Installing a new S-ATA HD under Windows XP Profess…

Installing a new S-ATA HD under Windows XP Professional – The DiskPart utility way

So you bought a new S-ATA Hard Disk and can’t wait to plug it in your machine and start using it?
Ok…You have physically connected the drive (power supply, s-ata cable etc) and opened Disk Management utility (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc) just to see the new drive as unallocated…Tried to right click the disk and format it? My guess is that no format option existed…? Right?

If yes follow the steps below to see how a utility shipped with Windows 2000, Windows XP called DiskPart can save the day with a set of simple commands.

1. if you have closed Disk Management re-open it.

2. verify that the disk (i.e. disk 1) shows (as unallocated)

3. right click the disk to view available option.

4. format listed? if not then Start -> Run -> diskpart. DiskPart will help
us allocate partition(s) for the HD along with letter volumes and format accordingly.

5. inside Diskpart we will issue a set of commands marked below within “” (don’t include quotes when executing the command )

5.1 “list disks” (shows the available disks, i.e. disk 0, disk 1)

5.2 “select disk 1″ to move the focus to the new HD (an “*” appears to indicate that we have selected the disk)

5.3 “create partition primary”

Finished with our partition allocation!

From now on you can check Disk Management to see that changes by DiskPart session are immediately reflected and shown on the Disk Management window. You can now continue with the rest of the steps described below or switch to the right-click context menu of the Disk Management utility to choose drive letter for your partition volume and format the partition respectively.

5.4 “list partition” will show one and only (primary) partition created for the new HD

5.5 “list volume” will bring up a list of the drive volumes that exist on our PC.
Last in list appears a volume with no letter or label whatsoever. This is our HD’s partition created at step 5.3

5.6 “select volume [number]“,

5.7 “assign [letter]” [a letter not occupied by other drives/partitions].

5.8 Inside a DOS session (Start -> Run -> cmd) type: “format [letter assigned at 5.7] /FS:NTFS” to format the partition.

Vista SCL (as in Software Compatibility List) Mic…

Vista SCL (as in Software Compatibility List)

Microsoft Windows Vista OS is finally out and setting a new mark in the Windows OS family history.

Whether you are just an OS enthusiast and want to try the new OS on top of an existing using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 or you had Vista installed upon purchase of your new PC (OEM-DSP version) here is a exhaustive list of Software compatible:

http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List

The list is Wiki(pedia) powered so expect new additions (and frequent ones) in days to come!

Enjoy!

Acronis TrueImage 10 Home review Few days ago i d…

Acronis TrueImage 10 Home review

Few days ago i downloaded Acronis Trueimage 10 Home and gave it a spin against a 2-partitions SATAII disk. Managed to create a ~4 GB high compression .tib image file off a ~8 GB full Hard Disk (with the rest of the partition, approx. 175 GB empty) in about 25 minutes.

Note here that when i tried to boot off the bootable disc – CD and the Full version (which embeds USB, S-ATA drivers etc) the booting process gave an error (kernel mode…) and froze until i sent it the CTRL-ALT-DEL / kill signal…So, not having another option, i went ahead with the Safe – light if you prefer version.

Backup ok…what about restore you ask? Well, an adventure i may add…
Again i used the simple wizard to :

1. select the image
2. select the target partition will would be replaced…There is also an option to check-restore the Track 0 – MBR 512 bytes of space…

the use of checkboxes somewhat misleads the user into thinking that he can select both a partition and the MBR…Being the case that the selection here is mutually exclusive (if you check MBR partition loses it’s tick sign) i assume that a radio box would be preferable.

3. leave the partition spaces intact, as set by the wizard itself.
4. see the restore summary and Proceed.

Pressed Proceed…System freezes momentarily…Cannot load Windows…Decide to boot from CD again…
There goes the Acronis Loader booting again….Yet, what was previously an Active Partition lettered C: waiting to be replaced by the image now is u n a l l o c a t e d space – empty!

I thought that restoring was an one way procedure…Not 1. Delete target partition and 2. leave unallocated and continue… Then again i may be wrong… (see user manual , section 6.3.12, p. 45)…I presume that was preceeded was an unsuccessful attempt to restore, leaving me baffled on what went wrong…

So, i went through the wizard again to restore the image to the unallocated space this time..successfully this time…

I hope that sharing this event will be educational for you reading it as it was for me living it…
Please, post if this rings a bell to anyone that has used Acronis Trueimage 10 Home…
I am sure we can come up with great findings!

Map software..Going 3D….? So, you have a friend…

Map software..Going 3D….?

So, you have a friend who suggested Google Earth, then you downloaded this mapping program and used it full of awe? Well, guess what…Earth has evolved to Beta 4, incorporating 3D mapping to building locations, something done (with greater detail but for a minor subset of cities-locations) in Microsoft’s Microsoft Visual Earth 3D Beta (Windows XP SP2 only).

Tempted to try the new versions out? Here you go…:

Google Earth (available under Windows/mac/linux): http://earth.google.com/
Microsoft Visual Earth (usable under Windows only, use IE 6 or 7 to download, not Mozilla based browsers – somewhat predictable behaviour, don’t you think?): http://local.live.com/

More, yet less impressive or resources consuming, map services and sites:
http://www.mapquest.com
http://imageatlas.globexplorer.com/
http://www.multimap.com
http://maps.google.com
http://www.driveme.gr (Greek)
http://maps.flash.gr (ditto)

or you can always navigate to http://www.showmyip.com, see the whole amount of info that is exposed while you surf the web (don’t tell me you thought you were anonymous!?) like location etc and click on the location-tailor made links to map services as mapquest, multimap.

Time to deal with Networking using Windows, the Wo…

Time to deal with Networking using Windows, the WorkGroup way of things (or peer-2-peer if you prefer).

PREFACE-FOREWORD

This thread is not about setting up and establishing the connection since it would require a series of tutorials on hardware (routers, switches, hubs, UTP cabling etc) and protocol aggreement. Post a search on Google and you will find lots of sources on these…

This thread is about common questions regarding the way Windows authenticate users who try to access resources on the Local Network (LAN).

Keywords to remember as we go by: Pass-through authentication (not saying much now but will prove useful later on). Let’s see what’s in store shall we?

USER AUTHENTICATION EXPLAINED – WORKGROUP SCENARIO

You see, when YOU with username: YOU and password: YOUPWD work on a PC, to actually enter the PC you provide these credentials on your LOCAL LOGIN windows-User interface. These credentials are examined against a so-called Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database to ensure correct and secure usage.

Windows need a VALID set of credentials even when you try to access another user’s PC. It all depends on the security settings of the remote machine you try to access.

For example’s sake let’s assume that you browse the LAN using My Network Places and upon double-clicking the corresponding remote PC icon you can view the resources that are shared on that particular machine.

This happens when GUEST account is enabled on the remote machine. GUEST = anyone who hasn’t been approved as an authenticated user for that machine. You can qualify as a guest when username: YOU and password: YOURPWD DON’T MATCH any of the credentials
of the remote PC’s user accounts. In case GUEST was disabled (a good security practise i may add) then you would be presented with a Window asking Username and Password. Pretty straightforward huh? The remote machine doesn’t know you (as a user with
YOU and YOUPWD) and still complains by asking you for credentials. If a user with username: YOU and password: YOUPWD existed on the remote PC then (voilah!) PASS-THROUGH authentication, meaning that NO WINDOW WOULD APPEAR and you would instantly and
transparently be able to access the resources you want on the other machine.

Whenever i mention PASSWORD please try to use a non-blank one. It’s VERY IMPORTANT since as i read somewhere Windows XP don’t allow blank password authentication across the Network yet ONLY for local user login.

THE GUEST FACTOR

There have been many to say the least tutorials on the GUEST account feature of Windows and how it can affect the security model: the Classic Security Model or the one with the descriptive name: Simple File Sharing.

Just remember that on Windows XP Home Ed. Simple File Sharing is always ON and has to do with PERMANENT usage of GUEST account for network access to the PC’s local resources.
On Windows XP Pro you can accept or deactivate Simple File Sharing when working on a Workgroup and (goes without saying) you can forget the whole thing when working on a domain (see EPILOGUE below on the benefits of working on a domain).

The chapter “GUEST” account can get more complicated and my intention is not to make things complicated. Just thought it would be appropriate to mention it so as to have a clear picture…

EPILOGUE

So, bear in mind the workaround of identical pair of username and password co-existence on both the local and target-remote PC’s on the LAN. Of course, when the LAN consists of >2 entities-PC’s you have to apply the same technique throughout the collection of PC’s. And you ask my friend: how can i bypass this cumbersome (yet practical in it’s right) approach? Make the move to a DOMAIN-client/server topology instead of a WORKGROUP. Active Directory (AD) technology will take on the burden of user/password management and REPLICATION of info across the LAN.

Again, search, search, search on Google (or any other search engine to your liking) for more info and remember that access and rights on the remote machine depend highly on the control & security settings thereby set (especially when you are dealing with W2K/WinXP machines and NTFS formatted disks-partitions).

Hope the above was fun for you reading as it was for me writing and explaining.Links to respective sources on the WEB will be posted soon….

Ever encountered errors like "Cyclic redundancy er…

Ever encountered errors like “Cyclic redundancy error check” while trying to access/copy one of your proudly recorded new cd/dvd…? Wondered what the h*ll happened since Nero showed no errors whatsoever at the end of the recording process…

From now on: DON’T trust “Disc was written successfully” message of Nero Burning ROM (or another burning program to that effect). Moreover, don’t fall for the trap of well-known makes and brands of optical media like TDK and so on since rarely do they produce their own discs, instead they outsource their production to China-Korea based factories…So, seeing a TDK disc doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a TDK product 100% (Brand VS Media ID)

End of (bitter) story…
Check the following links to (i hope they enlighten you, they sure worked for me):

News, updates regarding optical media industry as a whole:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/

Specific technical review – brand focused:
http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml#CD-R%20Quality%20vs%20CD-R%20Compatibility

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

Burn your CD/DVD’s, don’t get burned by losing precious data on discs you THOUGHT were written successfully!

Those of you that hesitate to get your hands dirty…

Those of you that hesitate to get your hands dirty with Linux distributions might find this post useful…..

There is a relative of Windows and Linux out there…It’s called Linspire (formerly known as Lindows).

Check it out: Official Site, Review

More reviews and updates on this matter soon…