Software
Software: Hard Disk Diagnostic Tools
Nov 7th
IBM/Hitachi
Fujitsu
Samsung
Seagate/Maxtor
Toshiba
- n/a
Western Digital
Software: CrystalDiskInfo
Nov 2nd
Do you know that most hard disk have their own monitoring system called S.M.A.R.T. which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology? It can detect and report on the reliability of your drive.
I stumbled across this software which is capable of checking your hard disk health. It is called CrystalDiskInfo which is an open-source software.
Lets take a look at my 250GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 (Western Digital Blue) which is more than 3 years old. From the report below, I can see that it has developed some errors. Looks like I have to backup this hard disk more often!
Here is my other hard disk, a 1TB Western Digital Green which is less than a year old and is in good health.
David’s 250GB Western Digital Scorpio which have failed. Notice the Reallocated Sector Count and Current Pending Sector Count which have lower values compared to the drives above.
Download: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html
Camera RAW Codec for Windows
Oct 30th
I have been using 64-bit Windows versions but there is no Canon RAW codec for it. Canon RAW codec only supports 32-bit Windows.
I was introduced to this by FLiPMaRC at club3g.com
This allows you to view RAW thumbnails as well as opening it in 64-bit applications.
FastPictureViewer WIC RAW Codec Pack
A free collection of 32 and 64-bit raw image decoders for Windows 7, Vista and XP.
FastPictureViewer, the fastest image viewer! Windows Vista introduced a modern and extensible imaging framework called Windows Imaging Component (WIC). The operating system comes with built-in support for several common image formats including jpeg, bmp, png, gif, tiff and HD Photo. WIC makes it possible for 3rd parties to add first-class support for image formats to Windows, complete with thumbnails in Explorer, preview and slideshow support in Photo Gallery / Photo Viewer and metadata search integration.The FastPictureViewer WIC RAW Codec Pack provides such platform support for additional formats through read-only image decoders, simultaneously available in both 32 and 64-bit flavor.
WIC-enabled image viewers such as Windows Live™ Photo Gallery, Windows 7’s Media Center and our own FastPictureViewer Professional “automagically” gain the ability to open and view new image formats, play slideshows etc, so does all .NET 3.x and WPF-based applications.
http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/
