TestDisk 6.12

TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery utility. TestDisk was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition Table).

TestDisk is a free and useful program which queries the BIOS ( DOS/Win9x) or the OS ( Linux, FreeBSD) in order to find the Hard Disks and their characteristics ( LBA size and CHS geometry). TestDisk does a quick check of your disk´s structure and compares it with your Partition Table for entry errors. If the Partition Table has entry errors, TestDisk can repair them. If you have missing partitions or a completely empty Partition Table, TestDisk can search for partitions and create a new Table or even a new MBR if necessary.

However, it´s up to the user to look over the list of possible partitions found by TestDisk and to select the one(s) which were being used just before the drive failed to boot or the partition(s) were lost. In some cases, especially after initiating a detailed search for lost partitions, TestDisk may show partition data which is simply from the remnants of a partition that had been deleted and overwritten long ago.

TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, the command line parameters /log and /debug can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

TestDisk can find lost partitions for all of these file systems:

BeFS ( BeOS )
BSD disklabel ( FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD )
CramFS, Compressed File System
DOS/Windows FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32
HFS and HFS+, Hierarchical File System
JFS, IBM´s Journaled File System
Linux Ext2 and Ext3
Linux Raid
RAID 1: mirroring
RAID 4: striped array with parity device
RAID 5: striped array with distributed parity information
RAID 6: striped array with distributed dual redundancy information
Linux Swap (versions 1 and 2)
LVM and LVM2, Linux Logical Volume Manager
Mac partition map
Novell Storage Services NSS
NTFS ( Windows NT/2K/XP/2003 )
ReiserFS 3.5, 3.6 and 4
Sun Solaris i386 disklabel
Unix File System UFS and UFS2 (Sun/BSD/…)
XFS, SGI´s Journaled File System

PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost pictures (Photo Recovery) from digital camera memory and lost files including video, documents and archives from Hard Disks and CDRom. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it´ll work even if your media´s filesystem is severely damaged or formatted. PhotoRec is safe to use, it will never attempt to write to the drive or memory support you are about to recover from. Recovered files are instead written in the directory from where you are running the PhotoRec program.

PhotoRec is free, this open source multi-platform application is distributed under GNU Public License. PhotoRec is a companion program to TestDisk and is included in the download.

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Panda Batch File Renamer 2.1

Panda Batch File Renamer is an easy to use utility for changing the names of multiple files. The intuitive interface provides a flexible way to quickly alter file names. The current and final file names are shown side-by-side on the screen and any changes are displayed on screen immediately.

Information taken directly from the ID tags of photo and music files can be inserted into the file name. Multiple renaming options can be queued up to make very detailed changes to file names if required. A history of changes is kept, allowing them to be undone if a mistake is made. Renaming options can be saved so that you do not have to repeatedly recreate them.

Many renaming options are available, including:

Insert [text / sequential number / date+time / music info / photo info / file info / image info].
Replace [block of text / section of text / accented characters / regex].
Remove [characters / numbers / letters / symbols / all text].
Change case / reverse text / trim text.

There is multiple language support. Further details can be found on the Animal Software forum.

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Defraggler Portable 2.05.315

From everyone here at Piriform, the company that brought you CCleaner and Recuva… we now bring you a file defragmentation tool… Defraggler!

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool! And remember like all Piriform products, Defraggler is completely free for both corporate and individual use.

What´s New in version 2.05.315:
Improved defrag speed of large files in 32-bit OSs.
Improved drive analysis speed.
Improved Solid State drive detection.
Fixed bug with incorrect position of Defraggler item in file/folder context menu.
Added option to enable/disable shell extension.
Fixed problem with df.exe sometimes aborting.
Fixed file type exclusion bug.
Added support for the Kurdish language.
Added last scheduled defrag information.
Shell extension fixed to work correctly with UAC.
Translation fixes.
Online Help link fixed.
Minor bug fixes.

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Yadis! Backup 1.10.4

Yadis! is an easy-to-use backup-tool which will protect your personal data within minutes. It´s intuitive design will guide you through a few steps, and before you know it, your personal data is brought in safety.

When you use a backup-tool, it´s often a hard job to learn to know all of the features. And when you´ve finally managed to understand every possibility of that tool, you realize it´s not just that what you wanted.

That´s why we´ve created Yadis! Take a look around and discover all of it´s advantages…

Download (1.09MB)
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Ferguson marks silver anniversary at Old Trafford

London: The mood was not one of sentimentality as Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his 25th anniversary at Old Trafford. It was the quest for redemption weighing most heavily on his brow. Ferguson chose not to view his own stadium as the scene of so many well-remembered triumphs. He sounded more like a member of the emergency services leading his team back to the scene of a trauma.

The most damning reminder of their first home appearance since the 6-1 dismantling by Manchester City was delivered by Ferguson in his uncompromising programme notes.

"It's painful even to think about it, but I don't want the players to forget it totally because it must serve as a reminder of the necessity of keeping our concentration levels high," Ferguson wrote.

"The score against us only reached such high proportions because of our own stupidity. It was a recipe for disaster and we contributed to our own downfall. City didn't even have to work for their last three goals, but the fact is that we were left with an embarrassing scoreline, the butt of many a joke I know."

It is typical of Ferguson that the only history he wanted to reflect upon ahead of the arrival of Otelul Galati was current and painful. If nostalgia is the neurotic inability to deal with the present, Ferguson continues to ooze the confidence of a man who is looking only to the future.

When asked about his latest milestone, Ferguson was dismissive. He is more interested in making amends for recent failure than discussing the artefacts of two decades of success. "I've not reflected on it but I'm looking forward to the next 25 years," was the somewhat curt response to a question about his latest milestone.

It is Ferguson's refusal to reflect on his own triumphs which gives him the authority to cast aside those who've served him well.

Players such as Rio Ferdinand know what lies ahead. There was a brutality about Ferguson's pre-match assessment of Ferdinand's dwindling powers which explains why and how he keeps the United juggernaut rolling. There is nothing revolutionary about how Ferguson does it. He captures the best young players with the skill of Robert Helpmann. (Chris Bascombe)

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2011

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UAE senior football team start training camp

Dubai: The UAE senior national football team start their domestic training camp in Dubai Friday ahead of their return match against South Korea in the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup on Friday, November 11.
The UAE, led by local head coach Dr. Abdulla Misfir, has almost lost all hope of reaching the final stage of the qualifiers as they have lost their first three matches in a group that also features Kuwait and Lebanon.

South Korea leads with seven points, followed by Kuwait with five and Lebanon on four.

Honour
"We have no real hope of featuring in the finals of the World Cup but we will do our best to honour our country and its game," Misfir told Gulf News.

Misfir was appointed after the UAE FA sacked Slovenian Srecko Katanec after the team lost 3-1 to Lebanon and led them against South Korea in Seoul last month, when they played their best match in the qualifiers but went down 2-1.

"We have to be at our best to achieve a positive result against the Koreans, who are one of the best and strongest teams in Asia. I have great confidence in the fighting spirits of my players and their determination not to lose at home," Misfir added.

The team will train at the Al Ahli club's Rashid Stadium, the venue of the match, while the South Koreans are expected to arrive in Dubai today, Friday to start their preparations for the match.

Debutants
Misfir has added debutants Abdulla Qasim, the wingback of Al Jazira, and Eissa Obaid, the striker of Al Shabab, to his squad after their brilliant performances for their club teams in the etisalat Pro League this season.

The full list of players includes: Majed Nasir, Al Wasl. Khalid Eissa, Abdulla Mousa, Khalid Sabeel, Subait Khater, Abdulla Qasim and Jumaa Abdulla from Al Jazira. Yousuf Al Zaabi, Ahmad Khalil, Amer Mubarak and Esmail Al Hammadi, from Al Ahli. Frais Jumaa, Ali Al Waheebi and Abdul Aziz Fayez, from Al Ain.

Hamdan Al Kamali, Basheer Saeed, Eissa Ahmad, Khalid Jalal, Mohammad Al Shehhi and Esmail Matar, from Al Wahda. Waleed Abbass, Mohammad Ahmad and Eissa Obaid from Al Shabab. Yuouf Jaber and Mohammad Fawzi from Bani Yas and Ali Abbass from Al Nasr. (Yasir Abbasher)

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A double whammy for Aamer

By Scyld Berry

London: Mohammad Aamer is the youngest bowler to have taken 50 Test wickets. He is also the youngest to have been banned from all cricket for five years and to have pleaded guilty to corruption in a court of law.
It is a double tragedy for the youth and his sport. And the stigma will remain: Mohammad Aamer fixed. And maybe the cricket world should not feel compassionate but, rather, that the ban and the sentence — six months in a young offenders' institution — are right. Aamer pleaded guilty only to the deliberate no-balls at Lord's, but the court was told of his direct contact with an illegal bookmaker in Pakistan about doing a spot-fix in the Oval Test; and of a plea he made to the bookmaker to delete his text messages. There was also the strange case of the Asia Cup. Aamer was spotted by television, when waiting to bat in Dambulla, holding his batting glove to his ear. The ICC said there was no evidence Aamer was talking on a mobile outside his helmet, but a former Pakistan Test player was told by one of Aamer's teammates the mobile was inside his helmet.

Nevertheless, as a cricketer, Aamer will be, and is, being missed. So few are the quality bowlers worldwide, that he must have been contesting the number one spot now with Dale Steyn, James Anderson and Graeme Swann. Last summer against Australia at Headingley, Aamer gave a brilliant exhibition of conventional left-arm swing. He took seven wickets for only 106 runs; he gave his flooded and war-torn country hope.

Against England at the Oval he gave a brilliant exhibition of reverse-swing.

Nadir and zenith
One moment England were 194 for four, the next 222 all out, as Aamer (five for 52) had a magic spell worthy of his mentor Wasim Akram. Another victory, further hope. He was even more magical in the next Test, the fateful Test, at Lord's.

It was to be his final game for a long while, aside from a club game in Surrey when Aamer breached his ban unwittingly. And it saw both his nadir and zenith. As he himself has admitted, Aamer bowled the two no-balls to order at Lord's and was guilty of spot-fixing.

Yet he also found time to run in from the Pavilion End and rip through England even more incisively than against Australia. Aamer took four wickets for no run, and not just any four wickets; Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan. Of left-arm pace bowlers, only Sir Garfield Sobers, Alan Davidson, Akram and Zaheer Khan have bowled such a spell in Test cricket. Such is the rate at which international cricket moves, it is not certain Aamer will return to the Pakistan team when his ICC ban expires in 2015, although he will be 23 officially. Until 2015 Aamer will have to bat and bowl in the nets. Only then will the world's most gifted young all-rounder be able to carry on where he left off.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2011

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