Looking back, I wondered, "What in the world DID I learn during my Computer Science degree?" As a IT Support Engineer/Technician, I've been thrown in a pure Microsoft environment and facing problems that I've never been taught of in school. I mean, where did all the algorithms and CPU architecure and logic circuits come into play? Not that I'm blaming the system. Yet, it is fun to learn new things.
So, I finally decided to give it a good shot on the RAID thing. I mean, I've been reading a lot about it, the benefits, the different types of configuration, etc. But since the company has finally purchased the accessories, I figured its about time I actually implemented it.
The DELL Poweredge servers that we had has an on-board RAID controller. Unfortunately, to actually use it, we'd need to purchase a RAID DIMM memory card, a RAID Controller Key, and a RAID Battery. (Who would've though that even RAIDs need its own batteries...) But, then when I read further, we could alternatively use a RAID controller card, in fact it was recommended by on of the DELL technicians that I'm better off buying a card rather than use the on-board controller. Which advice I took...
So, unpackaging the RAID controller card box, I found it was a normal PCI kinda card with a port that obviously needed connecting. (Little did I know at the time that it's a VERY important part of the puzzle) So, I simply plugged it into a PCI slot and waited for magic to happen. I thought that was it. I had actually thought that that was all there was to it. All I needed then was go to the config tool and actually tell it to RAID for me. BEEP! I was wrong... DEAD wrong.
I needed help, so I contacted DELL's support and after about 4 different menus I finally got to someone. Telling my perdicament, I told him that I'm stuck and needed help. So, when it came to the part where I had a card plugged in already, then he told me, "Okay, now take the SCSI CABLE and connect it from the SCSI Backplane to the SCSI RAID controller card..." "OOOOHHHH! So I said, that's what I'm missing. That port that jutted out from the card needs connecting to the MB via another cable!" I thought to myself. So there I was stuck and unmotivated to go further becuase I didn't have any spare SCSI cable on me and I wasn't in the mood to go out and get one right away.
But then I realized something, "Hey, the tape drive is connected with this blue-red-yellowish ribbon, which goes to the SCSI backplane. Could this be another type of SCSI cable?" I asked the technician on the phone. He said, "Yeah. That is one." So I immediately, disconnected the tape drive and plugged it in to the RAID Controller Card. Powered up the machine and PRESTO! Glad I called for help, else I'd be developing white hair as to why the RAID card wasn't working...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Reviving your HD from MBR failure
I've searched high and low. And finally, I found a cure! About 5 days ago, my 40GB Maxtor HD all of a sudden went "Offline". The Partitions were no longer readable. So naturally, I checked the Computer Management console to see what's the problem...
I right-clicked the physical drive to "Reactivate" it to "Online" again, but failed, giving me an error message that its "Unreadable". Worried that I'm gonna lose ALL my digital photos and important documents (I'm lazy at backing up), I dare not do anything, but did extensive research as to what the problem may be.
Everywhere I looked, especially on the Microsoft sites, they kept talking about the bad of Dynamic disks and that once corrupted, there's no turning back. But there was one portion where it mentioned that partition data, if corrupted can cause drives to appear "Offline" or "Unreadable". So I did further research on that.
At the same time, I was trying to do the 'traditional' data recovery process, using SpinRite, which kept saying that my partitions are intact and that the data is there, but my Windows XP can't seem to recognize it, that's all...
Subsequently, I found that whenever it's a partition problem, that means there something wrong with the MBR Table. Its a table where data is stored to keep track of how big, where, what type of data is on the drive. Something like a library card catalogue to point to the precise book on the bookshelves...
So, I frantically looked for a MBR fixer-upper. They say that there is a backup of the MBR Table stored in a hiddne partition of the HD, so I was riding on that in hopes that I'll be able to find a utility to help with that. I've been looking and looking, but all were licensed commericial software, but the demos did achieve in simulating the fix, so I was tempted. These included Arconix, PPTD and DiskPart. But then, out of the blue, I came across a FREE opensource utility by CGSecurity called TESTDISK. And I'm a living testamonial!
I now swear by it! No need to boot to anything, becasue lucky for me it wasn't my boot drive/partition. (Note, that they even have a option to revive such cases as well!) VERY simple easy to use. Reading the guide really quickly, I downloaded the Win version, extracted, run the program and there it was... I saw the "missing" partitions that were supposed to be visible in Windows but now only visible to TestDisk. Then, I needed to confirm that the partitions, which I believe it was reading from the hidden MBR Table backup, were indeed the correct ones. If it was not, I risked losing ALL my data! And what it did next was just PURE MAGIC! It recreated the MBR Table and then asked me to reboot, which I gladly did...
And there it was, Windows XP rebooted, I let chkdsk run for good measure (despite knowing that MANY condemn that the builtin Windows chkdsk is crap and only ruins a HD). I was in Cloud 9 when it finally booted to my beloved desktop and found the partitions are back "ONLINE"! Whooppeee!!
Next thing I know, I was grabbing all my available blank DVDs and backing up everything on that drive before it fails on me again...
So there you go folks! If you ever have a failed drive and you suspect that your partition table or MBR table or whatever you wanna call it is broken/corrupted. I'd recommend using TestDisk. The same people also have a data recovery tool called PhotoRec. Haven't tried it myself, but I'm sure it'll execute as well as it did the TestDisk.
Happy reviving!
I right-clicked the physical drive to "Reactivate" it to "Online" again, but failed, giving me an error message that its "Unreadable". Worried that I'm gonna lose ALL my digital photos and important documents (I'm lazy at backing up), I dare not do anything, but did extensive research as to what the problem may be.
Everywhere I looked, especially on the Microsoft sites, they kept talking about the bad of Dynamic disks and that once corrupted, there's no turning back. But there was one portion where it mentioned that partition data, if corrupted can cause drives to appear "Offline" or "Unreadable". So I did further research on that.
At the same time, I was trying to do the 'traditional' data recovery process, using SpinRite, which kept saying that my partitions are intact and that the data is there, but my Windows XP can't seem to recognize it, that's all...
Subsequently, I found that whenever it's a partition problem, that means there something wrong with the MBR Table. Its a table where data is stored to keep track of how big, where, what type of data is on the drive. Something like a library card catalogue to point to the precise book on the bookshelves...
So, I frantically looked for a MBR fixer-upper. They say that there is a backup of the MBR Table stored in a hiddne partition of the HD, so I was riding on that in hopes that I'll be able to find a utility to help with that. I've been looking and looking, but all were licensed commericial software, but the demos did achieve in simulating the fix, so I was tempted. These included Arconix, PPTD and DiskPart. But then, out of the blue, I came across a FREE opensource utility by CGSecurity called TESTDISK. And I'm a living testamonial!
I now swear by it! No need to boot to anything, becasue lucky for me it wasn't my boot drive/partition. (Note, that they even have a option to revive such cases as well!) VERY simple easy to use. Reading the guide really quickly, I downloaded the Win version, extracted, run the program and there it was... I saw the "missing" partitions that were supposed to be visible in Windows but now only visible to TestDisk. Then, I needed to confirm that the partitions, which I believe it was reading from the hidden MBR Table backup, were indeed the correct ones. If it was not, I risked losing ALL my data! And what it did next was just PURE MAGIC! It recreated the MBR Table and then asked me to reboot, which I gladly did...
And there it was, Windows XP rebooted, I let chkdsk run for good measure (despite knowing that MANY condemn that the builtin Windows chkdsk is crap and only ruins a HD). I was in Cloud 9 when it finally booted to my beloved desktop and found the partitions are back "ONLINE"! Whooppeee!!
Next thing I know, I was grabbing all my available blank DVDs and backing up everything on that drive before it fails on me again...
So there you go folks! If you ever have a failed drive and you suspect that your partition table or MBR table or whatever you wanna call it is broken/corrupted. I'd recommend using TestDisk. The same people also have a data recovery tool called PhotoRec. Haven't tried it myself, but I'm sure it'll execute as well as it did the TestDisk.
Happy reviving!
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Converting yourself from the Dark Side
Software piracy has been and will always be a hot issue. With more users on the internet and more P2P applications to "spread the wealth", it's not a simple task for the feds or govs to outdo. But what if you are that rare good samaritan and would like to keep yourself 'clean'?
Here's an excellent article from Bit-Tech talking about that. Of course, the Optimize Guide that I mentioned a few posts before also has a few suggestions for free alternatives.
What I'm really excited about is the online revolution of office productivity. Nowadays, GOOGLE is at the forefront. With other independent players with specific solutions for word processor, spreadsheets, calendars, etc. But if you want something free and handy, have a look thru Google's extra features.
Gmail is an excellent mail application of the future. Despite its BETA tag, it's a full-featured email facility with really neat features. Intuitive conversation style sorting, color labeling, spam filtering are among the cool things it has. Once you have an account the initial 2GB keeps on growing! It's like having a dynamic email account that just evolves. Logging on also automatically connects you thru GTalk for other active online Google users.
Now, Google also comes with online calendars and spreadsheets (still experimental), which makes our world even more tighter when it comes to collabration. Now you can simply share your calendar with anyone and check their availability. Online spreadsheets is an excellent way for keeping a common shared DB. Of course, there is a security issue at hand, but hey, if it's just simple info like keeping track of your CD collection and sharing that info with a friend, I don't see any wrong in that.
PCworld had a full-featured article on online tools that we can use as an alternative to local software. In this day and age where internet connectivity is almost a necessity, it's only natural for it to evolve that way. In the future, we may very well be seeing PCs coming with bare minimum OS and everything else is done online thru a secure account. Of course, uptime will be a critical point to deal with at that stage.
Might as well enjoy the free stuff while we still can...
Here's an excellent article from Bit-Tech talking about that. Of course, the Optimize Guide that I mentioned a few posts before also has a few suggestions for free alternatives.
What I'm really excited about is the online revolution of office productivity. Nowadays, GOOGLE is at the forefront. With other independent players with specific solutions for word processor, spreadsheets, calendars, etc. But if you want something free and handy, have a look thru Google's extra features.
Gmail is an excellent mail application of the future. Despite its BETA tag, it's a full-featured email facility with really neat features. Intuitive conversation style sorting, color labeling, spam filtering are among the cool things it has. Once you have an account the initial 2GB keeps on growing! It's like having a dynamic email account that just evolves. Logging on also automatically connects you thru GTalk for other active online Google users.
Now, Google also comes with online calendars and spreadsheets (still experimental), which makes our world even more tighter when it comes to collabration. Now you can simply share your calendar with anyone and check their availability. Online spreadsheets is an excellent way for keeping a common shared DB. Of course, there is a security issue at hand, but hey, if it's just simple info like keeping track of your CD collection and sharing that info with a friend, I don't see any wrong in that.
PCworld had a full-featured article on online tools that we can use as an alternative to local software. In this day and age where internet connectivity is almost a necessity, it's only natural for it to evolve that way. In the future, we may very well be seeing PCs coming with bare minimum OS and everything else is done online thru a secure account. Of course, uptime will be a critical point to deal with at that stage.
Might as well enjoy the free stuff while we still can...
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