Data Recovery News

‘Critical’ flaw with China-made HDDs?
By Tony Smith → More by this author
Published Tuesday 30th October 2007 11:52 GMT

Updated Data recovery company Retrodata has challenged Apple to come clean about what it claims is a “critical manufacturing flaw” affecting some hard drives used in MacBook laptops and desktops like the Mac Mini - an issue that could result in data loss.

According to Retrodata, its customers have sent in a much higher number of failed Seagate 2.5in SATA drives made in China and loaded with firmware version 7.01 than of any other current hard drive model.

Learn more at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/30/apple_seagate_drive_warning/

By Tom Jowitt, Techworld

A UK data recovery organisation has warned Apple Macbook users that they risk potential data loss due to a design flaw on certain hard drives.

The problem is found on the Seagate 2.5-inch SATA drives that are made in China and are loaded with firmware version 7.01. Model numbers affected include ST96812AS and ST98823AS.

Find out more at techworld

From Inforworld.com

These seven computing pitfalls aren’t going away any time soon. The solutions must come from hardware manufacturers, software vendors, and IT managers alike. Still, with luck, by recognizing the problems, we can avoid the most serious traps — while doing what we can to steer the industry toward a more efficient, enjoyable computing experience for all.

Culprit No. 1: Chip advances leave developers in the dust
Culprit No. 2: Code bloat abounds
Culprit No. 3: Usability remains an afterthought
Culprit No. 4: Security saps system performance
Culprit No. 5: Lack of standards stifles agility
Culprit No. 6: Centralizing IT gives rise to bureaucracy
Culprit No. 7: Computing trends overburden the network

 Read more at 7 reasons for sloooow software

Researchers at Microsoft and Mitsubishi are developing a new touch-screen system that lets people type text, click hyperlinks, and navigate maps from both the front and back of a portable device. A semitransparent image of the fingers touching the back of the device is superimposed on the front so that users can see what they’re touching.

Learn more about this at Two-sided Touchscreen

Identity theft remains a major concern for many people, and it is not always clear how best to protect your online accounts, passwords, credit cards, and other personal information.

Now you can use an IronKey to protect this information. Not only does it encrypt your data, but it also safeguards the credentials that identify you in today’s digital world. It uses state-of-the-art password management, encryption and authentication to secure your passwords and online accounts.

Find out more at Ironkeyn

After months of silence, Microsoft finally coughed up details Tuesday about its plans for the first update to Windows Vista, saying the service pack will arrive in the first quarter of next year.

As for what’s in the Vista update, it’s mostly a collection of existing fixes and tweaks aimed at improving stability and reliability of the operating system, which went on sale to consumers in January.

Hmm. Find out more at Vista service pack in ‘08

Nokia has unveiled four new entertainment devices that also work as cell phones.

Nokia took the wraps off its N81 multimedia computer with two versions: an 8GB model and one with a microSD expansion slot that can accept cards up to 4GB.

Read more at New Nokia

By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Thursday, August 09 2007 04:05 PM

On one hand, NAND flash–the kind of flash found inside digital cameras and MP3 players–is crushing the competition, Eli Harari, CEO of SanDisk, said on Wednesday at the Flash Memory Summit.

NAND has made 1-inch hard drives obsolete. Then it is on to 1.8-inch hard drives and possibly larger 2.5-inch notebook hard drives, Harari said.

Read more about this at Is flash memory facing a crisis?

By Erica Ogg, CNET News.com
Wednesday, August 15 2007 03:48 PM

Overall, consumers rated their satisfaction with the maker of their PC 3 percent worse than last year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
Apple is still the leader in terms of satisfaction with service and products, but its overall ranking dropped by five percentage points this year.

Find out more at Customer satisfaction down among PC buyers

Data is the backbone of every organization. Whatever business you are in, enormous amounts of data are needed every day to keep it running. If you also consider that data volumes are increasing by 80 percent a year, it is clear that it must be protected against a variety of threats.

Read about disk-assisted data protection at Data protection