Recovering Data – A Brief Review of Different Software and Personal Experience
I have tons of hard drives. Right now, on my desk I have (2) 250GB Drives (1) 500GB Drive and a 160GB Drive. Roughly two months ago I plugged in my hard drive. Probably my most important hard drive because this was the hard drive that I backed up and relocated all my master photos too. I had wedding photos, birthdays, photos I cherished and loved. When I plugged in this hard drive I was shocked to find that all the data had vanished! It was all gone except for some abstract file. I thought the external Hard Drive enclosure had failed. (BTW NEVER! Buy Compusa’s homebrand External Hard Drive enclosures, I’ve gone through about 3 in a year and keep getting them replaced via warranty)
I realized that the hard drive was spinning up, it showed that the entire hard drive had free space. So it wasn’t broken, just that ALL my files had mysteriously deleted themselves.
I now have been trying to 2 months to recover the data off this hard drive. I’ve tried several programs both for mac and PC. The hard drive wasn’t broken the files were just gone. I original had the hard drive formatted FAT32 so it could work on both mac and pc which I didn’t realize until later that made the hard drive incredibly unstable.
Here are some programs that I tried:
Disk Warrior (Mac) – Probably a great program but will not help you recover deleted files
PC Inspector File Recovery (PC) – This free application probably works well with small hard drives or flash drives but was frustrating to work with with my hard drive. After leaving the program on for a week straight I only got to 32% recovery before it would crash. I tried several times but it kept crashing.
PC Inspector Smart Recovery (PC) – Same issues as above. Very unstable took what seemed an eternity.
Free Undelete (PC) - Probably works well with small devices but couldn’t handle major tasks.
Data Rescue II (Mac) – I am so happy with this program that I’m writing this blog article so you can understand my frustration and relief. This program is amazingly fast compared to the ones listed above and totally reliable! My problem with the software above is that when my hard drive would stop responding, which I have yet to figure out, the program would crash. However, with Data Rescue II I can save where I left off, reboot the hard drive and resume from where I left off…
As of this moment I have retrieved 45/250GB but am doing it so much faster that I have no worries 
Tie a Tie in 10 seconds
I wish I knew about this before I went into college. Having to wear a tie everyday! This could also come in handy if you work a retail job.
 Enjoy!
Fastest Way To Tie A Tie – A New Genus Record – Click here for the funniest movie of the week
How to: Vignette a Photo Joe Style
I get people asking me how I vignette photos easily in photoshop. Why would you want to vignette in the first place? Well, artist and painters have been doing it for hundreds of years to bring the eyes to certain parts/subjects of the paintings. This effect is also helpful in photography in bringing a person’s eyes to a certain part of the photograph. Most times this is a subtle effect but other times it isn’t meant to be. Just depends on the photo and your style. The following is going to be a quick and easy way to add vignettes to your photo. I’m not saying it’s the best or fastest or whatever. It’s just the way I do it.
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1. First open your picture. I picked possibly the worst example for this but here we go:
2. Create a new layer
3. Choose your Gradient tool. Make sure your colors are default black and white:
4. Make sure you’re set Transparent to Black:
5. Select Radial:
6. Click the center of the photo and drag all the way out: 
7. That’s pretty much it. If you want to decrease the amount of your vignette you can lower it’s opacity. You can do that by selecting the layer you want to change, then reducing it’s opacity:
Hope that helps. It was my first tutorial ever… Hope this helps you make your very own vignettes.
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Oh yeah, I forgot Before and After images. Click to enlarge:
Before:
After:
Papercraft – Gizmodo
Papercraft – Gizmodo
Now you can bamboozle everybody in the iPhone line with this new and improved iPhone papercraft model. Just print it on some thick paper, cut it out and discreetly tape it together, and everybody will think you’ve already gotten your iPhone like Mossy and Pogue.
Fix You Eye Glasses with Nail Polish
After tightening, dab polish across the top for a longer-lasting fix [and] escape from the Revenge of the Nerds look that a masking-tape fix would give you.
11 Tips for Better Candid Photography
11 Tips for Better Candid Photography
Some really good basic rules to follow…
How to Climb Palm Trees.
Really easy:
1) Climb on the arch of your foot, this will give you the most traction. To do this turn your feet like the Flinstones.
2) Pull yourself with your hands against the tree
3) Mimic the sloth
4) Do not be scared or look down, you may lose your balance and that will hurt. Which brings me to my last tip -
5) Do not fall
Here is a little video of how I do it:
Hang around until I post some tips on how to get down.
How to: Old Map Effect in Photoshop
TechEBlog » How to: Old Map Effect in Photoshop
The Hole – video powered by Metacafe
Magic Lighting Effect in Photoshop
Magic lighting effect in photoshop | Abduzeedo by design
- The result is really simple but at the same time it looks
Cardboard Furniture
Foldschool shows you how you can get free furniture by making it yourself with cardboard! They supply printable patterns and directions. This is very cute and helpful, especially if you’re a poor college student, or just a poor person in general like me!
Introduction to the Mac OS X Terminal for Noobs (Part 1)
This article covers the basics of the Terminal, and two basic commands to get new Terminal users on their feet.
read more | digg story
DIY: Empty 100 CD/DVD Spindles and Toilet Paper?
YouTube – DIY: Empty 100 CD/DVD Spindles and Toilet Paper?
If you’re a pirate then you should have tons of these lying around. Why not recycle them? Plus they look total geek and you’ll get some props from your friends.
wifi liberator
Wifi Liberator allows you, (Mac users only, cause we’re better), to access any wireless hotspot, even ones that require you to pay. Download install the application and follow the instructions and mooch of someone elses connection. That easy. You can thank me later.
DIY: Transformable Paper Optimus Prime
Really transforms!
Click here for directions and details, I can’t wait to make one. I’ll post it.
Thanks Robert Ku for the link and the fun!
DIY Charging Station
Last night I finished a DIY project, if you remember the previous post. Below are pictures of the completed project. Very, very neat. I’m so please with how it turned out and you know? It was so simple.
I can’t believe I didn’t make something like this before. Instead of having wires and cables running all around my room and on my floor they are all nice and neat in a box but still have their functionality.
DIY: Tic Tac Flashlight
Instructables : Shake it like a Tic-Tac!
I really like these DIY things. I’m going to start doing them. Maybe some of you out there can join me, post your photos when you’re done.
Disposable Camera Taser by Staulkor
I can’t wait until I make my Disposable Camera Taser I’ll have to post the pictures once I create it. But first I’ll need a solder iron thing.
Oh yeah and:
WARNING!!! This is NOT a toy.
There, I’m not liable.
Too Many Cables?
Two Loose Teeth: Lisa: Supercharged
Lisa wrote a neat little DIY charging station. Click the link above for the instructions. I’ll do it this weekend and post my results.