Jugaad - Data recovery from old hard disk

My neighbor came to me a day and said, "hey look, I got this old PC laying around and there is some data on it. Can you recover it? The hard disks is crashed. There are some old pics on it which I would like to have back."

"Bring it over", I said.

So he sent it over. I opened the cabinet and took out the disk - Western Digital Caviar 40GB ATA. Quickly connected it to laptop using USB IDE adapter and waited for the disk to be detected.

A minute went by and no sign. I checked power and disk had not spun up. Looked like it was real dead all this time and sleeping peacefully in the ATX coffin :)

However, detailed look at the disk revealed this ...

"Ohh well, lets try to revive it", I said to myself and shoved some aluminum foil in the molex connector, hoping that it would make contact. It didnt work.

Cut a small wire, put in molex and taped it over exposed 5V contact on PCB. Voila! disk spun up and Windows found it in seconds. Resurrection!!!

One problem though, tape wont hold the wire over PCB and disk spun down :( I could press it down and it would stay on but remove the finger and it powered down again. Soldering was other option but I hate to solder these wave soldered contacts.

Solution: keep a laptop power adapter on the contact to keep it pressed :)
It worked. The disk appeared to be very fine and I could retrieve entire data off it without problem :)

Morale: Believe in Jugaad :) :) :) :)

Why I dont dig Smartphones

Computing has come a long way since it started. History has proven that every new thing replaces the older and takes things higher, floppies gave way to hard disks, hard disks to SSD. Monochrome got replaced by color, crt by lcd, CLI moved to GUI and GUI aims to go touch way.

Its time for android and ios to play battle. I am no way an expert on both but having witnessed computing over years, I still feel these smartphones are still phones. They can replace the phone, but not the PCs yet.

Since I surrendered my workhorse thinkpad when I left job recently, I am without a laptop. All I have is this android slate with. I am trying to get things done, which I would normally do on a laptop. Results: few months on, and I am still struggling! Why? Lets see...

Touch
Its easy to type with swype, prediction but I still miss the pure full 3D keyboard

Nagware
Its based on open model, but free is no more free as in free beer. Suddenly every developer wants to blast you with free adware version or buy full version. Makes me think how these guys earned their living before. People used to write freeware and there were so many good ones. Looks like that word and culture is history now.

Behaviour/usability
One thing annoys me is the way wheel is being reinvented. There was a time when critics and fanatics fought over how a particular OS has bad GUI behaviour and how it requires x amount of more clicks to get a job done. Are they sleeping in their graves?

I am writing this post on a tablet, as I have moved beyond one page, simple stuff like formatting one word into bold or italics needs back and forth scrolling in blogger!
I haven't managed easy way in google mail app to select all mails in a click.
There is no standard way to layouts and most developers are creating their own. It can be easy for literates but try teaching a computer illiterate and you will know the difference.

Integration
Convergance is good for hardware but it leads to half baked software. Stuff that looks good on 4inch looks sparse on tablets. Folks its okay if you code specific versions for tablet or handheld. But try to write a one size fits all version and you mess both.
One example of half baked software apart from ones shared above is google maps. Nokia offerred a perfect solution for maps, full with offline maps, turn by turn navigation and route editing. Google maps cannot do offline maps for entire state or multiple countries. I have had tough time while trying to customise route. Then I created custom map on pc and sent link to googl maps on iphone. The app re calculated path and it was not same as its desktop counterpart. Nokia never had such issues and that phone was equally good at rest of the things.
On integration, bill gates was sued for integrating browser into OS. Now its defacto to have everything mixed into OS. There is no OS infact. The browser is os, os is camera and camera has file uploader. Anyone?

One button
Also obsession for one button is beyond me. Many pre android/ios smartphones had multiple buttons for camera, volume, audio controls and. On a newer phone its so frustrating to unlock and navigate just to change song. And with bigger tablets, holding one to click photo, especially self clicks is sure lame. Atleast give full keyboard on screen with shortcut keys or modern equivalent s of ,

Crappy multitasking
No other word, its not true multitasking yet. Its TSR way of multitasking. We are just stretching a phone screen concept to match what we do on a desktop. They blame it on lack of processing power but if today's calculatora can pack prehistoric supercomputers then smartphones can atleast pack a humble pentium, can't they?

Multiuser
First the computer was personal, then it became multiuser and now its back as single user. Couldnt anyone see this as a necessary feature? May not be on a phone, but on a a shared tablet in a family? Its going to be here but why was it lacking in the first place??

Open?
I can no more use one media to setup on different phones. its not what you do everyday but Imagine if you needed different OS media for your dell pentium and you have to wait for Dell to release it for your particular version. Or you are stuck with x version of ubuntu on your desktop since no one has ever written update for your hardware combo? Why a particular app wont run on samsung tab but can run on others flawlessly?
Interoperability was dealbreaker back in earlier days, many superior products died cause they were proprietary. Now no one bothers! Its so easy to switch devices than expect value for money and better programming.

Why can't manufacturer keep software and hardware seperate and focus on one of them. Ultimately there are no PCs and compatibles akin to old days, now there are note 1s, note 2s and blah blah. (I believe apple is bit different here)

Updates
Everyone complained how windows updates were annoying. Now updates keep coming every other day and that seems like a norm. We are no more users, we are beta testers for a product that never enters release.

Cloud
Every app assumes internet connectivity and thats kind of dangerous for your privacy. Someone said rightly, if you want to secure your data, dont connect your PC to the net. Now every bit is on net and you cannot know how many people see it.
You cannot use some basic apps if you do not connect to net and that freaks me out. One crappy software claimed video conversion. it uploaded every video to its server, convert it there and download it later #facepalm
Remember, clouds are in sky (net). Rings a bell?

Disclaimer
I do not make any claim that this is the final word. This is how I see things based on my usage. You are welcome to share your view or let me know how to get things done. Perhaps I am expecting too much from a phone.

PS
During the edits, somehow I can't see any bold formatted text. Unless I publish it, I wont know! And I am not bothered. This is my last post from an android.

Ideas for future: Virtual Ride anywhere...

Ingredients:

• Google street view
• Computer integration
• (motor)cycle
• additional hardware/software
• projectors/VR glasses

Receipe:

• Integrate all of the above and create a virtual environment of cycling.
• Choose a place on earth, and start cycling there, as if you are there :)

:)

Writer's Block?

Well, I was not a writer as such, but not able to post anything worthy since a few months :(

Random thoughts on Life and Death...

During childhood, at some point in time, I suddenly realized that there is a voice inside me that is talking to myself. Every moment and action got recorded somewhere inside There was a feedback, followup, discussion, agreement, disagreement, suggestion and all kinds of things talked inside. I don't remember when this awareness was felt. I have faint memories of early days. Can't say exactly when I really started feeling it. Perhaps it was there since beginning but it was not in a form of dialogue. It started subconsciously and someday I realized that it is none other than "Me" talking to myself.  This was the moment of inner-self-awareness. I felt like Number 5 - a robot in movie who realized that he has got human ability - "Number 5 is alive!"

I wondered, "Where does it voice originate? Is it the heart? the brain? or the eyes?". Funny enough, on occasions, I felt that this is something abnormal. The continuous talk bothered me. I even tried to stop talking to myself, in vain :) It took time to accept that this is just human.

Being able to talk to yourself is such an amazing thing. You know that there is someone who knows everything about you. Knows what you want to do, say, feel, touch, ignore, accept, reject, listen, curse, love, hate and know! Is this someone not YOU? will it exist without you? will you exist without it?

Another thing, we usually converse with ourselves in the default language that we are thought. How do people who can't speak or hear, "talk to themselves"? There has to be a way for them too. We often see that even animals have a thought process. Many of their actions are based out of hardwired instincts and behavioural traits. But sure there has to be a way for them too!

This question always brings an interesting chain of thoughts to my mind (sic)...

"If this is being alive, what is being dead like?"

How does it feel to be dead? There are times when I brainstorm what would happen to people around if I happen to die suddenly, maybe the very next moment? Like when someone casually calls up home and announces that he will be there in few minutes and he doesnt! Or like when you speak to someone and next day you hear sad news about him!

This blog post was in draft for many months, till I came across this disturbing situation. I recently met one fellow biker. We became part of an online group where we discussed riding together and many other things about the motorcycles. While our riding plans took time to materialise, we kept exchanging facebook comments, often witty, poky and informative. One fine Sunday morning, we met near our house for the ride and went 90kms with 3 other bikers. We returned after breakfast and nice chat and waived each other bye-bye as we neared my house. That night I came to know that he met with an accident near his house in the evening and three days later, he succumbed to fatal injuries to head. This entire episode disturbed me a lot. I kept thinking how unexpected life is and how quickly it ended when it seemed like a new begining. Felt like lost someone close. The thought of how his kins and family would be dealing with this made me shake.

Its kindda easy to imagine how others will react, including family, neighbors, friends, colleagues and even strangers. But its still not easy to imagine what happens to you and this voice after death? Is it like you feel when you are deep asleep - total blackout and a calmness surrounding you (and at this point, YOU really stop existing)? This is no easy question to answer I think.

If your inner voice becomes quiet after death, are we dead every time we are sleep? I agree that our body keeps functioning and we even dream. But does that happen to people in coma also? Is difference between being in coma and being asleep, is that the brain forgets to wake up?

At the end, its so fragile and short-lived experience to be alive anyway. Our existance is so tiny in front of the entire universe!

Is this Time-Travel?

Case 1 : Catching up with others who have gone past you, in time before you.

Time	Scene 1	Scene 2	Scene 3
7.00 am	Arrive at a the highway signal as it goes RED right in front of youself. Watch others speeding away. Notice one particular biker who managed to pass when it was gree and revved up as if there is no tomorrow	Arrive at a the highway signal as it goes RED right in front of youself. Watch others speeding away. Notice one particular biker who managed to pass when it was gree and revved up as if there is no tomorrow	Just arrived at a signal as it goes RED right front me. Watching others speeding away. Noticed one particular biker revving up as if there is no tomorrow
7.01 am	Signal goes GREEN, start moving at leisure speed, the biker has vanished ahead	Do nothing, stop aside	Do nothing, stop aside
7.06 am	Keep moving slowly, the biker has reached next signal	Still wait	Still wait
7.07am	The biker gets GREEN again, he starts ripping	Start ripping	Still wait
7.09 am	Keep moving slowly, you reach next signal and it just goes RED as you reach	Reach the signal just before it goes RED, continue, biker is almost in sight,	Enter time machine
7.15 am	Biker has gone much ahead	Rip further and zoom by him. He is taken aback by the close fly-by	Exist the time machine behind just before the biker. Surprise him by similar fly-by as in Scene 2

Case 2 : Reaching office before those who start before you and reach after you.

Time	Scene 1	Scene 2	Scene 3
7.00 am	Wake up, hurry up, get ready for work	Sleep	Sleep
7.45 am	Ready to leave house	Wake up!	Sleep
7.50 am	Catch auto	get ready	Sleep
8.05 am	Reach bus stop	get ready	Sleep
8.10 am	Get into bus, sleep	Ready to leave the house, start bike, rip hard	Wake up!
8.20 am	Sleep	rip, rip, rip	Enter time machine
8.45 am	Sleep	Reach office	Exit at office
9.00 am	Reach office

Note: Dont disect the timeline, but get the idea. Travelling on Momo is like time travel :)

Wikipedia blackout workaround

Overall perceived IQ of humanity would drop down significantly today. Thanks to the Wiki Blackout :)

If you are those who still want to desperately refer wikipedia, try this:
Press <esc> (Escape Key) as soon as the page loads, it should prevent the redirection to blackout banner. Worked with Firefox atleast.

:)