Zalman VE-200 partitions become RAW, lose NTFS file format

I have had an issue with my Zalman VE-200 hard drive enclosure recently, where several partitions suddenly become RAW and I appear to lose all the files.  If I use the drive as a virtual CD I can still see all my iso files and they will mount.

The last time this happened was when I tried mounting a Windows Server 2012 R2 image which wouldn't boot. After attempting to mount the image the partitions became blank and I thought I had lost everything.

After Googling for ages and only coming up with reviews, I decided to try a few things. In the past I had reformatted the partition and everything was fine, but this time I needed to keep the ios's I had collected.

Hopefully you will have left a folder with the Zalman firmware in, in the _iso partition you need on these drives. If so, re load the current firmware again by mounting it as a virtual CD image. You should now have access to your files again.

If you haven't left the Zalman firmware on, hopefully you have access to the _iso folder or another partition you could try to reformat and set up as an _iso folder, and then copy the firmware into that folder. Creating a new _iso folder may not work, as I believe it needs to be the first partition on the drive.

For me, the drive or the 2012 iso is corrupt, I believe it to be a bad sector on my drive, so a quick run of chkdsk /r /f and things seem to have gone back to normal.

Zalman VE-400 info.

This is the VE-400 version of the drive on Amazon:

GBoost, any good?

After being sent an offer code for Game Booster from IOBIT, I decided to see if there was a free alternative.  I came accross GBoost quite quickly, so decided to test it and see if it was worth the effort running such a tool.

Pre Boost

1st run, no Boost.

Run GBoost tool

2nd benchmark with Boost enabled

I think you can see from the results above that GBoost has increased the performance available to games, but is it really enough?  Those of you looking to squeeze the best performance out of a system might feel like running it, but anyone interested in getting 300 extra points in a 3DMark score is probably going to manually disable everything anyway, just to get the highest score.

I would like to point out that this was a quick one run test.  Extended testing would be needed to prove definably increased performance.  I intend to run with the tool to test real world performance.

Edit:

After reading on the GBoost forum, it sounds like 3DMark will not show a large improvement, but I should notice a difference when playing something like Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

State of the Android Market

Once upon a time, I was a Sony m600i user. A very smart, slim and cool mobile phone. Then something wild happened, my favourite pc manufacturer announced it was getting into the mobile space.

When I finally got my first gen iPhone, it was amazing, then the app store arrived and it changed everything. Things were easy, stylish and everything felt safe. Things were so good I convinced the company I work for to swap Nokia N95's for iPhone 3G's.

Then I had a dilemma. Did I stick with carrying two iPhones around, or did I get one of those new fangled Android dohickies. I fell in love with the HTC Desire, and promptly pre ordered it, over a month in advance.

The Desire came, and it instantly felt more techie. The safe hand held experience was replaced by the wild wild west. I loved it though and i still do several months on, but one thing worries me.

Android is the soft porn step child of the stylish iPhone movie industry. Take a look at the screen shot below, and all will become apparent. Google needs to take a stand on this now, before they are tarnished.

Don't get me wrong, if they want a porn section, make one, put all the sexy girl wallpapers and xxx film players in an 18+ category. When I search for the top rated of something, I don't want xxx sexy girl apps showing up all the time. I don't know what the percentage is, but I would presume that at least 30% of the market could be moved to an 18+ section.

In short the market is a shambles, with peoples test app's, adult oriented apps, and a general mix of app's in no real order. Google grab that bull by his horns and sort the mess out. If they would only spend some time on getting the market organised, so browsing was easier, the whole experience would be better.

My boss told me on Friday, that he thinks the iPhone was the best thing that has happened to the business recently. I was stunned, and when he asked if my Android phone was similar, I had to reply, yes, but I wouldn't recommend one for our business. I said that you know you are safe in the iPhone world, with safe apps and polished OS, whereas Android apps crash, there are XXX rated and crap apps all throughout the market.

Yes the iPhone contracts are more than for a similar Android equivalent, but the experience is a lot smoother for your average user.

I really hope Google sort this out once Froyo has arrived en-mass.

It's alive

The dead Macbook Pro has been resurrected. The faulty logic board has been replaced, and I think it might have had something to do with my HDD, as the replaced that too. They fitted a new one and attached my old drive to the outside of the case.

The site I used looked like it could have been dodgy, and I also found them on eBay, but the comments looked OK. I sent my 2nd wife off to them, and 5 days later I was up and running again. I have made good use of Superduper in the past, but I took this opportunity to do a manual reload of 10.6 and upgraded to Windows 7.

If you have a laptop that you need repairing, I used www.applerepairsinlondon.co.uk. They also go by other names, and seem to provide training. They were fast and have done a good job.

Thanks

Danny

Dead Macbook Pro

Just taken my Macbook Pro to the Apple store.  My motherboard has a graphics issue not covered by the NVIDIA warranty replacement.  £700+ to replace the logic board.

Can't afford a new one, so I'm going to have to live.with an old xp pc and a network.  Just considering jumping off a balcony at Meadowhall, as my MAC is like a child to me.

Don't worry, ill start saving now!

Blogaway on Android

I used to have two iPhone, one for work, one for personal use.  My personal iPhone was an original 2g model, and was getting a bit  old.  I  had been watching Android for a while and decided that I would give it a go.

I settled on a HTC Desire, thinking that it will last me the longest before I would want to change.  I'm very impressed with the phone, apart from three things.

1. The keyboard is not as precise as the iPhone.

2. The battery doesn't last as long.  I've been using it hard for two hours and I only have 50% left.

3. The apps are nowhere near as stable as on the iPhone.

But I'm finding the platform very addictive. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to live with it, now I don't think I could live without the openness and customization.  I've found replacements for most apps, including Blogaway, a blog writing app which seems to be stable, clean and user friendly. 

I will post a few of the apps that I like the most so far shortly, once I've recharge my battery.

This post was created using Blogaway.

New Forgeworld Models

New Forgeworld models









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