As I have said time and time again, no operating system is created equal, nor do they present themselves as better than another. Such a statement can be applied to Windows because, hopefully, everyone knows Windows is prone to crashing. If you haven’t backed up your important and even your not-so-important files recently, getting those files back can be a pain…until now.

Note: If you plan on reformatting your system, please refer to Your Universal Guide to Windows (Part 1) before proceeding with this article for necessary download links to free security software. If you are attempting to recover your Windows machine from a crash, it would be wise to access those downloads from another computer and transfer them to an external storage source.

You could use a file recovery program to attempt to get your files back after reformatting, but that doesn’t guarantee you will get them all back and retrieve 100% of the data. If you want a sure fire way to get all your data back, one of your best bets is to use a Linux distribution on a Live CD. If you have never used Linux before, this walkthrough will be a nice introductory to Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is a nice stepping stone for those that have not ventured the Linux path, allowing users to get a feel for the Linux software and even a decent grasp of the Linux command line.

If you do not have an Ubuntu disc or have the ISO downloaded and burned to a disc, visit DistroWatch or the Ubuntu website to download the ISO image and burn it to a disc with ImgBurn or another ISO image writer. Afterwards, follow the instructions to learn how to view your hard drive.

1. Insert your new Ubuntu Linux disc into your CD drive and reboot. Your PC will boot Ubuntu from the disc.

2. A menu will appear with a list of options. Select Try Ubuntu without any changes to your computer and press enter.

3. Allow Ubuntu to boot. At the very top of the screen, you will see a task bar with a number of options. Click on Places and then Computer. This will show you your hard drive as well as other hard drives on your system, if it applies.

4. Double click on your Windows drive to view the contents. If it opens immediately, skip to step 11 and read on. If not, continue on with the next step.

If you receive an “Unable to mount the volume” error, the next few steps will show you how to force the drive to open to view the contents.

5. Click on the Details link on the “Unable to mount the volume” error message, which will include a command line to force the drive to mount. Copy that command line down.

6. Go back to the top taskbar and click on Applications, then Accessories, and then Terminal. This application will allow you to use the Linux command line.

7. In order to force the mount of your hard drive, we will need to change to the administrator mode (Linux terms: root). Type in the following command:

sudo /bin/bash

8. Hard drives are either in NTFS format or Fat32. If you do not know what kind of drive you have, type the follow command:

fdisk -1

9. A directory must be created in order to mount the drive. Use the following command:

mkdir /media/disk

10. The following command is what you will type next, with a slight variation. Where it is bolded, replace that with what you copied down from the error details. This command is for those with an NTFS drive.

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o force

If you have a FAT32 drive, use the following command line:

mount -t vfat -o umask=000 /dev/sda1 /media/disk

If you do not know what type of drive you have, refer to step 8 again.

11. If you completed all of the steps correctly, you should be able to see your hard drive contents.

Now would be a good time to have your external hard drive or other storage content with you. Please note that not all external hard drives are compatible with Linux. Please be sure to check to see that yours is.

Explore your hard drive as you normally would on Windows. Assess the amount of space used and how fast Ubuntu is retrieving the data. If you have a lot of data and Ubuntu seems to be lagging some, stop the data retrieval and look at the contents it has acquired. If there are a lot of useless old files, delete them. If there are a lot of .tmp files, delete them. Afterwards, try and read the folder again and do the same.

Once the hard drive has been cleaned and your file have been backed up, congratulations! You can now reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows!

Yakuake is a KDE based terminal emulator and I have to say, it’s my favourite terminal application out there! You can set it to run on startup and define a hotkey which allows you to show/hide the terminal window whenever you wish. It’s a really handy tool which has no noticeable effect on my systems performance.

It’s so much quicker than using shortcuts to Terminal. It also looks better. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was used it an action/adventure film, as in DieHard4.0 they used linux, I imagine this is next for the film industry as it does look like a “hackers tool”.

You can install Yakuake and try it for yourself by using the apt-get command:

sudo apt-get install yakuake

Or you can visit the official site for more information! http://yakuake.uv.ro/

Thanks for reading! If you liked this please: follow me.

The next highly anticipated release of Ubuntu will be official is scheduled for release in April this year, the release will be codenamed Jaunty Jackalope. I managed to get the Alpha release of the OS last week and I am impressed so far, there are many improvements and additions to the OS, however for me the most interesting for me is the new notifications feature.

The feature displays activity from music software, IRC clients and IM applications on your desktop. You can customize the notifications position and theme via the System menu.

This really is another step in the right direction for Ubuntu, as the eye-candy availiable is becoming a wide-ranged field of desktop effects which are really tasty!

The pretty much wraps up this post, be sure to look out for the official release in April!

One thing that will never change in any tech community is the never-ending operating system (OS) wars. I’ve seen a good number of them and a lot of them just don’t have the facts to back up their claims. However, on a constant basis, it is usually the prime two operating systems: Windows and the Mac OS, otherwise known as Mac vs PC.

I don’t normally like to get involved in those arguments or any other computer-related war, the main reason being that both parties are simply not satisfied with what the other product has to offer. It boils down to each party acquiring their favorite OS and dismissing another all together in a stubborn and ignorant manner. However, in this particular post, I’m taking the opportunity to display my observations, clear up a lot of the flaws presented in the arguments, and lay down a few technicalities on this on-going issue.

The word “Mac” is a term that Apple laid down to set themselves apart from the “PC” platform. While this is a creative marketing theme, we need to look at the whole picture here. A Mac, believe it or not, is a PC, taking note that PC stands for Personal Computer. That term also goes for any other brand of system outside the Apple spectrum: HP, Compaq, Dell, Toshiba; they are all PCs.

Those who have fallen prey to this little piece of propaganda tend to develop a nice superiority complex because of it. That is not a good thing, by the way. Due to this common complex, it also stems others to start OS wars. A lot of the common things that are said sound most likely similar to “Oh, Mac Sucks” or “Vista Sucks” or “I hate Ubuntu”. However, a good majority of the time, this is how a typical conversation within the OS war would be like:

“Mac is really better? Have you tried other operating systems?”
“Yeah, Vista sucks.”
…
“Okay, what about Linux?”
“Linux blows. I could never learn that.”
“Have you taken the time to learn Linux?”
(No response)

I’ll be honest with you. You can’t assess whether one operating system is better than another without actually trying them for yourself. It really isn’t that hard to go to your nearest Apple store or another electronic store and try out OS X. Testing it out also applies to Linux as well. Linux and its hundreds and hundreds of distributions are, for the most part, free. Ubuntu is a nice stepping stone for those that want to learn Linux and the Unix command line. Download Ubuntu Linux and run the Live CD to see if you like it. Don’t automatically dismiss an OS because of what you heard about it. While sometimes that can be reliable, for the majority of the time, however, it’s better if you experience it for yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate Apple. I have used OS X before. If Apple’s EULA allows OS X to be installed on other computers, I would probably purchase just the OS and nothing else. Why? Apple’s computers are top notch machines but the price leaves it out of reach for a lot of people, like myself for instance. If they drop the Mac Pro to under $800, I would buy it in a heartbeat. But I really don’t see that happening for a while.

All I ask is that you try out a Mac, a Linux operating system, or any other operating system before you start completely dismissing it all together. Being better informed is better than being ignorant. The knowledge that you gain from experiencing it yourself will be more worthwhile.

I know this is a little off the normal mobile phone theme but I though it would be a good idea to show some of you linux fans how to use a really cool utility that is build into all Ubuntu installs. The program is callled apt-get or also known as aptitude. It is a package management system that allows you to install and remove programs from the aptitude database with ease.

Some of the more common commands for apt-get are as follows

apt-get install “program name here”

apt-get remove “program name here”

apt-get update (this basically updates the program library on your linux box)

If you have anymore questions you can email me at Support@bluephoenix.tv or you can just comment on this blog and I will be sure to get back with you.