A few days ago I posted about my experience with the Patriot 128GB Warp 2 Solid State Drive. I said that although I’ll be keeping and using the drive, I did have a number of issues with the way they (all SSD’s, not just the Patriot) performed on Windows. As I mentioned there, the big problem is that every time you write a file to the disk, it has to erase the existing data in the blocks it’s writing to and then write the data. Although the drives do have a write cache on them, it’s obviously not big enough to compensate when lots of file data is being written randomly (like for web surfing). The result is a lot of "stutter" and "freezing" symptoms.

I’m going to set the record straight– if you’re running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X, there is no way to eliminate the issue entirely. It just simply isn’t possible with the current generation of drives. However, if you’re running Windows XP and Vista, there are some things you can do to drastically improve the experience and minimize the effects…

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I’m just gonna be frank… if you’re using the Offline Files feature in Windows to update files on a network share while you’re not connected on the network, you’re eventually going to have problems, because it’s a horrible feature, and it doesn’t work very well. You’re better off not using it at all, and if your IT staff has pushed it on you as a solution, they should be fired.

Today I spent about 7 hours with my boss trying to figure out why our CFO’s files mysteriously disappeared on him. Last January, his files were moved from an old Windows 2000 server to the new 2003 server. Unfortunately, the consultant didn’t bother to redirect his sync to the new server. In August, the old server was shutdown and powered off believing that it was no longer in use. Since then, the files on the CFO’s desktop have been in a permanent state of "offline" mode. Every time he logged in, he got a warning but ignored it until today. I have no idea why it decided to break the sync today… it couldn’t have been a result of the domain rename last night since we have a few other clients using the sync feature and didn’t experience the problem (despite similar configurations). The problem is that his files weren’t technically stored locally in an accessible format since they were just synced from the server for access. They also weren’t on the new server in an updated state since the client wasn’t syncing with the new server.

So 5 hours of searching through backups and network shares and local drives and even running undelete tools revealed no sign of the files. It was as if they didn’t exist in the first place.

So finally after examining another PC using the feature, my boss and I jump on Google to find out where the heck the feature stores the files at. Turns out, they’re stored in C:\Windows\CSC in a very much unrecognizable format. No file extensions, no identifiable name, nothing helpful. So we check the CFO’s computer to see if the files are at least there… BINGO! They were, so we made an immediate backup of those files before tampering with them. If you’ve deleted the files and are hoping to recover them I recommend using Undelete_Plus.

Assuming the files are there, you’re in luck. With a Microsoft Resource Kit file called CSCCMD.EXE, you can recover the files with the following command:

csccmd /extract:\\SERVERNAME\SHARENAME /target:C:\RecoveredFiles /recurse

Add /onlymodified if you only want files modified since the last successful sync.

Once you recover your files, put them where they belong and STOP USING OFFLINE FILES! Seriously.

NOTE: The csccmd.exe version here is 1.1 and came from a Microsoft support representative. I’m posting it here, because only the 1.0 is posted on their downloads site. I don’t like redistributing their files, but if they’re going to publish a solution for a major problem, they shouldn’t jerk their customers around to perform said solution.

Tonight I’m performing what is widely considered by most IT guys as the worst/scariest Active Directory based management operation… I’m renaming an existing domain name. This is a challenge, because one wrong command and I can screw up the entire domain causing a major nightmare for myself and users. Of course, the benefits outweigh the risk since I’ll have the network structure I really want AND will make management tasks a whole lot easier in the future.

However, as any good IT guy should know to do, I am taking a lot of precautions to prevent any headaches…

1. I’m having all clients shutdown their systems in order to prevent any conflicts and stray connections from gumming up the process. It also gives me an exit strategy in case anything goes wrong.

2. I’m taking a full system image of the server OS drive just in case of a botched rename, so that I can quickly and easily restore the server in a worst-case scenario.

I’ll post the exact steps taken once I’ve completed the process so that others can know what works and what doesn’t, but for now, I’m using this tutorial as a guideline…

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=229757

Update: The upgrade was a smashing success and incredibly easy. The link above provides the exact steps that I followed with one exception– since I was only worried about ONE domain controller, I ran all the commands directly from the DC rather than hassle with a control station. When I get a chance, I’ll still post the exact steps that I followed.

In the mean time, here’s some tips to make the process easier:

1. If possible, shut down ALL clients and servers within the domain with the exception of the DC’s and your "control station." In my case, I had my laptop running with XP, but I didn’t end up using it for anything.
2. Make a full backup (better yet, a Ghost image) of your DC’s system drive(s) in case of any catastrophe. If your clients and servers are shutdown and you have a perfect backup, then you always have a fallback to make it all seem like it never happened in case of disaster.
3. Follow the instructions in the link above step-by-step. Don’t skip them, and don’t assume it doesn’t apply to you… the exception is Exchange and Live Communications Server details can be skipped if you’re not using those in your environment.
4. Boot up your clients and member servers a handful at a time… then without logging in, reboot them again. YOU MUST REBOOT THEM AGAIN, OR THEY WILL NOT DOWNLOAD THE NEW GROUP POLICY DETAILS!
5. Once your systems have been rebooted, select the new domain name and log in a domain user to test connectivity. Verify their computer name and DNS suffix listings.
6. On your servers, make sure that you go into Administrative Tools > Services and make sure that all the service logins are updated for things like SQL that might use a specific user account instead of the system account… the first couple times your servers reboot, they’ll throw up event log warnings about services not starting.

On Thanksgiving day, I woke up and checked the news headlines like I always do. I also checked my Amazon Wish List, because I got a price alert on the Patriot Warp Solid State Drive that I had on my wish list. It had finally dipped below the $500 mark. I took a chance and went over to Newegg to check the price there… $369 with a $70 mail-in rebate option. My jaw dropped to the floor to see such an offer, so I decided I would go ahead and take the plunge.

Well, the drive just arrived tonight at 7:45PM, which seems like a really late delivery for UPS, but then it is the holiday season. Unfortunately, it’s too late to start cloning my hard drive to it tonight, but I’ll definitely be posting some details on it over the next few days.

Stay tuned!

OK, so it’s been a few days since I’ve installed the drive, and I’ve had a chance to test it out and get used to some of the quirks and get everything tuned up. Here’s what I’ve found:

Alright, I’m gonna call a spade a spade here and admit that I’m not convinced this would work as a primary drive for most users. Most users are running either Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X, and none of these operating systems are fully tuned for SSD performance. While reading data is fantastic, writing data is a whole other story, because the drives have to erase all the existing data in the blocks its writing to before it can save the new data. This means all the tweaks in the world won’t compensate for this delay.

The result? Lots of stutters, pauses, and delays where the system seems to be locked up while it writes data to the disk. So if you’re just an average home or business user– save your money… for now. But if you’re a tech guru like me, you can probably find lots of ways to make the most of it and there are plenty of benefits to be had…

Reading data from the disk is nearly instantaneous from an end-user perspective. Even programs that usually take upwards of 5-10 seconds to load now take 1-2 seconds. Writing short, small blocks of file data is almost instant, and long, sequential blocks of data is also a lot faster too, so working with large files is a lot quicker too. It’s the non-sequential random writes that kill performance… unfortunately, all current generation operating systems are very disk-intensive to compensate for systems with low memory resources.

What does this mean for most people?

All those things we take for granted like virtual memory page files, temp files, and temporary internet file caches are what will really kill performance. Also, file search indexes (like Google Desktop Search and Windows Desktop Search) will also kill performance. Multi-tasking with a web browser with 12 web pages, all the 30+ crapware tasks that people have running down in the task tray with the clock, and any number of documents open with a video or music playing just won’t cut it.

So why buy an SSD?

Well, for an end user, current SSD drives are great for storage and backups. Store your music and videos and pictures on these, and you’ll probably never have to worry about it dying or losing data. Slap one of these in an external drive enclosure, and you’ve got the perfect portable storage device.

For technical users, there are plenty of hacks and tweaks for high-end systems to get them to perform pretty well. In my case, I have 4GB of RAM, so I’ve dedicated 1GB as a RAM drive replacement for all my Temp file storage, plus I’ve disabled my system page file, reduced my browser caches to around 50MB, and disabled search indexing. This helps a lot, actually, and I’ll be posting specific details and solutions for these later in the week.

What’s to come?

The next generation drives promise to fix or eliminate the erase-first write issues that cause these problems, but I think the bigger benefit will be having a hardware based write cache on them the same way hard drives have a write cache. Also, Microsoft and Apple are both rewriting parts of their operating systems to allow these newer technologies to perform better.

So I would say that by Christmas 2009, SSD’s will be the drives to buy in all new systems, or at least, that’s my tech prediction for 2009… let’s hope I’m right!

Last year I bought my first cell phone after years of refusing to ever own one at all. After a lot of research into service coverage, cost, and phone selection, I bought the HTC Mogul on Sprint.

While I really enjoyed using my Mogul, I’m definitely a power user and needed a little more oomph from my Pocket PC. More RAM, specifically.

This year, HTC has released their upgrade to the Mogul… the Sprint Touch Pro.

This phone features Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, which means that just like the Mogul it serves as a Touchscreen smartphone, but it also features a full QWERTY slide out keyboard so that you’re not cramped up trying to type those ever important emails and text messages. Also like the Mogul, it has GPS and all sorts of standard Sprint services like Sprint Navigation, SprintTV, Sprint Music Store, etc etc.

New to this phone, however, is the 528MHz processor, 288MB of RAM (compared to the Mogul’s 64MB), 512MB of internal storage with a 1GB MicroSD card (swappable up to 32GB), 3.2-megapixel camera (with video support) and new Bluetooth profiles (beyond just headsets) for functions like printing support.

One of the nicest features of this phone, however, is the new TouchFLO3D interface. While the Mogul and earlier HTC phones featured touch support, TouchFLO3D provides a much more finger-friendly interface. The difference between this phone and, let’s say an iPhone, is that even if you don’t like the interface that’s given you can always replace it with something more preferred (like the older TouchFLO interface or Spb Mobile Shell). However, I see no need to replace TouchFLO3D for most people. It’s functional and simple, and much more responsive than the Mogul.

The Touch Pro also features Opera Mobile 9.5 as its default web browser which I think gives the iPhone’s safari a run for its money. Not only is it similar in functionality and operation, but it offers more compatibility with existing web standards like Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight.

The Touch Pro’s hardware is also very stylish and lightweight. Although it’s nearly twice as thick as it’s cousin the Touch Diamond or the iPhone (due to its slide out keyboard), it weight about the same and it’s just the little things that matter. Things like being able to replace the back battery cover with any color or style I can find, or better yet– replacing the actual battery (with a spare or with an extended battery). Fewer hardware buttons means fewer buttons getting mangled in pockets, hands, purses, etc.

Did I mention it has a 5-row slide out QWERTY keyboard? Sure, I know I did! Oh sure, I could use various on-screen keyboards too, but being able to really get my fingers and thumbs on a real keyboard when I need it is fantastic. I mention the fact it’s a 5-row keyboard, because it has a dedicated row for numbers and symbols rather than scrunch it up like on the Mogul. The keys are very responsive too, in my opinion, and while slightly smaller than the keys on the Mogul, I have no trouble typing on it.

Overall, however, what really impresses me with this phone is the customization and flexibility. I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it now– Windows Mobile not only offers the best compatibility with all sorts of environments, but it also provides the most flexible. I’ve had the phone a week now and have tweaked the heck out of it to make it look and work exactly the way I want it. I’ve installed a number of programs to give even more options.

Cons– They are certainly few and far between, although two come to mind. First, the Sprint variant features a chrome border with a grayish battery cover on the back. I’ve never been too keen on silver or chrome, although I must confess that the chrome is a bit grayer than you’d expect which dulls it down to a tolerable shade. Also, the battery cover can be replaced, so as soon as a better color is available, I will buy one. Second, the included 1340mAH battery provides tolerable battery life if you’re like me and spend more time using the phone for data– email, surfing, etc– but if you’re a talker, you’ll want to buy an extra battery or two or splurge for an extended battery pack.

The Touch Pro and Touch Diamond (for those comfortable without the slide-out keyboard) are both available at Sprint. For those of you on AT&T, you can find the Touch Pro equivalent known as the AT&T Fuze. Alltel and Verizon are also slated to get the phones by Christmas, however, rumors are being reported that Verizon is severely crippling their version with only 128MB of RAM (they crippled the GPS in their version of the Mogul, so it comes as no shock that they’re doing it again).

Welcome to the new AaronHall.net!

Today I’m starting AaronHall.net from scratch.

From now on, this blog will focus on the technology I use to make not only my life with technology easier, but also the tech used to make it easier for others, whether I’m helping them at work or at home. You can consider this to be “a day in the life of an IT guy.”

Why am I doing this? Well, two reasons really…

1) I’m starting fresh with WordPress 2.7. Rather than doing an upgrade, I figured it would be best to start fresh since there are so many changes and a lot of baggage from upgrades since 2.0’s initial release.

2) I’m moving my personal blog posts to my Facebook profile. This way, personal and tech posts are a bit more separated.

Well, I’ve been successfully using my Zune over the weekend, and now that I’ve had a chance to play around with it, I’m ready to give it a definite thumbs up.

First of all, I want to explain my perspective. The only other MP3 player I’ve used is my dad’s iPod a couple years ago at Christmas. I didn’t like it that much, mostly because of problems with connecting it to a Windows-based PC and problems with the iTunes/iPod software. The software caused his computer to crash, and I spent several hours just trying to get the USB port to recognize it was there (and then later trying to get it to install the device drivers successfully). That required a lot of registry editing to clear out the failed attempts. Now, fast-forward to two weeks ago…

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