Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 July 20

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July 20

External Hard Drive Issues

I've been asked to help a friend with an external hard drive that's having issues. Initially, when connected to a Mac or a PC, it would display that it was not initialized and that I should initialize it in Disk Management, even though it did not appear in My Computer. Knowing that this would wipe the drive, I waited to confirm that he was OK with that. Once he agreed, I connected it to my PC, except it does not appear at all, in My Computer or Disk Management. There is a light on it which is lit when plugged in. It is a Western Digital My Passport 2TB (sorry I don't have any more precise info). At this point, I'm just trying to get it back to a usable state, even if that means wiping it. Any ideas?

Thanks, 99.224.85.109 (talk) 17:28, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Does the disk run correctly, Do you feel it is spinning in your hand.

Are you sure your friend own the disk? Certain hard drive are highly protected. Usually you add many encryption barrier when you want the data to remain private. In certain case, user modify the way HD run in more than encryption. In this case the disk doesn't work when plugged into another OS from which it is used. If you look at it, it seem work. When you try to access it with a computer, it look good for recycling. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 18:17, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Was the PC you mentioned initially (the one it displayed on) the same PC you are trying to connect it to now? If not, are they running the same OS? - I think 2A02:* is on to something with the security idea. Oftentimes people don't want others to get at their data and it's rare to find an external HDD with no security precautions whatsoever. If you can get it to display on another computer I would reccomend a regular format (My Computer-->right click-->format.) Good luck! --Yellow1996 (talk) 18:54, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

I was talking of security. Usually, peoples simply encrypt the content HD. But some want to dive deeper in security, and use things which make look the hard drive broke for the OS. I am sorry if it is not true, but it is possible: Your friend may found it; took it; and when he/she saw it didn't worked he/she bring it too you, telling you he/she own the disk. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 19:58, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Do you have any other external hard drives connected to the computer? For some reason, many of external hard drives, even ones from different vendors, share the same serial numbers and Windows will get confused by this and require you to "initialize" the disk. Removing all other drives from the computer and then reconnecting only the drive you want to use is the solution if you do not want to initialize the disk. Other than that, the only other thing I can think of is that the partition has been damaged. You can repartition a drive using this, this, or most OS install disks will have a partition manager that can delete and create partitions. Make sure you pick the correct drive or you won't be able to boot into your computer anymore 82.44.76.14 (talk) 21:27, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

It is a very common hardware failure were the disk spin and the led blink normaly. I am afraid their are no wikipedia articles about it and it is too long to be translated here. I found this. The page is written in my native language. 

Update: read this 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 23:06, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

OP '99', are you using Western Digital 'SmartWare' HDD software? This comes already on the HDD, and is available for download here if your HDD is one of those displayed. See http://wwwDOTehowDOTcom/info_12037373_wd-smartware.html?ref=Track2 (remove the DOTS to use) at ehow.com for a simple explanation of it. Pay particular attention to the last section "Disabling". - 220 of ^Borg 15:42, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Firewalls on networks

Most people now have firewalls and antivirus software on their pcs but these days many other devices such as tablets, tvs, blu ray players, digital cameras are also connected to home networks and media is also shared between them. Could these devices, many of which don't have as good antivirus and firewall software, create vulnerabilities in the network which could be exploited to access pcs or the media being streamed between them? What can people do to protect their home networks? Clover345 (talk) 19:31, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes they could. Some devices can be better protected than others but this is a case where defence in depth works best (i.e. protecting each and every device the best way possible to create a reasonably secure whole). For Android based devices there are anti-viruses and firewalls available. Both AVG and Avast offer free antivirus products but I've never had a chance to test them out myself. iOS devices seem to be much more difficult to provide protection for because of the controls Apple place upon them. In some ways this is good because it makes them less susceptible to viruses or other malware but by no means immune (although I'm not aware of any in the wild viruses for iOS, that doesn't mean they don't exist). You should also keep all devices up to date with the latest software which will normally include security updates. Things like TVs and Blu-Ray players and the router/modem you use to connect to your ISP will likely have updates to their firmware made available if there's a security issue that comes to light so you should keep an eye out for these as well. Not all firmware updates are for security however and they can be a bit risky so unless its security related, I'd wouldn't bother with them if I were you. Finally, if your using Wifi, make sure you use a strong encryption algorithm with a good key. WPA2 is one of the better ones, WEP is bad, very bad. 94.193.242.43 (talk) 04:10, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes there is still malware for iOS, just not as much other OSes. I've used AVG and haven't had problems with it (except for one time, but that had to do with a faulty update and was quickly fixed); I haven't used Avast. --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:42, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

computer does not recognize modem

I have install windows xp 2006 on my desktop computer using usb flash because my cd rom is not working properly. I have used win to flash software to copy xp files from cd. now my system does not recognize ptcl(pakistan telecommunication ) dsl modem .in fact their is no need to install drivers manually ,modem do it automatic.my computer recognize it as unknown device and unable to install modem.182.187.126.134 (talk) 22:05, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

are you talking of this kind of modem? What kind of port it use? 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 08:03, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

The OP said "dsl modem" so he probably means DSL_modem. RudolfRed (talk) 17:23, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Batch file (Windows 7)

So I want my PC to shut down after playing a playlist on VLC. Apparently the way to do this is using a batch file. But I can't get the batch file to open VLC. Here is what I'm doing:
START /WAIT C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe %1 vlc://quit
And I'm supposed to drag the playlist onto the batch file. But I get an error when I do this saying that it cannot find C:\Program. How can I fix this? Thanks. 105.236.218.126 (talk) 22:51, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Try START /WAIT "C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "%1" vlc://quit -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:40, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Regenerating PDF file from Google HTML cache?

Is it possible to "regenerate" a PDF file from a Google HTML cache? Regarding http://www.nfisd.org/users/0001/docs/NForestISD2006.pdf I had archived a Google HTML cache here.

So it is possible to put together enough information to re-make the PDF file? It may sound like desperation, but I want to see if it's possible WhisperToMe (talk) 23:07, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Not really. All the HTML page that Google Cache serves is a gazillion text labels that pretty much say at (13322,9433.3) put text "Foobar Heights" in green. Presumably this was originally a zone map, containing vectors for roads, borders, boundaries, etc. (they conserved some metadata that suggests the original document was authored on AutoCAD). But when Google cached it they seem just to have retained the text parts (which is why the text labels are roughly geographically located) but not the vectors (which is surely what you're after, as without them the "map" is useless). Maybe Google cached more, but they're not admitting to it. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:36, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, I want to know if this map is a regular map or if it actually had attendance boundaries for elementary/middle schools. Such information would be helpful for articles about neighborhoods in North Forest and/or about North Forest High School. WhisperToMe (talk) 23:40, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

I don't see any way to know for sure. But: notice how it says "c key maps 2006" - and lo, there is http://www.keymap.com/ - a Houston area supplier of GIS products and maps! So I'll bet you one of two things is true: a) it's just a regular Houston map produced by Key Maps, or b) it's a custom job they've done in 2006 (taking their existing GIS database and map software and drawing on custom features, like school catchment areas); I'm betting b. And Google did cache metadata from the PDF which shows the PostScript file used to generate the PDF:     \\Corporate\abc jobs\Schools\NorthForest\NForestISD2006.ps    . Perhaps if you contact Key Maps, they'll still have the original file at that location. Looking at their website, I'm thinking Key Maps is just one guy, not some intractable corporation. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:55, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

I read your post at the beginning of the week. What you want is probably an another web archiver. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 09:13, 21 July 2013 (UTC)