Rangerland Forum Information

[Scuubs]

How did you get them on the touch if they weren't purchased? I mean if they're not already on your pc. If you synched them with iTunes you should have them somewhere no? There used to be some apps that would copy the songs off an iPod but the output was such a complete mess that it wasn't worth the time it would take to reconstruct the library.

New computer. Hard drive is shot on the old one, so I can't retrieve any of it. I've done this before by showing hidden files on the iPod, and copying them to the cpomputer but it seems Apple has locked them out completely.

No idea if this works or not. If it does work I don't know how well it works. I do not own any Apple products so I have no way of testing.

http://www.destraynor.com/serendipity/inde...-your-iPod.html

Thanks. If I use it I'll let you know if it works, and how well it works.

[Giac]

E-mail's on its way, Scuubs. Hope it works for you!

[Scuubs]

E-mail's on its way, Scuubs. Hope it works for you!

Thanks Giac, downloading now.

[Giac]

Thanks Giac, downloading now.

[Scuubs]

Thanks for the help. Giac, it could only transfer 5 files per session... there's 1900 songs to transfer. Rick, I've used that method previously on the hdd iPod. This is an iPod Touch, and has an ssd, so I couldn't access the music file with that methoid for some reason. I found a program called iphonebrowser that can access the file that stores the music and am currently hoping that works.

[Giac]

Thanks for the help. Giac, it could only transfer 5 files per session... there's 1900 songs to transfer. Rick, I've used that method previously on the hdd iPod. This is an iPod Touch, and has an ssd, so I couldn't access the music file with that methoid for some reason. I found a program called iphonebrowser that can access the file that stores the music and am currently hoping that works.

Sorry 'bout that, Scuubs. I wasn't sure if it would work or not, but I figured, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll keep my fingers crossed that one of your other fixes works.

[DetroitHockey]

My secondary drive (which happens to be the one I keep all my docs on, of course) just disappeared on me the other day. No D:\ in My Computer, only my primary listed in disk management.

Fought with it a bit, ended up popping it in an eSATA dock. Still nothing. Switched the dock over to USB as a last resort... The drive is back. Only now clicking on D:\ tells me "This folder is empty" and the drive is showing as unformatted (raw) in disk management.

Any suggestions or am I just fucked? If the latter, any recommendations for data recovery people?

[Alitaki]

My secondary drive (which happens to be the one I keep all my docs on, of course) just disappeared on me the other day. No D:\ in My Computer, only my primary listed in disk management.

Fought with it a bit, ended up popping it in an eSATA dock. Still nothing. Switched the dock over to USB as a last resort... The drive is back. Only now clicking on D:\ tells me "This folder is empty" and the drive is showing as unformatted (raw) in disk management.

Any suggestions or am I just fucked? If the latter, any recommendations for data recovery people?

Sounds like the controller on the drive itself is shot. The only data retrieval service I know is OnTrack and they're expensive as fuck all. Is the data on the drive that critical to recover?

[DetroitHockey]

OnTrack was also recommended to me elsewhere, with the same caveat.

The drive has basically everything that's important to me on it. All my code, all my docs, all my photos. That said, I have a month-old (I think) backup on an external drive so I wouldn't be completely fucked but I'd lose a batch of photos I just took and a handful of things I wasn't backing up (the kind of stuff you don't need until you don't have it anymore). Just enough stuff to royally piss me off.

And, of course, I was talking to my brother-in-law about using Mozy for off-site backups just last week, and decided that I'd wait until after the holidays to worry about it.

[Alitaki]

OnTrack was also recommended to me elsewhere, with the same caveat.

The drive has basically everything that's important to me on it. All my code, all my docs, all my photos. That said, I have a month-old (I think) backup on an external drive so I wouldn't be completely fucked but I'd lose a batch of photos I just took and a handful of things I wasn't backing up (the kind of stuff you don't need until you don't have it anymore). Just enough stuff to royally piss me off.

And, of course, I was talking to my brother-in-law about using Mozy for off-site backups just last week, and decided that I'd wait until after the holidays to worry about it.

If that's the case then you need to use a recovery service. Since it's probably just the controller, it might not be that expensive to recover the data. I don't think the platters are the issue.

[Rick91981]

Before calling OnTrack (who by the way are probably the best in the business. They WILL get your data back. But will cost you about $2k if its badly damaged).

If you can get it to mount and show as unformatted RAW, download a program called Recuva. Cancel out of the Wizard when it starts. Point the program to the RAW drive whatever letter it may be. Go into the options and click the actions tab. Click the checkbox for scanning for non deleted items. Close out of the options and click the scan button for the drive. May take many hours to complete. When finished check the results and hope for the best.

If that does not get your data then you do need to call OnTrack.

[DetroitHockey]

Following those instructions, Recuva gives me the message "The system cannot find the file specified." Doesn't even scan.

I'll double-check how recent my backup is and decide whether or not I can live without restoring this. Son of a bitch...

[Rick91981]

If the drive is in that bad of shape then you don't have much hope of recovering anything yourself. OnTrack will charge a $65 diagnostic fee and then elt you know the extent of the damage and quote a price.

[DetroitHockey]

Sweet. Bring it the fuck on.

Ugh. Thanks for your help, though.

[Rick91981]

No problem. Wish I had a better answer but unless you have a clean room and spare drive parts laying around you will need a recovery service.

[DetroitHockey]

Spare parts I can do. Clean room? That is absolutely not happening.

Computer guys who are clients of mine say they've got a couple ideas. I'll give them a shot and prepare for failure.

[Rick91981]

You can try the "Freezer trick" but it is a very long shot. Put it in a ziplock and then freeze it for an hour. Then try to pull data off the drive. I have seen this work maybe only 5% of the time though.

[Mike B.]

Sorry, guess I misunderstood, I thought it was only bad when you were opening attachments. What are the system specs? You might have too much running at once. Press ctrl shift and esc at the same time to bring up the task manager. Check the box to show processes from all users. How many processes are running? Spyware could always be an issue as well.

Archiving the old e-mails in Outlook definitely helped, at least with navigating through the Outlook program, and how long it takes to complete the send and receive. I couldn't figure out how to shut off the scan attachments option, but I think that is a problem too, since downloading attachments is much quicker when I access my e-mail through a browser.

Still, the machine is impossibly slow at times. Refreshing a window in Mozilla, for example, can take 30 seconds. I've noticed it happens more first thing in the morning, and late at night. Also, when the Symantec is "malfunctioning", that seems to make the machine slow. Right now, for example, it's running fine. The processor is a Pentium 4 HT. Hard drive is 80GB, 75% of which is free. Don't know how much RAM there is, how can I find that out?

When I open the Task Manager, there are anywhere from 40-45 tasks running. Mozilla and Outlook are by far the biggest programs at any given time, and none of them are eating up a lot of CPU space - the Idle Process is almost always 90% or higher.

Maybe it's just a crappy machine. I've considered disabling Symantec and running something locally, but I don't want to catch any shit for it.

EDIT: P.S., Outlook really seems to be the killer. Things will be running fine, I'll open Outlook, and then it will all go to shit. Similar problems happen with the billing software we use.

This post has been edited by Mike B.: Dec 29 2010, 12:18 PM

[Rick91981]

Pentium 4 HT.

Wow, that thing is an antique!

When I open the Task Manager, there are anywhere from 40-45 tasks running.

That isn't bad at all as far as number of processes running.

Maybe it's just a crappy machine.

It is definitely an old machine. As far as finding out the RAM, press the windows key and the pause/break key at the same time to bring up system properties. It will tell you there how much RAM.

I've considered disabling Symantec and running something locally, but I don't want to catch any shit for it.

Talk to the IT dept and ask permission to be rid of Symantec and install MS Security Essentials instead.

[Mike B.]

Wow, that thing is an antique!

That must be it then.

[Rick91981]

That must be it then.

The Pentium 4 with HT was manufactured from 2003-2006, with availability into 2007. At best it is probably 4 yrs old which for a computer is long past its prime.

[ThunderDawg]

Are you saying that the software he uses is eating more memory and CPU cycles than they did 4 years ago?
Let's say it's a 3.2 GHz HT, which effectively makes it a 6.4 GHz box. That is still a helluva lot of computing power.
If it has 4 Gigs of RAM, that should run any and all applications he could possibly ever need. Graphic artists and
gamers require more, because the apps they use are ravenous resource hogs, but an e-mail program should not
be sucking the life out of it.

Mike, you have one program that is causing trouble. Maybe there is an unnecessary setting, like an infinite loop of
virus checking on files in your mail folders. That's why I stopped using e-mail clients and only use web based e-mail.
It took all those headaches away.

[Mike B.]

Mike, you have one program that is causing trouble. Maybe there is an unnecessary setting, like an infinite loop of
virus checking on files in your mail folders. That's why I stopped using e-mail clients and only use web based e-mail.
It took all those headaches away.

Thanks, I'll check. The processor speed is 2.8 GHz, and the RAM is only 504 MB, so maybe that's it too. We don't get equipment upgrades very often, because like you say, all we ever use our machines for is word processing and e-mails.

[The Fast Choker]

Thanks, I'll check. The processor speed is 2.8 GHz, and the RAM is only 504 MB, so maybe that's it too. We don't get equipment upgrades very often, because like you say, all we ever use our machines for is word processing and e-mails.

Wow, it's probably the RAM, with it that low. 1GB would probably be a reasonable minimum, and 2GB preferred.

[Rick91981]

Are you saying that the software he uses is eating more memory and CPU cycles than they did 4 years ago?

If it is newer versions of software then absolutely yes. Typically a newer version of software will have higher system requirements.

Let's say it's a 3.2 GHz HT, which effectively makes it a 6.4 GHz box. That is still a helluva lot of computing power.

That is not even remotely close to how Hyper Threading works. It emulates two CPUs but does not even remotely match the performance.

If it has 4 Gigs of RAM, that should run any and all applications he could possibly ever need. Graphic artists and
gamers require more, because the apps they use are ravenous resource hogs, but an e-mail program should not
be sucking the life out of it.

4 Gigs of RAM would certainly be a benefit, but he would still be limited by the CPU. More RAM does not mean he could run anything he wanted. And with 4 GB he would need a 64Bit version of Windows.

[DetroitHockey]

You can try the "Freezer trick" but it is a very long shot. Put it in a ziplock and then freeze it for an hour. Then try to pull data off the drive. I have seen this work maybe only 5% of the time though.

Freezer trick won't be an option. Burned out bearing, I'm told. Data recovery is $2300. Nothing on the drive is worth that much except the fact that I hate to lose any data for any reason. I'm tempted to consider it a loss and then try to DIY it.

[Rick91981]

Damn sorry to hear the bad news.

[Giac]

My HP printer has bitten the big one, and I'm looking to replcae it with one that will do decent photo prints. I'm looking at the Canon Pixma Line, specifically the Canon PIXMA iP4820 Premium Inkjet Photo Printer, which has gotten pretty good reviews on the B&H Photo web site. I'll mostly be printing documents, but it sure would be nice to be able to crank out some decent photo prints (the HP sucked for that). Oh, yeah, and it's on sale, down to $85 from the regular $100 price tag.

Anyone here have any experience with this line of printers, or with something else that might suit me better? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[Rick91981]

No experience with that specific model, but I have always bought Canon printers and they do a great job with photos. If left in sunlight the photo will fade easier than a print through a store though.

[Giac]

No experience with that specific model, but I have always bought Canon printers and they do a great job with photos. If left in sunlight the photo will fade easier than a print through a store though.

Cool, thanks, that's good to know!

[HDH]

Allright, I have to break down and ask this question here.....


I am not quite a computer retard. I'd say more computer mildly autistic.

Meaning, I can use one, I'm not afraid to try new devices or install wireless devices and stuff. But on a daily basis, outside of work and word processing, I am not very computer dependent. I have a desire to do many more things than I currently do.


Anyway, whatever my wife did to our current (old) PC, we got a virus and the thing crapped out. I have someone who is going to recover pictures and a few legal documents of mine, but basically, we have to get something new. I'm not interested in getting the VERY VERY best deal I can, or saving the last 50 bucks or something. I just want something that will be useful for us, not be outdated in 3 weeks, and not get totally ripped off.


Here's what I plan to use it for:


- Internet browsing obviously
- I want to be able to run movies for the kids, and possibly stream some stuff for them
- I want to hook up a wireless router so I can get online with my PS3
- I want to store photos and movies, and possibly do some editing with them down the road, like photo albums or video montages or something
- Word processing, and powerpoint sutff my wife uses
- Eventually download some TV shows
- Store my multimedia stuff, mostly music (I avoid Ipod and apple stuff, so I just have an sansa mp3 player for my gym music)
- As the kids get older (4 and 2.5 now), I want to be able to do more for/with them, like learning games, interactive stuff, etc.
- We do all our bill pay/billing stuff
- I'd like to make Christmas cards and invites and thank you's and stuff, instead of spending millions on that.....address labels, etc.


What do I need?

I've talked to a couple of people, and got a general idea. I saw a package at Costco for a Dell Ispiron, Pentium i5, 8GB, 1.5TB. With a 24" LED monitor and $200 off it was $999. A little above what I thought I would spend, but we havent gotten anything new in over 6 years, so I figure we need it.

They also have an HP, Pentium i7, 8gb, 1.5 TB hard drive. 23 inch monitor. 2 year warranty, Windows 7 home premium, 15 months free Norton AV.....also for $999


The one thing I was told to look for that the HP doesn't have is an HDMI port, seemingly. Not something I need urgently, but with the movies and shows for the kids down the road, probably something I'd want included for future use.

I was also told for my probably purposes, I wouldn't necessarily need the i7 processor. Opinions, and opinions on Costco versus Bestbuy or something? (I'm probably staying mainstream rather than trying to piece together a system with individual components from newegg or something....unless to do otherwise is a complete ripoff).


EDIT: Oh, the Dell is Windows 7 home premium too, 15 month Mcafee, Office Home.....dunno what the warranty is.

This post has been edited by HDH: Jan 7 2011, 02:44 PM

[Sed]

Jim,

The things that you're looking to do I'm currently doing on a 6-year-old machine, so I'd say that you don't need anything too expensive. I'm no expert, so I can't make too many recommendations regarding specs, but as a guy with kids one thing that I will suggest is that you get something with a dedicated memory card reader - it makes getting the pictures off of your camera nicer than having to mess around with cables and such. When I bought the machine that I'm on right now, they were still pretty uncommon but I'm guessing that now they're far more commonplace.

If anything, the only upgrade that I'm really seeking over this machine is a bigger HDD; I upgraded my memory a while back, so most things are running pretty well. I know that sometime this year, though, I'll be in the market for a new rig too.

[Rick91981]

WOT

If you want to stay mainstream store then by all means Costo. Avoid BestBuy like the plague. They will only upsell you and rip you off. Costco has good prices and a fantastic return policy if it should not meet your needs.

Min specs to look for:

Core i5 (i7 is even better)
4GB RAM
Large harddrive
Win7

Both those machines cover the bases nicely. And $999 isn't a bad deal when you factor in it coming with a monitor. I would prefer HP to Dell but Dell isn't bad. Just their support sucks.

When I get home later I will see if I can find any good deals for you.

[Sed]

If you want to stay mainstream store then by all means Costo. Avoid BestBuy like the plague. They will only upsell you and rip you off. Costco has good prices and a fantastic return policy if it should not meet your needs.

QFT - they're terrific.

[HDH]

you get something with a dedicated memory card reader - it makes getting the pictures off of your camera nicer than having to mess around with cables and such.

Thanks, and is

19-in-1 Media Card Reader

what you are talking about?

[Beamer]

This one:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...=en-US&Sp=C


Normally I'd point out that it's a bit high powered for your needs and that you're better off planning for a 2.5-3 year lifecycle and spending $500 now and $500 then, but this is a good deal if you need the monitor. The $200 off isn't all that big a deal, as you can make the same computer on Dell.com (with a 1.5TB HDD) for $968. 1.5TB is an enormous amount, but for $30 I say it's worth it. Especially since, with a 300 watt power supply, you're probably never throwing another one into this (external drives are cheap these days regardless.)

The lack of HDMI is no real loss. You can buy a streamer for $50-$100 and output to a TV in another room, and that 24" monitor is huge and should work well for kid's movies anyway.

Dell doesn't seem to let you configure a Core i5 for under $540, plus monitor, so if you need the monitor this will work well.
The Core i7 is extreme overkill. Even this system is a bit of overkill - it's got double the RAM you probably need, but if you're going to push it 6 years you'll be happy.

This post has been edited by Beamer: Jan 7 2011, 03:05 PM

[HDH]

If you want to stay mainstream store then by all means Costo. Avoid BestBuy like the plague. They will only upsell you and rip you off. Costco has good prices and a fantastic return policy if it should not meet your needs.

Min specs to look for:

Core i5 (i7 is even better)
4GB RAM
Large harddrive
Win7

Both those machines cover the bases nicely. And $999 isn't a bad deal when you factor in it coming with a monitor. I would prefer HP to Dell but Dell isn't bad. Just their support sucks.

When I get home later I will see if I can find any good deals for you.

As usual, thanks Rick...


It seems to me that anything pre-set up and not customized that has a i5 or larger has AT LEAST 6gb RAM. So you can't seem to save money just getting 4. And I'm assuming 1 to 1.5 TB is a large hard drive?

[Sed]

Thanks, and is 19-in-1 reader
what you are talking about?

Yes - which just goes to show how many friggin' memory card formats there are now; I think that the reader that I have is something like 6- or 7-in-1.

[Rick91981]

As usual, thanks Rick...
It seems to me that anything pre-set up and not customized that has a i5 or larger has AT LEAST 6gb RAM. So you can't seem to save money just getting 4. And I'm assuming 1 to 1.5 TB is a large hard drive?

Anything over 4GB or RAM just make sure it is 64bit of Windows otherwise that RAM goes to waste. And yes 1-1.5Tb is huge (for most people). To some people I guess it isn't enough but for 99% of users it is more than enough.

[Sed]

And yes 1-1.5Tb is huge (for most people). To some people I guess it isn't enough but for 99% of users it is more than enough.

Until I had kids, I never would've even dreamed of getting something that big - but damn do digital photos and videos eat space fast! I remember when I bought my first computer in 1998 and getting a 10GB HDD - "I'll NEVER use all of this disk space!"

Then came MP3 players and digital cameras...

[Giac]

And I'm assuming 1 to 1.5 TB is a large hard drive?

Just to give you a rough idea, my 500-gig hard drive at home has something like 80,000 songs on it, and still isn't full. I just upgraded to a 1-gig LaCie, though, so I could back up all my digital pictures. It'll take forever before I fill that puppy up.

[Beamer]

Until I had kids, I never would've even dreamed of getting something that big - but damn do digital photos and videos eat space fast! I remember when I bought my first computer in 1998 and getting a 10GB HDD - "I'll NEVER use all of this disk space!"

Then came MP3 players and digital cameras...

Stop using the 10+ megapixel setting, haha.

Most point-and-shoot cameras have extreme megapixel settings that use 2MB-10MB per picture yet end up grainy and are a size pointless unless you're printing out 20x25 shots. If all you're doing is putting them on facebook and printing the occasional 4x5 or even 8x10 you're just wasting space. These cameras usually take much nicer pictures at lower megapixel counts, too, since they're cramming much less information on a sensor of the same size, so it's all-around win/win.

[Sed]

Stop using the 10+ megapixel setting, haha.

Most point-and-shoot cameras have extreme megapixel settings that use 2MB-10MB per picture yet end up grainy and are a size pointless unless you're printing out 20x25 shots. If all you're doing is putting them on facebook and printing the occasional 4x5 or even 8x10 you're just wasting space. These cameras usually take much nicer pictures at lower megapixel counts, too, since they're cramming much less information on a sensor of the same size, so it's all-around win/win.

I'll tell the wife - she's the one taking the pictures. Although, I know that the 8-megapixel camera that just bought the farm on us takes much nicer pictures than the 5-megapixel that it replaced but I don't know all of the specs so it may be a matter of better lens and such.

[Beamer]

I'll tell the wife - she's the one taking the pictures. Although, I know that the 8-megapixel camera that just bought the farm on us takes much nicer pictures than the 5-megapixel that it replaced but I don't know all of the specs so it may be a matter of better lens and such.

What I mean is most (if not all) point and shoots take better pictures on their middle settings than their highest. The companies have to work really hard to grab that many pixels from the sensor, so you tend to get better detail grabbing fewer.

Switch her camera from H to M when she's not looking, haha.

[Eric]

While we're talking about hard drive sizes. I was going through a closet with my father in our house and we came across an old computer. I booted the thing and it had windows 95 on it and... wait for it... a 1 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM. It shocks me what was considered state of the art back then.

[Rick91981]

Stop using the 10+ megapixel setting, haha.

Most point-and-shoot cameras have extreme megapixel settings that use 2MB-10MB per picture yet end up grainy and are a size pointless unless you're printing out 20x25 shots. If all you're doing is putting them on facebook and printing the occasional 4x5 or even 8x10 you're just wasting space. These cameras usually take much nicer pictures at lower megapixel counts, too, since they're cramming much less information on a sensor of the same size, so it's all-around win/win.

Not exactly. The sensor is what the sensor is and will always capture at that resolution. The only thing the setting change will do is save a smaller picture. The image captured is the same, but the camera then processes it and saves a smaller size. If you want sharper pictures shoot at lower ISOs.

You are right that the amount of megapixels crammed into too small a sensor results in poor quality(such is why camera phones are so shitty), but that is 100% due to the sensor size and number of pixels it can capture, not the pixel setting on the camera.

[Rick91981]

Just to give you a rough idea, my 500-gig hard drive at home has something like 80,000 songs on it, and still isn't full. I just upgraded to a 1-gig LaCie, though, so I could back up all my digital pictures. It'll take forever before I fill that puppy up.

And to give an idea of an abnormal user, I have 5 drives in my system. A 74GB WD Raptor as my boot drive and for storage I have (2x) 250GB, 500GB and 1TB drives. All are well over 1/2 full. The only reason they are that "empty" is because I have been offloading files to my 2TB drive in the Popcorn Hour.

[Rick91981]

I'll tell the wife - she's the one taking the pictures. Although, I know that the 8-megapixel camera that just bought the farm on us takes much nicer pictures than the 5-megapixel that it replaced but I don't know all of the specs so it may be a matter of better lens and such.

Yes higher megapixel cameras CAN take better pictures than lower megapixel ones, but there are many factors to consider. The first and most important is the sensor size. The second is that newer ones generally are better than older as noise reduction and other in camera processing has GREATLY improved over the years.

[Rick91981]

HDH,

As for those two computers, I would with no hesitation choose the HP i7 (This is the one your looking at right?)over the other one.

With the HP you are giving up 1 inch of screen real estate(big deal. 23 inches is PLENTY!), but you are getting a better processor, MUCH better graphics card, and a lightscribe DVD burner(not a deal maker or breaker but definitely a nice feature to have).

As far as other features of the two they are more of less on par with each other. If you get either of them, whatever you do, do not use the free antivirus they give you. One is Norton the other is McAfee. The minute you turn the machine on you should uninstall that crap and install MS Security Essentials(Free).

If you were not looking to spend $1k (considering those come with monitors it is a pretty good price) then let me know your price range and I will see what I can find for you.

[HDH]

HDH,

As for those two computers, I would with no hesitation choose the HP i7 (This is the one your looking at right?)over the other one.

With the HP you are giving up 1 inch of screen real estate(big deal. 23 inches is PLENTY!), but you are getting a better processor, MUCH better graphics card, and a lightscribe DVD burner(not a deal maker or breaker but definitely a nice feature to have).

As far as other features of the two they are more of less on par with each other. If you get either of them, whatever you do, do not use the free antivirus they give you. One is Norton the other is McAfee. The minute you turn the machine on you should uninstall that crap and install MS Security Essentials(Free).

If you were not looking to spend $1k (considering those come with monitors it is a pretty good price) then let me know your price range and I will see what I can find for you.

I appreciate the info! My only question (but I think Beamer answered it) was about the HDMI output, which didnt seem to be included with the HP, but I guess that isnt that big of a deal.