Assignment 1

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Assignment1

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HDD Regenerator v1.42

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HDD Regenerator v1.42 Registered
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-- Burn
-- Boot
-- Repair your drive =)



Program features

Ability to detect physical bad sectors on a hard disk drive surface

Ability to repair physical bad sectors (magnetic errors) on a hard disk surface

The product ignores file system, scans disk at physical level. It can be used with FAT, NTFS or any other file system, and also with unformatted or unpartitioned disks.

Bootable regenerating diskette allows starting regenerating process under DOS automatically. The diskette can be created under Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT4 / 2000 / XP / 2003

Main benefits

Hard disk drive is an integral part of every computer. It stores all your information. One of the most prevalent defects of hard drives is bad sectors on the disk surface. Bad sectors are a part of the disk surface which contains not readable, but frequently necessary information. As a result of bad sectors you may have difficulties to read and copy data from your disk, your operating system becomes unstable and finally your computer may unable to boot altogether. When a hard drive is damaged with bad sectors, the disk not only becomes unfit for use, but also you risk losing information stored on it. The HDD Regenerator can repair damaged hard disks without affecting or changing existing data. As a result, previously unreadable and inaccessible information is restored.

How it works

Almost 60% of all hard drives damaged with bad sectors have an incorrectly magnetized disk surface. We have developed an algorithm which is used to repair damaged disk surfaces. This technology is hardware independent, it supports many types of hard drives and repairs damage that even low-level disk formatting cannot repair. As a result, previously unreadable information will be restored. Because of the way the repair is made, the existing information on the disk drive will not be affected!

Important notes

Since the program does not change the logical structure of a hard drive, the file system may still show some sectors marked earlier as 'bad', and other disk utilities such as Scandisk will detect logical bad sectors even though the disk has been successfully regenerated and is no longer damaged by physical bad sectors. If you want to remove these marks, repartition the hard disk drive.

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That's the info about this product. To download :

Torrent:HDD Regenerator v1.42 Bootable ISO

Direct Download : http://www.mediamax.com/gunemalli/Hosted/HDD_Regenerator_v1.42_Bootable_ISO.rar


It does what it says. I recovered a hdd which had 2200 Bad sectors, it works well for now, but it really has asome real physical damages. so have to replace it zn. but atleast i was able to recover data from it.

Let me know about your experiences. Hopin to put up the new version soon.

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MSI P965 Platinum - Comes to Life with BIOS v1.5

The latest versions of the BIOS, v1.5 & 1.6, offers a lot more than all the reviews that you've come across for this board. I've been very enthusiastic about this and i've never been happy about a motherboard like this, specially cos of the thought that i'm the only one in Sri Lanka to have this M/B.

anyways, i'l put som notes on this very quickly. for the moment i run my system @ 2.66GHz, i.e FSB 380MHz, with a value RAM, impressive huh?

MSI P965 Platinum Review

This is a really good mainstream motherboard to have. It’s a feature packed motherboard and over-clocking friendly board.

To start off this review, here's the official feature list of this board from the manufacturer.

CPU:
Supports Socket 775 for Intel® Pentium 4 3xx, 5xx, 6xx, 8xx, 9xx, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors.
Supports FSB 1333/1066/800/533 MHz
Supports EIST technology
Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading technology.
Supports Intel® Dual Core Technology to 800 MHz and up<

Chipset:
Intel® P965 Northbridge
Supports FSB 1333/1066/800/533 MHz.
Supports PCI Express x 16 graphics interface.
Supports dual channel, DDR2 533/667/800

Intel® ICH8R Southbridge:
Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) controller, 480Mb/sec, up to 10 ports.
6 SATAII ports with transfer rate up to 3 GB/s.
PCI Master V2.3, I/O APIC.
ACPI 2.0 compliant.
Serial ATA RAID 0, RAID 1 RAID 5 and RAID 10.
Integrated AHCI controller

Memory:
Supports four un-buffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM
Supports up to 8GB memory size (DDR2 533/667).
Supports up to 4GB memory size (DDR2 800).
Supports dual channel DDR2 memory architecture.
Supports DDR2 533/667/800 memory interface.

Expansion Slots:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot. (supports PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant)
• 1 x PCI Express x4 slot. (The yellow one, support PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant)
• The two slots above support ATI® CrossFire technology.
• 2 x PCI Express x1 slots. (support PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant)
• 2 x 32-bit v2.3 master PCI bus slots. (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface)

Storage:
On-Board IDE/SATA
One Ultra DMA 66/100/133 IDE controller integrated in JMicron® JMB361.
Supports PIO, Bus Master operation modes.
Can connect up to two Ultra ATA drives.

SATAII controller integrated in ICH8R/JMicron® JMB361:
Up to 300MB/sec transfer speed.
Six SATAII ports by ICH8R.
One SATAII port by JMicron® JMB361.
Supports AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 (ICH8R).

Audio:
High Definition link controller integrated in Intel® ICH8R chip.
Audio codec Realtek® ALC883.
Compliant with Azalia 1.0 spec.
Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing.

LAN:
Realtek® RTL8111B
Supports 10/100/1000 Mb/s.
PCI-Express interface.
Supports ACPI Power Management.

Back Panel I/O Ports

• 1 x Parallel port
  
• 1 x Serial port (COM 1)
• 1 x PS/2 keyboard
  
• 1 x PS/2 mouse
  
• 1 x Coaxial SPDIF out
• 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack (S/SPDIF out)
• 1 x IEEE1394 port
  
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
  
• 1 x RJ45 LAN jack

Internal I/O Connectors

• ATX 24-Pin power connector
• 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
  
• CPU / System / Power / NB FAN connectors
  
• CD-in connector
  
• Clear CMOS jumper
  
• Chassis intrusion switch connector
• IrDA infrared module header
  
• Serial port connector
  
• Front panel audio connector
• Front panel connector
• 3 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 6 ports
• 1 x Floppy disk drive connector
  
• 7 x Serial ATAII connectors
  
• 1 x ATA133 connector
  
• 1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 port
• 1 x D-Bracket 2 pin header

Cables & Accessories

• 4 x SATA data cables
  
• 2 x SATA power cables
  
• 1 x Rounded IDE cable
  
• 1 x Rounded FDD cable
  
• 1 x 2-Port IEEE1394 rear bracket
• 1 x D-Bracket II rear bracket
  
• 1 x Rear I/O Shield (Patch Panel)
• 1 x User Manual
• 1 x QIG
• 1 x Driver/Utility CD

Form Factor
ATX form factor, 30.5 x 24.5cm

This is based on my personal views.

I’ve been using this board for six months now & I’m very pleased with what it offers me. The specifications that I am using to review are these, & you may note that this is a fairly above average system. But when you add Sri Lanka to the equation this is a very high end pc.

MSI P965 Platinum (v1.0)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
1x 1GB Kingston KVR 667MHz DDR2 RAM
Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATA2
Asus GeForce 7600GT 256MB
Samsung 18x DVD-Super Multi Drive
ViewSonic VA1912WB – 19” W-LCD
Logitech KB & Mouse

Notes:
My PSU is a generic 450W unit, something more like an unbranded one. Sri Lankans knows about these well. In my system I use 2 system fans & a HDD cooler.

Ok. Let’s start with the show shall we.

When I first got this board it was a real beauty to look at. Because of the casing I had, I ran into some problems when I tried to install the board. I’d to remove all the pin-like stuff on the patch panel before I could mount it in the casing. After putting all of this together, I came across several flaws of the design. There was a big cable clutter in the bottom half of the system. This would most likely because of the shortness of my casing, but I’d like if the placement of the d-bracket header to be somewhere near the left edge.

Also the 24pin ATX connecter could’ve been in the top. The floppy connector also should’ve been moved to the bottom near the IDE connector, considering the long length of the supplied cable. In my case, the FDD is right on-top the FDD connector, thus adding more cable clutter.

There’s one other thing that I’d like mention, the Southbridge, though there’s a heatsink, tends to get hot. Maybe it’s the MSI logo plate and the heatsink that gets hot. The Northbridge is cooler, no a hint of heat in it. Though I’d really like if both these heatsinks would have been made from copper for better heat dissipation.

Let’s move on and start the pc.

First thing is to head on-to the BIOS. This uses the AMI BIOS, though many reviews complain for not using AWARD BIOS, I find this extremely easy to navigate & find necessary features. If you have used old PII/P3 PCs then this would comfort you.

The board originally comes with v1.1 BIOS which has some glitches in it. Take this example:

If the boot sequence is set to CD/DVD prior to HDD (where the o/s normally would be) & a non bootable CD/DVD is inserted or even if the drive's empty the system would hang & say "No bootable device found….. (You know the rest.)" & press any key to continue. After pressing the key it will boot to the next option set i.e. HDD in this instance.

This has been fixed from BIOS v1.2 onwards, and some more issues have been fixed. The system also works a bit faster than the original 1.1. At this writing I’m using v1.4 BIOS, which has added the support for Windows Vista & Intel’s 1333 FSB CPU line-up & Core 2 Quad CPU support.

This board also supports USB booting. But inside the BIOS boot sequence it’s a little bit different. Let me explain.

If you go to the boot sequence selector, without any USB ‘Storage’ devices, you won’t be able to see/set the USB boot priority. But if you have plugged in an USB drive & then gone to the BIOS, in the boot sequence selector you will see your drive. Once you removed it & if you go back to the BIOS again, the USB selection won’t be there.

Say if you’ve set the 1st boot device to the USB, removed the drive, came to the boot selection, then the dive that was selected earlier for this position will be there. But don’t worry, if you plug the USB drive in again, & went to the boot selection, the 1st boot device would be your USB device. So, you won’t have to set it all the time.

Now let’s look at the utility CD.

After installing windows, you’d always need to install the drivers. All the drivers needed are in the CD, with some other software’s & MSI’s own utility set. You can install the drivers via the auto-play menu, which is an intelligent one, which shows what drivers you have installed & what have not.

But the included JMicron drivers do not work, the installer crashes. This has been reported by many, and I myself had gone through this problem. I even tried a manual installation, but it didn’t work.

The reason this is important is that the IDE/PATA port is controlled via a JMicron chip and to get the full operability of any kind of a drive connected to it, the drivers are a must. I’ll give a clear example. For me to write 4GB of data to a DVD @ 8x speed, it took me 1hr 40mins without the drivers. Whereas after installing, 8mins for the same amount of data at the same speed & disc. Even Windows gets a little un-responsive when trying to read discs, without the drivers.

There’s one more thing that I noted. In the installation of the JMicron drivers, it asks to which type the drivers should be, SCSI or IDE. The SCSI driver has no problems (that I’ve encountered), but the IDE driver has a minor glitch. The system gets unresponsive till the DVD/CD identification finishes. Other than that the data transfer rates are at the fullest in either pack. (I use the SCSI pack).

Everything else works like it’s supposed to be. The supplied utilities are great too. You should note that some utilities are not shown in the menu though. You have to manually browse for them.

Let’s check about the over-clocking potential of this board.

I tried OC’ing this board with its original BIOS (v.1.1). with a little tuning of voltages I only manage to hit FSB 330. After updating to v1.4 (I didn’t have time to check with versions 1.2 & 1.3) I manage to hit FSB 350. after that the system won’t boot at all. The reason behind this is mostly my RAM, because it’s a Value-RAM. It is great to know that this ram’s able to stay stable at 350FSB because many say they are surprised. These OC’ing I did is with 1:1 ratio of FSB:DRAM speeds. That means the RAM is running at 700MHz from 533MHz. If I let the RAM run at 667MHz, then the ratio would be 4:5 FSB:DRAM. So it’s a lot.

I am hoping to upgrade my RAM to DDR 800 OC’ing friendly RAM’s. After that I’ll update the blog with the results.

Also, I’d like to note that many reviews on the net are based on either BIOS v1.0 (Pre-release/Prototype Board) or v1.1, which doesn’t have much of an OC’ing potential. (take my case).

Well, you might be thinking about benchmarks now. But I’m sorry folks I don’t know how to test only the board, because I’m not those kinds of people who does product reviewing regularly.

Well, here we are at the end. All I can say is that it’s been real pleasure working on this board. It has plenty of features, has a stable platform, and a great performer. It’s a must have for the mid-range motherboard class. You’ll never regret having this board. It’s a guarantee.

I'm Back......

Hi Everyone. After a long pause, i'm back. in the next few days, i'l be putting up some new posts. enjoy reading them. t.c

AMD Processors on top of the world.

In the latest processor rankings AMD turned out to be on top of every Intel CPU of the same level. The most astonishing fact is AMD CPU's generates less heat than its Intel counterparts. AMD was formerly known as a heat king whereas now it's shifted to Intel's side. Comparing the Intel's flagship the Pentium 840EE generates 345W on load whereas AMD's flagship the Athlon X2 4800+ only generates 220W of heat on load. Which in turn tells us that AMD CPU's are more efficient than Intel CPU's.

In terms of power saving, AMD tops the ranking list with its 'Cool n Quiet' technology, which automaticaly detects loads and adjusts CPU functions accordingly. Even though Intel has developed a technique called ESS or 'Enhanced Speed Stepping', it is no way near the AMD's C'n'Q performance.

There are several new technologies used by both camps. The dual-core technology is the latest trend in both but AMD has an advantage by integrating 64-bit technology to all their current CPU's. Currently only a handful of softwares support the multithreading capability of a dual core CPU. If you have the budget, it's better to opt for AMD Dual Core CPU. On the otherhand there're many programmes available in the market which have been written to use 64bit technology where it's available. Since AMD uses this, the performance level of PC using this rises drastically.

The Dual Core technology used by both camps are the same but the approach is different. Intel fixes two seperate CPU's with it's own L2 cache on a silicon wafer and connects each other later. But on the other hand AMD fuses the two cores inseperably to the wafer. It uses a method called Hyper Transport to communicate with each core and with any other device connected to the north bridge DIRECTLY, which inturn improves performance in a big way.

Here are some charts for you to see which CPU is the best for your needs.

Happy New Year Everyone!

HP DeskJet 3845 - Review.

When you first see the printer you'd probably say 'I don't think it delivers what it says'. But after using it you'll be amazed at what it is capable of.

The printer is very small and utilizes very little space. Ideal for offices and homes, where space is a concern. Also this little marvel is lightweight. Infact it can be lifted easily with one hand only.

The cartridges survive a long period. I printed 20 pages of heavy graphics and text, and surprisingly only about 1/10th of the ink level indicator dropped. Comparing with other models, this is low compunction. A word about the indicator, it's not the best I've seen. The Epson indicator gives us separate estimated levels for each colour, whereas the HP only gives us one level of estimation for all three colours.

The print quality is very high even in 600dpi mode. The detail level is so very accurate even the smallest details are visible. Compare this with a Epson printer, HP is way up high. The little dots that an Epson printer makes is nowhere to be found.

The responsiveness of the printer is praisable. Almost as soon as the print command is given, it starts to print, even though the interface is USB.

The only glitch that I've seen so far is that when the printer loads the paper to print, it gives out so much of noise. But the printing process is very quiet, comparing to an Epson Stylus 460. Other than that this is great printer to work with.

For more details about the printer please visit http://www.hp.com/.

And the final conclusion:
If you want to buy a printer for mostly home use and a one that delivers more to the price you paid, well, this is it folks. The best there is for this range of price and a top of the line in its category.

Sirasa Super Star: The 1st ever reality tv show in sri lanka!!!

Sirasa Super Star:The 1st ever reality tv show in sri lanka!!!

Sandu's Blog on Sirasa Super Star.

Sandu's Blog on Sirasa Super Star.

To see many opinions on this matter i hghly recomend this blog. Pls take some time to read this.

IT Times - Review

This is the first computer related magazine in English, published in Sri Lanka. The first issue was released in April 2005, and soon it became a hit among many computer enthusiasts and information seekers.

I've collected all of the issues released up to now, and the review will be based on the last few issues.

The magazine improved very much from what it was in the early issues in every way. Presentation and layout is very impressive. Much more homely for a geek I must say. The content inside is unmatched by any other computer magazine published in Sri Lanka.

I think many PC lovers have tried the 'Wijaya Pariganaka', the computer magazine published in Sinhala. Now it repeats what was published years ago, which I stopped reading. And comparing the two magazines, IT Times is 500% better than that.

The IT Times covers many important aspects of today’s computer needs. For example the magazine covers dot NET (.NET), x-HTML programming, using Linux etc. Also it gives us much info about the latest developments and trends such as the one I'm using right now - blogging. What the people in our country need is info like these, not MS Excel or Word. There are enough books that teach us these at a low price.

So the young team has focused on the right things at right time. I really appreciate the lack of interviews the magazine has, because nobody really reads them unless it is a must. Many people I know skips the interview part. But sadly I must say that the magazine has started to do the same as the early issues.

The magazine began several good articles but now only a few flows like a river. Commenting on articles, the article on dot NET is only understandable to someone who has a prior knowledge on dot NET. I'm saying this because I've a good knowledge about VB 6 but I don't get a single thing what that article says. Also the article on 3D-MAX, it’s an utter confusion to a beginner, and when reading the article you feel that the writer is in some sort of a rush. Teaching in that manner is unsuccessful. The articles on other stuff are much better.

The best articles I've read so far are the ones on Google, Google vs. Yahoo, blogging, Ubuntu Linux and several others more.

The one thing that this magazine annoys me is it’s never on time. Most of the time it’s late about a month, in Kandy. I still haven't been able to find the March issue (today is 29th of March)

If anyone wants to polish their computer skills this is right magazine at the right price. And unlike any other magazine, this even looks professional. So what are you waiting for, go and get your copy now. I'll guarantee that you'll be satisfied with what you have.

Cover Pages, Article Layout &Index Layout of the magazine

Nokia 6021 - Review

This is a great phone to work with. Very hard build, high durability and a great looker. The design is similar to the Nokia 6020.
This model has many wonderful features like Bluetooth, IR, polyphonic ring tones, built in PTT, e-mail and chat (like yahoo chat) facilities etc.

This is a triband GSM phone and works on most networks. Uses a BL-4C battery and has great lifetime. Talk time is about 3-4hrs and standby time is approx. 10 days. The screen is 128x128px which gives only a limited vision. The phone runs on the old Symbian S40 OS which is another drawback for a late 2005 model. And this has only a limited built in memory of 2.3MB.

Connecting with other devices is a hassle free task because this has all the popular interfaces. IR & Bluetooth will give unlimited access and functionality. And cable method to connect to a PC. Easy plug n play function and once the phone is connected to the PC via cable or Bluetooth the PC Suite automatically detects and sets the necessary settings for the phone.

Talking about the multimedia side, this aint the greatest one for the price. This only supports MIDI - 16 channel output and AMR formats only. Audio reproduction is quite ok, but should have made it better. The voice recorder lets you to record any conversation up to 5 minuets at a time. Other than that the recorder is no good because the recording quality is so very low.

The audio level for ringing is not enough if you're in a high noise area. plus the vibrator is no good if you're on the move. Also, wav files and large MIDI files are unsupported.

A phone of this type misses two vital components, a camera (that’s right people this doesn't have a camera) and the radio. Even without the camera I’d love if there was a radio.

The standard features that Nokia offers are here except one. The famous Snake game isn't anywhere near to be found. All the other features like the calendar, notes etc. are still available.

The conclusion -
A great phone for the value, very durable and a very stable one. Has a few drawbacks compared with other brands, but hey, it’s Nokia. That’s a go for it.

ET - Exceptional Talents

ET - one of the best college shows in Kandy. It's all about raw talent that Trinitians have. That’s right people; all who perform here are Trinitians. The show contains dramas, skits, and lots of musicals. The musicals vary from everyday songs to never heard rock songs (sometimes heavy metal) to original tracks composed by our own guys. ET started last year as a "Tsunami Relief" fund raiser, and this is the second installment to the name.

The bands that should perform are carefully selected among many others by each and everyone going through an audition. The selected few are the best of all. Last year's episode had two major bands performing, Realive (aka Haritha) and Blend. Both of these bands became 1st runners up in the 2004 Talent Search competition.

Last year's show was a hit among the boys but the ladies kinda hate it (That's natural and that's what us Trinitians are good for). Anyways the second ET went public on Saturday 25th March, from 6pm onwards. The show was a success except for one small glitch. Many ladies stayed at home to watch the final round of the Sirasa Superstar. So the crowd was a bit less than usual. Except for that everything went like clockwork. The show came to an end at about 10.15pm and everyone had a satisfying evening.

One Minuite A/L Paper

Click on the above picture to enlarge it.
Well, why don't you try this. If you can't figure out the answers click HERE.

Trinity vs St.Anthony's One Day Match

TCK vs SACK one day match came to an end by TCK losing to SACK. The crowd was astonished when SACK took the victory from the previous week victors. SACK scored 150 odd runs when all of the last wicket fell. But in return TCK was only able to score 120 odd runs before their last wicket fell, making SACK the winners. As many viewers say TCK took too easy on the opponents. This is clearly seen when SACK bowlers gave TCK 33 odd extras to their inning. More details of this match will be updated shortly.

Gayani's Blog

Gayani's Blog

A place that you'll find some interesting codes and snippets. nice to see something like that.

Trinity vs. St. Anthony’s Big Match

Trinity vs. St. Anthony’s 90th annual Big Match started on the 10th with Trinity batting first. At the end of the days play TCK scored 242runs for 9 wickets and declared. SACK in return scored 111 all out for their 1st innings on the 11th Little while after the 2nd innings started, rainfall made the damage and the play was stopped.

The scores are as follows:
1st Innings
TCK 242/9 dec.
SACK 111 all out.

Bowling:
Sachith Pathirana 6/42
Charitha Dumbarange 2/33.

2nd innings.
SACK 16/0 in 2.3ovrs

The match came to a conclution at this point due to rainfall.

Sri Lankan A/L's

The A/L’s now have a fixed date. 22nd May, is the officially announced day. Rumor has it that though the date is fixed there’s chance for it to get delayed.