Best data recovery ever?

Just came across this story c/o the front page of Slashdot. I'm always warning clients about backups. They need to be done religiously. The only people that I find doing that though are the ones that have had a massive data loss in the past. I usually recommend online backup as the simplest, most effective approach. You get your critical files offsite every night automatically. As soon as people and tapes are involved the chances of having a good backup when you need it most start dropping.

Wonder what the recovery bill was for getting 90% of the data back from this drive that survived the Columbia Shuttle explosion? Or do you think Ontrack just went with the publicity generated?

Did your backup work last night?

XP SP3 finally puts in an appearance

After a false start or two in the past month Windows XP Service Pack 3 finally arrived on the server's Update Services list this morning. So much for a quiet time catching a rare sunny day.

I dived over to the Microsoft Downloads page to get a copy for my test machine, no luck can't see it. Surely they haven't pushed it out to Update Services .... and yes I can see it on WindowsUpdate too ... without making a download available for techies.

Anyway tracked it down from the notes on the Microsoft Update site in the end. If you're looking for it you'll need to go here for the Network Install Package.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5B33B5A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4

Install went smoothly, rebooted and no errors in Event Viewer. Everything looks ok.

Be interesting to see whether that rumoured 10% performance boost comes off, would certainly help this 3yr old PC :-)

Offline Files warning won't suppress

A client PC on an SBS2003 network kept giving a warning about a PST file not syncing at logout. It was an archive copy of an email account stored in My Documents that was located on the server. At the end of every day the Offline Files would sync and stick with the error, annoying the client who was keen to get out of the door at 4pm ... wish I had those hours ;-)

There's an MS document, KB811660 that talks about suppressing the warning for particular file types and locations. Its a bit obscure but the key point is to add this to the registry to skip warnings for Outlook PST files.

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache\ExclusionErrorSuppressionList \\\\*\\*\\*\\*.PST = 0x0000000 (REG_DWORD)

Unfortunately that didn't clear the error, even after the obligatory reboot. The trick to get it to take effect was to reset the Offline Files cache too. Go into My Documents > Tools > Folder Options > Offline Files and use Ctrl-Shift with Delete All Files. For more info take a look at KB230738.

New software from Apple, OS X for your PC

I guess its only a matter of time until a client starts asking about the Safari update to iTunes and I have to explain about Browser Wars 2. Seems a bit of a storm in a teacup but I was interested to see Apple at least separating Updates and New - thanks to Gary for the breaking Apple news. So how long until we see this dialog then.

Tell you what, I'd be front of the queue. Its turning into quite a talking point with clients. I'm regularly getting asked about iMacs and MacBooks whenever anyone needs a new machine. Even last year the answer was don't go there, the transition for your business isn't worth it. However now, I explain Parallels or dual booting and that you can choose Mac or Windows at startup, its a different proposition.

Take into account the compatibility and stability, the security benefits, the fact your staff can't download as much crapware onto the machines and the big impression Apple design gives to everyone, be it clients or staff, sounds like there could be a business case for switching there.

Vista, Suse 10.3 and multiple drives

Just managed to sort out a dual boot with Vista and Suse 10.3. Vista is on the second HD, a Samsung 500GB SATA. Suse was installed to the 200GB Seagate IDE drive which has boot priority to load GRUB. Unfortunately the auto boot settings of Suse were carefully stepping around Vista, insisting on these settings for Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (0,0)
chainloader (0,0)+1
Even going into YaST Administrator Settings > System > Boot Loader and choosing Other > Edit Configuration Files > /boot/grub/menu.lst and over-writing the Windows entry didn't help. YaST must have known better, not.

As I couldn't boot Vista at this point I tried booting off the Vista DVD to repair startup with bootrec. Using the /fixboot option failed with an error that the volume wasn't compatible

The solution I sussed in the end was manually editing /boot/grub/menu.lst using Kate started via su in terminal and amending to these settings
title Windows
rootnoverify (1,0)
chainloader (1,0)+1

Novell's document on dual booting Vista and Linux has a similar solution.

SBS 2003 server SP2 setup error, failed to install catalog files

Had a problem loading Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) onto a Dell PowerEdge this week. First error was that a file couldn't be copied, check permissions. I had to cancel that install and it rolled back ... but I guess not well enough. When I tried to reinstall I got this error:

Service Pack 2 setup error "failed to install catalog files"

Retrying the setup (again), clearing temp files, checking Event Viewer didn't help at all. Finally found this useful article at Microsoft, KB822798. Ignore the majority and jump straight to Method 9, that did the trick and the install completed ok.

Interestingly the original error came about from a file read error which must have appeared whilst SP2 was unpacking. I was able to get over the read error by unpacking to another temp directory, finding the file and overwriting the faulty one. You can unpack to a temporary directory by doing a Start > Run (delete any entry already there) then drag the SP2 file to the Run box and add -X (you may also need quotes if there are any spaces in the directory names)

e.g. Start > Run >
"c:\downloaded files\microsoft\WindowsServer2003-KB914961-SP2-x86-ENU.exe" -x

File Conversion - online, of course

One of the ISPs I use regularly for business clients - very reliable, excellent local support - has just sent their monthly newsletter out and pointed out a new service out on the interweb; www.zamzar.com. Its blindingly obvious, brilliant. Get your file conversions done online. Why haven't I seen something like this already?

I get these calls occasionally where a client has been emailed a file and is wondering what to do with it. Usually end up using FILExt to identify the source and then try and track down a program that can handle it. Half the time this happens out at a client site, Zamzar could be the easy answer. Be intersting to see how comprehensive their conversion filters become. Pleased to see their privacy policy is making all the right noises about protecting emails and files.

Lenovo tracking US Government laptops

Been a big fan of ThinkPad T series for quite a while. Not the latest greatest tech out there but rock solid, excellent build and just does what is says on the tin. There are some nice features like ThinkLight, IBM nipple and useful software like Access Connections and Software Update - makes tech support life easy, plus they can take a hammering on the road day in day out.

Just coming to end of life with a T42, had a T23 previously and one prior to that too. Got several clients with T20's, T30, T42, T43, T60. One of those ThinkPad T43 laptops recently started failing to boot at the start logo. After a session swapping memory, drives, power, batteries and trying to fix MBR I concluded there was a system board issue ... two weeks before end of warranty, good timing. No problem getting it fixed, probably took around a week and they didn't do a hard disk recovery which kept my life simple - yeah of course we had a backup.

To the point, I've just had a Lenovo Customer Support Satisfaction survey email which I duly completed right up to the last screen ...

Yes just discreetly dropped in at the end there is the question 'Is this computer assigned to you personally for the purpose of performing US government work?' ... oh and its mandatory. So are they just looking after probably one of their biggest customers ... or is it entirely coincidental that they want to identify US government work immediately after having a copy of the hard disk at their disposal. This being Blogger I'd have to go with the conspiracy every time :-)

Shuttle SN41G2 (FN41 motherboard) BIOS

Got a new FN41 v2.0 motherboard from ebay for my ageing Shuttle SN41G2. System has always run well with an Athlon XP 2500+, 1GB DDR400, Radeon 9250 and Sony DVDRW. You can't use DDR400 with the integrated GeForce 4MX graphics unless you drop the speed down to DDR333. But it works ok with an AGP card - which also means you can disable the integrated graphics in the BIOS, reclaim the memory and disconnect the small noisy internal fan.

The replacement mobo had BIOS v18 (fn41s018.bin) and I was having a bit of trouble getting the memory speeds to stick properly. Went to Shuttle to get the v32 (fn41s032.bin) BIOS and found it wouldn't flash with the Award flash utility listed - kept getting an error about an invalid product. Available version was AWDFLASH v8.89. Fortunately I had a previous download of AWDFLASH V8.23 and that worked fine.

On the subject of noise Alfredo's Speedfan works well with this system and can keep the fan noise to a steadier level on a warm day - ideal if you've got the unit sat on the desk just by you.

Samsung in need of therapy

Trawling through overnight server reports first thing in the morning is not the cheeriest introduction to the day, but the caffeine helps - M&S Fairtrade Dark Roast Espresso brewing as we speak, er type.
Just occasionally the reports throw up a real LOL entry. One of my old test servers just reported this

PlugPlayManager. Event ID 12. 02/03/2008 20:10 The device 'SAMSUNG SP0812N' (IDE\DiskSAMSUNG_SP0812N) disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.

It's an internal drive! Where did it disappear to and what sort of preparation did it think it needed!? I guess it didn't take well to the request to copy a 4GB file. I've got an image of it slinking out from the back of the PC, to hide behind the filing cabinet, rocking backwards and forwards, whimpering.
We need more error messages like this first thing :-)