Hardware

Disk Erasing Is Boring

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I have a stack of older (and not so old) hard drives sitting in my apartment. I have wanted to sell them or just get rid of them for a while. My problem is I have data on them, or had data on them. I am crazy about security. Sometimes not crazy enough, but when dealing with selling drives that once held my personal data on them, I am crazy. So what to do?

I know the multiple ways of removing data from disks. None of them include just formating the drive and selling it. I have wanted to invest in an electromagnet that degausses stuff. But that just screams Geek! it is also costly. I could do what Jay did and just copy lots of stuff onto the disks before formatting them and selling them.

I settled for a free program that will overwrite disks with random data. It is called eraser. it is a free open source product from Sourceforge.net. It is not a fast solution. Of course I selected the department of defense standard scheme for overwriting data. I don’t have state secrets on those drives, but I figured if it is good enough for the CIA to overwrite disks in this way, it is good enough for me. To be honest I selected the lowest DOD spec, but I figured that would be enough. Now I just wait while these drives get written over.

The “Official” Cut Over To My New Computer

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I have been spending less time on my move to a new desktop (see past posts), but I am almost done. I think I am past the point of no return. Or shall I say I am now officially working off of that computer. What fine line did I cross to let me say that? Not sure. I am doing almost nothing on that computer yet. I think what did it was moving off 90% of what was on my firewire drive (plugged into my powerbook) over to the new computers drive. The final straw was importing my MP3 collection into iTunes for windows on the new computer. All 28gigs are now working on the desktop. Fear not, I can still listen to all that music on my Powerbook. I just shared out the itunes on my desktop. Now I can listen wirelessly anywhere in my apartment.

Like I said I am still using the Powerbook as my primary machine, but everything is now a network share off of the new desktop. I am also using the desktop as the DVR I originally planned.

I am also reformatting my iPod as we speak. I am setting it up so it will sync with my PC. I have never used the iPod with a PC so lets hope it is as easy as with my Mac? With it formated for a PC (FAT32), I can use it as an external hard drive and shuttle data back and forth between work and home. I can also use it to plug into a Mac or a PC. The limitation I had with it in Mac formatted mode is that I needed to plug it into only Mac’s. It was a pain to do that.

Once the iPod cut over is completed I will need to continue to install all the needed applications on my desktop. Now that most of the data copying is over, I can focus on configuring the machine more. New computers are time intensive to setup:(

Well the format of the iPod to FAT32 went ok. I am now installing my music again using my PC copy of the files. it looks like it is taking longer than on my Mac. Not sure what is up with that.

Updatathon Set

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I am still moving files around on my new desktop. I decided to move everything off of my old 160 gig drive so I could format it fresh. It is taking forever to move stuff. I assume it is due to the age of my first IDE drive. Also I am moving hundreds of gigs, and ten’s of thousands of files. Oh well. It is almost done. If I listen to windows, it is only 15 more minutes. Once I format my first 160 gig drive I can move all the data off of my Firewire drive and format that. Currently the firewire drive is formated for the Mac. It won’t work when I plug it into a PC. If I format it with FAT32 I can use it with both my Mac and my PC’s. The only down side of that is will have to partition it logically as 2 disks. Dam FAT32 and its partition size limits.

Once all that fun stuff is done, I need to install all my applications I want on my new machine. that will be a fun and time consuming updateathon.

I know I have been droning on about a piece of metal. I have no life right now, so a new gatget or some crazy thing at work is all I got to write about. Sorry poor reader… You could be reading the news. This site is way more uplifting that the news!!!

HP, Vs Dell, Vs Gateway, Vs Etc…

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So for a while I have been thinking about if / when I should buy a new computer. My desktop has been causing major issues for me over the past few months. I have really not used it that much since I got my iMac last November, but recently I have had uses for it. It just keeps wigging out on me. I have debated going with a Powermac, another Powerbook or some combination of machines. Cost concerns prevailed and I ended up going out and getting a new PC. I still have my powerbook (writting on it right now) but my new desktop at home is an HP Compaq Presario. It has the glamorous name of the SR1230NX. This new box replaces my aging custom built AMD Atholon XP 1500+ machine that will be 3 years old next month. The new Presario is another AMD Atholon, running at 3200+. Not the fastest thing out there, but much faster than what I had.

I was shopping around on the internet, and just decided to goto best buy and get something in my price range. I got everything I needed, DVD-+R, 160 gig drive, media reader, etc. I also purchased a ATI All In Wonder Radeon 9600. A major reason for the new computer was to do DVR functions, so I needed a video capture card.

A new computer is a new thing for me. I haven’t bought (built) a computer in 3 years. Before that I was upgrading every 1-2 years. What is different about this purchase is that I went out to the store and bought a Compaq (HP) from Best Buy. I usually build them. Now a days it is just easier and sometimes cheaper to buy a model from the store. I only had 1 specific requirement for this machine. I wanted a video capture card as I mentioned. So I just bought a ATI All In Wonder card and put it in the new box. I also took my 160gig IDE drive from my old desktop and put it in this new machine. Now I have 2 160 gig drives, plus an external firewire drive on my powerbook. Man that is allot of drive space. I don’t know why I am actually using so much of it. The only thing I am really missing is more ram for the new desktop. it came with 512megs. I will upgrade it to at least 1.5gig or maybe max it out at 2 gig next week. That way I can use VMWare without a performance problem.

So far the setup of the new box has been going OK. I had a bit of trouble getting the extra drive in the box. These new machines are so small and they make it so hard to maneuver in them. I wiped the Windows XP Home edition that came with the machine and put my copy of Windows XP Pro on it. Right now all I have is a fully updated windows xp box with nero & VWMware on it. I am coping my data from the old 160 gig drive to the one that came with the box. Then I will format the old drive to start fresh. Oh I almost forgot. I also have the ATI media center installed. It has a TV program, viewers, etc. So far the software is great. It is allot better and more stable than the last version I used way back in 1999 with my original ATI All in wonder card. FYI, I still used that old 16 meg video card in my last computer. It lasted forever, but I couldn’t use the TV function because it was so buggy. I have high hopes for this new card.

Now I am off to do an updateathon of software installs on this new machine…

I Need A New Mac!

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I have been eluding to my desire to get a new Mac. The lack of hard drive space is killing me. I see people in the train station (did so today again) with the 15″ powerbooks and I go “i want one”. I day dream about the power of a Power Mac when it takes a minute for my Powerbook to load a PDF.

My problem is I know I want a new Mac, but I haven’t decided what I want to get. Until then I am stuck with what I have. Now it is in great condition, but I am hitting the limits of its performance.

My current options are a single processor G5 tower, the newer 12″ Powerbook, or the 15″ Powerbook. When I make up my mind I will go and get one. You know what that means? eBay in my future for my current model.

Pimped Out Desktop

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Between meetings, cleaning my office, and real work I tricked out an old desktop today. Jayson and I seem to accumulate computers at work. He has 1 for normal use, it is a tricked out P4 so he can run multiple VMWares. He then has a laptop, and I think a desktop is collecting dust under his desk as a Novel 6.x server for testing.

My computers in the office are my laptop, a desktop that is nicely configured for VMWare workstation and burning, etc. I also have an older box setup to run Suse 9.1. I had another machine that I customized for testing, but it finally pissed me off enough today that I needed to replace it. The hard drive is going on it. So I replaced it. then the IDE controller got all flaky on me, so I gave up on it. I took an older (almost 3 years) P-4 1.5 GHZ that for some reason had a gig of ram in it and but a newer burner in it. Cleaned it up, and now it is a Windows 2003 server I am going to use as a test box. We hate that we have desktops proliferating in our office, so I threw on a test copy of VMWare GSX server on this new “super desktop” I built. I am proving that this server software is worth the money to go buy and put on a nice dual processor machine.

Right now I have several tests of software I need to run. First up is Ipswitch’s Collaboration Suite of software. It looks like their Imail mail server on group ware steroids. My company wants exchange like functionality, but they don’t like the cost in software, hardware, and manpower needed to get exchange. This product looks like it will do what most people want to do, and that is share calendars, contact lists, etc right in outlook.

Immediately we need to test and then deploy Intuit’s Track It. We are planning on using it as our support and helpdesk ticketing system. The software arrives tomorrow, and we need it deployed (if we decide to go with it) by January 1, 2005 in order to support some changes we are planning in our support structure for the new year.

Another focus I had today was getting the specs needed to setup another VPN tunnel to a partner of ours in India. That was a fun conference call.

Then I had a bunch of meetings about some data migrations we are planning, and a failover drill that is 4 months in the making.

Gus and I also went over a power point I am making for a big presentation next week. He had some changes and I created a few new slides. Have I mentioned I don’t like power point? The funny thing is when I first started out on the helpdesk all those years ago, I actually was very good at power points. I just haven’t done them in a while.

All around a very busy day. I didn’t leave work until 7:30PM tonight. I need to make dinner now. I just felt like writing when I got home. Some days (most days) I don’t feel like writing right away after I sat at a computer all day, but today I did. Go figure?

Pix Is Sold

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It went in less than a day with buy it now. I love ebay. I am bringing it to work to ship tomorrow. Next up is my old T-68i and my Motorola T720. I have to take pictures of them and post them on ebay this week.

Bye, Bye Pix 501

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I bought a pix a while ago. I blogged about it. It is fantastic. I can tunnel into work, and setup multiple tunnels. The PDM is exactly like the 515’s we have at work. Unfortunately I am selling it on ebay. I probably shouldn’t have spent the money on it when I did, but that is not why I am selling it.

I don’t have time to play with it. I got it so I could continue to explore the Pix and setup some cool functions on it. I am finding I have no time to do any of that. I spent half my day off messing around with it yesterday. I did this by choice, and had a good time doing it, but I need to have my firewall/router at home to just work. Also the lack of wifi for me sucked. I didn’t buy a separate wifi point and I couldn’t use my old linksys 802.11g point/router with the pix.

I am actually unhappy about selling it, but it makes sense, but the Pix is still so cool…

iMac, Gone

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I dropped my iMac off at the UPS store yesterday. It is on its way to its new owner cutisy of ebay. I really liked that computer but I decided I need to be mobile. So I am sticking with my Powerbook as my only Mac, and as my main computer now that the iMac is gone.

I will miss that computer but I am looking ahead to smaller more powerful portable stuff:)

iMac Is Packed And Ready To Go

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I am moving fast before I change my mind. I have wiped the hard drive and restored it to the factory defaults. I then boxed it up and took pictures of it for ebay. Now I have to post an auction and sell it before I have second thoughts. I am working off my Powerbook as my main computer for now. My Server and desktop PC’s are still not unpacked.

For now the plan is to sell the iMac and possibly buy a nice 20″ or 23″ flat screen and plug my Powerbook and desktop into it. Or I may just get a bigger powerbook with the 15″ screen. I know I had one 2 years ago, but I am not sure what I want. I love my little powerbook, but it does not have a DVD burner, and it is not super fast. if I am going to use it as my main machine I need more out of it. Especially the hard drive. Even with an external firewire drive, the internal 40 gig drive just wont cut it.

For now I will stay with the 12″ until I sell the iMac.