An Introduction To Raid – Greater Reliability ,faster, Less Costly Hard Drive Units

What is a raid setup on a computer system? Like anything else it depends who you talk to.

Raid hard drive systems had their acronym explained as “Redundant Array of Individual Drives “and “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives”. The acronym for this is the shortened term “RAID”.

Capacity, reliability and performance are all important for file servers or other computer systems when you are storing large or very important files.

It is often said that “It is not if you hard drive will fail. It is at what point in time your hard drive will fail”.

Of course if your hard drives fail even if you have backup the last bit of data which was being written onto the hard drive when the failure occurred will be lost.

You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing data from disk failure, and do all this with the RAID (the acronym for the system).

RAID can now be done with standard commercially available hard drives so the cost is now within your price range for all the benefits and peace of mind RAID will give you.

RAID can be simply explained as putting the hard drives in parallel sequence.

The host adapter (usually called the RAID system controller) sits between one higher stream (on the computer side) and several lower rate data streams (on the hard drive side). When the computer writes to the disks , the host adapter takes high stream data and breaks it into many synchronized streams , one for each of the disks in process called “Striping “. Upon reading the data the host adapter takes the data stream from each disk multiplexes the sets of data streams and coordinates sending the resulting combined set of data onto the computer.

It is all a matter of redundancy which makes RAID such a good thing in most cases.

There are six different levels of RAID functionality depending on your requirements. – the level of data security and integrity you want as well as the size of hard drive space you want.

First of RAID Level 0 which spreads the data across multiple disks. You can get a similar effect to the RAID Level 0 by having multiple disks and using the features in Windows 2000 or its successor Windows XP.

Since the data volume and rate to any specific disk is a fraction of the aggregate you will receive larger capacity and better performance from a RAID 0 setup than from any one conventional disk.

As well data can be sourced from multiple drives as once. This can be most useful in shared situations which may benefit from enhancements in speed, two examples which come to mind are game servers and peer to peer (P2P) file or music file sharing servers.

However since there is no allocation for error correction or redundancy RAID 0 is not a safe system for vital data. Data will be lost on disk failure. Only use RAID 0 in situations where you need the extended disk capacity or performance gain but not enhanced data reliability.

Secondly in sequence there is RAID Level 1.

In the same way that RAID 0 focuses solely on storage capacity and performance with no concern whatsoever on reliable data storage RAID 1, which us also called “Disk Mirroring” uses disks in pairs to save the files in a redundant manner.

One performance may be slower as it takes time for the host adapter to send the data and for the drives to write it to disk,

Secondly a user may delete or damage files which of course will be stored in that way on both drives.

Raid 1 hence offers better reliability than RAID 0 or the conventional drive setups but does not give full security for your data or enhanced performance.

Next in sequence we have RAID Levels 2, 3 and 4.

Raid 2 adds one or more disks to hold error correction codes with which lost data can be reconstructed.

Raid Level 3 is the same as RAID Level 2 but uses a simpler code the maximum storage capacity with Raid 3 may be somewhat less.

Raid Level 4 is nearly the same as RAID LEVEL 3 but instead of “Striping “ across disks is operates at a sector level, You now have the better situation of both a simpler , less intensive demanding system and as well as good data reliability . In addition performance may be enhanced as large data blocks can be written faster due to more coordinated writing to the drives in smaller “sector” areas.

Lastly is RAID Level 5.

Raid level 5 is the same as the excellent RAID Level 4 except that instead of dedicating a single disk to storing the data the data stream is striped across all the disks. You have greater performance with greater reliability for your computer systems.

A RAID setup may take some effort and training on your part.

Base your planning for your new RAID system on a careful analysis of your needs.

What is important in your situation currently? Disk size capacities, data reliability and integrity, performance or a combination or all.

Simple review on Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2

Microsoft just released Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 for Windows XP. This Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 version eenhance some performance or features of Media player, bug fixes on Version 1 and the integration with other Windows Media Connect functionality.

According Microsoft, New Media Sharing feature on WMP 11 Beta 2 would allow users to automatically share the contents of their WMP library with compatible devices around anywhere at home if you have Xbox 360 or other digital media receivers. Beside that, Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 also includes new online stores services like eMusic, VidZone and Music Giants for a total of 14. Microsoft still continue progress intergration with Urge Services on their media player to compete with Apple Computer’s iTunes and provide better exploration on world of music.

The OS requirement of Windows Media Player 11 still remain to work with all versions of Windows XP with Service Pack 2, including Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N. You can now download it via Microsoft's website.

Wablet Flash Instant Messenger Review

Wablet, a flash Ajax based IM that can access all your major instant messenger account in one account or you can use wablet user account ( after register ). The concept of wablet IM is differ from other major IM. Wablet IM is differ because it can be embedded with blogs and social networks. meanwhile, Wablet allow you manage multiple chats simultaneously with people who see different public facing profiles describing you.

Wablet screenshots is awesome where have a nice flash and rich color interface which feels much more 'real' than any other IM app.

According TechCrunch, Wablet will give away up to 500 test accounts over the next few weeks and you can submit the emails for request one of the wablet accounts. More detail on "how wablet works" on Techcrunch

Locate Your IM Contact With RadiusIM

RadiusIM - Another cool IM Web based Services that allows users to log in using any of their Yahoo, MSN, AIM and Google Talk accounts to check out who's around you and point out using an icon via a embedded Google map.

Basically the concept of RadiusIM is you choose your location, with your friends list on the right and a location map on the center. When friends and IM contacts are online, their icons show up in their specific location on the map. Beside that, RadiusIM has a cool way of just dragging the Google map around the world and seeing which members are located there, whether they are logged in or not.

On the privacy side, all user location within 1/4 mile is actually blurred out so that their precise location can remain semi-hidden.

My Note

RadiusIM Services is more concerntrate on about location and show who's is nearby your area only. Unfortunately, I still keep on trying to sign up the RadiusIM service which still not successful until now ( dun know what happen ) and i can see the serives seem like very slow and always disconnect to server. Anyway, The RadiusIM is a pretty interesting way to see who is around you, or near a certain location. The RadiusIM still an alpha version and i expect see from them. let me know your comment if you use Radius IM before ?

Visit RadiusIM

AllPeers - File Sharing on web browser without limit

AllPeers -free firefox extension which combines thestrength of Firefox and BitTorrent technology to enable possibility to share pictures, music and video’s within Firefox. AllPeer allows you to add friends to your buddy list and share files among your buddy. The process of adding file is simple, you just need to drag ‘n drop, and select who you want to share the file with.

Beside that, AllPeer Services will go live with a public beta today and start offering public accounts according to a post on the company’s blog

On the allpeers blog said:

In a few hours AllPeers is going to be released in the wild after 5 months of private testing. We did not invite all the testers during that phase but rest assured the remaining one will receive an email when the application is available

• AllPeers is still a beta product so don’t expect it to be perfect (yet).
• Some features have not make it into this version so they will come out later; they include Chat, Comments, Tagging, support for external torrents.
• AllPeers is for sharing privately with friends and family; not for massively distributing files amongst strangers

You can checkout the tour and to see what allpeers is about. AllPeers will be made available directly from the official Firefox extensions website. ( When available )

Hullo - free versatile VoIP Calls Software

Hullo is a whole new VoIP communicate by changing the way that you keep in touch with people better than ever before. Why say Hullo is differ from Gizmo Project or Skype ? It can integrate your Windows-based "softphone," your cell phone, and your land line(s) together. after you set up Hullo, you enter your other phones numbers like cell phone or house phone, and then when someone calls you, Hullo will route the call as you if you're not at the computer, it can ring your home phone, then your cell, and so on.

Hullo is a client-based application that looks like an instant message box. It runs separately from the browser (and unfortunately is only available for Windows machines). Hullo is currently in beta and all calls to North America are free.

Review on Hullo VoIP software features

• Simple Voice conference by adding as many people as you want. The Voice conference is relying on Versatel Networks EdgeIQ series hardware on the backend to handle the traffic.
• Ability to create sophisticated find-me rules. You can be setup and assign different fules on an individual basis. Example your friend could be routed right to your cell phone, whereas your boss could be sent to voice mail.
• Don’t like talking on a headset? Use your ordinary phone instead. When you click on your buddy’s name in the hullo contact list, it will ring your choice of handset, and your buddy at the same time. You can make and receive calls on any handset you choose. This will be a killer feature if they migrate it to a cellular handset.
• hullo has mid-call transfers. hullo able continue a conversation from one devices to another devices ( Computer to Cell Phobe ) e.g. if you're talking on the computer and have to leave the house, you can seamlessly transfer the call to your cell phone

My Note

hullo has offer something differ from other VoIP software, i test the sound compression quality is good but i hope hullo can give more free calls beside North America.

webaroo v1.2 Released - surf web information without border

Previously i write a post about Webaroo - a free service enabling you to browse the web content without internet connection. Now, Webaroo has released Version 1.2 and you will find extensive enhancement such as the ability to add greater link depth, limit the download size, and download document, audio and video attachments for the web sites you add to your library.

New features that have been incorporated include:

• new Webaroo toolbar button for your browser, making it easy to add web pages and as you browse. Beside that You can adding password protected page by using the browser button.
• Import your bookmarks from your browser to your Webaroo library.
• Store Webaroo content anywhere on your hard disk.
• An enhanced Webaroo library, that shows you what content is being updated and helps you sort your web packs & sites.
• Update notifications & new web pack alerts.

Currently, Webaroo is supporting Windows Pocket PC 2003 SE and Windows mobile 5.0 platform for mobile edition and Windows XP and Windows NT SP4 for Desktop Edition.

You can review the specification over here and the web content can be download at webaroo collection of topic-specific Web Packs.

Download Webaroo 1.2

Download Microsoft Live Writer

Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer is launched yesterday, it is totally free desktop client's software and downloable application. Windows Live Writer able to run on windows PC and allows write your blog posts.

The blogging system that integrate with Microsoft Windows Lives support are Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress and others.

The main features of Windows Live Writer are WYSIWYG authoring and Photo publishing. The rich text editor is no quite impressive because contains the usual elements and doesn't produce clean code.

Photo Publishing features allows bloggers easy insertion of photos and things like Live.com Maps, and tagging. The images editing features that you can use are resize the picture, add a nice shadow, adjust brightness and even use some simple effects.

Windows Live Writer is available to download here [4.74 MB, Windows] and it's still beta version.

Desktop- Online Vritual Desktop

DesktopTwo is a powerful new web based desktop that offers an impressive list of well designed features. DesktopTwo can allows you complete access of your desktop wherever you are and totally free. DesktopTwo services has generated well over 100,000 subscriptions from around the world.

Requirement to run DesktopTwo properly:-

• Java enabled
• Flash version 9
• Pop Up on browser is available
• Adobe Readers
• Cookies turn "on"

Features that DesktopTwo offers by :-

• Web IM, including chat with Jabber, Google and MSN buddies. (No Yahoo! or AIM yet, that’s a shame.)
• 1 GB of free storage.
• An inline MP3 player with playlist creation.
• An adress book.
• WYSIWYG web page editing.
• A blog publishing platform with support for tags, full or partial RSS feeds, 16 layout templates and the ability to edit the CSS.
• Email and search.

My note

DesktopTwo seem like Next generation web-based desktop which includes email, IM, address book, hard drive, blog creator, message boards, search, office tools, mp3, and much more. Anyway, i have test it out and quite impressive about it. If anyone has experience in using this tool, please let us know how it worked out for you..

Visit Desktop Website

Cache Discovery Protocol Speed Bittorrent Speed

Bitorrent is starting up working with CacheLogic again on a new bittorrent protocol call " Cache Discovery Protocol or CDP" Concept which supposedly will act like DHCP features for peer to peer networks.( to address the issue of ISP bandwidth throttling, and more importantly, BitTorrent traffic caching.)

This DHCP features will assigns IP addresses to devices on a network automatically, without much mucking around on the end user part which similiar to current CDP would allows BitTorrent client to auto discover better seeds that have been cached on the network, and allow faster downloads of the files. This new technology seem like will be helpful on situations where there are only a handful of seed files.

My Note

My understanding on new bittorrent protocol seem like help out on addressing some of the issues on bittorrent peformance by caching some of seeds addresses, especially where there is very limited upstream speed available. it seem like this protocol works fine by finding better, cached seeds on the network for your bittorrent client

Via GigaOm

AIM and AOL User get free 5Gb online storage

AOL announce offering 5GB of free online storage for all AIM and AOL web user on september onwards. This free online storage will powered by XDrive.

The free online storage service will allow users to upload and download digital photos, videos, and important documents in Xdrive's data server without a single charges. meanwhile, XDrive will provides features like below:-

• Drag and drop interface between online storage and hard drive
• Access to files through any Web-connected PC or mobile device
• Permission-based file and folder sharing
• Online collaboration via shared files
• Scheduled automatic backups
• Automatic upload of e-mail attachments from providers including AOL Mail, AIM Mail, or any non-AOL POP3 or IMAP-compatible mail providers
• Full-resolution photo storage
• Easy access to AOL Pictures for professional prints and photo gifts

My Note

The free storage sounds awesome but just serve for AIM and AOL user only. This news may be worrying other online storage provider like GDrive that taking a long time to launch.

Via DownloadSquad

Free 3GB email storage and unlimited attachment size from AOL

Lycos announced their new Lycos email services ( ccurrently still beta version ) with 3GB email storage and allow unlimited attachment size to be send and received - All is free. All Lycos free email account will similiar like other email services with ads supported on web based email interface. meanwhile, to prevent infrequent use just for sending huge files, there’s a stipulation that Lycos mail accounts that go unused for 30 days will be deleted.

if you willing to pay 20USD, you can enjoyed 5GB storage without ads supported and no account preservation.

My note

The unlimited attachment storage has become attractive point to subscribe Lycos email services. In comparison, most other services only permit files of up to 10MB to be attached to e-mails. Email storage number isn’t anything super special whereby Gmail already offer 2.75GB ( continue adding up th space).

I still prefer Gmail since the good use of integration with other Google services and my email storage on Gmail never break 10 percent before.

Krugle - Source Code Search Engine

Krugle search engine has been a great place for developer around the world to search code and technical content. Krugle is designed to deliver easy access to source code and other highly relevant technical information in a single, convenient, clean, easy-to-use interface, according to the company.

Krugle offers three separate search options: one for code, another called 'Tech Pages' for code documentation, forums and knowledgebase articles, and a third called 'Projects' that helps developers track down open source projects.

Krugle is based on Apache Software Foundation's Web search projects and Antlr (Another Tool for Language Recognition) parser generator. Krugle itself isn't opensource project but they participates on open-source projects from which part of Krugle's code springs, and also in other development communities. The requirement to use Krugle is require Java Script.

My note

myself is developer on web based coding and find Krugle is a great tool for the code ninjas amongst us.

Krugle Website

Via Linux Watch

Download Free portable application

John Haller from PortableApps.com has released a lot of portable application that very useful on our daily digital life. all portable application is opensource and free for download. Why use portable application ?

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind. List of portable application that available

1. Firefox portable 1.5.0.5 ( Web Browser )
2. Firefox portable 2.0 Beta ( Web Broswer )
3. Portable Thunderbird ( Email application )
4. Portable Filezilla ( FTP Application )
5. Portable ClamWin ( Anti Virus Application)
6. Portable OpenOffice 2.0.2 ( Office productivity Suite )

My Note

This portable application has been ease my digital life without install all application on my computer. meanwhile, the portable application just simple plug other computer and nothing data left behind over there. anyway, this credit should belong to John Haller for the creation of portable application.

John, you've brought a ray of sunshine into my life!

free Web IDE tools - Aptana

Aptana is a robust, JavaScript-focused IDE for building dynamic web applications. This Javascript IDE supports Ajax development and has an easy and simple user interface to help your coding and web design task. The Javascript Web IDE features:-

• Code Assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, including your own JavaScript functions
• Outliner that gives a snapshot view of your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code structure
• Error and warning notification for your code
• Support for Aptana UI customization and extensions
• Cross-platform support ( Windows , Linux and Macs )

The basic of Aptana IDE is required a v1.4.2 of the Java runtime environment installed on your computer. so, Aptana can work fine.

My Note

i like the aptana since the Javascript Web IDE has javascript reference and ajax library helping me develop and learning the code. Plus more clear explaination on the syntax and function usage.

Aptana is worth for downloading if you are web developer. meanwhile, This application is totally free

Aptana ScreenShot

Download Aptana

Ajax Tutorial using Aptana

Aptana FAQ

Google Paint

One Google user call " Stuart " has created a web painting tools services call " Google Paint " under Googlepages domain name. The suprising part is this web painting service is created by Google Pages.

The web painting services is similar to Microsoft’s MS Paint concept and allows you to share, import images to computer, open, save and edit photos via online. i already test the web painting services and able to work on Mozilla browser.

Although "Google Paint" hasn't been taken down or blocked by Google, This web painting is worth worth for try when still available

Test Google Paint

Microsoft Carioca Rummy Download

if you frequently play microsoft games then i recommend you go download Microsoft Carioca Rummy.

Microsoft Carioca Rummy description:

If you enjoy card games, you will love Microsoft’s Carioca Rummy! The object of this unique card game, popular in countries like Argentina and Chile, is to get rid of all of your cards during each round. The player with the fewest cards at the end of the game wins!

Fast and Clean Foxit PDF Reader

Are you tired of those PDF files slow loading time and annoying welcome screen from Adobe Acrobat opens? So, checkout Foxit reader - a free reader for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents with lighten , fast loading time and clean UI design.

The file size just around 1mb and has a lot of features inside it. meanwhile, the FOXIT no required installation and straight forward using it after downloading it.

Currently FOXIT just support Windows 5/98/NT/2000/XP/2003 only. Now You can checkout version 2.0 Beta . Here is an overview of the new features:

• Multi-language UI
• Dynamic downloading of add-ons
• Form filler
• Better look and feel
• and there is more!

The FOXIT is totally free software for non commercial license but they also offer customization software with more advance features inside with an affordable price.

Checkout FOXIT Website

Download Foxit Reader 2.0 Beta

PXN8 - Free online image editor

Photo editing web tools perhaps very popular on internet recently but some of the online image editor require you to install the plugin or component before you can use their services. This may cause us less user friendly or troublesome.
However, PXN8 is an online image editor with a user interface developed with standard web technologies (HTML, CSS and JavaScript). the best part is PXN8 is give you less problem and enables you to edit images directly through your browser without downloading any software.

Beside that, PXN8 also provide bookmarklet feature so all you have to do is click your PXN8 bookmarklet to grab images that you want to modify from a website.

Currently, The online photo editing is workable on Firefox, Safari and IE only.

PXN8 Web Image Editor Features

View PXN8 ScreenShot
Read more on PXN8 Website

Recovering Deleted Files from Windows

Recovering delele files from Windows XP has been headache for Windows user if accidently deleted the files or seem the files lost forever when you have spend a lot of time on the documentation files.

But thanks for Jameser Tech Tips post giving hopes for you to recover the deleting files if you immediately taking action by using restoration application when you notices accidently delete the files.

Restoration is a freeware application that restoring files which are deleted from the recycle bin by mistake. Conversely, delete files completely. This application is supporting operating system starting from Win98 to Windows XP. Bare in mind, This program is very effective at recovering deleted files from your hard drive and does not require installation either, so it is a handy application to carry on a USB flash drive as well.

How it works:-

1. Select the drive you'd like to restore from the pulldown menu on the upper right of the application
2. Click on the "Search Deleted Files" button
3. After the search is complete, select the files you'd like to restore and click on the "Restore By Copying" button

Some comment from Jameser on the recovering process:-

It is important that you try to restore your files either to another drive or partition, so as to avoid overwriting information on your source drive... So if you only have one drive/partition, try to restore the data to diskette, USB flash drive, or a network drive...

For me, this is a great windows tech tips and prepare yourself when you might face this problem in future.