PowerQuest's New "Lost & Found" Recovers Deleted or Damaged Files - Demo (Review)

The patented software does not need to be installed prior to data loss.

Everyone does it. You push the wrong button, you lose a file. Or the Blue Screen of Death makes everything . . . disappear. Your children accidentally delete something. Or worse, a disgruntled employee reformats your hard drive.

PowerQuest's Lost & Found can recover your data from all of the above disasters. Lost & Found lets users recover damaged or corrupt files in the events of a disk crash, logical system failure or accidental data loss.

"Deleted or lost data can now be recovered regardless of how it was lost," said Scott Flinders, product marketing manager. "Lost & Found does not write to the damaged disk but simply reads the disk to find and recover the lost data-this guarantees that no further harm will occur to the damaged media."

Lost & Found recovers data in three easy steps. The user first indicates which drive the lost data is on and where the recovered files will be saved. Lost & Found then analyzes the drive and reports the odds of data recovery. And finally the user decides which directories or files to be recovered and how they should be organized. Lost & Found then saves the recovered files to the new media.

"With Lost & Found I was able to recover over 12,000 files. It's a great program-very impressive," said Tim Eichblatt of CTS Consulting. "What amazed me was that even though the FAT table had suffered physical damage, the software was still able to recover the bulk of my data from the hard drive."

Unlike traditional backup and recovery programs, Lost & Found does not need to be installed prior to the loss of valuable data. Once disaster occurs, Lost & Found can be run from a floppy disk and the data can be recovered. The program uses a menu-driven interface requiring minimal interaction.

The patent-pending technology in Lost & Found has helped simplify the data recovery process, making it faster and less expensive. Distinguishing features include a Smart Data Analysis that checks the disk media for damaged or corrupted sectors. Advanced Search and Find locates all files anywhere on a disk, as long as that file has not been overwritten. Filename Protection recognizes and preserves long file names when restoring directories or files. The Multi Disk Drive Support provides data recovery on all IDE, EIDE and SCSI disk devices including fixed, removable, floppy and optical. Lost & Found operates on both FAT16 and FAT32 and allows users to recover either by file, directory, or the entire disk.

High Speed Internet Access - Are you ready to go?
Our November meeting will be an open forum about high speed Internet access. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and Cable Modems have been around for some time and most of us are eager to jump on the bandwagon. As an introduction, here are some comments and questions from Internet users like you and me:

Question: We are thinking of switching to Pac Bell's DSL service, but we would like some feedback from other people who are using it before making the switch, since there is a rather stiff equipment fee ($198) and you have to sign up for a year to get the $49 a month rate. Does it work well and is it worth the extra money? MG.

Answer: I have had my Pacific Bell DSL connection for a couple of months and for the most part like it very much. They have just been through a period of three days where the DSL service was on and off quite a bit. You also get a dial up account with a local Napa number and that worked OK (the fastest connection I could get was 33.3 - my AOL account would connect faster). PacBell is advertising for their DSL service with the slogan "always on". I asked several people if PacBell was going to change that to always on when we can get it to work" or "almost always on" and could never get an answer.

When the service is working (which has been most of the time) it is very nice. There is no dialing! When you bring up your browser you are online. You get to see which WEB sites are slow or busy. Large sites with lots of server capacity are very fast.

I find I use the WEB a lot more. It is now practical to get several views of a map to the place I have to leave for in 10 minutes. I can look something up on the WEB without having to wait for the modem to dial, log on to my ISP and all that stuff. File downloads are a pleasure! Sometimes the file downloads so fast the status indicator bar does not have time to update.

I work out of my home and use the Internet to communicate with customers and transfer large files on a regular basis. I can justify the expense as part of my business. If you have a second line for Internet access and drop that line when you start DSL then you would save about $15.00 per month off of the $49.00. Is you are also paying $20.00 for an ISP then that has to come off of that also as the $49.00 includes pacbell.net Internet service. The installation fee includes a network card, DSL modem and assorted pieces and parts. The modem is not quite heavy enough to use as a boat anchor. Even if you left PacBell after a year for another DSL service my guess is that is all it would be good for. Network cards are going for $20.00 or so. The rest of the hardware is about $15.00 or $20.00 worth of stuff so you have to consider the most of the installation cost a write off.

There are questions of security. With dialup Internet access you get assigned a different IP address each time to log on by your ISP. With the "always on" DSL service you are assigned a permanent IP address which makes it easier for someone to find the location of your computer on the NET and get access to your files. I am not certain how real this threat is yet as I am still new to this DSL stuff. If this is a concern you can simply turn off your computer or your DSL modem and break the Internet connection. Both hardware and software "firewall" solutions are available but these things are just now being written about in the computer magazines and I am sure more information will be available soon.

The loss of service over the past few days is the first real problem I have
had with the PacBell DSL service. Other than a woman in the billing department who had a delusion about not working for the phone company the people I have dealt with have been very friendly and knowledgeable. I think in a year there may be other DSL services available in Napa for less money or with even faster access. I will evaluate all of that when my year is up. In the mean time the only time I hear my modem connecting it is to the remote computers I program (if I could only get them an Internet connection). TD.

Question/Answer: There has been some discussion of connection speed using dialup into AOL or another ISP. I recently found a WEB page that will calculate your useable connection speed or bandwidth.

If I dial in to AOL I get 33 kbps and 4 k bytes/sec.
DSL through AOL is 463.6 kbps and 56.8 k bytes/sec.
Direct DSL to the WEB site (pacbell.net) is 4080 kbps and 500 kbytes/sec.

Your mileage may vary!
Happy surfing. TD.

Linux Overview by Alan Baker, IBM

IBM PC Update; J.B. Burke 

The PC Industry is still moving at lightning speed - and IBM is right there with the best of them.  Come to our August meeting and learn what's new, what's different and what's the latest in the IBM Employee's Purchase Program (now handled by IBM Direct). We've got Consumer systems (Aptiva and ThinkPad) and we've got Commercial systems (PC Desktop, ThinkPad and PC Servers) to talk about.  Bring your questions.  Our speaker, J. B. Burke, will answer all he can. 

Remember - if a 66MHz 486X with a 400MB drive, 16MB of RAM and Win3.1 is your idea of a good time, you've been out of the market just a BIT too long.  (Think 500MHz and rising, 3D Graphics, DVD, 16GB drive and 128MB RAM!!!) 

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The Technology of Digital Cameras by Tony Andrews of LexarMedia

Lexar Media focuses exclusively on designing and marketing digital film for digital cameras. We offer CompactFlashTM, PC Cards, and SmartMediaTM products, the three industry-standard formats in widespread use by digital cameras today. Lexar also offers Digital Film Readers and PC Card Adapters which dramatically accelerate the transfer of images to your PC. CompactFlash(CF) memory is a plug-in, portable memory device built to industry standard specifications set by the CompactFlash Association (CFA). About the size of a matchbook and weighing less than 8 grams (less than one-third ounce), Lexar Media CompactFlash can work in all products built to the CFA standard. CF memory can be repeatedly erased and reused and doesn't require power to retain information, allowing them to be used as a rugged, removable storage solution for many portable computing, imaging and communications applications.

Lexar Media's CompactFlash provide sustained write times (data to flash) up to 600% faster than other flash memory products. This industry-leading performance allows digital camera users to take consecutive pictures faster.

Lexar Media also offers a complete line of SmartMedia digital film compatible with many of today's popular digital cameras. All Lexar products are 100% quality and performance tested, and provide you with Digital Film Compliance, assuring you compatibility with virtually all digital cameras.

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PageMill 3.0 by Adobe (member presentation)

With Adobe(R) PageMill(R) 3.0, creating Web pages has never been easier. You can build a well-designed, content-rich Web site without needing to learn HTML or master complex applications. A WYSIWYG interface provides a familiar environment for creating colorful, dynamic Web pages - and it's as easy-to-use as your favorite word processor. PageMill 3.0 uses drag-and-drop simplicity for adding and manipulating text, images, and hyperlinks. This allows for quick and easy integration with your current office and graphics applications, including Microsoft(R) Word, Corel(R) WordPerfect(R), Microsoft(R) Excel, Adobe Photoshop(R), Adobe ImageReady(R), and many others.

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The Revolution of PDF by Rick Altman

Adobe Acrobat is taking the world by storm. The defacto standard for creating viewable documents, PDF is also becoming the tool of choice at service bureas and pre-press houses. Come watch how CorelDraw and Ventura team up with Acrobat, with impressive and eye-opening results....

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Lego Robots by Ann Jones

The LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotic Invention System allows you to design and create real robots that do what you want them to. With the Robotics Invention System you can create everything from a light-sensitive intruder alarm to a robotic rover that can follow a trail, move around obstacles, and even duck into dark corners.

The LEGO MINDSTORMS concept is a natural extension of the LEGO Company's expertise in developing high-tech challenges for young minds. Since 1980, LEGO Dacta has created products that invite children to explore all levels of technology, from Simple Machines to the computer-controlled features of The Intelligent House. To develop cutting-edge products, the LEGO Company has cultivated partnerships with some of the top thinkers in the field, including the creation of the LEGO Chair in Learning Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

LEGO MINDSTORMS, giving kids the power of robotics at their command. Working with a PC and LEGO elements, they can now build and program intelligent inventions that move, act and think on their own.

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WebGear by Gary Betz

Wireless Networking Comes Home (From PC Magazine, October 20, 1998)

Rest easy, Martha Stewart. A home computer network is no longer a threat to interior design. WebGear's $169 Aviator Wireless Networking Kit lets you install a home network without the cable clutter.

The Aviator kit offers all the benefits of a traditional wired LAN. You can share files and system resources across as many as 32 PCs. More important, your PCs can share a single printer, scanner, and phone line.

It's a snap to set up your network. Just plug the RF transceivers into your PCs' parallel ports, and run the software. The transmission range is about 75 feet through walls, floors, and ceilings. Data transfer rates are only 300Kbps to 500Kbps (compared with 10Mbps to 100Mbps for wired networks), but we didn't notice any lag on a two-person network.

Another consideration: The Aviator kit broadcasts at the Federal Communication Commission's unlicensed 900MHz band. This could result in interference from cordless phones and other 900MHz devices.

We expect to see faster and cheaper networks of this kind in the future, but for now the Aviator Wireless Network Kit is a solid, simple way to connect your home. *

Rocket eBook (TM) by NuvoMedia, Jack Miller

The Rocket has landed.

About the size of a paperback, the Rocket eBook (TM) holds some 4,000 pages of words and images. About 10 novels. Weighing just 22 ounces, the Rocket eBook nestles easily in the curve of your palm and goes wherever you go - so you can take off in any direction and never be far from what you want or need to read. While the eBook itself is exciting, it also supports a new genre of electronic publishing.

One exceptionally nice thing about the eBook is that the user can change font, size, and orientation. Our speaker, Jack Miller, a much welcome speaker to our club on several past occasions, indicated that he will bring along a sample or two for us to see.

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