recovery

Easily Backup And Recover Data From Corrupted Hard Drive

Easily Backup And Recover Data From Corrupted Hard Drive

Software , , 0 Comments

Any storage device such as a hard drive is the most important component of any computer. This is because all the data is stored on the storage device. All other hardware can be replaced but the data can’t be retrieved if the hard drive gets corrupted.

This is why we always say that backup is an essential part of our digital lives. I recently wrote an article about how to check and monitor hard drive health in Windows. This makes sure that we are aware of any future problems that may possibly occur.

Today we will go one step further and discuss how to recover our data even if the hard drive gets corrupted. Long time ago, we discussed about Unstoppable Copier which copies the contents of and CD/DVD even if it is unreadable and corrupt.

DataRescue DD (also known as DrDD) is a free software that can create an image of any hard drive even if it has been corrupted. You can always create an image and then copy the content to any other location.

DataRescue DD

DataRescue DD does not require any installation. Just unzip and run the executable. But you will need to run the executable with administrative privileges if you are using Windows 7 or Windows 8. Otherwise, the hard drive will not be detected. Each partition on the hard drive will be detected separately. You can select any drive as the source and then the destination where you want to save the data.

Unlike other backup and copy programs, DataRescue DD supports imaging the drive from both sides, from the start to the end and from the end to the start. The logic is very simple. Usually the hard drive gets corrupted contagiously. That means adjacent sectors will get damaged. Normal back programs will be stuck on those sectors and will not proceed forward.

Using DataRescue DD, you can easily skip those sectors which have been corrupted. All other data will be backed up.

Although there are many other data copying and imaging software available, DataRescue DD comes in handy when you have to skip the bad sectors from copying. The best feature of DataRescue DD is that it is portable and can be run from the USB flash drive.

Extract List Of Installed Programs In Windows Without Using Any Third Party Software

Extract List Of Installed Programs In Windows Without Using Any Third Party Software

Microsoft, Windows, Windows 7 , , , , 0 Comments

Windows keeps a log of all the installed programs and software. This log is usually stored in Windows Registry. The visual way to view and manage the list of installed programs in Windows is by going to Control Panel –> Program and Features (Add/Remove Programs if you are using Windows XP).

If you want to print or save the list of all installed programs in Windows, there is no direct way of doing this. This can required if you are reinstalling Windows and want the names of all the installed programs so that you can install them again.

Programs and Features

The most popular third party app for extracting the list of installed programs in Windows is Belarc Advisor. Belarc Advisor is a wonderful program and is a must have for everyone who wants to manage his system himself. But there are times when you want to get a list of installed programs quickly without installing any software.

In this article, we will be using Windows Management Instrumentation Control (WMIC) to extract the list of installed programs in Windows without installing or using any third party software. You can learn more about wmic in this technet article.

Extract list of programs from local computer

To extract and save the list of programs from the local computer, follow the instructions below:

  1. Open command prompt in administrative mode (Windows Key + X + A if you are using Windows 8)
  2. Run the following command:
    wmic
  3. The prompt will change to wmic:root\cli>. Run the following command:
    /output:E:\listOfInstalledPrograms.txt product get name,version,vendor

wmic extracting list of programs

Where E:\listOfInstalledPrograms.txt is the path to a text file. Just make sure that the file exists on the specified location otherwise wmic will throw an error. Running the above command will take a few moments after which you can open the text file which will contain the list of all installed programs including Microsoft’s own software.

Extract list of programs from remote computer

If you are a network administrator and want to extract the list of installed programs from a remote computer, wmic has another command which will do it for you.

  1. Open command prompt in administrative mode (Windows Key + X + A if you are
    using Windows 8)
  2. Run the following command:
    wmic
  3. The prompt will change to wmic:root\cli>. Run the following command:
    /node:”computerName” product get name,version,vendor

Replace computerName with the remote computer name or IP address. To save the list to a text file, run the following command instead of the above one:

/node:”computerName” product get name,version,vendor /output:E:\listOfInstalledPrograms.txt

I hope this will help the users in their backup and recovery tasks. If there is any other method to get the list of installed programs in Windows, please share it with us in comments.

How To Check And Monitor Hard Drive Health In Windows

How To Check And Monitor Hard Drive Health In Windows

Software , , 0 Comments

The hard drive is the most important component of a computer mainly because all the data is stored permanently in the hard drive. Like wise, hard drive failure is the worst case a person can encounter especially when no data has been backed up.

Modern hard drives make use of a technology called S.M.A.R.T. (Self monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) which monitors the hard drive for different reliability indicators and reports any possible failure before it occurs.

If you have a modern hard drive, the S.M.A.R.T. technology will already be monitoring the health of your hard drive and this is done in the background. The user doesn’t have any idea of what’s being monitored. S.M.A.R.T. monitors a huge number of parameters to make sure that it reports all possible indicators to the user and warn if any indicator goes wrong. Here are some of the parameters which S.M.A.R.T. monitors:

  • Read Error Rate
  • Throughput Performance
  • Spin-Up Time
  • Start/Stop Count
  • Reallocated Sectors Count
  • Read Channel Margin
  • Seek Error Rate
  • Seek Time Performance
  • Power-On Hours (POH)
  • Spin Retry Count

The article about S.M.A.R.T. on Wikipedia lists down all the 254 parameters.

Windows does not provide any monitoring statistics of S.M.A.R.T. by default but it provides some tools which can be helpful in checking the hard drive for errors. The most useful tool is Disk Checkup tool. If you are not comfortable with Windows Check Disk, you can install one of these third party chkdsk alternatives. I personally prefer to use Windows Check Disk utility.

You can open command prompt and run the following commands in order to start checking a particular drive for errors.

chkdsk c: /F

DiskCheckup is a free software from PassMark which can give detailed information about the health of your hard drive by reading the S.M.A.R.T. values.

DiskCheck

DiskCheckup gives detailed information about the hard drive. The user interface of DiskCheckup displays four tabs.

  1. Device Info – gives hardware related information about the hard drive including capacity, serial, model, firmware etc.
  2. SMART Info – gives information about the latest health check carried out by SMART.
  3. SMART History – keeps a history of SMART tests. It is not activated by default and can be activated in the configuration settings. Just make sure you cleanup the history regularly as keeps on taking more space with time.
  4. Disk Self Test – runs a self test on the hard drive and reports any errors.

Above these four tabs is a list of physical hard drives attached to the system. Clicking on a hard drive will fill information below in the tabs.

Although the SMART functionality will report errors automatically, you can run the Disk Self Test in order to make sure your hard drive is in good condition.

PassMark DiskCheckup

What do you do to keep your hard drive in a healthy condition? Does using DiskCheckup provide you with useful information about your hard drive?

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 8 Beta Released

Microsoft, Windows , , 0 Comments

Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) is a part of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). The new beta version of DaRT has recently been released. The latest beta version is DaRT 8 Beta.

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset is the ultimate troubleshooting toolset for Windows which extends the recovery options of Windows. Using DaRT, one can easily hand over the system control to a technician remotely for troubleshooting. This can be done without logging into Windows. If DaRT is already deployed, PXE (network boot) can be used in order to start and troubleshoot a system remotely.

Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 8 emphasises more on PowerShell as four new cmdlets have been added to DaRT 8 beta.

Now DaRT 8 supports the creation of USB images. We had to use third party tools in order to create a bootable USB drive image but now it has been integrated right into the recovery toolset.

While DaRT 8 is free to try and can be used in a test or dev environments, it requires proper licensing when used in a commercial production environment.

Download Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

Microsoft Online Backup Service Available In Windows Server 8

Microsoft Online Backup Service Available In Windows Server 8

Microsoft, Windows , , , , , , 0 Comments

While there has been a lot of buzz on Windows 8 Consumer Preview, very few people are following the developments on Windows Server 8 which is currently in beta. I have already given the direct download links for Windows Server 8. Windows Server 8 has some very interesting features which will make Windows Server 2008 look like an old Operating System. Windows Server 8  final will probably be released at the end of 2012.

One of the greatest features of Windows Server 8 is the online backup feature. There will be no need for third party services like Dropbox or Crash Plan. Windows Server 8 will have its own cloud backup service which will backup all the important data on the server over the cloud storage. Microsoft Online Backup service for Windows Server 8 will make use of Windows Azure technology in order to backup and restore data on the cloud.

Windows Server 8 online backup service

This backup service will have a very similar interface as Windows backup and recovery tool for seamless backup and recovery experience. The cloud backup service is also available through Power-Shell command line interface. Jeffrey Snover on Windows Server blog notes:

A number of people view the cloud in all or nothing terms – you move everything to the cloud or you leave everything where it is.  The reality is that a lot of cloud adoption is going to follow the hybrid approach using both on-premises and cloud services.  An example of this hybrid approach is Windows Server “8” which gets better when you connect it to the cloud.  Today’s blog by Gaurav illustrates that by describing the Microsoft Online Backup Service, a new cloud based service for Windows Server “8”, which backs up your server’s data to the cloud so that it is safe and secure.  That means that you no longer have to figure out where to store your backups so that they are safe.  The cloud does that for you.  This is an extensible model so it provides a great opportunity for partners to provide cloud backup solutions as well.  

Since Windows Server 8 is in beta right now, the cloud backup service is available only to a limited number of customers. If you are using Windows Server 8, you can apply for the cloud backup service here. You can setup the backup and synchronization schedule for the cloud backup service. It is not automatic like Dropbox or other cloud services but it can be scheduled to run every hour to make sure everything is backed up. The data can be backed up in incremental slots which results in consumption of less Internet bandwidth. For a complete tutorial on how to setup this backup service, please head on to Windows Server blog.

Windows 8 Maximum Password Length Limitations

Windows 8 Maximum Password Length Limitations

Microsoft, Tips/Troubleshooting, Windows , , , 0 Comments

Recently I was reading about a Windows 8 problem faced by a Windows 8 user. The problem was weird because no matter how correctly he typed the password during Windows 8 logon, he would get the password incorrect error. I was able to reciprocate the error message on my installation of Windows 8.

I setup a long password of my Microsoft account and then tried to log into Windows 8 with that long password. Although I was typing the correct password (thanks to the little eye icon which shows what we have typed in the password field) I would get the error message that the password was incorrect.

I have also setup a local Windows account on my Windows 8 computer. I set a very long password of that local account and tried to login. The login was successful. This meant that there was a maximum password length  for Microsoft account holders only.

Upon further investigation, I found the following screen:

Password length limit in Windows 8

You can see that when I want to change my Microsoft account password through Windows 8, it shows the following message:

To make your password more secure user 7-16 characters and combine uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Although the combination of uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols are not a hard requirement but the minimum length of your Microsoft account should be 7 characters and the maximum length should be 16 characters.

If the Microsoft account password length is more than 16 characters, you will not be able to login to Windows 8. You can change your Microsoft password in order to get in line with the password length requirements of Windows 8.

You may also be interested in Windows 8 password recovery options.

Password Recovery Options In Windows 8 [Ultimate Guide]

Password Recovery Options In Windows 8 [Ultimate Guide]

Microsoft, Tips/Troubleshooting, Windows , , , , , 8 Comments

Security is the main issue when one install a new Operating System. Since Windows 8 Consumer Preview has been released lately, I have written about how to secure it using an antivirus or Internet Security suite compatible with Windows 8 security center. Another important aspect of security is the use of strong passwords for logging into Windows 8. But what if you forget the password? Is there any way to recover the lost passwords in Windows 8? We take a look at the possibilities of password recovery options in Windows 8.

Setting up the password hint

Add a local user account in Windows 8

First of all, you should create a helpful password hint which will be visible on Windows 8 logon if you enter an incorrect password. The hint should be related to your password so that you may remember your password if you get that hint. Please note that password hints are only available for local account users. If you are using Microsoft account to login to Windows 8, you will need to go to Live Profile in order to change or recover your password. If you want to recover your Microsoft account password, it will be done through your email connected to the Microsoft account.

Enabling the Administrator account

By default, Windows 8 Consumer Preview comes with the Administrator account disabled. Microsoft recommends that you should use the computer with a user with Standard privileges. This will help secure your computer as even if the account is hacked, the hacker will not be able to change critical settings and delete important files which are necessary to keep the Operating System running. You can enable the Administrator account or create another backup account with Administrative privileges so that you may be able to login with the Administrator account to reset the forgotten password.

To enable the administrator account, go to quick admin tools –> Run –> compmgmt.msc

This will open Computer Management tools. You can also open the tools by right clicking on Computer –> Manage.

Go to Local users and groups –> Users

Double click the Administrator user and un-check “Account is disabled”.

Add a local user account in Windows 8

Creating a picture password in Windows 8

Since they are visuals, picture passwords are easier to remember. Windows 8 Consumer Preview makes it easy to create a picture password if you are using a touch enabled device. To create a picture password, open the charms bar and go to Search. Search for “users” and select Users from the search results.

Select “Create a picture password” under Sign-in options.

Windows 8 Sign-in Options create a picture password

Creating a PIN to log into Windows 8

Creating a 4 digit PIN code is a convenient and easy way to login to Windows 8 immediately. In addition to the normal password and the picture password, you can enable PIN code login for Windows 8. This can be a good option and will act as a backup method to login if you forget the original password. To create a PIN code, open the charms bar and go to Search. Search for “users” and select Users from the search results.

Select “Create a PIN” under Sign-in options.

Create a pin for logging into Windows 8

Once the PIN is created, you will see a link “Sign-in options” on the Windows 8 logon screen.

Creating a password reset disk in Windows 8

The picture password and PIN code along with the usual password give you three options to log into Windows 8 instead of only one. But if you want to be even more secure, you can create a Windows 8 password reset disk. To create a password reset disk, open the Charms bar and go to Search. Search for “password reset”. Click “Settings” under the search field and select “Create a password reset disk” from the search results. Follow the wizard to create the password reset disk. You will need to have a CD/DVD or a USB flash drive for creating a password reset disk.

Creating a password reset disk in Windows 8

Using Ophcrack for logging into Windows 8

If all of the above methods fail, the good news is that Ophcrack also works with Windows 8. You can boot from Ophcrack CD/DVD and bypass Windows 8 logon and then reset the password once you’re in Windows 8.

Download Ophcrack for Windows 8

Do you know of any other method for password recover in Windows 8? Please let us know through comments.

12 Free Troubleshooting Tools for Windows 7

Microsoft, Software, Windows 7 , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

There is no such thing as the perfect computer. No matter how advanced your personal computer is, you cannot erase the fact that you will encounter some problems somewhere along the way. Most people who use a Windows 7 operated personal computers usually encounter some slow problems while working on something. There are times that this Windows 7 problem is encountered very often thereby causing too much frustration and annoyance on your part as a personal computer user.

Here are some of the useful tools that will help you solve all the problems that you encounter on your Windows 7 personal computer. The best thing about them is that they are available for free and a few of them are open source. That’s why all of these tools are must have items in any Windows 7 user everyday toolbox.

1. Blue ScreenView

Blue ScreenView helps you troubleshoot the BSOD by scanning your Windows 7 system for such files and generates a report regarding them. The report can be read in the Blue ScreenView itself or you may also save it on HTML for an individual report. The Blue ScreenView also creates a list of the device drivers that were functioning when the Windows crash happened. This way you can figure out the real cause why the trouble occurred.

2. System Information for Windows or SIW

This Windows 7 troubleshooting tool creates a list or record of all application license keys including the probes that were set up in the hardware, the catalogs installed multimedia codes, and others. The list created by the SIW can be classified into four general categories, namely the: hardware, software, network, and a multitude of various tools found in the program’s Tools drop down menu. The best feature of this troubleshooting tool for Windows 7 is that it can be run even on Windows recovery environment. It is very effective in listing or dumping out system information. But the only drawback of it is that it does not always let you modify those settings. You will need a third-party utility program to be able to do that.

3. Sysinternals’s Process Explorer

This tool is perfect for troubleshooting Windows 7 because it acts as a replacement of the Task Manager or it can work alongside with it. Users should have this tool for the reasons that it can substitute your Task Manager on any personal computer that you use. When you use it, you will notice a tree view of certain processes. These processes can be frozen, killed off, resumed, or have the windows manipulated according to your preference.

4. Sysinternals Autoruns

This tool works by rooting out all the irritants that you encounter on your computer. But there is more to this Windows 7 troubleshooting tool that makes it very useful. It looks into your Windows 7 system and then discards out the programs as well as system components that start without human intervention. It also features a command line version which you can utilize with scripts or other forms of automation.

5. WinDirStat

Have you encountered a Windows 7 problem in which you suddenly noticed that your disk space is already gone? Well, no need to worry because here is WinDirStat to help you solve this mystery. It works by producing easy to understand graphical analysis report regarding your disk usage. In this way, you will see a glimpse of the individual files of folders that were hidden in your computer which may be using up a very large amount of your disk space.

6. System File Checker

This is said to be one of the best ways to repair Windows 7. It is a command line utility that allows you to repair some lost or corrupted system file errors.

7. Safe Mode Fixer

This is also a useful tool that helps you repair the common Windows 7 problems involving safe mode issues, especially if you are not able to boot into the safe mode of your personal computer.

8. Microsoft Fix It Center

A free application that will scan your pc for problems and fix them. Once installed, you can use the application to find and fix the type of problems you want.

9. Complete Internet Repair

This Windows 7 troubleshooting utility is also considered as one of the most indispensable tools that every Windows user should have. It helps you repair DNS lookup problem along especially the Windows update, pop-up errors, network connectivity problems, and other networking-related problems.

10. FixWin

This is another free utility that you can use to fix most of the common Windows7 problems.

11. Fix MSE

This utility helps you repair most of the issues that involve the Microsoft Security Essentials. The good thing about this is that it does not require any installation.

12. Fix IE

If you are having problems with your Internet Explorer, this free troubleshooting tool will allow you to fix these issues without difficulty. It allows you to re-register all the files that are needed in order for the Internet Explorer to work properly.

This article is written by Dean of ecommerce conversion optimization company Invesp. Invesp is also a provider of free landing page templates that marketed can use for optimizing their campaigns.

ToolWiz File Recovery: Free File Recovery Software To Recover Lost And Deleted Files

ToolWiz File Recovery: Free File Recovery Software To Recover Lost And Deleted Files

Software , , 0 Comments

ToolWiz File Recovery is a free and very comprehensive file recovery software for Windows. It can recover sensitive data that was deleted mistakenly even from the recycle bin or data lost due to virus attacks and hardware failure.

File recovery software should be integrated in Windows?

Data backup and recovery software should be an integral part of Windows or any other Operating System because it is very critical to have these kinds of tools installed in case of any emergency or disaster. While Windows includes a good backup tool, data recovery or PC recovery software still remains on my wish-list for Windows.

ToolWiz File Recovery software scanning process

Data recovery software is a must have for everyone even if you backup your data regularly. Today I will tell you about TooWiz File Recovery software which is absolutely free of cost so there is no need to pay for file recovery feature to be included in Windows.

Recovering files using ToolWiz File Recovery software

ToolWiz File Recovery software has the simplest of interfaces. It has only two options, select the drive to scan for deleted files and click on the “Scan Now” button to start the recovery process.

The scanning process takes some time and displays results in categories like graphics files, music files, video files, documents etc. This makes it very easy to find our required file. After the scan is complete, you can select the files you want to recover and click on “Recovery Selected Files” button at the bottom right of the window. You will be given an option to select the target folder in case you have selected multiple files.

ToolWiz File Recovery software is very basic in comparison to other highly complex paid data recovery software but will be very useful in recovering files that have been deleted or lost recently.

Download ToolWiz File Recovery Software

Which is your favorite file recovery software?

How To Backup Windows Registry Automatically (Scheduled Backups)

How To Backup Windows Registry Automatically (Scheduled Backups)

Microsoft, Software, Windows 7 , , , , 2 Comments

Windows Registry is the most important yet the most sensitive and delicate component of Windows Operating System. The Registry is a database which contains all the settings and configurations of the Operating System and application software.

Since Windows Registry is very important, it should be backed up regularly in order to save yourself from unexpected disasters. In most cases where Windows crashes, restoring the Registry to a prior date will fix the problems.

If you are using the Windows Registry Editor, you can easily export the whole registry database to backup the Registry. But this work has to be done manually and regularly. Windows does not provide any way to automatically backup the Registry on regular intervals except with System Restore.

ERUNT backup folder selection

The Emergency Recovery Utility for Windows NT (ERUNT) is a free software that can do the job of automatically backing up the Windows Registry. It can also restore the backups created with ERUNT.

Download link to ERUNT is available at the end of the article. Using ERUNT is very simple. When run for the first time, it will ask you for the folder in which all the backups will be saved. The default folder is C:\Windows\ERDNT. You can also select which Registry hive to backup. You can either backup the system registry hive, current user registry or both.

ERUNT backup in progress

Please note that if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will need to change the default save location to some other folder outside of the Windows system folder. Otherwise the software will give an error for not able to write to the folder for backup.

ERUNT error message

ERUNT consists of a very good feature of Registry auto-backup. After installation, ERUNT will automatically backup the system Registry at every system startup. By default, the automatic backups are stored in the folder: C:\Windows\ERDNT\AutoBackup.

ERUNT restoring the backups

Restoring the Windows Registry is also very easy. Just go to the folder where the backup has been save. Find ERDNT.exe and run it. It will automatically restore the Registry to its previous state.

Download Emergency Recovery Utility NT (ERUNT)

[download id=”46″]

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