You can always count on computers...to let you down when you need them the most.

This morning, it was my wife that was having problems. She was TRYING to take her final exam for a distance class she was taking, and the printer driver kept crashing and she was having problems moving files between her laptop and her desktop computer, etc., etc. Took her an hour to print five pages.

Ugh!

I am so sick of computer problems. I am beginning to think "computers" should have been called "problems" from the beginning. That way, the connection would have been obvious and perhaps I never would have been interested in them. You see, I was always under the impression that computers were used to SOLVE problems.

Someone steered me wrong somewhere along the way.

Computers belong in a landfill. However, anything built on top of them would be highly unstable.

So, today I realized I couldn't do much without my files on the computer (i.e. can't put up any more ebay auctions, can't access my pictures, can't review old email, etc.), so while I was running around doing other things, I kicked off the file recovery program and had it recover my files. Again. In fact, I named the new disk, "Again".

I decided one thing I was doing wrong was that I kept assigning the drive letter of "F:" to my disk. I think that must be bad luck. "F" is for "failure." "F" is also for "Fucked" (with a capital "F"). So, my new (renewed, recovered, restored, re-created, resurrected) drive has been given the letter ... you guessed it! ... "K"!

K?

K:

OK. Well, I don't know what it stands for, but it has got to be better than F. Anyway, I just couldn't let the thing sit there and rot away (along with my sense of humor), so the restoration effort resumed. It took longer this time, because the partition data is basically gone, so the data recovery software had to scan the entire drive just to collect the file information and build the representative directory tree in the display. That took an hour. In that time, I built a box to ship one of my ebay items in, and also took some pictures with my digital camera that has a dead "InfoLithium" battery in it (that gives me a whopping 5 or 6 minutes of operation).

Once the directory tree was available, I selected the directories I wanted to restore. This time, I elected to exclude all the system-generated folders (like "System Volume Information" and "WUTemp", etc.). I am suspicious that Mickeysoft operating systems such as Windows XP Pro might be getting indigestion when I restore those files. I let the file recovery process do its thing and it ran for about five hours and never once prompted me for any weird problems like before. Perhaps leaving those system files behind (especially the RECYCLER directory) did the trick.

Well, the files are all back. I ran my own utility (that I wrote during the past couple weeks) to compare against previous restore operations to see if any files were missing, and they are all accounted for, so things are looking good. The data recovery software just prematurely stopped (it has done this to me before) with 3007 files to go, but I restarted it to pick up the remaining 3007 files that were still selected, and that brought the total to what it was supposed to be - 646759 files recovered. And they're all accounted for, so I guess it worked. That's a lot of files!

Now the trick is to see how long it will continue to work. I am suspicious of the RAID controller I am using, so I am going to stop using it. I am going to write my own utility or service to just maintain a backup copy of my main drive on a second drive. Screw this crap that keeps breaking its own ribs and bleeding on itself for no known reasons. If I write it, I know it will work.

The thing that blew me away today was that when I put in another disk in my computer earlier today (the one that is now drive K:), Disk Manager popped up a wizard that was telling me all the benefits of how I could create a dynamic disk to establish all these nifty fault-tolerant configurations - LIKE MIRRORING! - yet it never once said anything anywhere about how Windows XP Pro JUST CAN'T DO IT!

Ugh! I will never get over that! I will never forgive Microsoft for that! Well, that and the fact they even exist. But enough of that. My files are back, and I am a little bit happier. MUCH happier, in fact! Happier that they are not completely gone. But then again, now that they exist (again), they will require more of my time and attention. But right now, all I am focused on is ebay. And this blog, for whatever reason. Maybe I am supposed to pursue a career in data recovery. Seems to be a theme in my life. Hmm... Maybe I can email my psyche to a shrink and see if s/he can recover it.

The next step in this process (DOWN THE ROAD!) is to expand my utility program to identify and consolidate duplicate files and to dispose of the files I don't need (like the operating system files that got copied from all my other drives that I archived). But I think before I do that, it's time to go back to writing my screenplay and recording audio tapes and starting to shoot some video, etc., etc. Maybe even fly a model airplane - something I haven't done in a while!

Get out! Get out of this box! See the world! Or, whatever that is that I see out my window.

Oh, by the way, I had this auction on ebay for a couple Amiga 2000 computers that I have. I made it painfully clear (there are six references to it in my auction) that the auction was for pick-up only, and the items would not be shipped. Excuse me - rather, I noted that the items would NOT BE SHIPPED!

So, what happened? Some guy from Arkansas chose the Buy It Now option and is now trying to convince me to ship it.

No comment.

Oh, yeah. Did I happen to mention that the "InfoLithium" battery in the digital camera died, too? Oh, and the batteries in the portable telephone are crappy, too. Not to mention I am trying to offload an old Amiga 2000 computer that has a battery soldered to the motherboard...that is beginning to corrode. And I just dumped a box of old bad NiCd batteries off at the battery recycling drop a couple days ago.

Computers and batteries. Hmm. COMputers + BATteries = COMBAT? That's it! Now it all makes sense!

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The universe must really hate me. It does not want my past to exist. No matter what I try, no matter what I do, this hard drive situation just does NOT want to cooperate!

No more than mere minutes after my previous blog entry did I get bitten again. This time harder than the first time. Jesus, WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?! I was moving some files around after successfully establishing RAID 1 and -POP!- a message came up telling me an event had been detected by the RAID controller. I looked at its log and it said the primary master device (MY MAIN DRIVE!) on adapter 0 was dropped due to a port error ("Request Timed Out"). The file system appeared to be intact, as I was still able to navigate around, so I figured a reboot would be enough to correct the problem.

Reboot.

The OS loads once again to reveal its characteristic NOTHING where my data used to be. GOD DAMN FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!! So, now I'm back to data recovery mode. However, I want nothing to do with it. I am so convinced that this is a sign. Maybe my past isn't worth it. Something is trying to kill it. Something is trying to prevent me from spending any time with it (or, perhaps, is trying to get me to WASTE ALL OF MY TIME with it). So, now I'm thinking, what the hell is my life all about, anyway? Why did I spend so much of it creating shit that is just going to get flushed in the end? Apparently, I will outlive my creations. Fuck technology! It has been such a waste of my life and I have nothing to show for it.

Fuck it.

Fuck it raw.

About all computers are good for is wasting time. They rank right up there with television. Anyway, I have spent the last couple of hours digging shit out of my shop and throwing it away and putting it in boxes for the thrift store and the yard sale next week. I loaded a ton of CRAP in my car to drop of at the thrift store tomorrow. Good riddance. I'll also be unloading some MORE CRAP at the recycling center, and possibly tossing EVEN MORE CRAP into any empty garbage cans I can find.

I'm tired of the past hanging around. It is time to let it be forgotten. All I want are my model airplanes and a place to fly them. I don't go to the robotics club anymore (too frustrating). I don't tinker a whole lot with electronics anymore (too complicated). I never talk on my ham radio (what would I say except, "FUCK YOU BILL GATES YOU FUCKING USELESS ASSHOLE SHIT HEAD DORK ORIFICE!"). And then I would lose my amateur radio license. All I can think that I really want to do, is fly. Today, I realized there are times when there is simply no room for a sense of humor. Mine completely ran out. I guess there comes a time in [every?] man's life when he needs to just say, "get the FUCK out of my way!" and mean it.

WHO KNOWS, FOLKS?! This could be the end of my Computer Circus blog. I have no intentions of pursuing my data recovery efforts anymore. I'm just not caring about my past right now. Maybe that will change in time, and maybe there will come a time when I am willing to spend my time in another recovery effort, but right now, the time has come to put it aside for some time. After all, time is what it is all about. And computers rob me of that. I guess free time is a precious resource. I wouldn't know, however - I'VE NEVER SEEN ANY!!! Getting off this damn thing will be a new experience for me. I can't wait for my ebay auctions to end!

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Although I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing most of the time, I had fun on the set of the independent film that was being shot last Saturday. I was there about 16 hours - it was a long day. I learned a few things just from watching, and I also got to partake as an extra, so I got some on-camera time.

Woo hoo!

Anyway, back to the Computer Circus. I am STILL working to restore the damage done by my attempt to create a RAID 1 (mirror) setup on my computer. Last night, I was determined to find out what happened, exactly, so I did some further testing. I happened to have two other 1 GB drives that I was not using, so they became my test subjects.

I tried to repeat the process as closely as I could to mimic what happened to my main drive. I set up one drive to be a dynamic disk with compression enabled. Sure enough, when I rebooted and configured the RAID controller for RAID level 1, the volume disappeared from the operating system - just like what happened with my main drive! Any and all attempts to reactivate it, failed. Just like the other one! The one thing I did differently, however, was that I allowed the mirror copy operation to complete. This made no difference. When my main drive disappeared, I immediately interrupted the update, because I thought it was copying in the wrong direction. This test verified what I had already come to suspect - that I had done everything correctly, but it just doesn't like dynamic disks.

So the next test was to try the same scenario on a basic disk. I separated the mirror and blew away what was left of the dynamic disk and reformatted it as a basic disk, and created a couple of test text file (just to put some data on the drive). I rebooted, configured RAID 1, and loaded the OS. NO PROBLEM! The volume didn't disappear from the system, and the mirror copy operation completed without a hitch, and the test files I created on the drive were still there.

The interesting thing was what I did next. Once RAID 1 was established, I went into Disk Manager and attempted to convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk. It was unable to do so! It reported that there was not enough space on the disk to perform the operation.

Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, reserves space at the end of a disk (when formatted with an appropriate operating system!) JUST IN CASE you want to convert the disk to a dynamic disk at some point in the future...whether or not you actually ever do. This means that even if you create a basic disk, it does not allocate the entire free disk space to a partition (if you create a partition to use the whole disk). However, if you create a dynamic disk or convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, then an LDM database is created in this unallocated space at the end of the disk.

Dynamic disks do not make use of the partition table found at the beginning of basic disks. However, because the computer still needs to know how to boot, dynamic disks carry a kind of spoofed partition table at the beginning of the disk to tell the BIOS where the boot partition is. All the disk structure information is contained in the LDM database at the end of the disk.

What appears to be happening with the RAID controller is that as soon as RAID level 1 is established, it either adds some information of its own to the end of the disk, or resizes the main partition to consume the entire free space (including the area that Microsoft reserves for the LDM database). Therefore, if you are trying to mirror a dynamic disk, it corrupts the LDM database and the volume can no longer be mounted. And if you mirror a basic disk, you cannot convert it to a dynamic disk (NOT THAT I WOULD EVER WANT TO AGAIN!), because there is no room to put the LDM database.

Now, what I don't understand is that the whole idea behind dynamic disks is that they contain all the information about their configuration (including assigned drive letter, etc.) in the LDM database so the disk could be moved to another computer and it would show up just the same (not that I ever had any problem with that with basic disks). Also, dynamic disks are supposed to support fault-tolerant configurations. So, why, then, does Windows XP Pro, which supports dynamic disks as well as having functionality for managing REMOTE fault-tolerant configurations (on Windows 2000 servers), NOT support fault-tolerant configurations on ITSELF?! WHY?!?!

Just imagine all the spewing, spiteful rage and hate that Microsoft could have avoided if they just allowed me to have a good day! I have to wonder if Microsoft has ever been introduced to the concept of simplicity. I imagine it must have been brought up in an engineering meeting at one point, but it was probably rejected. And the radical engineer who proposed it probably works for Borland, now, making tools that are actually usable.

All is [apparently] well in the end. It better be, anyway. I finally got the RAID 1 configuration up and running, and the drive that contains all my life's work is now being copied to its mirror drive as I write this text. It is 55% done. Once it is done, I will then be free to clean up some files that I have shuffled around in the process, and I can put away the programs I wrote to validate my file integrity, save all my critical files to DVD or CD and put them in a vault somewhere, and be ready for the next disaster that awaits me. But have no fear - the Computer Circus always presents new and unexpected acts. In fact, I just this moment heard a click and it sounded like a drive spun down. This may be normal, as I did enable the power saving options so idle disks are powered down (I think it is my C: drive), so I will refrain from screaming and throwing things until I know for sure.

I'll be right back...

I'm safe! It was the C: drive. I just had to open "My Computer" to access the drive, and it came back online. I should probably extend the time-out period to prevent the drive from turning on and off so frequently (I think it is set for ten minutes). Occasionally, the mysterious Microsoft operating system will do things in the background that result in an access to C: all by itself, causing it to wake up again.

Stay tuned for the next act. Hopefully, the next one will be a good one!

Today I begin building momentum toward my new career. At least that is how I am going to look at it. I am off to assist in a film production in Alameda. I know I am going to have fun, because I won't be sitting in front of the computer all day! It's 7:00 and the sun is peeking through the trees. I can't remember the last time I was up this early. I don't know if it feels good, yet, or not. I guess I'll know when I wake up.

The day beckons.

I just know that if Bill Gates stole some better technology, or if any one of the other better technologies prevailed in the beginning, life on the computer would be SO MUCH BETTER than it is today! There is no end to which this incredibly convoluted Microsoft operating system astounds me.

Last week, I had a near-death experience, whereby over 120 GB of data disappeared from my system, because the "dynamic" disk it was stored on suddenly became unreadable by Windows XP Pro. According to the literature I have read, dynamic disks are supposed to be more fault-tolerant and more easily recovered. I would much rather settle for a disk that is simple and readable.

I got a REALLY BAD FEELING in my gut when I converted the basic disk to a dynamic disk (before I knew anything about dynamic disks), and felt nervous about it since I also discovered the conversion was a one-way trip.

But I have found even more to hate about the operating system. Things are getting so complicated under the hood that it is amazing - ABSOLUTELY AMAZING - that anything works at all! I was having difficulty with the buggy data recovery software I was using to recover my files (that I was unable to access only because Microsoft's own operating system forgot how to read its own disk that it created). In the process of recovering files, I did a test. There was this " Metafiles" folder showing up (note the leading space in the name) that I have never seen before (it's one of those hidden file system things), and I did a partial recovery on it (only because I stopped the recovery process after I noticed the files being recovered even though I told the data recovery software not to recover them).

I made the mistake of attempting to take a peek at the recovered files, since they were showing up as visible files now on the drive. I launched Explorer and double-clicked on the drive, then on the directory, then...CLICK! Something clicked - I'm not sure what. The screen went blank. No blue screen or anything. Then the BIOS kicked in and the computer rebooted. It got all the way to the desktop, but then I couldn't do anything. Nothing worked. The Start menu wouldn't come up, I couldn't open Explorer...NOTHING!

WOW! I'd like to know what I did! Who need a virus when you have a Windows operating system? And Windows XP Pro nonetheless!

I had to boot into safe mode to a command prompt so I could go delete the " Metafiles" directory. That's when I discovered there was a leading space in the file name, because I was having a hell of a time trying to delete the directory, as the operating system kept telling me the stupid thing didn't exist.

I finally managed to delete the directory and all the meta files and was able to reboot and use the computer again. I won't go into the painful details of what I am encountering now with the data recovery software (their developers are looking at the problem, now), so I'll just leave it at.... <<<<< S I G H ! ! ! >>>>>

I came to the conclusion yesterday that I must never meet Bill Gates in person. If I do, I know I will lose all sense of self-control and will wind up in prison for the rest of my life. Then again, it might not be such a bad thing - I'd be a hero!

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The painful saga continues. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. More later...after I have SLEPT!

Man, I hope to NEVER have another day like this in my life! For the past few weeks, I have been consolidating all my files from all my computers - everything I have ever created (every program I have written, every document, every image, etc.). Basically, collecting my entire history onto one single hard drive.

It has been a major project, to say the least.

When I was a kid, I made a ton of various audio recordings. Mostly stupid stuff, but it represents my past - my history - and I am very fond of it, so I would like to preserve these silly recordings. I am not sure why, but I guess I just don't question my compulsions, much. I have so few. Basically, my whole life has revolved around computers...so now I am transferring all these audio recordings to disk.

But I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, so I figured it was time to establish a mirror setup so I have a backup copy of all this stuff in case anything should happen. GEE - NOT LIKE ANYTHING BAD EVER HAPPENS ON A WINDOWS SYSTEM!!!

Useless Microsoft!

In my ignorance, I set up this catch-all drive as a "dynamic" disk under Windows XP. This was before I knew anything about dynamic disks, and before I knew I couldn't convert the blasted thing back to a basic disk. So, I was stuck with a dynamic disk. According to Microsoft literature, dynamic disks are more fault tolerant - or at least are supposedly easier to recover. Well...I'LL BELIEVE THAT WHEN I SEE IT! Just not today.

After weeks of copying disks and audio tapes and waiting for a RAID controller card to come in the mail (after I learned you can use Windows XP Pro to administer fault tolerant configurations on remote Windows 2000 servers, but not on Windows XP Pro - what the heck? - I had no other option but to get a RAID controller), disaster struck. I went through a whole series of gyrations and tests, etc., etc., etc. to make sure I knew what I was doing before I connected my 120 GB hard drive full of data to this RAID controller and configured it for RAID level 1. But, sure enough - as sure as death, taxes and the wrath of Bill Hates (Gates???), as soon as I established the configuration, my drive disappeared from the operating system!

Somehow, this wonderfully recoverable, stable dynamic disk I had, full of my past history, was no longer readable by the operating system. Disk Administrator said it was offline, but would not allow me to reactivate it. Event Viewer showed two errors in the sytem log about the LDM (Logical Disk Manager) and how some "magic number" was missing (yes, those exact words were there), and these error messages had absolutely no additional information available for them (and a web search turned up NOTHING - leave it to me to get the worst of the worst).

Anyway, to make a long horror story short, I found and purchased (for $80! Ouch!) some data recovery software that was able to recover all my files from the disk. Well, we'll see. The file system was all intact, but Microsoft's own operating system that created it, simply couldn't read it anymore. Piece of dog doo-doo. Anyway, the restore operation has been going since 7:30 this evening, and it is now about 10:15 pm and is about half-way done. We'll see if it does its job, but I may not know for sure until Wednesday, because I am going to be away for the next four days. GREAT TIMING! Not like I'll be able to enjoy myself with this crap on my mind.

What's it all worth, anyway?

I'm re-thinking my entire life. The computer almost went out the window today (and it's a long way down). My chair flew across the room at least. Once this consolidation effort is done, I am archiving everything I value onto DVD, getting rid of every computer except one (and my Linux box that never seems to so much as gurgle, except when I trip over it), and I am only ever going to use the computer for email and playing games. If even that. I will be pursuing a career in video production and will resume my hobby of flying model airplanes. NO MORE COMPUTER CRAP!!! Technology sucks. It takes the fun out of everything.

So there!

Well, the "thinning out" process has begun. I hope. My contract job ended, so I am now free again. I just sold my Dell computer to my friend Dave. I originally found a computer on Craig's List for him, and bought it, and was configuring that to give to him, but one thing led to another and it turned out that computer was a better fit for me. So, I decided to keep it for myself, and sell my Dell to Dave.

He got a good deal, and I am sad to see that computer go (I did a lot of development work on it for a project last year) and it was all configured with all my tools, etc. - stuff he'll never need. But now my "new" computer is getting loaded up. And I have been having fun with it in a brand new way. Brand new to me.

I have some old audio tapes that I recorded when I was a kid. Mostly stupid kid stuff, but I was rather prolific at creating sound effects and recording various things and stories I would make up - sometimes with friends. Anyway, amongst all the audio cassette tapes, I also had some old reel-to-reel tapes. I'm talking old. I recently found a tape player at a thrift store that would play them. So, I thought, why not get all the recordings copied into the computer where they will no longer degrade and so I can get rid of the bulk of tapes that I have?

So, that is what I have been doing. I used the tape player from the thrift store to play the smaller reel tapes, but I had some large reels I wanted to copy - reels that were much too large for the little thrift store acquisition. So, I went digging. In my closet was hiding an old reel-to-reel tape recorder that used to belong to one of my grandmothers. An old Panasonic. I never realized just how old it was until I opened it up over the weekend. It wouldn't rewind, so I expected to open it up and find a broken belt that I might be able to repair somehow. The belt was GONE (I must have removed it years ago - presumably after it broke), but I also noticed that it was awfully warm inside - warm enough to make me wonder why it was getting so warm inside.

Well, lo and behold, the amplifier inside the thing has electron tubes in it! I don't know why, but I just think that is SO COOL!!! I used to have an old tube amp...and a collection of electron tubes. They got left behind when I moved to California, unfortunately - otherwise, I probably could have sold them on ebay.

Drats!

Anyway, here is a picture of the old beast:


I also downloaded some free software to help me record the tapes into the computer and edit the resulting wave/mp3 files. I use the dBPowerAmp software (with the optional auxiliary input program) to record the audio (took me a while to get it configured properly and it is cumbersome to use because of the non-standard use of controls and lack of menu bars). The additional Power Pack add-in was buggy and caused the software to lock up, so I de-installed that. I then downloaded Audacity to use in editing the wave files, and that is pretty cool. It also has one or two annoying quirks due to non-standard (i.e. unexpected) behavior, especially when exiting the software.

It is so cool to me - something I wish I had as a kid when I was making all these silly audio recordings. One of the most interesting things is how I can go in and select a portion of a wave form and amplify it or change the speed or whatever. I amplified a section that looked like it had nothing (I could hear nothing), but when I amplified it, there was something there. I could hear the hum and the characteristic rattling of the filament and/or plates of the electron tubes from the tape deck! I find that to be very fascinating. I also amplified a little blip that turned out to be me uttering a nasty word in a whisper. Surprising, to say the least. But fascinating!

Well, I have hours and hours and hours of tape to record (on cassettes). I have almost all of my reel tapes recorded already. I didn't have many of those. This old Panasonic reel-to-reel tape recorder just keeps on going. It is funny, because the cassette player I was going to play with next just quit working yesterday. It threw a belt. Those rubber belts in the modern machines either melt or get dry and crack. I had a replacement belt, but it was melted in the plastic bag it came in, so was useless. Yet this old Panasonic just keeps cranking...and it has a piece of string driving the take-up wheel! I guess there is something to be said for string and springs. In fact, the take-up reel was working too well - it had too much tension on it - so I added a spring to relieve some of that tension (I have a box full of tiny springs from old tape machines from my past).

One interesting piece of history I found on one of the tapes was a recording from the Flandrau Planetarium in Tucson, Arizona, when they used to have an astronomy and space news line you could call. They were talking about the "up-coming launch of the Voyager spacecraft." The two Voyager spacecraft launched in late 1977 and took a tour of the solar system (and are now the most distant man-made objects in space - and are still sending back data!).

So, now that and my past and my memories captured on tape are now being copied into my new computer:
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The computer that I sold to my friend Dave was called "Behemoth". I have named the new one "Borg". It is named Borg because it is assimilating my past. All of my software (programs, documents, etc.) that I have ever created have been copied from all my old computers and disks onto a large drive on this computer, along with the audio recordings that I am currently transferring.

Borg has a white CD-RW drive (I could swear I ordered a black one, but oh well). The CD-ROM drive above it came out of the Dell. This one originally had a black CD-RW drive in it, but I swapped it for the CD-ROM from the Dell so my friend could have the CD-RW drive, but then I wanted one, so I ordered a new one.

I ordered a RAID controller last week, but it has not arrived, yet (ARGH!). I want to make sure this big hard drive gets backed up in case something happens. I wouldn't want my creations to get lost. Once I get it all together, I will begin archiving everything to DVD. That way, all of my work, all of my creations, all of the thoughts I have recorded, all of my email...eeewww...will be preserved in digital form long after I am gone. But then, I guess I won't care at that point.

It's fun. Soon, Chris will be copying her recordings of the music she produced into the computer, and hopefully after that, we'll begin shooting some videos and doing some video production and editing. Woo hoo! Ugh - but it all just takes so much TIME!

Well, until next time... Enjoy the time you've got!