or give it,it’s last Rights..
then my next step would be to check with the flash drive’s manufacturer to see if they have a special utility for formatting the drive..
Make sure the flashdrive is present when booting with Parted, and format it to FAT32 or NTFS. That should be it, your flashdrive is resurrected. If you want to get the data that was on it, search for “recovery” on Download.com and choose “Free” in the sidebar. You will get enough hits to make sure you get what you want.
USB drive is one precious gift that mankind has received from technology. Universal Serial Bus or USB is famous with several different names such as Key Drive, USB Key Drive, USB Pen, Microdrive, Thumb Drive and Flash Drive.
Regardless of the name, these USB drives are an excellent and exceptionally handy tool. They are exclusively for the people who use computers at several different locations and need to take data along with them. The USB drivers are great-to-use, as they are small in size, can fit in your pocket or can act as your key chain. You can get about 32 MB to 4 GB of storage without any need of software. Just plug the drive in the USB port of computer to get instance storage and ready transfer.
Now let’s peep into the top 10 uses of USB drive.
USB Drive is multifunctional or say, support all-in-one in printer connectivity. It can typically combine the printer, copier, fax, scanner and the storage options in just one convenient device. It allows the companies, especially the small ones to save overall cost by offering about 4 or 5 devices in just one.
It gets you network scanning. You can utilize scanners to image the documents more frequently than you ever did before. The USB device server then allows the USB scanner to connect directly to the network.
You can change the conference room from a static to a dynamic one. Just attach all the USB devices of conference room to allow all the participants of meeting room to use the drive. Get the MFP, electronic whiteboard, laser printer and share storage drive networked together with a device server.
Believe it or not USB drives have blessed the sewing machines with best options and capabilities they had ever before. Most branded sewing machines such as Brother, Pfaff, Janome, Singer and Bernina have invented machines with USB connections. One can connect the machines to the PC or to USB pen drive to download software upgradation and patterns to sewing machine.
You can be benefited with wireless access of iPod. The iPod users can just connect the iPod to wireless device server. You can download all the music in a wireless way from computer to iPod. Your iPod is fully loaded to go out to the party.
It is a best way to get a camera networked. Connecting the USB enabled digital camera to the network can benefit the corporations and their consumers. With digital camera joined with wireless USB device, the operator can access digital images quickly.
It is the best help for the graphic designers. The graphic designers’ workplace has a digital camera, internal and external DVD or CD burner, scanner, photo printer and storage devices. The USB device is must for sharing the network workgroup.
USB drive helps in establishing the reliable backup plan for network surroundings.
The mobile worker can access the USB device and take with them whatever they want to data, music, images or just anything.
Workgroups generally utilize the USB peripherals beyond the keyboards and mouse. The scanners, multifunctional printers, laser printers and storage drives are the most employed USB enabled devices.
My new laptop is fantastic, with it’s nice new squeaky-clean operating system it runs like a dream. But it wasn’t long before I had to face the technical challenge of getting all my old data from my old desktop computer (which was bursting at the seams with data!) onto my new laptop.
I was also intending to format and give away my old computer, so I could not afford to lose any of this data in the process.
I sat down at my old computer and listed all of my important files to assess exactly what and how much data I needed to transfer over to the new laptop.
Including my pictures, MP3’s, Office documents, work backup’s and so on, I was looking at transferring about 20 Gigabytes worth of data, it seems to build up so quickly! Thank goodness for my new laptop’s 100 Gigabyte Hard Drive, which will allow me to transfer all of my data to it and still have room for a lot more. I know that the main application programmes (Word, Excel and so on) from my old computer will all have to be reinstalled on to the new laptop from their original install disks, but how do I get all the rest of the data over to the new laptop?
Floppy disk? – no way, even if my laptop had a floppy disk drive I would need about 14,000 disks!
CD or DVD? – Both my new laptop and my old computer have CD ROM drives, to get all my data over using CD’s I would need about 30 disks as well as some software to package all the data up nice and tidily across the 30 disks, viable but a lot of work and time needed. DVD’s would be better but my old computer does not have a DVD drive! There must be an easier way.
USB Memory Stick? – Not really a viable option, the maximum capacity of the USB Memory Stick that I can afford is 512MB, so this would require about 40 swaps from the old computer to the new and as my old computer is only USB1.1 which transfers at 1.5 mega bytes this process is going to be possible but really slow.
Networking? – Apparently I could network my two machines together with a “Cross Wired Network lead” and a copy of “Networking Computers for Dummies”, but unfortunately my old dinosaur of a computer does not have a network card! Network cards are cheap enough but I still don’t want to spend any money on this old computer and really don’t fancy fiddling around inside the desktop. Although it does sound good to be able to connect the two computers together and transfer the data through the cable.
This is when I came across a very handy cable called a USB Data Link Cable. Apparently I can just plug one end into the USB port on my old PC and the other end into the USB port on my new laptop and then as if by magic, I should have a USB Network between both computers. Now this sounds more like it! Both my computers have USB ports and even though my old computer is USB1.1 and my new laptop is USB2.0 the cable should work anyway, although the transfer rate will only be at the lower USB1.1 speed.
After finding more about this cable on the Internet I found out that it is also known as a USB File/Data Transfer Cable. Once connected, the transfer of data is done quickly and effortlessly by simply dragging and dropping files from one window to another, just as you normally would when moving files around on your system. So I ordered one online right away.
The USB Data Transfer Cable arrived the next day and I got down to the business of getting the thing to work, the hardest part was working out the blatantly “translated” instructions. All I had to do was install the included software from the CD, once only on each of my computers, then plug the cable into a USB port on each computer and run the software. Two Windows Explorer type windows appeared, one showing files on the laptop and the other showing files on the PC, then I simply dragged and dropped files between the two computers.
I was amazed, this USB cable solution was fantastic. It was so easy to set up and turned out to be the cheapest option by far at only £15 and much less hassle than any other option, almost too good to be true, magic!
Digital and video Cameras, scanners, mp3 players, and just about every other electronic device are designed to be connected to your computer.
And all new computers make it simple to connect these devices with the use of the USB or Universal Serial Bus port. But with the many devices you may have,you can still run short of these ports.
If you find your computer using all of its USB ports, you can get your hands on a USB Hub. This hub contains several usb ports. So rather than unplugging one device to plug in another, a usb hub allows you to connect multiple devices.
To setup a usb hub on your computer you need to be sure your system allow you to connect the hub. If your computer was made before 1997 it most likely won’t support a USB.
Check your computer to see if there is a usb port available. http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com/photos.html have photos showing what USB ports look like and where they should be found in any computer.
You should consider the reason you want to purchase a USB hub. This will help in deciding the type of usb hub you want to purchase. And research the device you want to connect, as not all devices can be connected to USB hubs.
The two types of USB hubs are the Self Powered which draws power from an external power supply and the bus powered hub which is inserted in an expansion slot and draws power from the motherboard.
Some devices that use large amounts of power work poorly with bus powered hubs. A scanner for example, will wotk much better connected to a self powered USB hub.
When connecting a device to the USB hub, see what version of usb it may be. USB 1.0 was the first version released and today the fast version is the usb 2.0 All USB 2.0 hubs are backward compatible. This allows them to run the slower USB 1.0 devices.
The price of a hub 2.0 hub varies from about $25.00 to $65.00 and comes in several brands. The price depends on the number of ports you want on the hub.
INSTALLING YOUR NEW USB HUB
Its always a good practice to backup your files before you work in your computer.Remove the hub from its packing and carefully inspect it for damaged and be sure all components are present. Stop and carefully read the hub manual for instructions such as turn the computer off first or that you must install the software before connecting the hub to the computer.
If you have a powered hub, plug the power cord in an outlet and connect the usb cable from the usb hub into an open USB port. With the hub connected place the cdrom that come with the hub and install the software onto the hard drive.
Set the USB hub in a location where you can easily connect your scanner,modem,or other devices. Remember that your computer only runs at the highest usb speed.If your hub is a USB 2.0 but your computer only supports USB 1.0 then the 1.0 connection will be your max speed.
If your USB hub is self powered,install the card in an empty expansion slot by removing the system unit cover, removing the retaining screw and cover from the slot, firmly slide the card in the slot, and use the retaining screw to secure it to the motherboard.
Start your computer and your operating system should recognize the new device. Install any software that came with the hub.You may need to install a device driver to allow the computer to communicate with the hub.
Its that easy and why not make it something fun to do. Learn as you go and be in the state of mind to enjoy your task. You will look forward to perform other tasks in the same state of mind.
Tired of switching CD/DVD discs while backing up? Flash USB drives to the rescue!
If you already backup often, you are doing the most you can to secure your files against accidental file deletion and recovery, file damage and what not. Also, you may be considering making your backups as easy and painless as possible. So what may be a remedy to this issue?
Naturally, you need to consider several backup media and select the one suitting your needs and requirements. Among all, CD, DVD and flash USB drives are considered.
You may as well use CD to backup, but you will either need to dump CD-R discs often, or insert a CD-/+RW discs often to make another backup. Someone else can also misplace your backup CD disc or overwrite your backup data with other information. Moreover, a CD only admits about 700Mb of data, which may not be convenient. Nor is storing multiple CDs of your backup copy.
The same can be said about backing up to DVD. Of course, a DVD admits from 4.7Gb to about 18.6Gb of data, but is it really convenient backing up to DVD? An external hard disk drive or a flash USB drive will be speedier, more reliable and easier overall.
Here is when a flash USB drive comes handy. It not only allows faster data copying than CD or DVD, but can also admit from 256Mb to 4Gb of data (or maybe more). Moreover, you can take the USB drive with you anywhere you go and transfer the data between distant computers without resolving to FTP backup. Of course, one of the drawbacks of a flash USB backup is that the drive is only limited to about 100 000 writings, while another slight disadvantage (or an advantage, if you put it nicely) is that the device is so small you can easily misplace it.
Data recovery becomes necessary when your hard drive, memory card or USB flash card fail, and you have no backup available. This article gives an idea on the necessary steps and precautions during the data recovery process. Before attempting the recovery, you must be aware that the data cannot always be retrieved. In case of a physical failure of a hard disk such as the infamous “click of death” situation, you won’t be able to do much good to the hard drive except bring it to the recovery experts. Modern hard drives, however, are complex yet reliable pieces of electronics. They rarely fail for no reason, at least on a physical level. Logical corruption prevails with the complex operating systems, buggy software, malicious or careless acts of the end-users, malware and viruses. Power failures and computer hardware malfunctions also account for many cases of corrupted hard drives and lost data. The logical corruption can be dealt with at home. Provided that you have the right data recovery tools, you’ll be able to do it yourself without any special skills. Be aware that the data recovery process is a lengthy one. You’ll need plenty of time and enough space on a working, non-corrupted hard disk to facilitate the recovery. Before you begin, make sure that you restrict any write operations onto the damaged disk. If you don’t have data recovery already installed on your computer, don’t save or install the data recovery product onto the corrupted drive. Instead, use a different drive letter, a flash memory card or a USB drive. Even a flash card from your digital camera can be able to store the data recovery tool! The choice of a proper data recovery tool is a very important one. If you have no previous experience in recovering data, choose one that offers maximum level of automation for an inexperienced uses. It’s a good idea to make sure that the tool you pick allows saving a copy of the damaged disk onto a healthy one in order to work on a backup copy instead of operating the live disk. Mareew Data Recovery by http://mareew.com is a good choice for the inexperienced user. Further data recovery steps depend on the data recovery software that you choose for the job. If you settle with Mareew Data Recovery, there’s not much to talk about. Mareew Data Recovery can optionally create a backup copy of the damaged disk (I highly recommend that you do so), and performs all recovery operations on the copy instead of the original. If something goes wrong, you still have the source hard disk in its original condition; just make another copy and try again. The data recovery process is pretty straightforward with Mareew Data Recovery. You get a step-by-step wizard that guides you through the recovery process. Even if you don’t read the prompts except the choice of the damaged disk if you have more than one in your system, and simply click the ‘Next’ button several times, you will be able to recover the damaged disk! Mareew Data Recovery is able to fix the most complex issues with modern hard disks. Corrupted file systems, bad partition tables, FAT or NTFS failures are not a problem. Most importantly, Mareew Data Recovery values your data more than the integrity of the system structures. You’ll have a chance to save your documents, digital pictures and archives from the damaged drive before attempting the recovery. All in all, a highly recommended tool. Try it free at http://mareew.com/data_recovery/data_recovery.php
and also check USB sticks as corporate gifts!
When you store important information on a USB device, you take the chance of losing that information. Losing data on a USB can be kind of a mystery, but there are companies out there that can help you get that data back. These companies use engineering that can recover your lost data over ninety six percent of the time. These companies can even recover data that has been stored on a damaged USB device. So when you find yourself in a situation where you have lost valuable information you should not assume that this data can not be retrieved.
There are some companies that specialize in repairing damaged USB memory devices. In the process of retrieving your data, companies can also repair your device. Types of the problems they can repair broken solders, loose plugs, and broken internal connections. Some of the devices that they can fix are USB ports, USB sticks, USB drives, USB thumb drive, and Flash memory devices. These companies use a type of recovery called a jump drive recovery. They can recover any files from any type of USB drive or memory stick. Sometimes the chips inside the devices will be damaged, but don’t fret; there are some companies that can fix that problem too.
So the conclusion on USB data recovery is that just because information seems to have disappeared, doesn’t mean that it is lost forever. There are companies that can find and retrieve lost data on a damaged or removed USB device. In the process of finding data, the problems that caused the data to go missing in the first place will be fixed. This is helpful because it insures that it won’t happen again. There are programs out there that can help you retrieve your data by yourself, but the problem might be bigger than you know, so you should always seek professional help. There could be problems inside your device that prevent your device from working properly.