How To Find And Fix 5 Common Hard Drives Failures

Most of us who have a computer for more than 5 years probably experienced the misfortune of having to handling a harddisk failure. But how can you handle such an issue? Well the solving of this problem generally involves the reason why you had the problem. As a general rule, if your computer disk light still flashes and at the same time the disk is not making any strange noises there is a good possibility for the data on it to be recoverable.

This is the most common failure and there are a few simple to follow steps that would make the disk readable again. Also you will be able afterwards to copy that data to a new disk. On the other hand there could also be some mechanical failures. This can be recognized by the fact that the disk is no longer turning or is making “funny” noises. Don’t get alarmed because even in this case the data on the disk can be recovered. The only difference is that you should take the device to a repair shop and also expect some great expenses.

But let’s take the issues one by one and see the reasons, the solutions and what you need to know about each and every case of hard disk failure. We will begin with the virus problem. There is a chance that the computer is faulty because of a virus. This could infect system files and make the computer to no longer recognize its hard drive. As a general rule there are a few messages that appear: “Non-system disk “or” Disk boot failure.” The solution would be to try and boot from the system CD or DVD bypasses the bad hard disk files. This also allows the user to check the hard drive for damage.

Another thing you need to know about this solution is that sometimes running the computer from CD or DVD also allows the operating system to repair files and so, solving the problem. Always remember that running the computer in this way offers great access to your data and also allows to make a back-up copy. And this happens even in the case of a hard drive problem. Furthermore, even for more serious problems like bad hard drive sectors that are unreadable you can save the data on them.

Moving further away, let’s see what you can do when the hard drives are so badly damaged that you are unable to boot up from external CDs or DVDs. This is the step where installing the drive as a slave drive allows the user to access his data. This method allows you to install the damaged hard drive in either another PC or even in the original computer. After the installation is complete, you should mount it in a spare drive bay. Remember that you are required a new hard drive and operating system.  Also remember that in some cases you are required to change a jumper setting on the damaged drive to make it a slave. After making the plug of the power cord and signal cables wait for the computer to boot from the main drive. Now you should be able to read the previous unreadable files and start making copies of them.

If by now the problem isn’t fixed check the connections. This should be made in the situation where the hard drive seems completely dead and also your operating system appears to not be able to recognize it. It is very common for computers to have multiple connections for more than one hard drive. A good solution is simply changing the existing power and signal cables of the failed drive, and plugging in one of the other connectors. And also this comes very useful when having old aged computers where the cords are damaged by the passing of time.

There are even a few disk utilities that could repair your hard drive. This is a solution for those times when the disk simply doesn’t boot. With these tools you are able to read the hard drive and make the data accessible again. The apps are general created by hard drive manufacturers such as Seagate and Western Digital. 

In the Seagate case there is such a utility at http://services.seagate.com/diysoftware.aspx. Western Digital manufacturers offer free diagnostic software that could solve your problems at http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?wdc_lang=en.

There is another case that you should take in consideration and this is thermal variation. You should always keep in mind that hard drives are mechanical devices after all, that have bearings and joints. And because there are mechanical parts there is always the possibility of them becoming stuck in older, aged drives. As a general rule for all devices, thermal variations are expanding and contracting metals because of the temperature. Although you will find this a little strange, placing the hard drive in a cold compartment, like a freezer for example could be the solution you are looking for.

If none of the presented above cases match your problem then the simplest and most secure option would be to take your device to a local computer repair shore. This doesn’t 100% guarantee the data will be recovered, but will offer on the other hand a professional look for the problem. In most cases it can be fixed with the right equipment and knowledge.

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich To Become Available For Meizu M9 And MX

I know that many of you would like to know which is the next Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich stop as this new platform continues to march its way across the market so quickly. There are some confirmation which came earlier in this week through the mouth of Meizu Chief Jack Wong stating that both M9 and MX mobile devices will upgrade to 4.0 Android Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future. He also has confirmed the fact that the release of the MX’s phone remains unchanged.

Unfortunately there were no other specifications offered. Although Mr: Wong explained that the release of MX mobile was delayed due to the company continue efforts to build-in a sharper, camera with flash within the smartphone, anyway we will keep you posted with the latest news regarding their products release.

It’s clear that will be a complete rush from Original design manufacturers such as Meizu and Huawei to build mobile devices for the global market so it looks like the Meizu M9 and the upcoming Meizu MX will be shipped with the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. They will try their best to upgrade to the new platform in a timely manner, as the MX release remains unchanged and the company is confident that December is the month for launching the upcoming 4-inch Android mobile. They expressly confirmed that they are sticking to the plan of December release, which is pretty great.

Their CEO said that the MX comes in two variants one is the 16GB version and comes with a dual core chip and the other one is the 32GB version that features a quad core beast. Now if you are curios with what these phones have to offer, check the following details. These two mobiles offer front and rear cameras, the rear one has 8 MP with Led Flash, removable back cover, a port for USB. The pretty cool stuff is that the handset is going to be one of the thinnest ever. The 16GB MX will have a price tag of $625 and the 32GB brother has tag price of $780 but here comes the real deal question, why so long till the release.

The company is trying to make the phone’s camera as perfect as possible, when asked to compare the upcoming MX with the recently released iPhone 4S. They are pursuing the best possible photo quality and looking to wait for the Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 camera. But here comes the heavy question, why pay that much for Meizu MX when you can have the Xiaomi mobile device which is way cheaper and offers almost the same specs.

Anyway if you were to ask us we fully recommend you Xiaomi, why to pay that much when you can have almost the same in terms of quality and specs with the Xiaomi handset.

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Microsoft Releases Windows Update To Fix Duqu Critical Security Hole

You probably remember the Stuxnet worm which infected tens of thousands IP addresses in Iran last year. It also infected other countries such as Pakistan, India and Indonesia, but the state of Iran has suffered the most because the countries nuclear capabilities were damaged.

Well, several weeks ago the multi-vector network attack called Duku drawn the attention because it was very similar to the Stuxnet worm. Because the code of Duqu resembled so much with the one of Stuxnet a lot of security software classified it as being Stuxnet. Stuxnet used four zero-day exploits which made it very powerful at that time, though they became old and inoffensive now. The problem was that Duqu had its own zero-day exploit. Duqu can be very powerful to Windows-based systems because even if it progressed a lot in the past few years, it still has its flaws.

Fortunately, Microsoft announced a temporary fix in all versions of Windows keep Duqu from infected the computer like Stuxnet did. The Microsoft officials stated that this fix is very important and needed to be done in time because if the problem went unfixed, the affected computers will be attacked. In other words, those who are using Duku could get inside and take control of any computer (that uses Windows) that is not protected.

The researchers from CrySyS identified an installer of the computer worm and they were surprised to find out that it exploited a Windows vulnerability that was unknown to them until now. The problem was found in the Win32k TrueType font parsing engine, which is a component of all Windows versions including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. The researchers discovered that the exploit can be distributed by a vicious MS Word document. The attacker choose his target sends the document using the email service and when the receiver opens the doc the attack is launched.

Microsoft has found a quick fix which is available for download and can be applied. But this is just a temporarily solution as a permanent one will be found in the patches that the software giant is releasing on a regular basis. Duqu is a critical Windows flaw that appeared at the beginning of September for the first time. Symantec, one of the most important computer security developer, explained that even Duqu is meant for a distinct purpose, it is very similar to Stuxnet.

While Stuxnet was meant for narrower targets like those designed to manage critical infrastructure in establishments such as the nuclear reactor in Iran, it seems that Duqu has been created to attack the whole population that has computers with Windows as the operating system and that connects to the internet.

The workarounds of Microsoft consist of several lines of code that can be run at an administrative command prompt. Microsoft stated that the users who install the workarounds might have problems with some programs which rely on embedded font technology. Further, the workarounds can be applied to Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as to other Windows Server products.

The Microsoft advisory warned the Windows-based computers owners that an attacker that exploits the present vulnerability has the possibility to run arbitrary code in kernel mode. Also, the same attacker could mess with your system by installing various programs, view and delete your files, or create brand new accounts on which he would have full user rights.

Even if Microsoft promises to fix the problem related to the Duku multi-vector network attack, it seems like they can’t do it in time. Some say that it could take weeks. Costin Raiu who is director at the Kaspersky Lab company said that in order to fix the problem the guys at Microsoft have to modify the kernel code which is nothing easy. Also, testing the patches after they’ve been modified could take a while.

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Google Offers Application Now Available For Free Download At The Android Market

Here is a great new way for checking your email for the latest offers, better said with this new application as Google Offers is able to connect you with great deals on daily basis each day. You do not have to print those offers anymore as Google Offers app eliminates the need of constant email checking for the latest Google offers.

So this is a news in itself as Google Offer application is up and live in Android Market, so whenever you feel tired with checking your email constantly for the latest offer from Google, and if you have at least an Android 2.1 or up device, the Google was able to provide an alternative, just at the right moment. Using this application makes your life a lot more easier, as it brings all the deals near your selected location or area into an easy to use and comprehend piece of program.

Since this application went live in the Android Market we have recorded a numerous downloads, so why do even you grab this chance and ease your work a lot as you do not have to constantly check your email for the offers sent by Google. It doesn’t require Near Field Communication process, but yes, you can take it from the phone. You can feel free to express your joy when you realize that you will remain up way more than Gmail was did for Apple’s operating system the iOS.

As you can see simply with your Android phone you can get almost the same level of information that you were used to getting with a more powerful device like a laptop or desktop computer. As from right now you can bring the deals closer to you, anytime, so simply discover buy and claim Google Offers without having to print them anymore.

Start Exploring your are from the comfort and space of your Android mobile device, but it would really be a nice if it worked on tablets though, and we recently found out that the menu button is not even working properly. We would have expected more from an official Google application. At this moment the only thing going for this application the nice user interface. The reason for the moment we are a little bit confused with, is the fact that Google has released a separate application with similar functions as Google Shopper, which in our opinion does a lot of probably even more that Google Offer application.

You can download Google Offers app free using the source link below!

SOURCE Android Market

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EU Commission To Investigate The Patent Dispute Between Samsung And Apple

The iPhone 4S was launched on the Australian market last month and since then Samsung has been trying to get Apple’s product banned. This moved forward and it seems that the conflict between the two huge companies will never end as more developments appear almost every day.

The South Korean giant claims that three of its 3G wireless patents have been violated by Apple in Australia. The company wants to have access to the iPhone 4S source code and they also want to get detailed information about the contracts that Apple has with the most important mobile services in Australia including Optus, Vodafone and Telstra.

Apple defends by saying that Samsung have agreed in the past to licence the three mobile patents to Apple under the FRAND terms (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) standard. Samsung stated that they did agreed with this matter, but the agreement doesn’t apply to Australia and Apple is using the patents illegally.

The Korean company is trying to obtain the source code of Apple’s newest product, but Apple is definitely trying to block the move.

Now it seems that the European Commission is very interested in this case and this means that things could end up badly for Samsung as the European Commission want’s to investigate if the case that Samsung has against Apple is violating the EU competition lays and this means trouble for Samsung.

Until now, this appears to be the most important development between Samsung and Apple and considering that the two companies have had a dispute for a long time, this is really a big deal. However, things could go wrong for Samsung because depending on what the investigation will reveal, the South Korean Company could be forced to redraw the majority of its claims against their American competitor.

In other words, Samsung did licensed the patents to Apple in certain countries, this is sure thing. What’s interesting is that the company decided to sue Apple for the same patents used in other states. Their biggest problem is that the European union can end up disapproving their action.

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