Best First Date Ever - Easy, Free, did what I told it to do, didn't complain, and made me so happy.

I needed to migrate my laptop SSD to a slightly smaller msata drive. I first used the Microsoft Disk Management to shrink a partition of the existing operating system drive. I then used a program that is the best backup and recovery program I have ever used. The learning curve is ZERO. This program is simple to use. intuitive, and fast. I don't see anything it can't do. Most of the application walks you through what you are attempting to do. It really is the complete package and just works no questions asked.

Why you pay for Norton Ghost when there is a free alternative?

Why pay for something that is likely going to frustrate you. Will become outdated with the next release of windows with the offer to buy their new version after you just bought the old version a month ago. No I'm not bitter but there is finally a beautiful alternative to Norton and Acronis.

The biggest issue is the software prompts you periodically through services and startup applications with a S.
Get the job done and uninstall or run it in a VM or dual boot to be safe.

EaseUS Free Backup Software

http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software-features.htm

• Efficient system backup & recovery. No need to reinstall OS or applications to get everything back.
• Backup data, system, hard disk, partition or individual files to a safe destination for disaster recovery.
• Disk clone, disk upgrade and SSD migration solution.
• Directly recover individual files from disk/partition backup image, no need to recover the whole image.
• Every free user also can enjoy free automatic updates and version upgrades.
• Our technical support team is ready to answer questions and guide you to complete repair with 24/7 email support.

My migration from a 128G SSD to a 120G msata SSD was as simple as selecting the clone option and then selecting the target and destination.

Later I wanted to backup my 320G multi partitioned original OS hard drive. This had 3 partitions set up this way to allow for recovery of the original Lenovo image. This is typical for many PCs and Laptops to come with recovery partitions.

I simply selected the 3 partitions and then selected backup and all 3 were stored in a dated folder under a single backup image. The tool provides a data verification which would be most useful with a offsite backup via a network connection or to a wireless NAS. 

I was able to later mount that image where, once open in the tool, I could select which partition to mount. You also have the ability to explore files and folders.

Checkout the full list of features from the link about. The shorter list would be what can't this do. 

Nothing

Recover Your Office Key Before You Can'r

NirSoft is a utilities developer that has a large number of useful tools for recovery and utilities to help diagnose problems. Most of this stuff is free.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

• Recover lost CD keys for Windows and 1000+ major programs - including products of Adobe, Symantec, Autodesk, and more...
• NK2Edit - Edit, merge and fix the AutoComplete files (.NK2) of Microsoft Outlook.
• FileTypesMan - Alternative to 'File Types' manager of Windows.
• MyUninstaller - Alternative to the software uninstaller of Windows.

Get your keys and print them to a file using foxit pdf or just use the XPS windows format. I prefer to use the portable foxit to avoid and problems with toolbars or crapware that might get installed it you aren't paying attention to the foxit installer.  You can also copy the keys from the tool to a notepad and email them to yourself.

Rename Files - Another fine mess

http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php

Don't think you are going to use DOS because you are as old as these guys and know what you are doing. If you need to rename files and the file extensions are tied up in your mess you will either have to do a copy then wait and hope you did it right or try bulkrenameutility



The utility has a interface that is more confusing than programming in FORTRAN.

So what.

Select the files you want to rename. In the RegEX(1) box put what you want to match on, extension and all.

In the Repl (3) box put what you want it to be. Extension and all.
















You can explore other options but I would read the PDF manual first. Don't be a STOOGE.

Sky Dive? Not Really Sky Drive? Hell Yeah

Mapping Windows Sky Drive to get 25 GIG of free online storage can' t get easier but requires some voodo to pull it off.

Open your browser, and navigate to http://skydrive.live.com/.

Login and then click on a folder to get your CID
https://cid-1234567890abcdef.skydrive.live.com/.Documents

or with office live

http://cid-1234567890abcdef.office.live.com/documents.aspx?sa=895693244
Copy the UID part of the displayed URL

Sign in with your Windows Live ID.

Leave SkyDrive open, and take note of one of your folder names.
Open Windows Explorer.

On the left sidebar, right-click on Network. Choose Map network drive.
Enter the following URL:

Right Click on Network and select Map Network Drive

Note: Replace “Documents” with “^2Documents”, and “Public” with “^2Public”.
\\docs.live.net@SSL\1234567890abcdef\^2Documents

Replace “XYZ” with the folder name you noted and that you want to map.

Choose a drive letter, and submit the dialog.



You will be prompted for your Windows Live ID. Sign in.

Then, you can access all the files and subfolders within your SkyDrive folder, including copying and pasting. You can even open and edit files directly!

Windows 7 can't fail? Well back it up anyways for free.

Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition

NEW 10.2 Edition - Total PC Protection for Serious Users!

Take complete control of your PC’s safety. Based on solid commercial backup and recovery software from Paragon, the new Backup & Recovery 10.2 Free Edition will give you a rich set of features that you can trust.

Smart people backup; Backup & Recovery is smart backup.

A professional backup solution for home/non-commercial use for free and it supports Windows 7.

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/

Before you start crashing in games run CD check

http://www.kvipu.com/CDCheck/

CDcheck was made for CDs or DVDs but it works great with files or folders full of files.

In AOC I had crashes which led to my reinstallng the game. If I had a good CRC check I would have known if my files were corrupted. You need to run the CRC check once the game is installed. It will create a file with every the CRC for every file in a folder or set of folders. Later when you run a check to verify if your files are corrupted you will compare this check to the previous check. Some values will change and show up as errors. For example your profile might change which will have a different CRC. This can be used when backing up data or cloning data as well. Run the check then move the data and compare the check.

If your using it on a game you are going to want to re-run each time the game patches assuming it is a MMO.

The program is free. Just register on the site. Get the key and follow the instructions.
If your crashing and you didn't get a chance to run the file check you can have someone else run the check on their system and send you the file.

CDCheck is a utility for the prevention, detection and recovery of damaged files on CD-ROMs with an emphasis on error detection. With CDCheck you can check your CDs and discover which files are corrupted. By using the program proactively, you can insure that your data on CD-ROMs are safe -- before it's too late! CDCheck provides the following features: readability verification, binary compare, CRC file creation (and verification) and file recovery. For more information

Little Devil is up to no good?

This Linux distro lets you create your own FREE network attached storage. If you have old drives hanging around and a slow machine this little devil can give you a place to share files around all your machines on the network.


http://freenas.org/doku.php

FreeNAS is an embedded open source NAS (Network-Attached Storage) distribution based on FreeBSD, supporting the following protocols: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, TFTP, AFP, RSYNC, Unison, iSCSI (initiator and target) and UPnP.

It supports Software RAID (0,1,5), ZFS, disk encryption, S.M.A.R.T/email monitoring with a WEB configuration interface (from m0n0wall).

FreeNAS can be installed on Compact Flash/USB key, hard drive or booted from LiveCD.

File System Management Super Compilation

Have you ever seen a kid who lost his parents in a large store. That's how I feel every time I tackle a disk partitioning project or problem. I have a simple one stop shop that simplifies the process but might not make it any easier.



http://partedmagic.com/programs.html

About Parted Magic

The Parted Magic OS employs core programs of GParted and Parted to handle partitioning tasks with ease, while featuring other useful programs (e.g. Partimage, TestDisk, Truecrypt, Clonezilla, G4L, SuperGrubDisk, ddrescue, etc...) and an excellent set of documentation to benefit the user. An extensive collection of file system tools are also included, as Parted Magic supports the following: ext2, ext3, ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, ntfs, reiserfs, reiser4, and xfs.

Parted Magic requires at least a i586 processor and 256MB of RAM to operate or 128MB in "Live" mode.

Features

• Format internal and external hard drives.
• Move, copy, create, delete, expand & shrink hard drive partitions.
• Clone your hard drive, to create a full backup.
• Test hard drives for impending failure.
• Test memory for bad sectors.
• Benchmark your computer for a performace rating.
• Securely erase your entire hard drive, wiping it clean from all data.
• Gives access to non-booting systems allowing you to rescue important data.
• Runs from the CD, no install required.

Why does it have to be so hard? Or does it?

Windows Vista’s hard disk imaging utility, Complete PC Backup, allows users to create an image file that contains the complete contents and structure of a hard disk.

I have tried free utilities such as drive image XML but I never seem to get a working bootable image written back in Windows XP. Norton Ghost works real well and is a bit pricey. It's probably worth it just for the time savings. So what other options do we have?

If you have a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive, you can get a free OEM version of Acronis True Image. Seagate makes available a tool for migrating your files from an older Seagate or Maxtor hard disk to a new one. You can also use the tool as backup utilities simply by downloading either the Seagate DiscWizard or Maxtor MaxBlast software.

After you complete your XP build and apply all patches, updates, and drivers as well as any software you always install (not including games), you need to make a disk image. The games put too much data on your hard drive which prevents you from storing your disk image to DVD.

In a previous but not so obvious article I mention CloneMaxx:
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/clone_maxx/info.htm?Language=1

Data can be copied from hard drives in high speed mode with speeds up to 3.3 GB per minute.

I saw a post: "SATA drives are not supported...damn!"
I'm not sure if this is true. It may be the motherboard manufacturer. Another option would be to get a SATA to ATA converter which run about $12. I'm not sure if at that point you are better off buying Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. Your best bet would be to buy a Seagate or Maxtor Drive to begin with.

************************

Professional hard disk cloning HDClone 3.2 Copy. Backup. Rescue.



Free Edition
Download


http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html#free


The Free Edition of HDClone offers all necessary abilities to copy a entire hard disk onto another, larger hard disk. This can be utilized to migrate an existing installation to a new hard disk as well as for data rescue. The Free Edition is real freeware without obligation to buy and is intended for the short-term usage at no costs. But in case of more frequent usage, we recommend using one of the higher editions since they offer higher performance in the first line but also support a wider range of hardware as well as additional options which are optimized for regular or professional usage. HDClone Free Edition supports IDE/ATA
and SATA/eSATA hard disks and is able to copy up to 300 MB/min.




Notice this says larger disk. What the hell. Well what if we partition our current drive to be a bit smaller. (more headaches)

**************
So if you don't have a Maxtor or Seagate then it is worth the few extra dollars to get the real deal.
http://store.purplus.net/actrim90cd.html

Acronis True Image 9.0 CD
UPC: 625904487506 Mnfg. Part No: PCO48750MB Manufacturer: Acronis Packaging: CD w/ Key Platform: Windows Availability: Out of Stock Product ID #: 9530
Regular price: $29.95Sale price: $9.95


Two things to comment on:
1.) The home edition doesn't support dynamic disks.

This is bad if you like to make a software raid which I always do. The good news here is the way I build my PC. I use 2 drives of equal size.
I partition 25% for the OS on one drive, a 25% partition on the other drive for important data. Then I partition the rest to be used in a software raid. The software raid is done with the Windows XP disk manager. You set both disks to dynamic then create a striped array with the remaining 2 partitions. If you create your OS image before you start the dynamic process you can restore it as a non dynamic and complete the same process after you get your OS up and running again.

2.) The home edition lets you exclude folders which would mean you could do a backup anytime avoiding those huge game directories.

Pulled it out too soon and now it doesn't work? PC INSPECTOR to the rescue?

http://pcinspector.de/Sites/smart_recovery/info.htm?language=2

PC Inspector will help you recover files and photos for FREE.

PC INSPECTOR™ smart recovery is the new data recovery program from CONVAR for Flash Card™, Smart Media™, SONY Memory Stick™, IBM™ Micro Drive, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card or any other data carrier for digital cameras.

If you have unintentionally deleted or formatted pictures, videos or sound files on your data carrier or have pulled it out during a write operation, no matter - PC INSPECTOR™ smart recovery can easily, quickly and absolutely reliably reconstruct the lost data.

This company offers a small suite of very useful, easy to use utilities designed mostly to ease the pain of data loss.

FREE FREE and more FREE

smart recovery only works on flash media.

file recovery works on FAT 12/16/32 and NTFS file systems.

task manager, programs can be quickly and easily started at specific times or intervals

fs guard can independently monitor services and directories in the background. When a service is stopped or crashes, PC INSPECTOR™ fs guard can independently send notification via e-mail. This could be useful for catching that teenager who is grounded from the PC.

e-maxx is the new professional data deletion program from CONVAR. Using the new direct DMA support, data can be deleted from hard drives in high speed mode with speeds up to 3.3 GB per minute. (I haven't tested this)

clone maxx will allow you to make a drive image to restore your system back to full functionality. A drive image is really just the first stage of PC backup and recovery. In some cases it can be just what the doctor ordered.

CloneMaxx is great for moving data from a old or failing drive to a new drive. It can also allow you to make a image after fresh install.

I would like to encourage you to donate at least a small amount, especially if these application prove to be useful.

How to recover a lost flash partition for free

Ok before you say anything, I'm not the only idiot out there.
I left my flash drive in a machine I was re-installing windows to. I wasn't paying attention as I was speed deleting partitions and I thought the 1 gig from my flash drive was left over space and I deleted it so I could add it back to the whole.

Take your time and read this. The DiskInternals program doesn't do the recovery work, I use it to identify the type of partition you have. On a flash drive it is usually FAT32. On a harddrive it can be anything.

1.)The first thing I needed to do was find out what type of partition I have.
I downloaded the not so free program:

DiskInternals Partition Recovery 1.9 An expert at recovering lost partition.
http://www.diskinternals.com/download.shtml

ALT DOWNLOAD:
http://rampart-ssh.com/downloads/partition_recovery.zip

It wasn't such an expert as recovering partitions but I was tempted to buy it anyways considering the files I really needed back were possible to recover, but a lot of my data was still lost according to the program.

Ok now that I know I had a FAT16 partition based on the info Disk Internals provided (I would have thought it was a FAT32).

2.)I downloaded an open source app to do the repair work.

TestDisk & PhotoRec 6.8 (13 August 2007), Data Recovery
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

ALT DOWNLOAD:
http://rampart-ssh.com/downloads/TestDisk.zip

The analyze feature didn't work in my case. That's why I mentioned using the DiskInternals software.

3.)From the advanced (file system) menu I selected the type option entered my matching type number, (FAT16) in this case, then clicked proceed.

Then I selected boot (for boot sector recovery), then Rebuild BS.

Once that was done I tried Repair FAT. The software said the FAT was ok and I was done.

Remove and reseat the USB drive and .....

EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT

Ok I'm a bigger idiot than I though. I had to go through this again and it worker on a FAT32 partition this time.

___________

I haven't tried this FREE APP but what to you have to loose:
http://findandmount.com/
This has a Partition and Master boot record recovery components. These guys seem like they know what they are doing based on my experience with other commercial data recovery products.

FindAndMount Also lets you create a disk image. How nice is that.
_____________

For un-deleting files try:
http://www.ntfsundelete.com/