Windows » Help Source for Coders

Free File Recovery Software by Piriform’s – Recuva

Feb 272010

by Frost

Introduction
Recently I had a pretty massive fiasco at work which nearly gave me a heart attack. Apparently one of the harddrives in our Network File Server decided to give out and the backups I had been doing stopped working (have not ran for a month or two) due to a Windows Patch. As most of anyone who has been in the situation of losing important data that you thought was backed up, it is very nerve racking, especially since all the data recovery programs I have ever used never re-created the folder structure. Well your troubles are over, Recuva is an excellent file un-delete recovery program that is also free!

Recuva
Through out the day when I realized that the file server's harddrive had been erased I was doing research for free solutions to file recovery / un-deletion. In my research I tried a few different programs, which worked but not very well until I came across Piriform's Recuva program. This program seemed well developed and they offered a portable solution (meaning you can install the software onto a Jump Drive and run the recovery software from that Jump Drive. This is an ideal solution, as installing any new software onto a harddrive can put your data at risk of not being recoverable (due to over-writing). To say the least I was extremely excited about the Free Recuva Software from PiriForm and could not wait to try it.

Using Recuva
When I started the software up it had a quick recover option or a deep scan, since the deleted data that I was trying to recover was highly sensitive I opted for the deep scan. This took about 5 hours on a 250 GB (gigabyte) harddrive. I let the Recuva Program do it's thing and left the computer fully alone during this time. When I came back I was astonished to see not only did it find all the files (and then some) but it also had the full paths listed! Well before you get too excited and hit "Recover" there is a simple setting you need to know about. Inside the Recuva Options you will need to check a check box "Recover with path Name" this will do just that! It will take those paths and recover the files with that path name.

Now when using this program it is necessary to recover all the files you want to an external harddrive, so you will need a harddrive of comparable size to the data you are recovering. Not doing so, which the program may not allow, can cause data to be over-written and un-retrievable from that point on. Just be aware of that before you try to do this recovery to have that. Then just check all the files you want to recover (if you want to select all click on the first one, Hold Shift then press End then press space and it should select all files). Now you just have to wait. Since I recovered to a USB drive (that was not 2.0) it took a fair amount of time (roughly 6-7 hours). But was well worth the wait.

After the recovery I verified the files and 99% of the files were recovered succesfully and worked flawlessly. One of the other nice benefits of Recuva is that it adds _X (where X is a number) to any duplicated files (meaning the other one was previously erased / different version). This is very handy as you can enter the file and pick which version you want to keep, especially incase one is corrupted.

Ending Notes
Well I had to learn a hard lesson this day, but I was so excited there was a free File Recovery / Un-Delete program that worked great (I would put this over programs such as Recover4All, which you have to pay for anyday). I have donated to PiriForm for this program, as I always support software that has helped me. This was a massive help and I think PiriForm for making it. Hopefully you will not require Piriform's Recuva services, but if you do you now know that PiriForm Recuva is definately the software for your file recovery / restoration / un-deletion needs!

Setting Up ICS in Windows XP

Windows No Responses »

Feb 052010

by Frost

Introduction
Recently I have found a need to setup an ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) system for personal uses. Doing so was actually really simple and so I decided to post a guide just to help anyone who is timid about setting up their own personal network with internet to be ready to take it on in full! All you will need is at least 2 computers (only 1 needs XP on it), a hub, an internet connection and a willingness to try!

The ICS Setup in XP
Before we dive into the ICS setup in XP let's do a few check lists items. First of all make sure you have a hub for a Cross-over Ethernet wire (to directly connect computer to computer). If you have a hub, make sure the cross-over setting is turned off (as depending on your NIC, it should not be on). On the XP Machine, I would make sure the Windows Firewall is on, as you want some type of filter for your network to prevent bad stuff from getting through. As a side note, if you are worried about network security I would suggest investing in a HUB. Now that you have your setup (and network wires). It is time to connect them all together. I should note, if you have a DSL / Cable connection that comes in over the NIC you will need another NIC or Wireless card to allow connections from the other computers to the host computer (or connect the modem with USB if available). As this can only be done with more than one type of network card (one for the incoming connection the other for the LAN connection).

The Actual ICS in XP
Now that we know we have the correct ha dware to do ICS in XP we simply have to right click on the connection in Network Connections find your internet connection card and right click on it then go to Properties. Under the Advanced Tab there should be a simple check box to "Share this Internet Connection" Check that and viola your connection is now shared. You should now be able to go on to one of the computers you connected to the HUB or directly with a cross-over ethernet wire and test the connection (you may have to disable / re-enable the connection) and should be able to get to the internet.

Ending Notes
Sharing an internet connection without a router using a Windows XP box is very easy and simple. Doing this method may not be as reliable or secure as using a Router, but is a cheap and easy method to share an Internet Connection among multiple computers! You can even use the same scheme to setup a wireless network, except instead of using a Land line card for serving the other computers you would use a wireless card and set it up as an Access Point.

Either way, hopefully that helps you out to setup a connection that is easy for personal use where security may not be a huge concern!

How To: Join / Combine MP3′s for Free on Windows

Windows No Responses »

Jan 292010

by Frost

Introduction
Recently I had a need to combine multiple MP3 files into one. Looking at the many different MP3 Joiner / combiners I found most of them to be bulky and just not what I was looking for in an MP3 Joiner / Combiner. After doing some digging into the Windows Command Line I came across a flag for a common function, "Copy" that intrigued me. After reading up on the flag of the Copy command in Windows I decided to give it a try with some tests. Where this came about was I copied some Books on CD to my harddrive a while ago (and the CD's have long since been scratched beyond fixing) so now I have about 15 files per chapter for 30 chapters. I would rather combine them into 30 MP3 files instead of the massive amount of files. Well let's take a look at the results of my findings!

/B Flag for Copy Function in Windows
The copy command in Windows has a flag that is /B, which is used for binary copying. Intrigued by this feature I pulled to random MP3 files into a new folder to do some testing, as I have previous used copy functions to combined some text files, I figured why not? It should work the same with the binary files, as that is what MP3's are. My first test, as said, was very basic and simple:

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