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Unhappy customers flaming Apple and each other over iPhone GPS issues

System — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:00:10 +0000

Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online

Filed under: Odds and ends, Bugs/Recalls, iPhone

There are quite a lot of posts on the Apple support forums discussing whether nor not the upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0 and later releases has trashed the GPS functionality of the device.

At last count there were 24 pages, a high percentage from users in Europe who claim that moving to 3.0 eliminated GPS functions, and all they get is Wi-Fi geolocation or cellular network triangulation.

As often happens, the passion devolves to nasty comments going back and forth, but clearly, some people are having a GPS problem which Apple is not acknowledging as a bug. They are giving some people new phones, but others aren’t getting them because their iPhones are out of warranty.

Here’s a typical comment from one poster:

“I could not get a satellite GPS (blinking blue dot) on my iPhone, while two other phones running 3.0 like me, got it within seconds. So I returned my unit, and got it replaced. The new phone got a correct GPS signal at once and according to MotionX GPS it was correct within 8 meters.

This leads me to the conclusion that OS 3.0 makes GPS not work on some iPhones (not all). Replacing the unit was the only solution for me, and it worked.

I recommend it to anyone who never (or almost never) get a GPS satellite signal.”

Some are blaming their cell service provider, others are blaming Apple. Others are saying it was fixed by the recent version 3.1 update. Of course, with any new hardware/software there are problems, and with millions sold, a lot of reports will surface. What’s odd here is that some people are solving it with resets, some with new phones, others with turning 3G off. There just doesn’t seem to be any consistency in the solutions, which is probably driving Apple crazy.

Hope these folks get this problem sorted out, and Apple dives in and finds a solutions, or more likely, solutions.

Thanks to Torstein in Norway for the tip

TUAW Unhappy customers flaming Apple and each other over iPhone GPS issues originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unhappy customers flaming Apple and each other over iPhone GPS issues originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 12, 2009.

Computing’s Greatest Conspiracies

System — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:20:16 +0000

Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online

The date is 7 July 1947 and the place is Roswell, New Mexico. Something has crash-landed in the desert – but what is it? The debate is still raging today and AWitnesses reported shiny silver debris scattered over the impact site. Was it the remains of a flying saucer, as the Roswell Daily Record suggested, or just fragments of an errant weather balloon? Stories and conjecture were rife, and from them came the most famous conspiracy theory in the history of the species. Were aliens being hidden from the rest of the world by the United States government?

Conspiracy theories are a thoroughly modern cultural phenomenon. In loose terms they explain historical events as being the work of secret and powerful conspirators. After 9/11, conspiracy theorists insisted the hijackings were the work of the American government. Black helicopters in the sky – that must mean that secret and wealthy juntas are up to no good. Even the humble light bulb isn’t safe from suspicion: was the everlasting light bulb designed in 1930 and then suppressed to bolster bulb makers’ future profits?

A conspiracy theory’s recipe is disarmingly simple: all you need is an occurrence, the suggestion of a dark cabal, a wilful disregard for evidence and a creative mind. Critically, however, once released the tale takes on a life of its own and begins galloping around the globe. As it travels, self-appointed experts begin picking it over, searching out ‘the real truth’. Layers upon layers of detailed information are added to what may originally have been an overheard whisper, a lie or just a simple misinterpretation.

Government cover-ups of extra terrestrial life might have been the mainstay of conspiracy theories for decades, but today the world of computing is an equally fertile breeding ground. Fuelled by never-ending debate on web discussion forums, conspiracies relating to computing and the internet abound. Here we examine 10 of the top PC-related theories and try to decide, once and for all, whether they are rooted in reality, or are nothing more than the result of too many paranoid and furtive imaginations. The truth is out there.

Hidden messages found in the Bible

The Theory: Michael Drosnin claims to have found hidden messages in the Bible using specially written software. Some say it’s an elaborate hoax tailored to make money from book sales, but other conspiracy theorists cite rather more sinister motives, given that Drosnin gained the ear of top officials in the Israeli Mossad and the United States Department of Defense.

In his book The Bible Code, Michael Drosnin describes how he used software to search for hidden messages in the Hebrew Old Testament. The messages allegedly foretold events that occurred thousands of years after the Bible was written. More importantly, other messages are warnings to the present age, the exact time at which computer technology would have been able to unearth them.

PC Plus analysis: Scientific papers presented analyses of Drosnin’s results and concluded that they’re statistically significant. More recent papers, also reviewed by experts, say that they’re not. We wouldn’t dare join a debate being held by such eminent mathematicians, but perhaps the Bible itself has something to say on the subject. According to 1 Corinthians 1:27, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong”. In the light of this verse it would seem surprising that God would have left messages that could only be discovered by a powerful computer, and which would be argued over only by academics. But you’ll have to make your own mind up on that one.

SETI program is a smokescreen

The Theory: The US government knows that little green men exist – and it also knows that we’ll never find them by listening for radio signals. So to keep us off the scent, it promotes futile SETI research.

SETI stands for the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. It works by pointing large radio telescopes into space and listening for radio signals that have the hallmark of intelligence. To date, the scheme has found nothing, despite over two million years of processing time being clocked up in the SETI@home program, where volunteers contribute PC time over the internet to analyse signals.

PC Plus analysis: The well-known Drake equation allows us to work out how many civilisations in the galaxy we might be able to hear radio signals from. The equation itself is widely accepted, but there’s considerable debate over the values of the variables it uses. Today’s best estimates suggest there may be two or three such civilisations. Needles and haystacks immediately come to mind. So if it’s well-known that the technology will have a very low rate of success, why bother using it? Are the conspiracy theorists correct on this one? Well, wait a minute. NASA might have had a SETI programme at one time, but it doesn’t any more. The fact that SETI research now receives no public money seems to derail the idea that the US government are using it to distract us from the real way to reach aliens.

Government in Wi-Fi safety cover up

The Theory:Forget mobile phone masts – school kids are now at risk from Wi-Fi access points in schools. Government is aware of the health risks but is suppressing the truth.

This is a classic conspiracy theory because it’s pretty much impossible to prove. Most scientists believe that low-power Wi-Fi doesn’t constitute a health risk, but the only way to know for sure is to carry out large-scale tests over many years using kids as guinea pigs.

PC Plus analysis: We’re not doctors, but we are clued up in electronics. In Europe Wi-Fi access points have a maximum output power of a tenth of a watt – but a mobile phone can transmit two watts. As you double the distance to a transmitter, the field strength drops fourfold. Doing the sums, we conclude that if being two metres from a Wi-Fi access point for six hours a day is supposed to be harmful, using a mobile phone pressed against your skull for a second a day is 10 times worse.

Government eavesdrops on emails

The Theory: Project Echelon – a joint initiative by the British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand governments – intercepts our phone calls, texts and emails. Powerful computers scan their content looking for certain incriminating keywords.

The government is keeping tight-lipped about this one, but, according to civil liberty campaigners the system can intercept satellite communications, snoop on mobile phones and tap into the public telephone system.

PC Plus analysis: Quite frankly, after 9/11 and 7/7 it would be rather surprising if the American and British governments didn’t intercept communications. The motive and the technology are both there.

Microsoft prolonged high-def format wars

The Theory: Microsoft fuelled the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. While consumers held off on buying either DVD replacement for fears of picking the wrong standard, the software giant planned to steal a march and launch a high-definition download service.

According to the theorists, Microsoft supported HD DVD even though it knew that Blu-ray would win in order to draw out the battle as long as possible. In the meantime, their alternative – in the form of Windows Media Video 9 – would be brought to market allowing movies to be downloaded at up to 1,920 x 1,080 resolution.

PC Plus analysis: Microsoft might have had cause to extend the format war, but if they did it wasn’t a great success. Blu-ray sales are now starting to pick up, but Microsoft’s download service is nowhere to be seen, and until average broadband speeds improve, it’s barely practical for many. This one looks fanciful.

No code unbreakable for the CIA

The Theory: The US government has powerful computers that are vastly faster than the speediest known supercomputer and can crack any encoded message.

In 2002, a 64-bit encoded message was cracked. It took 331,252 PCs working together for almost five years. T oday’s 128-bit ciphers would take 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 times longer to crack, and the best experts can suggest is that by 2055 it would be possible to crack them using $42,000billion worth of specialist hardware. That would seem to derail this particular conspiracy theory, but if the US government manages to develop a practical quantum computer then even a 128-bit encrypted message would be instantly crackable.

PC Plus analysis: The fact that any government would crave this capability is indisputable – but most experts agree that none of them has it. One thing’s for sure: if the government had this technology then there’s no way the CIA would shout about it. As a result, this is one theory that will run and run.

Google collects data on our surfing habits

The Theory: Every time we use Google, the words or phrases we enter are recorded so that the company can learn about our surfing habits. Whether your interests lie in the realm of politics or, shall we say, something more ‘adult’ in nature, our darkest secrets are laid bare.

Motives differ depending on who you listen to. Some say that Google sells the information to advertisers who inundate you with tailored spam. Others suggest that the security agencies are given tip-offs on people searching for bomb-making information.

PC Plus analysis: Google admits that it uses cookies to track your surfing habits and then processes this information to present you with relevant advertisements while you search. But the real crux of this theory is whether Google can link all that information to you as an individual. This is far more unlikely, as the company would need the cooperation of your ISP in order to identify you from your IP address. With all this in mind, we don’t advise panicking just yet.

Google Earth is subject to censorship

The Theory: Google has succumbed to insidious pressure from world governments to keep their secret geographical sites from prying eyes. Google Earth has brought us what was previously available only to the military: high-resolution satellite images of the entire planet. But some censored areas, it’s suggested, are pixellated to prevent us from seeing the juicy details.

PC Plus analysis: This has all the hallmarks of a classic conspiracy theory, but it’s actually a fact – as the screenshot of a Dutch military base shows quite clearly.

US government set up Facebook spy network

The Theory: DARPA (the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) used funding to help set up Facebook so that it could use it to collect information on citizens.

DARPA’s former Information Awareness Office stated that its aim was to collect as much information as possible on everyone. Funding was cut following protests by civil rights activists, but it has been suggested that Facebook now fulfils these aims at no cost to the American taxpayer.

PC Plus analysis: There can be no better conspiracy theory than one in which the US government is the alleged antagonist, because one thing’s for sure: these guys don’t kiss and tell. On the face of it, the theory seems plausible, but we’d have to question the point of it – dissident US citizens surely wouldn’t be so stupid as to use the social-networking site as a hub for terrorist activity, and we doubt that the White House is interested in pictures documenting just how trashed college students got during Spring Break. Surely the CIA has developed better ways of collecting information on the people that it’s interested in by now.

Conficker was written by the Chinese government

The Theory: The Conficker worm has received no shortage of publicity in recent months. According to some, it was written by the Chinese government as a test bed for advanced cyberwarfare. Because its creators could upload new instructions to infected PCs, nobody knew what Conficker might be able to do – and that’s what made it so scary. It also made it the stuff of conspiracy theories. In this particular one, the Chinese government will use it to bring the internet to its knees.

PC Plus analysis: This goes against the more conventional theory that suggests the Ukraine is the worm’s source. The fact that it doesn’t infect PCs with a Ukrainian keyboard layout might be a red herring, but virus expert Eugene Kaspersky is 60 per cent certain that Conficker does have its roots in the Ukraine. He also believes that its purpose is less sinister than has been suggested. But before you dismiss this talk of cyberwarfare, we should point out the concept does have legs – the Georgian government accused Russia of perpetrating a cyberattack on official websites just before the country was invaded in 2008, and Estonia experienced a cyber-blackout in 2007.

The lunatics are taking over the internet

To a degree, all the conspiracy theories we’ve discussed here have a grain of plausibility about them. That’s what makes them so fascinating. As we researched this piece, we did however uncover many which were at the other end of the sanity spectrum. For starters, it seems that digital set-top boxes contain hidden cameras and microphones. For proof, head to www.wimp.com/spyfind. This explains why the government is so keen to force the digital switchover. In reality, the story was a spoof. An artist bought a set-top box, inserted a camera from a phone and unleashed the story on a credulous American public hungry for news about the impending arrival of digital TV.

As you’d probably expect, Microsoft is the subject of many theories. You wouldn’t however expect its Wingding font to be the focus of political paranoia. If you write ‘NYC’ in the Wingdings font you get the skull and crossbones symbol followed by the star of David followed by a thumbs up. The unhinged have interpreted this as a coded attempt to incite racial violence in New York – which, of course, is utter rubbish.

RFID is a new form of barcode that can be read from a distance. But this isn’t to make checkout quicker. Oh no. It lets Them track your movements after you’ve bought the goods. Seems the government is in on the act too – see www.bit.ly/12F6mb.

And finally, an oldie but a goody. Apparently the microprocessor wasn’t invented here on Earth at all: it was the result of reverse engineering technology from an alien spacecraft recovered near Roswell, New Mexico on 7 July 1947. Which brings us neatly back to where we began.

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Computing’s Greatest Conspiracies originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 10, 2009.

Repair Damaged Drives With Linux

System — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:20:21 +0000

Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online

When you’re used to the world of Windows or OS X, Linux can seem a little unforgiving. Not only does command-line access hand over the complete keys to the manor to any unwitting user with access to the administrator’s account, there’s rarely a safety net should things go wrong. Despite advances in most Linux desktops (where the ubiquitous Trashcan safely buffers deleted files), you get no such protection from most system-specific configuration, installation and maintenance tools. And while it’s rare for anything to go wrong without your direct input, some accidents do happen, especially if you enjoy tinkering with the latest distro release each month. But this being Linux, there’s plenty you can do to dig yourself out of a hole, which is why it’s always a good idea to have a repair-worthy distribution close to hand when performing configuration and installation tasks.

One of the best developments in recent years has been the Live CD. These offer a fully functional Linux installation that runs from an optical drive. If you’ve got enough memory, you can even install new packages to the RAM disk just as you would when completing a standard installation. This makes a recent release of a Live CD-based installer like Ubuntu Jaunty the perfect system recovery tool. Not only does it include every package you might require, but because it runs from the optical drive rather than the hard drive, your data isn’t touched and there’s no chance files will be overwritten without direct input. It’s the obvious place to start when you get stuck.

Booting Linux

Probably the most common problem is when the Linux boot menu disappears or gets corrupted. The most likely reason for this is that a shared Windows installation has re-stamped its authority over your disk’s master boot record, overwriting the Grub boot loader with its own system-launching code. In these cases, you need to boot into a different Linux environment, either off a Live CD or from any other Linux booting media you can get hold of. The distribution you choose will also need to have Grub installed.

With Ubuntu, open the Terminal from the Accessories menu and type sudo grub. This will launch the boot loader with administrator privileges. From the ‘grub’ command prompt, type find /boot/grub/stage1. This Grub function searches every compatible drive attached to your system for the ‘/boot/grub/stage1’ file, which is used to launch the operating system. When the file is detected, it’ll output the drive and partition number of your lost installation using the format (hd1,0). Your output will look different, but it’s the drive number followed by the partition number of the Linux partition that you’re looking for. Grub should only be installed on a single partition on a single drive, so you shouldn’t find more than one version of the file.

To restore the Grub bootloader to your drive, type root (hd1,0), swapping the drive and partition number with the output you found with the previous ‘find’ command. Then type setup (hd1), swapping ‘hd1’ for your drive number. You should now find that your Linux partition and booting ability has been restored. The only potential problem is that this process could overwrite a Windows bootloader, and if Windows was installed after the original Grub installation, it won’t launch from the boot menu.

Booting Windows

Fortunately, adding Windows to your Grub menu is easy enough, and it’s straightforward to add any other OSes you want to boot from your system if you’ve got an example entry to work from. The key to the boot menu is a file called ‘/boot/grub/menu.lst’, and if you open this in a text editor, you should see that the formatting is relatively easy to understand. For instance, here’s a typical entry for booting a Windows installation off the first partition of the drive:

title Microsoft Windows
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

You can make this Windows boot entry the default selection by adding a line that has ‘savedefault’ as the only word. Adding Linux entries isn’t quite so easy, as you need to get the path to both the ‘initrd.img’ (RAM disk) and ‘vmlinuz’ (kernel) files correct, according to how they sit on the Linux filesystem. The best way is to copy and paste an existing entry and change the paths accordingly. Older versions of Grub won’t support newer filesystem types. ext4, for instance, is a major upgrade to the standard Linux filesystem and it needs a specially modified version of Grub to boot into it. This could cause a problem if you installed a new Linux distro using ext4 alongside an older one with its older version of Grub. The only option in this case is to upgrade Grub, either manually or through a distribution that ships with the modified Grub, such as Ubuntu Jaunty.

Restoring the MBR

If you ever need to reinstate the Microsoft Windows bootloader onto your disk’s master boot record (MBR), you can use the Windows rescue disk and the ‘fdisk’ command. However, there’s also a handy open-source utility called ‘ms-sys’ that performs the process from a Linux installation. With the tool installed, typing ms-sys -w /dev/hda will create a Microsoft MBR on the first drive. But this may leave you with the opposite problem to the one we started with if Linux is on the same drive. To resolve it, you’ll need to reinstall Grub to get back to your Linux desktop.

Even if you can’t get to your Linux desktop, if you can get to the Grub boot menu then there’s still lots you can do to troubleshoot an installation, whether that boot menu is off a Live CD or a standard installation. Press [Escape] when you see the boot menu, and ‘e’ on the line causing you problems, and you can now edit each entry on the fly. These are the same lines we were editing in the ‘menu.lst’ file, and you can edit in-place options like the root partition for the operating system or the locations of the RAM disk image and kernel. Finally, rather than pressing ‘e’ for edit mode, try accessing the same command-line we used to search for the missing Linux installation. Just press ‘c’ to be dropped to the prompt. ‘Find’ is just one of around 30 commands that you can use to fix problems on your hard drives, list directories and even examine the contents of text files (the ‘cat’ command). For more details on what’s available and how to use it, type help.

Fixing a partition table

Another situation that initially appears to be catastrophic but can be resolved without data loss is if you happen to destroy the partition table of one of your disks. This is the kind of error that could render an entire disk’s worth of information useless, and it will also prevent your PC booting. But partition tables are stored independently of the data on the disk, and there are ways that you can rebuild them.

You might think that it’s particularly difficult to destroy your partition table, but there are ways that you can easily do this accidentally. The most common cause is if your PC is forced to restart while resizing a partition. You might find that the entire partition table is corrupt, despite the fact that no other partitions on the drive were touched by the process. Another likely scenario is that the wrong device name is used while installing Linux onto an external USB device with a command like ‘dd’, resulting in your principle hard drive becoming the incorrect destination for a write command. This can happen from Windows installations too, but Linux can fix both.

The command you need to use is called testdisk. This is one of the most useful commands we’ve ever had to use in an emergency, though it’s not installed on many Live CDs by default. With the latest Ubuntu Jaunty, you’ll need to install it from the Live CD environment using the package manager. After this is done, you should type sudo testdisk on the command line. If you don’t use the sudo command to run with administrator privileges, testdisk will ask for your password when the main page first appears. Before you get to that step, though, you’ll need to let the app know whether you want to create a log file or not. The correct answer is ‘Create’, but most people skip this stage and move straight on to the repair. Before you select the ‘No Log’ option, just remember that a log file can really help if testdisk fails or makes the problem worse. It’s the only way that you’ll know how far the along the process the repair procedure managed to get before it stopped, and where any fatal errors might have occurred.

Writing the new table

After choosing whether or not to create a log file, the next screen you’ll see will list the storage devices attached to your computer. The size of each disk should be correct, along with the unique identifier for the drive at the end of the line. Use the cursor keys to select the drive that you want to repair and press [Enter]. The screen that now appears is the most important, because you need to give testdisk some indication of the type of drive partition used on your system. In the vast majority of cases, this is going to be the first option – an Intel/PC partition. If you’re using a system other than this, then there’s a good chance you’ll already know what it is. You may be using the ultra-new EFI standard, for example, and this can be selected from the list.

After pressing [Enter] again, you’ll see a page that has another list of options. You need to choose the first one to analyse the contents of the drive. This will first display the registered partition details, if possible, before allowing you to perform a quick search for the table configuration within the data on the drive. There’s also an exception for Vista-based partitions, as these are handled slightly differently. If the search is successful, you will see the list of partitions discovered on your drive. If not, you’ll be presented with the option to perform a deeper search, but we’ve never found this necessary on a normal Intel Linux system.

From the page that lists the discovered partitions, make sure that the general parameters are correct – such as one of them being labelled as bootable – and press [Enter]. From this file list of partitions, select ‘Write’ to make the list of partitions you can see on the screen permanent. After a system reboot, you should find your drive fully restored, although there’s a chance you might need to install the Grub bootloader.

Back up your data

Before you start messing with your drives in an attempt to rebuild a working system, make a copy of the data on the drive. There are many ways of making a backup in Linux, but the easiest is to use the ‘dd’ command. This makes a bit-for-bit copy of what’s on your drive, creating the Linux equivalent of a disc image. This means that you can work on this image to restore lost or deleted files without even touching the original disk. The ext3grep command we talk about in the ‘Restore deleted files’ box can use the output of ‘dd’ as its raw input, for example. Unlike ext3grep, ‘dd’ is easy to use. Just execute the command with a source followed by a destination: dd if=/dev/sda1 of=sda1_image.bin, for instance. The only caveat is that ‘dd’ will do exactly as you ask, overwriting anything it finds without any pleasantries. This is a big cause of overwritten boot blocks and MBRs on Linux. The command is also difficult to use because there’s next to no output to tell you what it’s doing, and it can take a while if you leave the block size at its default value. Sometimes the only way you can make sure ‘dd’ is making a copy is to check that the activity light is flashing.

Solving Error 18

One of the more problematic Grub errors is Error 18. It’s a throwback to a time when BIOSes couldn’t detect the size of a large drive properly. There are a couple of solutions to this problem. One is to try changing the drive order in the BIOS; the other is to create a smaller root Linux partition on the drive, as partitions over 500MB in size have been reported to cause the problem with certain BIOSes.

Restore deleted files

Thanks to the way modern Linux filesystems like ext3 use a journal to document file management, there’s no ‘undelete’ command that can simply restore lost and accidentally deleted files. Instead, you’re often left to trawl through the raw blocks of code accessible through the device nodes on your filesystem. But that hasn’t stopped some developers from trying to replicate it. One developer was particularly flummoxed when he accidentally deleted his home directory. Almost a year of work went with a careless execution of the ‘rm -rf’ command. But rather than spending the next few weeks lamenting its loss at a local bar, he spent them creating a tool to restore all those lost files. That tool is called ext3grep, and it’s about as close to an undelete command that us Linux users will ever get. But be warned: the price you pay for file resurrection is complexity.

Ext3grep is likely to be hosted on your distribution’s package repository. Before using it, you’ll need to make sure no processes are accessing files on the partition that held the file you want to recover. It might be easier to simply reboot to a fail-safe or administration mode, or even a Live CD if you need to get at the root filesystem. You then need to use ‘ext3grep’ to search for the missing file. The easiest method of recovering a file called ‘test.odt’ on ‘/dev/sda1’, is to type ext3grep /dev/sda1 –recover-file test.odt. Ext3grep will then search through each block of the device looking for directories, before diving in and looking for references to your file. If it can be found, it will be placed in the RESTORED_FILES folder.

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Repair Damaged Drives With Linux originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on September 4, 2009.

Simplify Your Workflow With Dropzone

System — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:20:04 +0000

Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online

The real power of OS X lies in all of the hidden gems beneath what you see at first glance. Technologies like Expose, Spaces, Stacks, Spotlight and others help users tap the power of their Mac, while keeping the experience sleek and elegant. Aptonic’s Dropzone, a third-party application designed to further simplify your Mac experience, fits into this group perfectly and naturally.

It’s Like an Intern for Your Dock

Dropzone is an application that resides in your Dock like any other app. The power of Dropzone comes into play when you begin dragging files onto its icon. Similar to the appearance of a Stack, Dropzone will expand giving you options of what to do with the file or files you’ve selected. Think of it like Automator for your Dock.

For example, if I have a handful of files selected, and drag them onto my Dropzone icon, I am presented with a series of choices, one of which is “Zip files and email.” As simple as it sounds, dragging the files onto this icon zips the files automatically and attaches them to a new email message inside of Mail. Gone are the days of right-clicking to compress the files, attaching that to an email and then deleting the zip file when I’m done.

Another “destination” included is the ability to install applications quickly by dragging a DMG onto the “Install Application” destination. Behind the scenes, your Mac will mount the DMG file, locate the application inside, copy it to your Applications folder and launch it, unmount the DMG and move the DMG file to the trash.

Other destinations include quick access to uploading images to Flickr (including copying the image URL to your clipboard when its done) or upload files to your FTP server. Want those files zipped before upload? No problem. Just hold down the option key as you drag the files onto the icon. It’s quick and simple and really does save time.

I’m the type of Mac user who likes to keep my Dock as simplified as possible, but I do enjoy the ability to be able to drag files onto an application icon and force the file to open in that application. Dropzone allows me to throw applications I use frequently inside of it and then I have the ability to do just that. Compared to attempting the same thing with a stack in Leopard, I only spawn Finder windows.

Taking It Further

Several optional downloads can extend the functionality of Dropzone. There are add-ons to allow you to start your screensaver, mount/unmount firewire drives, and set your computer to sleep, in addition to many others. Dropzone even includes support for popular web services, including the ability to quickly share photos via TwitPic, shorten a dropped URL via the Is.Gd service (and copy it to the clipboard automatically), and quickly share photos and documents on Posterous.

If you are comfortable programming ruby scripts, Dropzone also offers a scripting API to allow you to create your own “destinations” to further extend the application.

If you’d like to try out Dropzone, it’s currently available for Leopard or Snow Leopard users. Aptonic does provide a trial version of the software, and the cost is only $10 to purchase the full version. The trial does limit you to 15 days of use and up to five “destinations” at a time. I spoke with the developers at Aptonic and they informed me that updates through 1.0 will be freely available to users who register, but the $10 price is likely just an introductory price. Download the demo version here.

I’ll be the first to admit, much like Quicksilver or Spaces, once you get used to integrating this app, it really does save you time. If you have tried out Dropzone, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Simplify Your Workflow With Dropzone originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 17, 2009.

Installing Microsoft Silverlight v3 on OSX

Shai Perednik — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:51:29 +0000

For some reason the Microsoft Silverlight installer thinks hackintoshes are powerPCs. There’s a simple workaround for this:

Download the Silverlight plugin for Mac OSX.
Mount the .dmg file
Drag the Silverlight.3.0.pkg file to your desktop
Unmount the .dmg – not required now
Right click on “Silverlight3.0.pkg” and choose the “Show Package Contents” menu item.
Double click on the “Contents” folder.
Double click on the “Resources” folder.
Drag and drop the file “InstallationCheck” to the trash.
Close out the folder you’re working in.
Finally double click on the “Silverlight3.0.pkg” package, and it should install fine now.

VIA Msi Wind Forums • View topic – Installing Microsoft Silverlight v2 on OSX (Advent 4211).

Installing Microsoft Silverlight v3 on OSX originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 14, 2009.

HOWTO: Recover Lost Disk Space in Ubuntu

Shai Perednik — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:15:24 +0000

Disk Space Problems & Solutions

via HOWTO: Recover Lost Disk Space – Ubuntu Forums.

This is a great article definately worth the repost. Thank you to the Author drs305

Disk Space Problems & Solutions

This guide was created to help users who are having issues with disk space, or lack thereof. It presents various reasons why free space may have unexpectedly disappeared or changed, and how to locate and remove the files which now may be occupying this space.

The primary focus is on restoring space on the system partition ( / ) but the commands can easily be modified for other partitions as well. Although Linux ‘thinks’ of everything as a file, I will often refer to folders, partitions, and devices to keep things simpler for users transitioning from other operating systems.

This guide is an outgrowth of a tutorial covering residual Trash files. If you know your issue is related to Trash, please refer to Disk Full? – Check Your Trash Bin(s) for a more comprehensive treatment of that subject.

In a Rush? … Go Directly to # 6 for possible solutions or to # 8 for a step-by-step summary.

1. Error Messages – Why You Are Here?

“There is not enough room on the disk to save …” or perhaps you received an error message about “insufficient disk space”. Perhaps you looked at your system with a file browser or Disk Usage Analyzer and realized that you were running out of disk space. Maybe your system is reporting a partition full when you know it isn’t. This thread presents ways to discover what is using large portions of your disk space and how to regain some free space.

2. Where Did My Free Space Go? – Common Causes

A partition, such as / or /boot, is too small. (See # 6a).
Backup files were mistakenly saved to the wrong location. (See # 6b)
Deleted files in the trash bin are still on your system taking up disk space. (See # 6c)
You unknowingly created a large file. (See # 6d)
Downloads have accumulated in /var/cache/apt/archives. (See # 6e)
Various log files have increased in size and/or number. (See # 6f)
Your cloned partition doesn’t show the new partition’s correct size. (See 6g)
Your NTFS partition shows the incorrect size. (See 6h)
The contents of your “lost+found” folders have grown. (See #6i)
You just need a bit more space. (See # 6j)
- This includes not being able to install a new kernel.

3. An Important Note About Mounting Options, Permissions, and Deletions

Mounting. Many of the commands and applications mentioned in this post present information only on mounted partitions. If you execute the command without first running one of the mount/unmount commands below, you will see information on only the devices that are currently mounted.
For troubleshooting, one of the first things you have to determine is what devices (partitions, drives, etc) you want to look at. If you are having a problem with system space, you would normally want to look only at system folders and not additional devices. At best the additional mounted devices just provide extra results – at worst a mounted device might hide a problem with underlying data on the same mount point (see du).
To view only the system folders, first close all open applications and then run the following. It will attempt to unmount all partitions listed in /etc/mtab. You will get messages stating “device is busy” for any system partition or partition currently being used by the system. These messages are normal and can be ignored.
Code:
```
sudo umount -a
```
To investigate other devices/partitions, you can mount all those listed in /etc/fstab with the following command. Once you have done that, you can manually mount any other devices which are not listed therein.
Code:
```
sudo mount -a
```
Permissions. Remember that when running commands or applications as a user you will see only files you have permission to see. This may prevent you from seeing files created or stored in system folders that may be taking up the space you have lost. To ensure you can view all the files on your computer if you have ‘root’ privileges run the commands/applications as ‘root’. For command line operations, precede the command with “sudo “. For graphical applications such as nautilus and baobab/Disk Usage Analyzer start the command to launch the application with “gksudo “
Deletions. When deleting folders/files from within a file browser such as nautilus remember that the deleted folders/files are moved to the Trash bin. Until you empty the trash, these files will continue to use disk space. To free up space, you can:
- In a file browser, use SHIFT-DELETE to bypass the Trash bin.
- In terminal, use the “rm” command.
- Empty the Trash bins – the user’s and root’s. Starting with Hardy, these are located at ~/.local/share/Trash and /root/.local/share/Trash, respectively.
Warning: SHIFT-DELETE and “rm” cannot be reversed. Make sure you are deleting the correct item(s).

4. Checking Your Partitions via Terminal (CLI)

To open a terminal, either use the Main Menu (Applications, Accessories, Terminal) or use ALT-F2, enter the command(s) in the top input area, and tick/enable “Run in terminal” to open a terminal window, .

A brief note on df and du: It is beyond the scope of this guide to go into detail about how df and du report disk usage. They look at disk space differently and the results will not be the same. Generally the results of df will show more disk usage than those of du since it considers block size rather than just the specific file size. Additionally, df’s results will include information about open files – those which are not currently written to disk but do exist in memory.

Terminal command results may include “/proc” entries. These are virtual file entries, are not the cause of lost disk space, and should be left alone.

df – Report file system disk space usage (Check your /dev/sdXX’s)
Since the “df” command provides details on mounted partitions you should run the “df” command after you have decided which devices you wish to investigate and have run the appropriate mount/umount command. If you first run the “sudo umount -a” command the “df” results will usually report only your system partition information if all other applications are closed. Review Section 3 for mounting/unmounting options.
Note that deleted files in Trash are included in used space until completely removed from the system.
Code:
```
df -Th
```
Optionally: df -h or df -Th | sort or df -Th | grep -v “fs” | sort
Here is a sample of the “df -Th | grep -v “fs” | sort” command:
Code:
```
/dev/sda1     ext3     15G  7.7G  6.3G  55% /
/dev/sda2     ext3     15G  2.1G   12G  15% /media/data
/dev/sdb2     ext3     48G   35G   11G  76% /media/backup
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
```
Note: “sort” will order the partition results. The “T” switch shows the file type – you can omit it if desired. The “h” switch lists file sizes in “human” terms. Mounted NTFS partitions will be displayed as type: “fuseblk”.
du – Estimate file space usage (Check your folders)
This command will show you how much space is being used by the mounted file systems on a given folder. One disadvantage of du is that it reports information only on mounted files. Additionally, if a device is mounted to a folder which already contains data, the underlying data size will not be included in the results. This means that if /media/data contains 40GB of data, but a 20GB partition is then mounted to /media/data, the results will show only the 20GB of the last-mounted device.
The “–max-depth” switch allows you to set how many sub-levels you wish to view. Once you have run the command starting at the top level ( / ) you can then investigate specific folders by replacing / with another starting point (for example, /var/log). This command reads the the disk contents when executed and thus will take a while to complete if the entire disk is to be searched. Using “grep” can help display only folders meeting specific criteria. Use “sudo” to gain access to system folders.
Code:
```
sudo du -h --max-depth=1 /
```
Optionally: sudo du -h –max-depth=1 / | grep ‘[0-9]G\>’ (This combination reduces returns to folders 1GB or larger)
Folder usage is recursive – that means that the command will report the total usage of the folder and its sub-folders. Used with the right switches and run as root, it is a good tool to quickly locate files/folders which use large amounts of disk space. Once the large folders are located, investigating them with other commands or a file browser probably will provide the best results for a new user. Remember that the “du” command reports information on mounted partitions. Refer to Section 3 for mounting/unmounting options.
Here is a sample of the sudo du / -h –max-depth=1 | grep ‘[0-9]G\>’ command, which searches for folder/subfolders which use at least 1GB of space:
Code:
```
du: cannot access `/proc/6793/fdinfo/3': No such file or directory
1.8G	/media
2.8G	/usr
3.1G	/home
8.9G	/
```
Notes: “–max-depth” limits the results to one level but includes the total disk usage of the folder and all subfolders. Once you identify a specific folder to investigate, you can substitute its address for / (e.g. /usr ) and/or increase the “–max-depth=1 to a larger number.
find (Find a file or folder)
The find command, used with the appropriate options, is an excellent tool to locate large files.
Code:
```
sudo find / -name '*' -size +1G
or
sudo find / -name '*' -size +500M
```
In the above examples, +1G searches for files larger than 1GB. +500M looks for files larger than 500MB. You can adjust the sizes to suit your needs. An initial Ubuntu installation will not normally have files larger than 500MB on the system partition.
Starting with / will help ensure a thorough search of your entire system. You can specify a different starting point to speed up the search if you know which folder you want to search. Example: sudo find /var/log -name ‘*’ -size +1G
Strictly speaking, you don’t even need to include the “-name ‘*’” option. It is included to show the format should you wish to replace the universal search with a specific file name ( example: -name ‘sbackup.tar.gz’ )
The difference between this command and the “du” command discussed previously is that this command will search only for individual files and not for folders. This would be a good choice if you were searching for a backup file you think may have ended up in the wrong place.

5. Checking Your Partitions Graphically (GUI)

Gnome-Device-Manager
System > Administration > System Monitor: File Systems tab. (In terminal: gnome-system-manager or preferably gksudo gnome-system-manager)
As with the “df” command, the information presented includes only currently mounted devices. Review Section 3 for more information on mounting/unmounting options. Trash is considered used space.
This is the information displayed in the File Systems tab. System Monitor will, of course, present it graphically.
Code:
```
Device      Dir     Type   Total     Free      Available   Used     %
/dev/sda2   /home   ext3   33.1GiB   31.1GiB   29.4GiB     2.0GiB   6%
```
The “System” tab lists the available disk space on the system ( / ) partition.
Disk Usage Analyzer / baobab
Applications > Accessories > Disk Usage Analyzer. (In terminal: baobab or preferably gksudo baobab )
Disk Usage Analyzer reports information only on mounted devices. Refer to Section 3 for more information on mounting/unmounting options
.
While DUA provides valuable information, it often brings up questions about its use. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Once a scan is complete, the top entry, whether it is the system or a single folder, will always show 100%. The sub-folder percentages add up to 100%. 100% does not necessarily mean there is no space left on the partition.
- “Total file system capacity” includes the space on all mounted devices. If you have an external drive mounted, it’s contents are included in the totals.
- “Scan Home” scans the user’s home folder, or root’s if baobab is opened with “gksudo”. “Scan FileSystem” scans the system whether or not “gksudo” is used. If DUA is opened without “gksudo baobab” not all folders/files will be visible.
- In the top section below the menus, DUA will list the “Total file system capacity”. This total is the sum of all reported devices. If DUA sees a / partition of 15GB, a data partition of 30GB, and an external drive mounted on /media/backup of 30GB, it will report a total of 75GB. The available space reported is the total space available, even if one partition is completely full. This value is the total of partitions selected in “Preferences”. You can select or deselect a partition/device by unticking it in the Edit > Preferences section.
- The ‘Size’ column entries reflect actual disk space usage (allocated space), not the apparent folder size. You can change this option via the View menu.
- If the disk usage is approximately double the size you expected, baobad may be including the .gvfs (a virtual file system). You may be able to de-select it via the Edit, Preferences menu.
- Running DUA as root may show different results in the folders section. The reason is that opening DUA as a normal user through the Main Menu will not allow you to view certain folders, such as root’s deleted Trash. For the most accurate results, opening DUA with “gksudo baobab will provide the most accurate assessment of disk usage.
- To narrow the search, you can expand a folder to see what amount of disk space each of the sub-folders is using.
Nautilus
Places > Home Folder. (In terminal: nautilus or preferably gksudo nautilus )
The familiar file browser is good for reviewing folder contents and deleting specific folders/files.
- Nautilus will show mount points (although not the contents of unmounted devices) even when a device is not mounted on the mount point.
- Unless nautilus is opened with administrative privileges ( gksudo nautilus ) certain folders/files such a root’s Trash will not be visible. The folder may show “Empty” even though sub-folders or files exist. For viewing the contents of your system, I recommend running nautilus with root privileges (“gksudo nautilus“).
- Right click a folder and select “Properties” to display the size (for files) and free space remaining on the parent partition.
Gparted
System > Administration > Partition Editor. (In terminal: gksudo gparted)
For checking total disk usage on a given partition, gparted is a simple way of seeing how much of a partition the system thinks is used.

6. PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

a. Partition Is Too Small
How to Find It:
If you plan on going throught the list from start to finish a logical starting point is the actual size of your partition. A quick review of the Ubuntu System Requirements shows that for a standard Ubuntu desktop installation the bare minimum is 4GB and the recommended minimum is 8GB. These are recommended minimums. Of course, you can get by with less or need much more, depending on how many apps you install. Note: If you have a separate /boot partition, the minimum size depends on how many kernels you have installed, but users who created a separate /boot partition of 50MB often run out of room!
Backup any important files before performing any partitioning operations. If the operations involve NTFS partitions, defragment them at least once as well.
How to Fix It:
- Take Space from Another Partition. If you drive has another partition with extra space, reduce the size of one or more of them and expand your / partition (or another running out of space). To resize any system partition, the / partition (and perhaps /swap) must not be in use/mounted). Repartitioning in Ubuntu is normally accomplished with an application called “gparted“. (System > Administration > Partition Editor). You can run gparted from the LiveCD. You can also use other CD/DVD/USBs which contain gparted, such as the GParted Live CD or a SystemRescueCD.
  It is beyond the scope of this guide to present details of how to use gparted, however this guide and this one can help.
- Move /home. Move parts of your system, such as /home, to another location. Here is a link on how to move your /home folder:
  Create a separate home partition in Ubuntu
- Move data files to another location. Data files, music collections, video files, etc. can take up a lot of space. Creating a separate data partition on the same or another drive can provide more space for critical system files.
- Kernel installation failure. Some users created very small /boot partitions. If older kernels are not removed the partition may become full and this or a similar message may result:
  Quote:
  gzip: stdout: No space left on device update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img
  If the user has a separate /boot partition and/or received the previous warning, check the available space and the kernel in use:
  Code:
```
df -Th | grep 'boot'
uname -r
```
  If you are out of space, the easiest option is to remove older kernels via synaptic. Open synaptic, search for “linux-image“. Synaptic will display all kernels, current and former. You can safely remove one or more older kernels although many experienced users keep at least one older kernel. You can also remove the same kernel’s “linux-headers-…” Ubuntu will not allow you to remove the current kernel while it is in use.
- Try a lighter version of Ubuntu. If you just have a small hard drive or don’t have the space to dedicate to a normal Ubuntu installation, you can try Xubuntu, an official Ubuntu derivative which uses less resources. The minimum space required is only 1.5GB, with the recommended minimum minimum is 6GB.
b. Backups Gone Wrong!
On of the most common causes of disappearing disk space is a backup saved to the wrong location. Besides just improperly designating the backup location, this can also be the result of a file being saved to a mount point on which no device, such as an internal or external backup drive, is mounted.
Example: A script calls for Simple Backup (sbackup) to backup a partition and automatically save the result to an external drive mounted on /media/backup. At the given time, the device is neither turned on nor mounted. Since the mount point exists, the backup file is created and saved in /media/backup, using up space on the system partition instead of on the planned external drive.
How to Find It:
- For problems with your system partition, unmount all but your system folders using the “sudo umount -a” command discussed in Section 3.
- Run the following command detailed in Section 4. The option searches for files larger than 1GB. Disregard findings which include “/proc/”.
  Code:
```
sudo find / -name '*' -size +1G
```
- Any file found larger than 1GB is a likely suspect for further investigation, especially any file found on one of the user’s mount points. Mount points will normally be empty unless a device is mounted to it.
- If the backup contains many smaller folders, such as a music collection, rather than look for one large file the user may wish to look at the combined folder size. In this case, run the following command detailed in Section 4. The command will look for folders using more than 1GB of space if the “grep” option is included.
  Code:
```
sudo du -h --max-depth=1 / | grep '[0-9]G\>'
```
- Once large folders are located, you can refine the search by identifying a specific folder as the starting point and/or increase the “maxdepth” level. The folders /usr, /root, and /home will normally be included in the results. If all your mount points are in the /media folder, your search could might look like “sudo du -h –max-depth=2 /media“.
How to Fix It:
- Once you have found the file, either move it to a location on a different partition or delete it. If you delete it, you must use SHIFT-DEL in a file browser, the “rm” command via terminal, or empty your Trash (or root’s for root-owned Trash) before the space is actually recovered and made available for use. Simply highlighting the item and hitting the DELETE key will move it to Trash, where it will continue to take up space. Warning: These delete methods cannot be reversed! Make sure you are deleting the correct item.
- If the problem was the result of an automatic backup, amend the script or take steps to ensure the backup device is mounted prior to executing the backup script.
  - luisjeronimo offered this tip: To help prevent this when using sbackup, the user can select the “Abort backup if destination directory does not exist” in the “Destination” tab during setup.
c. Trash Folders Not Empty
When a file or folder is deleted via a file browser in most cases it is not removed from the system. Instead it is placed in Trash. Until Trash is emptied, these files are recoverable and continue to take up space on the partition. There are several places on the system that deleted files are stored. It varies by which version of Ubuntu is running, the origin of the deleted folders/files, and who deleted them.
Example: A user downloads a collection of large .iso files or installation packages. Deciding not to use the files, the user deletes them using administrative privileges (as root). The user’s Trash shows empty, the user can’t find the files with his/her browser, but the free space isn’t restored. In a different scenario, another user on the same machine deletes files but never empties Trash.
How to Find It:
- Run the following command to locate all Trash folders in the system. This will find the Trash folders of all users as well as root. The second part of the command will display the size of the located folders.
  Code:
```
sudo find / -type d -name '*Trash*' | sudo xargs du -h | sort
```
How to Fix It:
- Items in Trash must be deleted in a special manner – otherwise they will be moved to the …Trash!
- Open a file browser with administrative privileges ( “gksudo nautilus” ). Navigate to the Trash folder, highlight it and press SHIFT-DELETE. Using this key combination ensures the Trash folder is permanently deleted, The Trash folder contains two sub-folders, “info” and “files”. Deleting the parent Trash folder will delete both these folders. All three will be restored the next time something is deleted. Warning: These delete methods cannot be reversed! Make sure you are deleting the correct item.
For a detailed tutorial on the Ubuntu Trash system, please go to: Disk Full? – Check Your Trash Bin(s)
d. Unexpectedly Large File
A single ‘rogue’ file may be consuming large amounts of space. Use the following command to locate abnormally large files.
How to Find It:
As mentioned in Section 4, you can use the “find” command to search for large files. If you completed # 6a. you have already run this command.
Code:
```
sudo find -size +1G /
```
How to Fix It:
Decide what the files are, if they are in the proper location, and whether or not you wish to retain them. If you delete a large file, either bypass the Trash bin with the “rm” command, SHIFT-DEL in nautilus, or empty the appropriate Trash bin after deleting it.
e. Too Many Collected Packages
Packages (.deb files) downloaded for installation by a user via the system (apt, synaptic, dpkg) are stored in /var/cache/apt/archives. Over time, this folder can become quite large. Under normal circumstances it is not necessary to keep packages locally; they can be retrieved from a server if re-installation is desired.
How to Find It:
To check the amount of space being used for package storage, run:
Code:
```
du -h /var/cache/apt/
```
How to Fix It:
There are several system commands you can use to reduce or eliminate the number of locally stored packages.
- To remove all the packages from /var/cache/apt/archives and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial folders:
  Code:
```
sudo apt-get clean
```
- To remove all expired packages from /var/cache/apt/archives and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial that are no longer available for download:
  Code:
```
sudo apt-get autoclean
```
  “Not available for download” does not mean you should save them – normally you don’t.
- To remove packages that were installed to satisfy dependencies for other applications but which are no longer needed:
  Code:
```
sudo apt-get autoremove
```
  There is an application called APTonCD that can save these packages to a cd/dvd if you want to preserve your .deb files prior to removing them.
f. Check Your LogsLog files are usually stored in /var/log and its subfolders. An excessive number of small log files or large individual logs can eat up disk space.
How to Find It:
You can run the following to see the size of each /var/log/ subfolder:
Code:
```
sudo du -h /var/log
```
How to Fix It:
- Determine which process is generating the log files and try to change its behavior.
- Move or delete unnecessary log files, especially older files with more current entries. Archived *.gz log files are safe to delete.
- If you find a particularly large log file and you don’t want to delete it, you can remove its contents while keeping the file structure intact with the following command. Change the filename to the name of the actual file:
  Code:
```
sudo cp /dev/null /var/log/log_filename.log
```
g. Cloned Partitions Folders
When partitions are cloned to a partition of a different size (such as restoring a Partimage file to a larger partition), the partition table may need to be updated.
How to Find It:
The size of a partition after cloning may reflect the original cloned partition size rather than the size of the partition into which it was restored. This is discussed in the Partimage user’s manual. Gparted may show the entire partition as used even when you know it isn’t.
How to Fix It:
Note: The following procedure is for ext2 and ext3 formatted partitions only Change “sdXX” to the correct device designation (example: sdb3)
Code:
```
sudo umount /dev/sdXX        # unmount the new partition  Example: sudo umount /dev/sdb3
sudo e2fsck /dev/sdXX        # Optionally, perform a check of the partition
sudo resize2fs -p /dev/sdXX  # redraw the partition table to reflect the correct partition size
df -h                        # Check the results
```
h. NTFS Partition Is Not Correctly Sized
No matter what the cause, it is possible an NTFS partition table fails to indicate the correct size of the partition.
How to Find It:
The size of a partition isn’t what it should be. You can check the disk size by running “df -Th /dev/sdXX”. The command will indicate the file type (NTFS), size in GB, used/remaining space and percentage free.
How to Fix It:
Note: You will be warned in the final stages of the operation to backup data and ensure a reliable power source. The warning may appear a bit intimidating but merely reflects precautions which should be taken any time a partition table is altered.
Replace /dev/sdXX with the correct partition designation.
Example: Replace /dev/sdXX with /dev/sda1 if the device is /dev/sda1
When you remount the NTFS partition after resizing make sure the mount point exists. Example: /mnt/windows
Code:
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs  # ntfsprogs is included in the 'main' repository.
sudo umount /dev/sdXX
sudo ntfsresize /dev/sdXX
sudo mount /dev/sd/XX /path/mount_ point  (If listed in fstab, 'sudo mount -a' will mount it.)
df -Th    # Check the results
```
i. lost+found Folders
Each ext2/3 partition will contain a ‘lost+found’ folder. This folder contains corrupted files discovered by the system during an fsck check.
How to Find It:
You can run the following to locate each lost+found folder and, optionally, see the size of each folder:
Code:
```
sudo find / -name "lost+found" | sudo xargs du -h
```
How to Fix It:
- Open a file browser with administrative powers ( “gksudo nautilus” ) and inspect the contents of any large “lost+found” folder. If there is nothing recoverable, you may delete the folder. This folder will be recreated after the next fsck check.
  If you delete it, you must use SHIFT-DEL in a file browser, the “rm” command via terminal, or empty your Trash (or root’s for root-owned folders) before the space is actually recovered and made available for use. Simply highlighting the item and hitting the DELETE key will move it to Trash, where it will continue to take up space. Warning: These delete methods cannot be reversed! Make sure you are deleting the correct item.
j. Gain Just a Bit of Space
You can gain a bit of space by following these steps. Don’t expect large free space gains.
How to Fix It:
- Computer Janitor. Recent versions of Ubuntu come with an app which can locate unnecessary libraries and other files. Access it via System, Administration, Computer Janitor. There is another app located in Synaptic called “cruft” that can also locate accumulated ‘cruft’ – stuff that doesn’t need to be on your system.
- tune2fs. Reduce the space reserved for system use. By default, Ubuntu reserves 5% of linux partitions for use by the operating system. Some commands and applications do not accurately reflect reserved system space (gparted/baobab). Nautilus and the “df” command accurately display available usable space by accounting for reserved system space.The amount of partition space reserved for this can be altered with tune2fs. Replace “X” with the percentage of disk space you wish to reserve and “XX” with the device designation.
  Code:
```
sudo tune2fs -m X /dev/sdXX
```
  Example: sudo tune2fs -m 4 /dev/sda1
  Note: There is a reason Ubuntu reserves this space. Carefully consider if you want to change this setting before doing so.
- gtkorphan. Install “deborphan“, a command-line application, and “gtkorphan“, a gui-based application. These programs help find and eliminate orphaned libraries which are no longer needed.
  Code:
```
sudo apt-get install deborphan gtkorphan
```
  - “deborphan” can identify orphaned packages.To run it:
    Code:
```
sudo deborphan
```
  - To run “gtkorphan“, System > Administration > “Remove orphaned packages”. GtkOrphan will allow the user to identify and delete selected orphan libraries.
- localepurge. A number of language packages may be installed on the system. “localepurge” can be installed and run to remove and prevent future installation of extra language packages that the user does not use. Read the man page for warnings about it’s use.

7. Other Issues

When investigating this topic, run everything as root ( sudo / gksudo) to ensure as much consistency as possible.

New Hard Drives. New hard drives will not contain the space shown on the packaging. For example, a 1TB drive normally starts with about 931GB of space. Additionally, linux file systems by default reserve 5% of the space for system use.
Reporting Inconsistencies. Unfortunately disk usage is not uniformly reported throughout the range of applications. Total usable disk space is generally consistent. Space reserved for system use (and thus unavailable) is accounted for with the “df” command and in nautilus but is shown as available in GParted and baobab/Disk Usage Analyzer.

8. The Five Minute Guide

Let’s just get on with it!

Determine what you need mounted.
Run everything with administrative powers (gksudo nautilus, etc).
When you discover the problem, refer to the appropriate section above for tips on how to fix it.
When you are done deleting items make sure all Trash is removed from the user’s and root’s Trash folders.

If you get stuck, read the guide! Good luck.

Quote:

For system partition ( / ) troubles:

sudo umount -a # keep only / mounted, disregard “busy” messages (#3)

To inspect all partitions:

sudo mount -a # mount all devices in fstab, then manually mount the rest (#3)

Confirm partition/disk usage (partition size, used, remaining):

df -Th | grep -v “fs” | sort # confirm partition usage (#4)

Search generally for large folders/files:

sudo du -h –max-depth=1 / | grep ‘[0-9]G\>’ # find large folders > 1GB (#4)

sudo find / -name ‘*’ -size +500M # find large files > 500MB (#4/6c)

Target Specific Partitions/Folders:

sudo find / -type d -name ‘*Trash*’ | sudo xargs du -h | sort # check for Trash (#6b)

sudo du -h /var/cache/apt/ # check for a large cache of .deb files (#6d)

sudo du -h /var/log # check for large log folders

Ensure your Trash bins aren’t ‘full’:

sudo find / -type d -name ‘*Trash*’ | sudo xargs du -h | sort # check for Trash (#6b)

Recheck your disk space:

df -Th | grep -v “fs” | sort

HOWTO: Recover Lost Disk Space in Ubuntu originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 10, 2009.

DropZone Supercharges the Dock

System — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:40:04 +0000

Automatically pulled from My Clippings on NewsGator Online

If you’re using a Mac you’re already familiar with the Dock, the launcher that traditionally lives at the bottom of the screen and gives you an easy way to get to your most commonly used applications and folders. The dock is already great at what it does but DropZone adds power to the Dock that you didn’t know you needed, like the ability to instantly install applications, upload files to Flickr or an FTP server, and quickly move or copy files to apps or folders of your choice.

DropZone isn’t free, a single user license will cost you $10. Also, Mac OS X 10.5 is required for the app to run. That being said, if DropZone streamlines tasks that you frequently perform the app may be worth the 10 dollar price tag. Once you have the app installed, you’ll likely wind up using it to drag and drop items and perform tasks that used to take several clicks.

One of DropZone’s best features is its ability to give you commonly used apps, folders, and network drives. Simply drag an item onto the DropZone icon in the dock and the app will expand a grid that you can customize to suit your most common tasks. For example, if you find yourself uploading documents to Flickr, editing images in Photoshop, and draging finished images to the Pictures folder on your server, you can add the Flickr upload widget to the grid, a Photoshop icon that you can drag folders onto to open Photoshop, and a shortcut to your network share, and get access to all of them without having to add them individually to the dock.

In addition to giving you more control over some of the regular processing you do with your files, DropZone has widgets that allow you to upload photos to Flickr, files to an FTP server of your choice (or as many as you choose), and even add the files you’ve dragged and dropped to a ZIP archive and add the archive to a new e-mail message. Each of the widgets in DropZone are called “destinations,” and when you drag files on top of the DropZone icon, your customized destinations are shown in the grid that expands over the icon.

The app also makes it easy to install applications. When you download an app for the Mac, it usually comes packaged in a .DMG archive. Simply drag that archive onto the DropZone icon, and DropZone will unpack the DMZ, find the application file inside, copy it to your Applications folder, and launch the app when complete. DropZone even unmounts the image and drags the archive to the trash for you.

DropZone also helps moving files around your system easier. When you use DropZone to move or copy files from folder to folder, the app uses Rsync so you don’t have to worry about a huge job failing because of something small like a duplicate filename or a single error. For example, if you want to copy your entire music collection to your external hard drive, you don’t want the copy to fail after the first 45 minutes just because there’s a duplicate file in the destination folder.

DropZone does all of these things and more. Because the API is open, developers can add destinations and features to improve the app. There are already a number of user-contributed destinations, including one to upload photos to TwitPic, upload documents to TwitDoc, share documents on Posterous, put your Mac to sleep, shrink URLs via is.gd, and more. Granted, DropZone doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do on your own, but for a very modest price DropZone makes those tasks a lot easier.

[via DownloadSquad]

Go to Source

DropZone Supercharges the Dock originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on July 7, 2009.

Force Ubuntu Trash to Empty

Shai Perednik — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:50:27 +0000

Sometimes the Ubuntu trash can be very stubborn and files are left there that won’t delete.

There are two options both involving terminal. replace USERNAME with your username.

Option 1:

sudo rm -rf /home/USERNAME/.local/Trash/files/*

Option 2:

gksudo dbus-launch nautilus

navigate to: /home/USERNAME/.local/Trash/files/

Delete what you want.

Option 1 works 99% of the time, but sometimes there will be those files that even sudo can’t remove.

Force Ubuntu Trash to Empty originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on June 10, 2009.

Need a Temp Email Address?

Shai Perednik — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:02:46 +0000

I’ve used dodit for years. But since I always mispell it I looked for alternatives.

Here’s the top 20 via sizlopedia.com

Mailinator is one of the best and top rated disposable email services that gives you a temporary mailbox on the following address format e.g. something@mailinator.com
MyTrashMail is another good temporary mail service that gives you a mailbox in the address format e.g. something@trashymail.com and also gives you secure temporary mailbox if you signup
MailExpire stands out in the crowd by giving you the option to have a temporary inbox ranging from 12 hours expiry to as long as 3 months
TemporaryInbox is yet another simple and easy to use temporary email service that gives you an email address in different formats
MailEater gives you a free temporary email inbox in the format e.g. something@MailEater.com
Jetable not only allows you to set the life span of your temporary email inbox but also allows you to forward the mails in your temporary inbox to your real email address
SpamBox gives you a temporary email address in the format e.g. something@spambox.us and also allows you to set the lifespan of your inbox
GuerillaMail lets you generate a temporary email which expires in a time of 15 minutes and also tell you how to offer a temporary email service on your site.
SpamHole provides you a 2 hour long temporary email inbox at the address format e.g. something@spamhole.com
10MinuteMail generates an easy 10 minute email inbox for your temporary email needs
DontReg is one bigger, better, faster and safer temporary email inbox solution
TempoMail is one new temporary email inbox services that give you spam-free mailbox
TempEmail aims to give you a fast, anonymous yet secure temporary email inbox
PookMail is a multi-language temporary email inbox service that gives an email address in the format e.g. something@pookmail.com
SpamFree24 is a new multi-domain temporary email inbox service which is growing rapidly
KasMail requires registration, allows up to 25 aliases, can set aliases to expire after a certain amount of time.
SpamMotel requires registration, provides mail forwarding, mail can be accessed through desktop e-mail clients, can reply to e-mail from your real e-mail address using SpamMotel e-mail.
GreenSloth requires no registration, receive-only, e-mail expires automatically after a week
AnonInbox requires no registration, simple, no frills.
Spam.la is a fast disposable email service which requires no registration, no frills. You can see all spam being sent to all Spam.la accounts, or just your own.

Need a Temp Email Address? originally appeared on Shai Perednik.com on May 20, 2009.