Data Recovery and Restoration

Most of us have been there. Hard drive fails in some way and you can’t access your files. If you’re like me, you store files for clients on an external hard drive. If you’re lucky, you have a friend who knows what (s)he is doing and can help. Otherwise you have to spend a fortune on hoping that you will get your files back.

Years ago, I was told that there was no way of getting the files off the hard drive, so I accepted it and just started over. I didn’t have much anyway, but that’s not the point. If I had some extremely important files on there, I would want to pay someone expecting my files to be returned to me.

In case this ever happens to me again, I bookmarked Flashback Data. Even though I backup files from my hard drive to DVDs, there could be a gap of time since the last backup. If something happened to my hard drive, I’d lose files.

Flashback Data has a room that is a Class 10 for recovering damaged disks. You can read more about what Class 10 means. Looks like they really care about their business and customers. They claim to have the most advanced technology in Data Recovery. I would say they can recover data from just about any operating system, or at least most.

Flashback Data even offers a “No Risk Data Recovery”. This means if they don’t recover your data, they refund your evaluation fee. That’s a nice deal! More reason for them to try even harder to recover your data!

Of course, there is no guarantee that they can recover your files for you, but if they are that important to you, Flashback Data may be worth a try. And, if you have a hard drive emergency, just contact them and they will get you started!

Have any of you used Flashback Data for data recovery? If so, let me know how it went.

Sponsored by Flashback Data

WordPress 2.5 New Security Feature

Chris Kasten from Solo Technology wrote about a new security feature found in WordPress 2.5 that a lot of you upgrading may have missed.

WP 2.5 introduced a “security key” that you add to your wp-config.php file. When I upgrade, I don’t touch that file, and there you go. Missed.

I usually check that file after an upgrade, but I didn’t this time. That’s what I get for being lazy! So, thanks to Chris, I was able to add the security key.

How do you add the security key? It’s easy, in fact even the updated wp-config.php file tells you where to go. Head to the WordPress site and it will generate one for you automatically.

What does it do?

Doing this will invalidate all your logins, so everybody on your site will have to relogin, but doing it will greatly increase the cookie strength of WordPress 2.5. This means that your login cookies, if intercepted, won’t be able to be reproduced as easily. It also means that somebody who gains read-only access to your database through some other means won’t be able to login to your site.

Chris says more about this on his blog. I recommended reading it so you don’t miss this important security feature!

A Couple Cool Gadgets

I can’t even count how many times I couldn’t find the remote control. Partly due to my oldest son moving it around and eventually it’s hidden in the couch or recliner or someplace else. It is a little harder finding it in the couch, because it has just one long cushion.

Looking for the remote also wastes so much time when you just can’t find it where it usually ends up. My sons’ father put something on one remote, like a key finder that would beep. That didn’t last long since the thing broke on it, so the remote was lost again.

The Jumbo Universal Remote Control would be a time saver! And probably easier to push the buttons without hitting another one by mistake. The Big Remote is huge. I don’t mean huge as in slightly larger than the average sized one with larger buttons. It looks really big next to a baby.

Although, my oldest son might think it would be fun to play with, so I’d have to give him a new toy so he wouldn’t try to hide it! He loves remote controlled vehicles (like a dump truck), so the Remote Control Forklift would be perfect for him.

The Remote Control Forklift is so cute. It comes with four little orange cones, a pallet and a crate for lifting. Watch the video below to see how fun this forklift looks! My son has too many toys, I want one!

Now, if only the forklift was big enough to lift up the remote control! They would go great together!

Sponsored by Vat19

A List of 25 Lists

Lists seem to be very popular and attracts readers. (Not why I am writing this list.) I thought I would check out some lists with at least 50 or more to see what people have come up with. This was actually harder than I thought it would be. Here are 25 that I found:

1. Top 50 ‘Sesame Street’ Moments
2. Top 50 iPhone Applications
3. Top 50 Eco Blogs
4. 155 WordPress Resources, Tutorials, Plugins, Themes, AJAX, Podcasting…WP Monster List
5. Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy – and Their Open Source Alternatives
6. Top 50 Free WordPress Themes
7. Top 50 Resources for Getting a Cheap Flight
8. Wide Open VoIP: Top 50 Open Source VoIP Apps
9. Top Best 50 Blogger & WordPress Customization Tips (Hacks)
10. Top 50 Worldwide Most Influential Blogs of April
11. Top 50 Classical Blogs, Using 4 Different Methods
12. Top 50 Pictures Taken at Just the Right Time
13. Top 50 Graphic Design Blogs
14. Top 50 Apps That Fit on a USB Drive
15. 50 Most Popular Web Design Blog Posts, Resources & Cheat Sheets of 2007
16. The Freeloader’s Toolbelt: 50 Tools to Help You Get Anything Free Online
17. Top 50 Logo Design Tutorials
18. Top 50 Productivity Blogs (most of which you haven’t heard about)
19. 50 Tips, Tweaks and Hacks to Make the Most of Google Calendar
20. The World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs
21. 50 Reasons to Switch from Microsoft Windows to Apple’s Mac OS X
22. Web Design Toolbox: 50+ Tools for Web Design
23. The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need
24. 50 Great Widgets For Your Blog
25. INSTANT MESSAGING TOOLBOX: 90+ IM Tools

If you want to create a top 10, 20, 50, 100, etc. list, you need to be able to do your research and have plenty of time available. Here are five tips for creating captivating lists. Top 50 ‘Sesame Street’ Moments is one example of tip five for creating captivating lists:

Ever try Video? Lists are not only meant to be done in text so I suggest you add some flavor into your routine by putting out a list using video. Video is different, fun and allows you to share the inner actor in you.

I know there are a lot more lists than what I listed, but I wasn’t trying to include them all. If there’s one you like that I didn’t include, please leave a comment.

Theme/Blog Update

I decided to move away from the magazine layout and go back to the blog layout. I also decided to choose a different theme for this and I like it. I still like the old one, just wanted something new and different to go along with the new WordPress.

I’m still making sure there are no errors and changing things here and there, but you shouldn’t notice too much. I think the blog also loads faster than it did before.

I apologize for the lack of posts, but I’ve been really busy with work and it’s hard to make time to come up with new content to write about when most of the time I’m learning new things for work. I will not give up on this blog. Subscribe to the feed if you want to be notified when I write a new post, which shouldn’t be too long from now.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know by leaving a comment.