Spinrite and ASUS sitting in a tree
Posted by Christopher in Nerd Stuff, Work Stuff on December 14, 2009
I almost hate to write about this program, as it has made me an incredible amount of money over the years.
Spinrite is the name of an older program (1988) and it’s job is to scan magnetic data storage surfaces. Using a quite complex comparative system, it can find terminal (no worky) and minor issues on a hard drive and repair them.
This thing examines each bit (1 or 0) multiple times if there is any question about data integrity. This is one of the reasons it is unique, it can repair hard drives leaving them in better condition than before. I use it on almost all the systems I support and also to recover dead drives (and it’s data).
Issue:
The real reason for this post is to document how to use this program with the new SATA drives. My new ASUS UL30vt has a 500gig SATA drive in it and I wanted to groom the drive to make sure it will not die on me. Using a USB CD, I boot off of the Spinrite boot CD but the program never really round the drive.
Solution:
Newer motherboard BIOS have a SATA setting that needs to be set to “Compatibility Mode” or “Legacy IDE” for Spinrite to see the drive. After you save the BIOS setting, Spinrite will work correctly from that point on……just be sure to set the BIOS back so that you can boot your Windows install afterward.
This is twice that I have had to research this solution and so wanted to document it for future brain failures.
10% of what I know about security and computer systems, I learned from it’s creator Steve Gibson and you can see some of his projects at www.GRC.com .
System Helper-Outer
Posted by Christopher in Cool Stuff, Nerd Stuff, Work Stuff on December 12, 2009
Often the best program to help solve an issue, is the simplest. This is the case with most of the system utilities that are in all Windows installs. Commands like “ipconfig” or renewing your network address are all easily found inside your friendly DOS prompt.
The idea behind this cool tool is to collect all those system helper-outer programs and have them accessible with the push of a button. This is great if you have part time tech helping you out, Wife or family member learning nerd or working on remote systems.
The program name is “Matt’s System Helper-Outer”.
It gathers all the commands that a tech commonly uses and pulls them out from behind the deep system panels. The best way to explain how great this program is to show you a snap;
The program runs under Win 2k and above (XP, V, 7) but might require a “run as admin” for the last two.
If you are lost right now about why you would want this program, you don’t need it. Having said that, your computer tech will love you for sending him this post.
You can download the free tool HERE.
Let me know if you have a tool that you like.
PS> this has “traceroute” right on it, so you can see if your blog comment/emails are really from who they say they are!
NorthWest Territorial Mint has bad IT support
Posted by Christopher in Nerd Stuff on December 4, 2009
Over the past year or so, I have bought a few pieces of silver to set on my desk and feel cool. Most of my friends buy their metals at physical stores but being a computer guy…I wanted to buy from a website. Unfortunatly, I bought from NWTM (Northwest Territorial Mint) and like many other people, got scammed by them. You can read more about my experience HERE .
Instead of fixing their issues and policies, NWTM focuses it’s efforts into propaganda and (cant think of the right word) fake comments by employees of the company. I have heard many people say this and seen some of the fake YouTube videos that NWTM created but they just deemed my blog as a place to attempt this propaganda.
Rod Argentum just commented on my NWTM Scam post stating how much he likes NorthWest Territorial Mint. His email address (mfspamaccount@yahoo.com) was used to send this email. Unfortunately, the IT department (if they have one) neglected to tell “Rod” about the concept of mailservers and how they can show where you are.
If I “tracert” his IP (70.103.50.33) it shows that his email comes mailserver.nwtmint.com.
Below is a screen shot of the IP and final stop.
Shame on you NWTM.
Your policy of combating truth with lies is weak and leaves a stain. At some point, you will no doubt change your name or move states but lies have a way to following those that live by them. Maybe listen to your former clients and look internally instead of producing fake videos, comments and blog posts.
I fully realize that I am was a small time client but you could have fixed the issue with an apology and truth.
Contact me if you would like to train your staff on TOR, VPN or SMTPs. (Cash up front please)
Christopher
![DSC05443 [Flickr profile] [Flickr profile]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2524/3872822670_fe5a4d4a91.jpg "DSC05443 [Flickr profile] [Flickr profile]")
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