Daily Cup of Tech

U3 technology is a really awesome way to use your USB drive. It provides menus and the ability to install software quickly and easily on your USB drive.

But, (You knew there was one coming, didn’t you!) what if you want to use your USB drive as a simple file transport? Or you work in a locked down environment that will not allow the U3 software to complete its job? Now what?

I found myself in this situation last week when my boss asked me for a USB drive to take some work home with him. I was rather embarrassed when he came back to me thinking that I gave him a drive infected with a virus!

Fortunately, it is a relatively easy process to remove the U3 software. Simply download the U3 uninstaller and run it against your USB drive.

Caution! You will need to move all of your data off the USB drive before running the uninstaller because it will reformat your drive and all of your data will be lost! Also, you will not be able to reinstall the U3 software if you change your mind later!

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2008/02/06/removing-u3-from-your-usb-drive/trackback/

We all know that feeling. Time slows down. It almost feels like you are having an out of body experience. Your stomach gets queasy and you feel like you are going to throw up. And you think to yourself, “This can’t be happening!”

But it is happening. Your server is dead.

But is it really? While it may not boot the way it is, there is still a lot of valuable configurations and data that may be available on the server that you could potentially get to with a bit of perseverance.
Read the rest of the story…

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/07/01/server-failure-lesson-4-a-server-isnt-dead-until-its-dead/trackback/

We are pretty much entirely a Windows shop where we work. And, of course, most of our tools are Windows based. But, when we wanted to get data from our dead servers, we turned to trusty Linux for a hand.

Specifically, what we wanted to do was get data off the dead server without having to make any changes to the server hard drives. This meant that we could not reinstall or change any of the original configurations.

So, the logical choice was to use a bootable CD as it is the quickest solution to the problem. I was ready to fire up either a customized version of BartPE or Ultimate Boot CD for Windows but my summer student, Jeff, thought that a Linux distribution was a good option.

Since Jeff was going to be performing the procedure, I decided that I would let him use what he was most comfortable with. So, Jeff ran to the local computer store, picked up a large USB drive, and prepared to migrate some data.

Jeff decided that he would use KNOPPIX and this was no surprise to me or anyone else who is familiar with this distribution. From their website:

KNOPPIX is a bootable Live system on CD or DVD, consisting of a representative collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it (over 8GB on the DVD “Maxi” edition).

This is really an amazing CD and one that every tech should have in their toolbox. Unfortunately, every OS has its limitations and one of the limitations that Jeff discovered is that KNOPPIX couldn’t read the USB drive. So, on to plan B.

Jeff next went to an Ubuntu LiveCD. Most people are familiar with the desktop version of this popular Linux distribution but many people are surprised to learn that the installation CD is also a LiveCD. So, you can boot from it and do almost everything that you could do from a fully installed version.

This allowed Jeff to get on the dead server, access the data on the drives, and migrate it off to the USB device so that it could be used later.

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/06/29/server-failure-lession-2-linux-is-your-friend/trackback/

When I bought my first real computer, it came with a whopping 20 MB hard drive. This nicely held the operating system, my office applications, and all of the data that I required for regular use. I even got a few games on there.

Today, the smallest USB drive that I have will hold 32 MB of data and it is almost considered to be useless because it holds so little data. My regular USB drive that I use for day to day storage is a 4 GB drive with more than enough room to handle several applications, my development environment, and all the documents that I can generate.

And I am not alone in ownership of a USB drive. Everywhere you look, these things are showing up. Most people have at least one, many (like myself) have several.

But, while these devices are extremely convenient and allow you to keep your files with you, how safe is your data on them? What are you doing to keep them safe? I have a few ideas on the subject…
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Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/06/14/protect-your-usb-drives-now/trackback/

I have received a lot of publicity around the Lost USB Drive application. Daily Cup of Tech has been mentioned in Popular Science twice. The story of the lost and found child in Disneyland also gained a lot of attention.

But, there are those who do not believe it works or question how well it would work. I have to be honest, I have not actually tested to see if the application works in a real-world scenario. This is where you come in!

I am looking for one hundred loyal DCoT users who are willing to “lose” a USB drive for me. If you have an old USB drive lying around or you got one as a piece of swag from a conference, I would like you to put the Lost USB drive program on it, register it with DCoT, and then lose it. We will then see how well the program works!

All of the details about registering your drive and a special program that I wrote which will automatically configure your USB drive with the proper settings and also help you write that all important “Get me home!” message are on the official Lost USB Drive Experiment page.

I am very excited about this little experiment because I really do not know what the outcome will be.  Also, because we have such a wide audience that literally covers the globe, I am interested to see which country or city is the most honest/willing to put an unknown USB drive into their computer!

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/05/30/wanted-lost-drive-experiment-volunteers/trackback/

When I am working on different solutions for myself or others, one of the biggest requirements is whether or not it is GFG (Good For Grandma) Certified. This is what I was looking for when I was trying to figure out a really easy way for people to back up their data and keep backing up their data. I was aiming for people who don’t have multiple computers or a home network and really don’t have a lot of data to back up.

What I came up with was a USB backup drive. On the drive, I have also attached a digital watch. (More about the watch later!)

The contents of the drive are pretty simple. On the root of the drive, I put an autorun.inf file that automatically starts up the backup process. There is a TrueCrypt volume on the drive that is used for the backup. Once the volume is open, the backup begins. You can use any freeware backup program that you want to copy the data to the encrypted volume. You can get a nice list of the portable ones over at the Portable Freeware Collection. Once the backup completes, it unmounts the TrueCrypt volume and pops up a notice to the user that the backup is done.

Now, what’s with the watch? Well, I found that many people are not too savvy when it comes to remembering to do their backups. I know that they could probably program a reminder into their calendar or schedule a reminder task but this is often more than most people can handle. The watch has a timer on it that goes off each day at the same time. This is the reminder to the user to start their backup.

The other nice thing about the watch is that it is something familiar that many new users will be comfortable with.  And, they do not have to rely on their computer to be running in order to be reminded.

The other really nice thing about this is that your backup goes with you.  So if your office goes up in smoke, you still have your data!

There are a couple of gotchas with this setup, though.

1. Be sure that you have enough disk space on the USB drive.  This is probably the easiest mistake to make.
2. Don’t ignore the alarm.  Do the backups and go for coffee.
3. Don’t forget the password.  Without it, you may as well not do backups.

This is not the best backup solution in the world and it does not fit everyone’s needs.  But if you just have one computer and want to back up a small amount of data, this could be a really good solution for you.

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/05/11/backup-usb-drive-with-alarm/trackback/

Your Internet connection’s IP address is like your home mailing address. It is the key to getting access to the contents of the remote computer. If you know your home IP address, it gives you the ability to connect to that IP address from any other computer on the Internet and access resources that you have made available.

One of the problems that many people run across is that their IP address changes so even if they memorize their IP address, it may be different when they go to access it remotely. This is the problem that DCoT reader Shep was having:

Dear Tim,

First of all, I’m a big fan. I check in every day. I think the kid rescue story at Disney is great!

Here’s my tech help question. I realize it’s a bit obscure. Okay, it’s very obscure.

I use TightVNC (which I run off my Cruzer using DCoTMenu) to access my networks at home and at my office. My office network has a static IP but my home network does not. If I am away and the dynamic IP at home changes I can’t access the network (as it did last week while we were on vacation).

I realize that the solution to my problem is to get a static IP, or use one of those web services which assigns a “static” IP, or use Himachi, GoToMyPC, or a similar program.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that I’m not going to do any of those things.

My question is this: Is there a way for my home network to broadcast it’s IP on a regular basis (every 6 hours) to an email account or, preferably, upload the IP via FTP to my personal webspace (which is not hosted on my home or office network)?

Thanks.
Shep

Well, Shep, this has proven to be a worthy challenge but I have come up with a solution. I have written an application called External IP that will e-mail you or upload an HTML file to a web server with your IP address information on whatever schedule you like. This way, you will always know your home IP address.

Please be aware that this is a work in progress and there may still be the odd bug lurking in the code.

External IP is a freeware application and everyone is free to use and download the application as they see fit. But, if you find it useful, a donation would be greatly appreciated!

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/04/10/get-your-home-ip-address-from-anywhere/trackback/

It appears that I have been neglecting a very important segment of our readership, the OS Xers in the crown. Especially in the department of portable applications. Todd points this out to me in an e-mail:

Hi. I’m pretty much a Windows power user kind of guy and really love all of your articles dealing with Windows. However, due to the nature of my profession (photography), I’m forced to use Mac machines during the day, which is no big deal really; there are things that I like and dislike about both platforms.

My question is, can you point me - and possibly others - to any resources for loading a USB drive with utilities for use on a Mac? Specifically web browsing and email clients. I love the Portable Apps site and haven’t been able to find such a site with Mac stuff.

Thanks.

Todd

Well, Todd, that’s a pretty tall order but I think I can be of some help. Here is a list of portable OS X applications that I have found:

Read the rest of the story…

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/04/06/portable-osx-applications/trackback/

I got a very strong reminder this weekend on why it is so important (in general) to buy good quality products. My 2 GB USB drive was starting to get full and it had been about a year since I last replaced my drive so I figured that it was due to be replaced. My general rule of thumb is to spend about $100 each year on a new USB drive which will typically allow me to double the size of my USB drive each year as they definitely have a usable life span, depending on how many time you read and write to it.

Scrooge Decision

But, for some reason, last year I was feeling especially frugal (read “cheap”) when I bought my 2 GB USB drive. I saw one on sale at an online computer retailer and I promptly typed in my credit card number. When it arrived, I went through my standard process of migrating data off my old 1 GB drive to my new 2 GB drive. One of these processes was creating a 1.8 GB TrueCrypt encrypted file. Read the rest of the story…

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/04/04/the-importance-of-buying-quality/trackback/

I have been working with Vista now for a couple of weeks and I an starting to get a feel for some of the odd quirks that are occurring to me. Many of these are because of how I have done things in the past and I will probably have to make some changes in how I do things in the future.

But, I thought that I would start documenting some of these odd things, what caused them, and how I have worked around them. Please keep in mind that I am writing this after only working with the system for a couple of weeks. I am no where even close to being an expert with this OS and I would greatly appreciate any (gentle) correction and addition that you can supply.

Too Far On the Secure Side

One of the things that I have discovered over time is that there is a sliding scale between a secure system and an easy to use system. Read the rest of the story…

Trackback link - http://www.DailyCupOfTech.com/2007/03/30/vista-weirdness/trackback/