Tag Archives: disk drive

Backing up hard to do, but worth it

This is an edited version of my weekly column for Loose Wire Service, a service providing print publications with technology writing designed for the general reader. Email me if you’re interested in learning more. Sometimes it takes something like an earthquake to realize that you’re vulnerable. Once the ground stops shaking and you’ve begun to… Read More »

A Beginner’s Guide to Saving an Old Computer

(This is the text of my weekly Loose Wire Service column, written mostly for newcomers to personal technology, and syndicated to newspapers like The Jakarta Post. Editors interested in carrying the service please feel free to email me.) What should you do with an old laptop that is so slow you have time to down… Read More »

The Smallest Hard Drive In The World

Small is beautiful. The Guinness World Records has certified Toshiba’s 0.85-inch hard disk drive as the smallest HDD in the world (it’s not actually out yet; expect to see it in September). Toshiba say it’s the first hard disk drive “to deliver multi-gigabyte data storage in a sub-one-inch form factor”. (The 0.85-inch measurement refers to… Read More »

News: Tiny Drives Get Bigger

 Hitachi today is now shipping one-inch diameter drives storing 4 gigabytes with a a data transfer rate that is 70 percent faster than the previous-generation Microdrive. Hitachi reckons it’s the “world’s smallest hard disk drive“, weighing just over a half an ounce and equivalent in size to a matchbook. Hitachi will continue to offer its… Read More »

Update: Manually Extracting Worms

 Here are some tips for manually removing the Sobig.F worm, from Global Hauri, which sells something called a ViRobot Expert to filter unwanted emails caused by this virus (sorry, I haven’t tidied up the somewhat eccentric language):     To repair the virus, install anti-virus software and update to the latest definitions. Once the antivirus… Read More »