Forum: General Talk
01-26-2018, 11:58 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
03-24-2016, 10:47 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
07-28-2015, 12:14 PM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
04-24-2015, 09:54 AM
|
|
Where do you see the "strict criteria"? The way I see it they are in the ransom-ware business. Rather AdBlock allows you to whitelist ads of your own choice, whereas AdBlock Plus controls the whitelist based on who pays their ransom.
I prefer to whitelist pentaxforums myself than have pentaxforums have to pay ransom to ABP to allow ads on their site. To each their own.
|
Forum: General Talk
04-24-2015, 09:18 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
12-22-2014, 09:50 AM
|
|
The reason for your drive dying maybe different from the reason for the OP's observations and problem.
Upon filesystem mounting, Windows sets something called a "dirty bit" on the file system. Upon graceful unmount such as by shutdown or eject, this bit is reset. On a hard disk drive system, if the computer is hard powered down the dirty bit remains set. That's when on a subsequent system restart you see the well recognized warning "One of your disks need to be checked for consistency. ...". On a USB/removable file system the message is "Do you want to scan and fix ...? There might be a problem with some files on this device ... blah blah blah"
As already stated by you and others, safely ejecting the device resolves this problem because it allows Windows to reset the dirty bit before unmounting the filesystem. This is the correct approach and its not limited to Windows by the way.
The "Do you want to scan and fix ...? ..." message can be suppressed by disabling the AutoPlay notification. For those of you who know how to tackle things in Windows, disable and stop the Shell Hardware Detection (ShellHWDetection) service. This will take care of the pesky message but at the same time you won't get any notification when you plugin a removable hardware.
Now to explain the cause of your drives failing based on your suspicion of pulling them out without ejecting - is quite valid. But I will make an assumption that your problem was in reference to removable hard disk drives and not flash drives. With hard disk drives, many of them are bus powered. The USB bus provides power to the device at the same time it reads/writes data from/to it. As you know, the hard disk involves a spinning media that's powered by a brushless DC motor. The motor draws power from the USB bus. The media spins at a very high speed, typically 5400/7200 RPM. The head floats on a cushion of air caused by the surface imperfections of the disk and never contacts the media. The clearance between the head and disk is in order of microns - less than size of most dust and smoke particles, that's why disks need to be hermetically sealed in a clean environment. When you power down a disk drive you need to bring the head to an unused part of the disk so that it can crash on the disk wihtout causing data loss. This part is called the landing zone (LANDZ). You may have seen this setting if you are an old timer and tinkered with BIOS settings. Typically the head is voice coil actuated and only moves towards the center when powered. Without power, a spring retracts the head to the landing zone. However, if you abruptly power off the device, its possible the head simply contacts the disk surface and drags on it while returning to the landing zone due to the lack of air cushion caused by the lack of high speed spin. You end up with a failure in the disk. So best is not to do that and always eject removable devices.
Again, these technologies are not specific to Windows operating system and therefore most of this discussion applies to computers in general.
HTH.
|
Forum: General Photography
05-18-2014, 09:47 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
04-23-2014, 06:56 AM
|
|
I use the TuneIn radio app. I have it installed on my smart tvs and android phones. You can get local and international streaming stations - it's great!
|
Forum: General Talk
10-02-2013, 05:04 PM
|
|
I am from Jersey, but since no one from Boston has replied, may I suggest Legal Seafood? It is across the street from the aquarium. And the best place to eat in Boston is in Quincy if you asked me.
|
Forum: General Talk
09-03-2013, 08:42 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
09-03-2013, 08:37 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
08-27-2013, 02:33 PM
|
|
This is an interesting thread. Every response here is based on some logic or argument. But there is one response that was just not words but in an example: your repair guy. He quoted you $150 and based on that quote you asked for and received your refund. But after looking at it he only charges you $60. This guy set an example. If he would have charged you the $150 I guess you would have paid him that much, but he didn't. I think what he did as a professional and as a person is honorable and dignified and sets a very good example that reckons us to follow. But which ever way you decide will still be perfectly legal and I am no preacher.
|
Forum: Pentax Price Watch
07-09-2013, 06:31 PM
|
|
|
Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
07-06-2013, 05:32 AM
|
|
Hi Racer911, welcome to the forum. Regardless of where you buy it from your cost will take a hit from Indian import taxes, unless you have someone bring it personally,(in which case import taxes may not be accessed.) I think the poor rupee to dollar conversion rate currently is also jacking up your cost. Otherwise B&H and Adorama are both very reputed merchants and their prices are quite competitive. I work In New York City and have visited these stores several times and I think they are the best in the world in terms of everything.
Buying on Ebay comes with a risk, plus the above taxes still apply regardless, unless you buy from a seller in India. In my opinion the market place maybe a better bet. Especially if the seller is an old timer you will be safe. However, shipping and import taxes will still add to your cost.
Now here is something to think about. Say you already own an equipment that was imported in India after paying taxes. Now if that equipment fails and needs repairs, and the manufacturer does not have a repair facility in India (such as Pentax), and you are forced to ship it to some other country to get it repaired. What happens when the equipment is returned to you after repairs? Do you need to pay taxes again? That would seem to be quite unfair (though I wouldn't be surprised with Indian policies). If not then can this be a work around to avoid import taxes? What would it require to ship something to India as if it is being returned after repairs? Will a declaration suffice? Anyways, scratch this idea if it is illegal. Just some thought maybe.
|
Forum: General Talk
06-19-2013, 06:51 AM
|
|
All wireless carriers probably offer prepaid plans. They also call them "pay as you go" plans. Depending on the location he is going to be visiting, you might want to check the coverage map of the carrier in that area. Usually Verizon has the best coverage. AT&T and T-Mobile are the only two major GSM carriers in the US. As far as I understand, T-Mobile is not known for good coverage, but this may not be a problem in a major metropolitan area. If his phone is 4G LTE capable then he maybe able to avail service from other non-GSM carriers depending on his phone capabilities (note: GS3 has several variants - Samsung Galaxy S III - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). If you need service for just a week then it maybe economical to buy AT&T prepaid for $2/day unlimited or even the $0.1/min plan (Prepaid Cell Phone Plans, GoPhone Plans, & Prepaid Smartphone plans from AT&T). Also, you can buy prepaid phone cards at most airports.
I use an app called talkatone when i travel abroad. The app uses google voice and allows you to make calls to US/Canada phone numbers using data service. If you can get a wi-fi service you can use it to make calls. Most airports have wi-fi and here in the US many restaurants and coffee shops offer free wi-fi. But this may not work for your son since I don't think talkatone can make calls to non-US numbers. But there maybe other apps that let you call SA numbers over wi-fi - something to explore.
|
Forum: General Talk
05-30-2013, 08:29 AM
|
|
More appropriately: "What can brown do you for?" ;)
|
Forum: General Talk
04-23-2013, 10:28 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
04-23-2013, 10:09 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
04-17-2013, 02:20 PM
|
|
Actually it is not the device driver that causes the problem. The problem is mostly caused by (third party) filter drivers. The filter drivers are installed by third party software like iTunes, Nero etc. They serve as low level hooks in to the device to alert the application to intercept the device calls to provide specialized services. Recommended fix is by removing these filter drivers.
Edit: here is a link that explains it http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-fix-CD-DVD-ROM-issues-i...ws-2000-and-XP |
Forum: General Talk
04-17-2013, 08:34 AM
|
|
|
Forum: Pentax Price Watch
04-13-2013, 08:51 PM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
03-05-2013, 09:36 AM
|
|
|
Forum: General Talk
03-01-2013, 01:08 PM
|
|
:lol: Hillarious! Thanks for the laugh.
Now please tell us something about Apple and Linux TV dinners? Or there is none? Or is it true that everyone else just makes an oven and only Microsoft is the one that is making stuff to put in the oven? :confused:
|
Forum: General Talk
03-01-2013, 08:39 AM
|
|
I did a little research online and it does appear that most consumer electronics (and possibly many other consumer durables as well) are comparitively cheaper in the US than in most other countries. I am guessing there will be cases of exceptions, but in general this is true. So Jason's point is valid in my opinion.
|
Forum: General Talk
03-01-2013, 08:27 AM
|
|
I still haven't seen your proof on how the US model is inferior compared to the international model.
Ok, so Greece does have LTE but depending on how extensive the LTE network is there, how much LTE access does Jason have in his use there?
And moreover he also said he bought the international version of the S3 from USA and yet got it cheaper. However it looks like you assumed that he got an US model.
Nothing you said so far seems to be valid. :rolleyes:
|